Inbound Marketing: Converting traffic to leads

Inbound marketing is the process of providing digital
content via web-based sources to attract and retain customers and potential
customers. The content you post on your website needs to be good enough to make
you easy to find on the Internet and worth the attention from your visitors.
But it’s what you do with this newfound attention that makes the difference
between a sale and no sale.

Conversion is the pivotal point for inbound marketing.
Without conversion, the whole exercise would be just that – an exercise. Your
efforts may be attracting traffic, but converting visitors to sales leads is
vital. The end result will be a list of list of names and contact information
of the people who are most likely to purchase or participate in your campaign.

The conversion from traffic to leads requires a fundamental
piece of information: the email address. Collecting the email address from a
prospect is done using the combination of Call to Action touts and Landing
Pages. These methods provide a measurable way of determining the success of
your inbound marketing strategy, and should be carefully maintained for
continued positive results.

Call to Action

This is a tout – a button, a banner or image that promotes a
special offer. This offer could be a limited time deal or even more valuable
content. Once the visitor clicks the Call to Action, they are directed to a
Landing Page. There are two important aspects to a call to action: it should be
relevant to their needs and visually inviting to your website visitors.

Exclusive content will improve your odds of getting that
elusive email address. Offer them privileged and valuable content such as
training videos, bonuses on products, gift certificates or webinars.

Landing pages

A landing page is a web page that provides a destination for
your visitors who click on a Call to Action. The landing page provides more
detail regarding the offer and might even provide a sneak preview or a glimpse
of what you are offering. Again, it has to be something of value – not
necessarily monetary – but something that your prospects are willing to trade
their email address for.

Using these principles, you can guide your visitors to the
decision to share their contact information in order to benefit from what you
have to offer.

Would you like to see how this works in conjunction with the
other components of Inbound Marketing? Or maybe dive deeper into converting
traffic to leads? Check out our e-book, Introduction to Inbound Marketing.