If you have a website for your business, you may be using it to conduct your business or you might be using it as an advertising and informational site for your business conducted off line. Either way, a website should always be used to generate leads for your business. A lead is an interested party that you might be able to turn into a paying customer.
1. Identify your niche market. This means, decide who your customer is most likely to be. Be as specific as you possibly can be. For example if you sell an educational product for preschoolers, your niche market might be females between the ages of 20 and 35 who stay home with their children.
2. Think of things your niche market might do when they are online. In the example used above, you might decide that your niche market would join parenting forums and visit parenting, child development and home making websites.
3. Search the Internet for the types of websites you identified as being visited by your potential customers. Visit the websites, sign up for them, and sit in on any forums and discussions. Listen to what these people are saying they want. If your business seems it can meat their needs, contact the owner of the website.
4. Introduce yourself and invite them to visit your website. Tell them you would be interested in participating in a banner exchange with their site. If the other website owner agrees to a banner exchange, you get free advertising on their website in exchange for allowing them to advertise on yours. Bring people who would make good customers to your website so you can try to turn them into leads.
5. Turn visitors to your website into a good qualified lead by offering them a reason to register with your site. Offer a coupon code for a discount on their first purchase. Make your offer to your visitor is on the homepage of your website so they are sure to see it before deciding to leave.
6. Provide an easy to find link that allows the visitor to click and fill out a form with name, mailing address, phone number and email address. On this page you should also list your privacy policy and assure the visitor you never release their information to others. Also have them indicate their consent that you may send them emails.