John has several business bills, such as rent and wages, due in four days. His credit cards and other lines of credit are all at their limits. His sales have been satisfactory, and his main challenge is not making sales but finding new people to talk to. It takes him around two months to convert a new lead into a deal, so he needs a consistent stream of prospects to keep his business afloat financially. His predicament worsens by the day…
Any business owner or someone dependent on sales for subsistence can identify with John. Create a direct response lead generation website if you work in real estate, financial planning, construction, insurance, mortgage lending, or any other industry that needs a steady stream of potential customers. What it implies, a website designed to generate leads is precisely that. It’s a website that never sleeps, consistently producing high-quality leads for your business. Not many lead creation tools can provide such a significant gain in efficiency. Prospects that are both interested and qualified are the focus here.
A poor lead is a potential customer who does not need or desire your product. Inadequate information also shows interest in your product but is ultimately unqualified. For your limited and crucial sales time to be well spent, the prospects you pursue must have both qualities. Doing your research is essential before building a direct response lead generation website.
It would be best if you first had a clear picture of your perfect customer. In what field do they operate? What is their official title in the firm? What is the company’s size? The question needs answering: What do they have to deal with daily that keeps them up at night? You need to know your customers to communicate with them effectively. You need to put yourself in his or her position to grasp the issues at hand and identify potential solutions fully. If you’re in real estate and you’re targeting first-time buyers, their credit score and down payment size can be the two biggest obstacles they face. Clients may be anxious about hiring you as a contractor due to their fear of unpleasant experiences they may have heard others have had with other businesses. You can begin developing your direct response website by identifying your target audience and researching the most pressing issues those customers confront. The website is built on a foundation of various essential components…
A site that Is Designed With the Customer in Mind
The most obvious component is a website, yet, it is sometimes overlooked that this site needs to be laser-focused on your ideal client and their demands rather than your own. There are a plethora of commercially oriented websites available. The company’s origins, current leadership, and offerings are all covered. A huge brochure that focuses on you rather than them. If you’ve done the preparatory work I’ve outlined above, you should be able to use your site’s components to start conversing with clients immediately.
a. Copy:
The main event has arrived. Ensure the website’s copy (content) addresses the needs of the client and the issues they’re experiencing. You need to capture their interest if you want to succeed. Each page should have a captivating title that compels the reader to stop, read it, and then read the following line of material with intense interest. They should read the second line of fabric because they were intrigued by the first, and so on. If you want your copy compelling, you need to smack your prospect in the face with the problem they’re facing and the fact that you offer the answer. There are several essential components to good copywriting (listed below).
b. Images:
The images you use should complement the text and the objective of the sale. Product images, schematics of the product’s operation, and well-selected marketing images all fit this category, as they show the prospect visually what the content is already starting. Remember that the images’ only function is to bolster the argument in the copy. Anything that doesn’t advance the plot is superfluous and should be eliminated.
b. Intuitive Direction Finding:
You need simple, straightforward navigation on your site, with buttons that make it plain to the visitor what they’ll find if they click through and pique their interest enough to make them want to. That requires careful consideration of button placement and accurate labeling. It would be best if you didn’t try to be clever or creative here. What’s needed is straightforward, primary navigation that’s easy to see and use. If you want to know if this navigation works, you should put it through some usability testing with actual people.
Disorganized: d.
Avoid filling your website with irrelevant information or distracting features like moving gifs or Flash-based advertisements. You could be tempted to let webmasters create minor effects on a page that “look cool” but ultimately merely distract and confuse the user with all the neat things they can do with Flash and JavaScript. Read my position paper on how Flash can be the death of your website for a more in-depth analysis of this topic. Visit www.web2gold.com/Position.htm to view it.
A both informative and engaging copy will fare better than one that merely lists the services or items on offer. Features are things like these, and contrary to widespread assumption, they do not motivate consumers to purchase. Copy that gets results has these components: a. Catchy, Attention-Grabbing Headline:
Again, the headline ought to jump out and grab the reader. A compelling benefit statement that promises they will find the answer to an issue keeping them up at night is essential.
Advantages (b)
The copy you write must emphasize the advantages to the reader. One attribute of a computer is its processing speed; the advantage is that it allows the user to complete tasks and process data more quickly, allowing them to accomplish more in less time. The material you write ought to be able to generate interest and sales even when you’re not present. This is especially crucial online since you may never know who will read your website. Visit www.web2gold.com/Copywriting.htm for additional information on writing persuasive copy. Last but not least, a direct response website needs to contain material that adheres to the AIDA marketing principle, which includes the following components: attention, interest, desire, and action.
The third component is the offer, which is the reader’s incentive. Any direct response advertising, such as billboards or mailers, needs encouragement for the prospect to take action. The motivation can be anything from a gift or brochure to an early bird discount or another limited-time offer. There are two types of requests: harsh and soft.
a. Firm Proposals:
The potential customer must commit to buying immediately or at least take significant action. These discounts are meant to prompt an instant purchase. One example would be offering a 25% discount on all orders placed by a specific date. If they contact you today to set up a meeting with a sales representative, they may receive a bonus. No matter what it is, the bare minimum
c. Supple Proposal:
By making a “soft offer,” you allow potential customers to show interest in your product or service without committing to anything or agreeing to meet with a salesperson immediately. It’s a method for them to show interest without committing fully. It generates a warm lead, in essence. A free pamphlet or informational pack is an example of a soft offer. It could be a free DVD with more in-depth information on the product, or it could just be a free sample with some details about the product.
Whether a hard or soft offer, the prospect must initially find value in it. If the potential customer doesn’t care about the request, it’s pointless to make it. For a direct response mechanism to be successful, the prospect must see value in the offer. That’s why it’s crucial to get inside the head of the opportunity and learn what’s keeping them up at night, their pain points, what makes them tick, and what they place the most value on.
By recognizing these cues, you may design offers that speak directly to a prospect’s deepest desires. Direct response marketers may argue that modest transactions that don’t involve many risks are better suited to complex offers. In contrast, larger purchases or those with a longer sales cycle are more suited to soft requests. To hear confident marketers tell it, you can have both deals simultaneously. Your website can display hot leads who are ready to buy immediately and warm tips that will need nurturing before becoming customers.
These are the foundational tenets of any high-performing direct-response website. This is a specialized market catering to a finite audience. It accomplishes its goals by adhering to good design standards regarding written content and visual presentation. It draws in prospects ready to engage with your business and guides them through a series of defined stages to an offer tailored to collecting their contact details.
It may be a form they fill out, a phone number they dial, or a live chat window they open with a customer support representative; all of these would serve the same purpose of collecting data. Direct response websites, like any other form of marketing, require careful planning and execution to be successful. You need to know precisely what you want to accomplish and who your target customer is before applying direct marketing best practices and creating a website that attracts customers.
In subsequent pieces, how to increase the quality of visitors to this site and other ways to strengthen a website’s impact will be covered. If you’re curious as to what they are, you may either give me a call at my toll-free number in the United States: 877-844-5829 to set up a consultation or go to www.web2gold.com/Offer to get a free copy of my particular study, “The 10 Biggest Web Site Mistakes and How to Avoid Them.”
Temple Development Corporation is led by Michael Temple, who serves as president. He is a consultant, keynote speaker, and author in e-commerce, customer relationship management, copywriting, SEO, e-mail marketing, internet branding, and DRTV.
Michael advises businesses of all sizes and addresses groups of all stripes. He helps companies to improve their bottom line by designing Internet communication strategies that increase revenue, generate qualified leads, and close deals. The private four-year Lourdes College in Sylvania, Ohio, has appointed him as an adjunct professor, where he teaches courses on Internet marketing and advertising.
Read also: Tips for Selling Ad Space in Today’s Economy.
