lead generation tips for small business

 

Online interstitials, mostly in the form of pop ups, can be annoying for your visitors and can hurt your organic rank with Google and other search engines. You also run the risk of being penalized by Google if you use them with the mobile version of your website.  There are some exceptions but typically there are few reasons your website should have annoying pop ups blocking a searcher from viewing your website content.

 

Many websites may use these pop ups as lead generation form sections or CTA spaces, but there are much better ways to accomplish that goal! Using page blocking pop ups is an outdated marketing technique that will hurt your business more than it could ever help it.

 

Check out the following lead generation tips for small business websites that will actually encourage your web visitors to engage with your site!

 

 

What’s an Interstitial and Why is it Bad?

 

As I mentioned above, “interstitial” means occupying an intervening space. In terms of a website, an “interstitial” is what comes between the viewer and the content they’re trying to view. These typically take the shape of pop-up offers or requests made to the visitor of the website.

 

Ask yourself this question and try to give an honest answer: When was the last time you were glad to see a pop-up on a website you visited? If I have ever been happy to see one, I don’t remember it. Generally speaking, interstitials are meant to benefit the owner of the website, not the visitor. Pop ups are an outdated lead generation technique that’s now more frustrating than helpful. Google doesn’t like it and your web visitors don’t like it, so that means you should stop doing it!

 

If that was not a good enough reason why you should not use pop ups, here are a few more:

 

1. Many small business websites, or any websites for that matter, that add pop-ups to their site often see their bounce rates soar

 

2. Not only will Google notice the interstitials on your website, but they will also notice the inevitable lower return visitor rates and lower time-on-site rates. This will likely have a negative impact your organic search rankings

 

3. Unless the interstitial is an integral part of the order or inquiry process for your site, you should expect to see less sales as a result

 

If you’re using pop ups on your website, you’re basically implementing what I like to call a “Sales Prevention Program.” Website interstitials are at the top of the sale prevention list. Whenever you’re building a website, you should always be thinking of your prospects and customers, and what you can do to help them access what they want more efficiently. You need to focus on implementing lead generation techniques that actually benefit web searches. Focus on user experience (UX) when you create lead generation sections on your small business website. Implementing annoying pop ups will only slow them down and encourage them to leave your site quickly.

 

 

4 Lead Generation Tips for Small Business

 

Most small business websites use interstitials to promote a special deal, sale or to encourage the visitor to provide their information for some offer. These desires have good intentions, but the execution is all wrong.

 

So if pop ups are the wrong way to do it, what’s the right way?

 

With the growth, development, and maturity of online marketing as a practice, improved methods have emerged to better connect with leads and prospects online.

 

Here are four lead generation tips small businesses can implement to meet modern standards:

 

 

1.  Add Forms to Your Popular Pages

 

If you want your lead generation forms to get filled out, they need to be in places where searchers will be most likely to find them. And those places would be on your most popular website pages!

 

generate leads for your small business

 

For example, our blog pages on the Cazbah website tend to get a fair amount of traffic, so we have a section on each of our blog pages where you can schedule a free Comprehensive Analysis service.

 

Your website visitors will be more inclined to provide their information or fill out a form that relates to the page information they’re viewing. By placing lead generation and contact forms on key pages on your website, you’ll cut down on the amount of non-converting leads and be able to attract more qualified prospects at the same time!

 

 

2. Design and Include CTA Buttons

 

Use creative and interesting words in your CTA (call to action) to get your web visitor’s attention and generate valuable leads. Make sure you’re clear about what your offer is and what your visitor can expect when they click on your CTA button. For example, don’t create a CTA that just says “Click Here”. That’s a basic level CTA that doesn’t give your visitor any real motivation to click it. Instead, you could create a CTA that says “Download Your Free PDF” or “Free 1 Month Subscription”.

 

Once you create a great CTA button, include it on a valuable landing page on your website that gets a lot of traffic. Your page content and your CTA offer should relate well, so your visitors will be naturally more inclined to click on it.

 

 

3.  Create a Survey or Quiz

 

Who doesn’t love a catchy quiz or survey? They’re a fun and easy way to interact with your website visitors, while getting to know them a little better too! Plus, short quizzes or surveys help to keep your searchers engaged with your website and can increase their on page time as well. Including entertaining, lead generation forms is a great technique to ensure your web visitors have a positive association with your brand and website as well. 

 

If you’re a retailer that carries a wide range of brands or products, you could create a quiz to help your searchers determine what product would be best for them. If you rely heavily on content marketing, you could create a survey to determine what topics are most important to that visitor and what areas they want more information on.

 

Remember, it’s all about helping your web visitors find what they want faster and easier. Prioritizing a positive user experience (UX) is an essential lead generation technique that will ensure your website visitors transform into prospects, and then hopefully, customers! 

 

 

4.  Use Website or Mobile Push Notifications

 

Sending push notifications is perhaps the newest lead generation tips small business can use to stay connected to your leads online.

 

Push notifications are alert pop ups that contain specific messages you can send out to anyone who enables them. With push notifications, you can craft specific messages to be sent out to specific subscribers about a limited time deal, a new content update they may be interested in, important company news you want to share, and so on.

 

You can send push notifications to a desktop, laptop, or mobile device during specific days or times. Some push notification creation platforms even allow you to send alerts based on your searcher’s geographical location. It’s a great way to keep your small business in the forefront of your prospect’s mind and to continue to remarket to them as time passes.

 

In Conclusion

 

Leave your website pop ups in the past! Pop ups will just annoy your visitors, causing your bounce rate to skyrocket and your conversion rate to plummet. Take a look above at the lead generation and CTA tips small business can use to keep visitors on site and gain more conversions too!