5 Powerful Ways to Generate Leads for Your Small Business

Are you interested in generating leads for your small business? For most people, the answer is yes! Lead generation is often one of the most challenging parts of starting a company. Creating a website and developing a product can feel discouraging when you don't have an audience.

You'll be happy to know that there are many ways you can improve brand awareness and generate more leads on your site, even if you're working with a minimalistic budget. Our goal today is to help small business owners just like you captivate visitors and turn them into subscribers.

Below, you'll find several helpful strategies we currently use to grow our lead lists and get visitors involved with our brand. You can strategically use these tips to gradually build awareness, increase sales, and boost engagement.

Ready? Let's get started!

Encourage Visitors to Join Your Email List

First things first, you need an email list if you want to turn visitors into subscribers. Once people start subscribing to your list, you can nurture them until they eventually become customers. None of this is possible if you don't get people to sign up for emails from your business.

I suggest including a simple signup form on your website that encourages people to give you their names and email addresses. The best thing you can do in this situation is to incentivize users by offering a lead magnet, such as an ebook, infographic, or online course.

You can take this strategy a step further by encouraging visitors to self-segment when they sign up. A whopping 80% of people say they want to receive more personalized offers from their favorite brands. If you can tap into your audiences' goals and pain points, you can create specific content and popups that appeal to their needs.

For instance, an online pet store might create a popup on the cat section of their blog that contains offers and content that are relevant to cat owners. When people subscribe to these specific promotions, you can segment them appropriately, which typically results in a highly active lead list.

Focus on Your SEO Strategy

Search engine optimization (SEO) is also crucial to your success. You may be surprised to learn that 51% of all organic website traffic comes from search engines. In other words, your presence on platforms like Google can make or break your small business.

I recommend using Google's Keyword Planner to find relevant keywords in your industry. You can quickly and easily crucial industry terms and see important details like search volume and competition. In a best-case scenario, you'll find keywords that have a high search volume and minimal competition.

The idea behind SEO is you want to find industry terms that your target audience types into Google when they have a question. Once you decide on your keywords, take a look at the top results. Are the articles old, outdated, or missing critical pieces of information? If so, that's a good thing!

Now, you can go to your website and publish a blog post that is new, relevant and contains plenty of helpful information for your target audience. The key to gradually boosting your ranking is to continuously publish high-quality content that resonates with your target audience's goals and pain points.

Build Trust with New Visitors

The next tip we want to talk to about today is building trust. We've all visited an online store with no social proof like reviews, testimonials, or live sales notifications. Odds are, you've decided against a purchase in the past because there weren't enough reviews to make an informed decision.

You never want your audience to feel like they can't trust your brand, especially if you're just now breaking into the industry. The good news is there are plenty of ways you can build trust, and thus, social proof for future visitors.

The absolute best way to show that you're trustworthy is to allow users to leave reviews on each of your products. Research shows that showing reviews on a single item can boost conversions for that product by an impressive 270%!

If a new visitor can quickly and easily see that other people have purchased your product and had a positive experience, they will likely take action. In some cases, this could result in a purchase. However, in many instances, these people will subscribe to your email list so they can learn more about your business and build on their existing trust.

Publish High-Impact Content

Creating a high-impact blog is an essential part of your success. If your website is a bunch of product pages with no additional context, you're going to have a tough time generating leads. I believe that a big reason for this trend is that 77% of internet users read blog posts.

A blog gives people a chance to learn about your brand before committing to making a purchase or subscribing. It also helps boost your SEO efforts and show visitors why your product or service is a suitable solution.

I suggest taking some time to survey your existing audience and review your Google Analytics account. The more you know about your target audience, the easier time you'll have creating valuable blog posts.

The mistake many marketers and new business owners make is they assume they know what their audience wants. The truth is, if you don't have data, you're taking a shot in the dark.

You can also benefit from writing guest posts for other publications. 60% of bloggers report writing at least 1-5 guest posts a month, and it's not hard to figure out why. Guest posting helps you spread brand awareness and build your reputation by working with high-profile businesses. If someone discovers one of your posts on a website they already know and trust, there's an excellent chance those feelings will carry over when they visit your website.

Amplify Brand Awareness with Social Media

Finally, let's talk about how you can amplify awareness and generate leads through social media. A mind-boggling 3.96 billion people use social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. There's an excellent chance your target audience is out there, waiting to discover your brand.

The key to building a successful social media marketing strategy is to engage with your followers. Not only will this help you nurture existing leads, but it can also help new people find your brand.

Let's say someone uses your branded hashtag to talk about their recent purchase. You can use this opportunity to comment on their post and thank them for being a valued customer. When their friends or peers see that they had a positive interaction with your brand, those interested in your product will likely make it to your website.

We've had tremendous success engaging with community members in relevant groups on LinkedIn and Facebook. You can quickly and easily find social media groups where people are talking about specific industries. Use this opportunity to chime in and share helpful advice with other members, and you can expect to see more traffic, engagement, and leads.

Back to You

There you have it! There are plenty of ways you can generate leads for your small business. The tips we outlined today can help you bring in new subscribers and traffic from search engines, social media, and even other publications. The key to mastering your lead generation efforts is persistence and value. Look for ways you can bring your target audience one step closer to their goals. Before long, you'll have a loaded list of people ready and willing to buy your product or service.