How MSPs & VARs Can Convert Traffic Into Leads

Here is the secret for how to convert traffic into leads: there is no secret. Like most things in marketing, there is no magic bullet or “hack” that just does the trick. It takes time, measurement, and adjustments to have a successful lead engine drive results. With that being said, there are a variety of tactics you can implement to start converting web traffic into sales leads for your business if you are willing to put in the time.

Focus on Offering Value

Many people think of their website as a place to talk about themselves and how great their organization is. As a result, their website becomes a fast sales pitch that quickly gets overlooked.

Nobody likes to be around the person who always talks about themselves, but everyone loves to hang around the individual who helps others. Turn your website into a resource that helps others out – and they will want to stick around.

To convert web traffic into leads, you need to think of how your site offers value to its visitors. If your site is an overview of what you do, then visitors will leave once they have read everything. If you offer value through industry insight and information such as how-to guides, visitors will come back for more. 

Users Convert Differently Based on Where They Are in the Buying Journey

A general overview on a subject may be valuable to someone who is researching the “awareness stage,” However, it may not be useful to someone who knows what they need and is evaluating their options.

The key to successful conversion optimization is to understand who your audience is fully and the journey they take when purchasing your solution. Understanding what “value” looks like to your prospect at each stage is critical.  

We recommend a few things here:

1. Start with a buyer persona. The buyer persona will help you understand who it is you’re attracting to your site. For more information on how to develop a buyer persona, click here.
2. Map out the journey each persona takes when purchasing your solution. Be sure to identify the each major challenge the buyer is looking to resolve at each stage of the buyer’s journey. 
3. Develop premium content that offers value above anything else for each step of this journey. This content could be a white paper, an ebook, or a simple infographic outline the steps to solving a challenge your audience faces.
4. Build workflows within your marketing platform to signify the user has moved from one stage of the buyer’s journey to the next. For instance, if the buyer downloads a solution overview and then visits a pricing page a few days later, that indicates the person is a hot prospect and may warrant a call from your sales team.
5. Serve up content that helps them in the next stage across multiple channels. Provide information that helps a potential buyer take actions that indicates where they are on the buyer’s journey. You can do that across multiple channels such as paid social ads, your company blog, and email.

By not taking a shotgun approach and presenting everything to everyone, you can keep your prospect engaged and more likely to convert based on the material that is relevant to them. 

Still Not Converting Traffic? Start with the Root Cause

More times than not, the root cause of low conversion is traffic itself. Extremely high performing sites convert anywhere from two to four percent of their traffic. That number may seem low but it’s actually a good rate of conversion! That means for every 100 visitors to your site, you may see two enter your database as a prospect which could become a customer.

Conversion optimization is focused on increasing the percentage of traffic that converts. A normal site is likely converting less than one percent of its traffic. So to increase from one percent to two percent of traffic means you’ve gone from one to two prospects with those 100 visitors. It’s often much easier to focus on increasing traffic overall with a good SEO strategy, good content strategy, and a strong social media presence. Taking the 100 visitors a month to 500 visitors a month is more times than not much easier than focusing on converting the traffic that already visits your site.

Boosting traffic is something that is much more in your control than on-page optimization. Additionally, you are expanding the overall reach of how many different prospects are exposed to your brand and solution. More eyeballs equal more potential buyers. 

Don’t Be the “Look at Me” Brand

In conclusion, focus on who is important: your potential customers. If you make it about them, they are more likely to engage. By understanding the steps they go through when buying; you can find ways to help them at each stage. When you’ve done this, accelerate the overall traffic going to your site to increase the number of leads you see from your website.