Have you ever been tempted to sign up for something on a website? Did it attract you because it seemed to have valuable information that you couldn’t find anywhere else? This temptation is caused by a phenomenon known as the ?lead magnet.?
What is a lead magnet? It is something that encourages you to provide personal information or to become a prospect or customer for someone or something. It generally offers something that is different and valuable so that instead of paying in money, you’re paying in contact information for further updates.
In many ways, a lead magnet can best be described as a bribe. An irresistible bribe, but a bribe nonetheless.
If you’re not converting traffic on your website like you should be with your organic numbers, then there’s a good chance that your lead magnet could be at fault. If that’s the case, then here’s some good news for you: lead magnets are easy to fix.
What Are Common Problems With Lead Magnets?
Many domain owners and internet marketers fail with their lead magnets for some of the same reasons. Here are some of most common ways that a lead magnet fails to maximize conversions:
It isn’t specific enough. A good lead magnet needs to be able to target and solve a potential problem for the audience that the website is geared toward.
If a website is looking to sell ways of solving common internet marketing problems, providing a lead magnet that offers to find ways for domains to be purchased cheaply isn’t really going to cut it!
You need something much more specific to the common problems that people face, like having a good lead magnet! Think specificity above anything else.
It’s way too long. Long, beautiful prose might make for an interesting romance story, but it isn’t going to get the attention of your website traffic. People on the internet today very quickly become bored with information that is uninteresting to them.
If that happens while they are reading your lead magnet, not only will they likely stop reading it, but they’ll just head over to another website altogether and forget you ever existed.
It’s confusing. People hate being confused on the internet about as much as they hate flowery content that doesn’t get to the point. Give them an effective call to action that will encourage them to leave you their information. Be firm and direct, but don’t be rude. Simple works.
It isn’t what people need. Lead magnets can take a wide variety of forms. The form you choose must be relevant and helpful for people with easily digestible information for them to want to give you personal contact data in return. Choose the wrong form of a lead magnet and you’ll never get maximized results. Ever.
What makes this process a little tricky is the fact that a good lead magnet today may be a terrible one tomorrow. You’ve got to stay on your toes, be adaptable, and strike quickly when you start to see lower conversion trends that aren’t just a hiccup in the road.
If you’re not adapting, your competitors will be and that’s where your traffic will eventually land… and convert.
How Can You Always Know What People Need?
What is a lead magnet if nothing but a means of providing value? You need to know what your targeted audience is going to find valuable in order to be effective. When you don’t know what people really need, then you have no real way to truly succeed!
It begins by having a realistically good product or service for your lead magnet. If people are doing research, for example, then a statistical report in their niche field would be a tempting target.
If you’ve got someone trying to increase the amount of followers and likes that they get on social media, then a step-by-step guide to get them started is likely what they’re going to find most valuable. It doesn’t have to be something complicated or time consuming to create. Something as simple as a flow chart can be a strong lead magnet.
What you’re ultimately trying to create is a sales funnel. You want people to be so enticed by the little bit of value that you’ve provided to them that they’ll want even more of what you’ve got, right?
That’s what will bring an increase of sales to your marketing efforts! Yet everything can be done correctly and the lead magnet can relate, but conversions can be non-existent. Why does this happen?
It’s All in the Language That You Use!
The words that you use in your lead magnet are a reflection of how you actually feel about the goods that you represent. If you’re excited about the product, genuinely excited, then this will be conveyed in the words you use.
On the other hand, if you don’t have a passion for the goods you’ve got, then this will be reflected in the sales pitch of the lead magnet and you’ll turn people off.
It’s not just the attitude of the words you use either. It’s also the exact words you choose! There are some words that cause a lot of red flags in website visitors and some of them might surprise you. Here’s just a few examples to consider:
? Free. Your lead magnet isn’t really free, is it? You’re requiring someone to pay you for the data that you’re providing them, whether it’s a report or a video, in the form of personal information. An e-mail address is personal information.
Some people might have their attention drawn to the lead magnet with the term ?free,? but you’ll drive more people away because you’re misrepresenting the facts to them.
? Instant access. Let’s say that you’ve got someone on the hook and they’re about to enter their e-mail address into your form. Many lead magnets tell visitors that to ?get instant access to the product? to enter their e-mail address.
The problem is that modern anti-spam tech doesn’t make ?instant? much of a possibility, does it? If you provide the data through e-mail, the user has to confirm the sign-up, potentially make your e-mails safe, and jump through other hoops. Unless you instantly transfer someone to the data on your website after a sign-up, stay away from ?instant.?
? Newsletter. Sorry folks, but signing up for a newsletter isn’t a lead magnet. It’s an e-mail marketing list where everyone knows that you’re eventually going to try to sell something. What makes a lead magnet attractive is that it is a one-shot value that involves no monetary exchange.
You get the chance to get information that you can use to your advantage. Your targeted visitor gets information that they can use to their advantage. That’s the extent of the relationship.
You’ll still build your marketing list, but you’ll give more value than a newsletter that will likely just be deleted. Don’t use newsletters as your lead magnet because they just don’t work!
How Compelling Are You?
Have you ever noticed that good headlines tend to draw you into clicking links? News headlines are a great example of how to create your own compelling lead magnet headlines.
Often the headline is the only opportunity to develop a relationship with a potential prospect. They’ll read the headline and nothing else… unless you are engaging and compelling with your words. You’ve got to be able to relate to them in such a way that they want to read more!
So how can you do this in 20 words or less? One of the primary methods is to arrogantly show off the value of what you’re offering to them. If you’ve got a massive ROI on what you’re representing, put in the figures.
If you’ve made millions in revenues, then say so. If your conversion rates are above 30%, then make it known! You’ve just got to eventually back up these claims with real, verifiable facts.
If you’re unable to do so, you’ll be labeled as a liar and never be used as a resource again.
True honesty is always the best philosophy when it comes to the lead magnet. Even when mixed in with the data that you can back up, however, the humble lead magnet isn’t going to work. Why? Because people want results!
They want to know that you’ve gotten results and that they can at least replicate your efforts to get similar outcomes. The best lead magnets, however, will encourage people to do more than you did so their success can be greater and more fulfilling!
Your traffic can convert at massive rates when you’ve installed a good lead magnet above the fold. Put value into what you have to offer and make sure you are clear and concise in your words about that value. When you do that, you’ll create the foundation of better results instantaneously!
What is a lead magnet? The first step in your journey toward great success.
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