Blog Post

8 Reasons Why Your Website Isn’t Generating Any Leads

by: Julie Zubak March 22, 2018

Table of Contents

If your website is struggling to gather leads, chances are you need to shift your mentality. A common pitfall people make is by positioning their website as a brochure of their products and services. This is the wrong way to think about it. Your website should be a marketing tool that’s actively generating leads. In fact, the sole purpose of marketing is to generate leads. From there sales leads turn into revenue.

Your website should be earning potential leads from at least 3% of your visitors. Here are some reasons that you may be struggling to hit that number:

1. You Don’t Have A Clear Call To Action.

A call to action is a button or graphic that ushers visitors towards making a further commitment to your brand, usually a landing page or conversion page. Some common examples are: Free trials, downloads, email subscription, tours, donations, etc.

A call to action is one of the quickest way to move visitors towards a conversion rate. Therefore, your CTA should be clear, eye-catching and prominent. Don’t bury your CTA button at the bottom of the page with a small font, Highlight it. Every click is a lead.

2. Your Website Isn’t Structured Like A Funnel.

One way to avoid having a “brochure website” is by arranging your website so that it acts as conversion funnel. Visitors should be led to a call to action or landing page that facilitates the buying journey. In other words, every click should serve one purpose: conversion.

If mountains weren’t slanted, water would never make it down to the village. You have to direct your visitors in the right direction with structured flow. Not only does it make them feel more comfortable using your site, but it also allows you to gather data on the exact pages where they are abandoning the process. This data will help you course correct.

Related: A Guide to Marketing Funnels

3. Your Company Isn’t Human Enough.

A very off putting characteristic of a website is when the company information is minimal, hidden, or too corporate. You want to offer visitors a peak behind the curtain. This can be as simple as having clear contact information or an ‘about us’ page with a company story and pictures of employees.

Consumers want to to do business with brands they trust. Company videos are the most compelling way to establish trust and show the human side of your company. It also shows a level of professionalism and expertise, especially when compared to competitors who don’t use similar content. When showing customers who you are be sure to speak to your specific target audience to maximize familiarity.

4. You Need A Blog.

The power of blogs are highly underestimated and largely misunderstood. Blog’s are one of the best ways to improve your ranking on Google. You can boost your organic leads by offering valuable, high-quality content on your company blog. Not only that, but the traffic generated from a blog post are of people who are actually interested in your products. In other words, qualified leads.

Blogs also provide you with frequently updated content that you can share across all channels, including social media.

5. You Aren’t Offering Your Visitors Anything.

At the end of the day, companies exist to make money, so naturally most of your website is geared towards that. But, you have to give a little to get a little. A quick way to inform people about your product is by sending them a free sample or providing a free trial. If that’s not an option, a very simple method is by offering more information. Most often, customers aren’t ready to buy because they’re not familiar enough with your product. Education is motivation to buy.

6. Your Leads Aren’t Built On Information.

A conversion is not just getting a sale. A conversion is anything from starting a free trial to getting a visitors email address.

In order to maximize your lead generation efforts, you need to use conversion pages to capture as much visitor information as possible. Your website should have forms in strategic places. An easy one is in the contact page. If customers want to contact you they need to fill out their name and email.

Another great way to position your forms is by placing them as gateways to offers. For instance, they can get 25% off their first purchase if they fill out a form with their email.

7. Your Website Is Lack-Luster.

With so many people using website builders like Squarespace and Wix, sites are becoming more and more cookie cutter. It makes standing out online difficult. That’s why having a custom website designed is more crucial than ever. Don’t sacrifice uniqueness for intuitiveness — website visitors will most likely leave your site if things become too complicated. This should go without saying, but make sure to use high quality, compelling pictures.

8. You Don’t Have A Social Media Presence.

It’s kind of absurd to operate a business these days without social media. Roughly 70% of Instagram users regularly engage with brands.

The beauty of social media is that potential customers can follow exactly who they like and what they like. In other words they can target whoever they want. Which is why it works so well for businesses —you can speak directly to a highly specific audience. Social media leads are some of the strongest, people are viewing your content because they want to.

Quick Tip On How To Generate More Leads

If nothing seems to be working and your lead generation tactics are feeling stagnant, then start looking at your competitors. Find out what works for them. It may not necessarily work for you, but it will give you an idea of how and why customers flock towards certain businesses. This doesn’t mean copy your competitors, quite the contrary in fact.

While you’re looking at the dynamics of other companies in your industry consider what is unique about your brand. Once you’ve isolated that element, run with it. People are far more likely to build a relationship with a brand that feels fresh and exciting.