Ten Steps to Getting Internet Leads

People often ask me what the best ways are to bring leads into their business via the internet. While it really does depend on your niche, I’d have to say the following three internet lead builders can convert prospects into paying customers quite well.

1. Video
2. Blogging
3. Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn)

So how are you going to use these platforms to get those leads and convert them into paying customers? I’ve set out ten steps to help you do this and these will be the foundation of your lead-converting online marketing:

1. Use your personality and your knowledge to showcase what you know to potential customers to help them feel comfortable learning from you.
2. Use video, blogging, and social media.
3. Understand you must give valuable free information to build interest, trust, and a loyal following.
4. Resist the urge to go into sell/sign-up mode until you have an audience.
5. Get a blog! (I highly recommend self-hosted WordPress) Start posting articles related to your niche: Pick a common problem and give a solution. Throw in some facts for good measure.
6. Don’t be afraid to talk about things outside your niche – like what you did for the weekend, films you’ve seen and music you like. You want to build a friendship with your audience. You are human, not a robot. Your audience will appreciate little insights into your daily life; the objective is the more they feel comfortable with you, the more likely they will trust you enough to seek your services. But don’t share too much. No one needs to know you had an argument with your partner or the like.
7. Comment on other people’s blogs, tweets, Facebook posts, LinkedIn group comments, and add your link to any blog comments. Make the comment meaningful. This gives link-back power to your site, thus raising you up the search engines.
8. Understand building an army of loyal followers takes time and with regular scheduling of blog posts and social media updates, you don’t have to spend ‘all day’ being online feeling despondent you’re not getting attention straight away.
9. Include your social media, video, and blog link in all your emails and mention it to your clients. Example: “For more ways to save money follow my blog, YouTube channel…”
10. Write articles and guest blog posts to expand your internet reach.

The most important thing to remember when trying to gain a following online is to actually limit your time doing it. You do not want to spend the whole day on Facebook for instance. This limits your productivity so you need to be really strict and work with time blocks during the day.

If you find you’re really not going to be able to spend the time gaining followers online, then consider outsourcing.
Most people discount this as not being cost effective but as you’re aware, you’ve got to put money into your business in order to see a return.

Websites such as Fiverr, Elance, and Odesk all showcase people who want to do some sort of marketing work for you. And yes, you may find some will do it better than others, but work with a few people and see what results you get. If you find someone who’s really pulling in the traffic for you, it would be very wise to keep them on board on a regular basis, leaving you to focus on other profitable areas of your business.