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Lead Generation: 6 Hacks To Grow 174,853 Quality Leads (Part 1)

Lead Generation with humans representing

When it comes to marketing, lead generation is a strategy one must never leave out. By following these 6 hacks, you're bound to grow hundreds if not thousands of leads.

If you’re here today reading this, chances are you’re already exposed to lead generation marketing. Maybe your job is directly related to using this marketing tactic to achieve better results or maybe your lead generation campaigns are not doing as well as you’d like them to. 

In any case, here’s a warm welcome to this blog on improving your lead generation. 

By acquiring relevant knowledge makes you a valuable and in-demand asset when it comes to running a successful website. 

What Is Lead Generation?

What is lead generation and who are your leads?
There are billions of people online today, are you targeting the right ones?

Let’s first define the basics of lead generation in the simplest form.

Lead generation – A marketing activity aimed at acquiring direct contacts of prospects that are interested in your product or services. 

Now, what are leads in sales?

Leads – Prospects that have some level of potential of becoming a customer.

Without understanding them, your business is bound to fail. As the saying goes, you can’t build a strong house without a strong foundation. In order to grow, you need to generate leads so consumers can purchase from you. 

Remember this formula: 

Leads – Revenue – Profit

More leads mean more revenue. And more revenue means more profit. It’s a chain reaction, so to speak. 

Lead generation may seem simple in theory, but it’s definitely not easy to execute effectively without proper knowledge of this area. In fact, most lead generation efforts don’t work out because of these reasons:

i) The usage of wrong strategies
ii) Poor landing page design and navigation
iii) Lacking in convincing content
iv) Follow-ups not done right

Some of you may have done these mistakes before, especially during the early days of marketing, right? Well, don’t worry. We’ve all been there and done that.

Lead generation
is in a constant state of evolution. Hence, while writing this blog I tried my best to make sure it doesn’t go out-of-date in the coming years. If you’re serious about bringing your website to greater heights in 2019 and beyond, you need to be upgrading your lead generation strategies now. 

Moving on, I’ll be uncovering the 6 hacks I’ve personally experienced all these years that you can use to grow 174,853 or more quality website leads

6 Simple Lead Generation Hacks That Will Win You Massive Leads

…only if you get your basics right of course. You should learn up your search engine optimization, for instance. For most, investing your time in learning about these should be enough to provide you with a clear advantage and head start. 

But that’s not the focus of our topic today, we’ll leave it to another day. So, let’s get back to where we left off earlier. Right, how to generate leads! 

The following are 6 lead gen hacks in our Part 1 series today.

1. Create and update existing content regularly

I’m sure as a savvy digital marketer, you’ve heard of this all the time, “Publish new, fresh content regularly on your website.” 

Yes, that’s right. This is because Google prefers fresh content to stale content. Given a choice to rank a website that rarely publishes and a website that regularly publishes – given the quality of both sites are similar – Google will certainly rank the website that publishes regularly higher

In fact, to help the search engine algorithms draw up a pattern of publication on their website or blog so that whenever you post something, it is quickly, almost immediately, indexed and ranked.

However, when you create content, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time. You could take that post, optimize the content by updating it to the latest changes.

Doing so brings two benefits:

i) You don’t need to restart from scratch yet still create a fresh post out of it
ii) Link to the original piece and get some traffic to an old post

A screenshot of SEOPressor's Blog titled "Google's Title and Meta Description Length"
This blog was originally published in 2016 and was most recently updated. 

As you can see in the picture above, the blog was first written and published on April 13, 2016. The traffic went stale after a year.

However, an update was made quite recently to the piece and the traffic skyrocketed! To this date, this piece still ranks #1 on Google.

SEOPressor's blog "Google's Title and Meta Description Length" gets a featured snippet on Google
Better still, the page even got a featured snippet!

Now which content deserves a makeover? Here are several points that could help you determine which gems of yours are worth polishing:

  • It’s an evergreen topic. If the core concepts in the content are still suitable now, a little optimizing can bring it back to life again.
  • The metrics back it up. Use Google Analytics to identify your better-performing content; which ones were generating the most traffic, which was downloaded frequently, or contributed to the most sales.  
  • Conduct keyword research. Google some of your top keywords and make a note of pages that rank in the first few pages. That content is already performing well but with the right updates, it could help your site climb the rankings.

Hopefully, with these pointers, it’ll be a great way to keep your content calendar full and get the most value out of the good content that you’ve created. 

2. Answer questions on Quora

What if I told you that your company can generate leads through Quora?

Yes, you could most certainly gain fresh, new, traffic to your site. When done well, you can establish yourself as a thought leader too! 

Quora is a question-and-answer platform. It hosts a community that thrives on knowledge sharing. Its popularity is evident as Quora pages tend to appear as the top results on search engines.

With over 100 million visitors every month, companies all around the world are making use of Quora to drive organic leads. 

So how can you use Quora to target these relevant leads to your site? Well here are some of the steps that I’ve been practicing all this while.

The author's Quora profile screenshot as an attempt of lead generation

(i) Set Up A Proper Quora Profile. Use your real profile and include brief information about yourself and your company. Things you should also include are your areas of expertise, a comprehensive “about me” section, interests, geographical details, and access to other social media accounts.

(ii) Find The Right Questions. You don’t want to be answering everything you come across but stay as focused on your niche as possible. Build your brand by being picky in choosing the questions you want to answer. You may use BiQ Keyword Intelligence’s Popular Questions tab.

It will return with valuable insights on the types of questions people ask concerning your topic. 

This can be a great place for you to start creating how-to content and frequently asked questions! Use the question phrases as a roadmap to your content marketing success. 

(iii) Include Visuals. My experience tells me that images are great when it comes to Quora. From what I’ve noticed, those with visuals have a higher chance of being featured on the top of the string of answers. The average answer that doesn’t take advantage of visuals and that’s when they will lose out on potential leads. 

Another lead generation hack is by adding quality links in your Quora answers

(iv) Only Add Links That Brings Value. To lead your potential prospects to your website, you may add a link or two in your answer (I would add relevant links at the end or beginning). But never ever spam every post with tons of links to your site. You want to show passion for the niche and that’s done by varying your approach.

While it may seem like a lot of work and patience, interacting and building your reputation through Quora will have a lasting effect on lead generation as time passes. 

Go try it out!

3. Providing downloadable offers 

These strategies are known as lead magnets or as I commonly call it opt-ins; Having irresistible downloadables in exchange for the prospect’s contact information. In most cases, the visitor’s email address. 

My experience tells me the exit pop works best when providing downloadable offers to attract large volumes of opt-ins.

When I first came across this strategy, I had no clue what would a good opt-in practice be. Hence I went ahead and experimented with everything from optimizing the copy, changing the offers and designs over and over again.

LSIGraph created a piece of content that aligns with their brand – a valuable LSI Keywords guide. Their popup concisely explains what the prospect is getting out of this download.

So to get the guide mentioned, they’ll have to type in your email address and click the CTA [Send Guide To My Email Now]. At that point, your prospects will then become your lead capture

Here’s another example I found from SEOPressor’s blog:

SEOPressor's lead generation hack by using an exit pop

Building a lead generation machine could be challenging but once you crack it, it’ll be extremely rewarding as you can scale up faster. From ebooks to guides to podcasts, each type of offer you put behind a landing page has a specific job – that is lead generation. 

By experimenting with different types of offers, you can observe which ones resonate with your audience and are able to convert the most leads.

All in all, it’s not about ingratiating yourself to your prospects but providing as much value as possible. If your prospects perceive value from the start, they are much more likely to buy from you moving on. 

4. Utilize the art of email marketing

As a marketer, I think we can all agree that email marketing is not only extremely important, but a necessity for any business to succeed. 

Not buying that statement?

Believe it or not, people actually WANT to receive emails especially from companies they care about. Ask yourself, would you subscribe to a brand that you like to keep up to date with the latest news from the brand? I’m sure you do.

A bar chart from Statista.com about the number of emails sent and received worldwide
Source: Statista

According to Statista.com, in 2019 alone, there were over 293.6 billion emails sent! (Mind you, the year hasn’t ended yet). The amount will only keep increasing and it is expected to reach 347.3 billion in 2023.

These statistics alone show you how powerful and needed email marketing is. Besides, all of us are also pretty attached to our email right? We’ll be checking them for most of our waking hours and with the rise of mobile usage, doing it is super easy after all. 

That’s positive news because the majority of marketers say that email is their primary source of lead generation. Don’t worry, everyone starts with a database of none. It took me some time to get to where I am today and I’ve got Aweber to thank for that.

Here are some ways to add more email subscribers:

LSIGraph's lead generation strategy is by offering valuable incentives like guides through emails
If you’re subscribed to LSIGraph, you’ll be receiving a free guide from them in the email.

(i) Give A Valuable Incentive. This could be an e-book or an article providing tips and tricks or even a small discount on your product to show your appreciation for them signing up. 

(ii) Nurture With Amazing Content. Perhaps you send an email with in-depth videos that help your prospects reach their goal. Or share a lesser-known tip that can change the way your prospects approach a specific problem they are facing. 

A cross promotion between LSIGraph and WordGraph
A cross-promotion and collaboration between LSIGraph and WordGraph = a win-win situation!

(iii) Cross-Promote. Wouldn’t you want to cultivate your audiences across multiple channels and have them aware of other products and services that you might have? A little cross-promotion can drive these engaged prospects to mix around your email list, where you can arguably forge a deeper connection with them. 

(iv) Encourage People To Forward Your Email. Sentences like “Did you enjoy this email? Feel free to pass it along to your friends!” can be added at the end of your email. Of course, most people won’t do so but for those who do, you’ve just gotten yourself another strategy to generate more leads without having to lift a finger!

Thus, it’s safe to say that sending promotional emails is probably a common lead and revenue-generating tactic in your marketing toolkit. Remember to keep your email campaigns simple to help prospects sign up quickly.

5. Make your website clear and easy to take action on

To encourage your prospects to take action when they land on your site, you need to work out how to attract their attention and capture them. 

You’ll need to have:

i) A striking headline

The headline is by far the most important aspect and is estimated to account for as much as 80% of the success of any product purchase. That’s why first impressions count and it only takes seconds for your potential customers to decide whether they want to stay on your site or move on. 

LSIGraph's headline as seen on their landing page
A good headline promises solutions to a problem like how LSIGraph has successfully nailed.

Headlines must be able to intrigue visitors, reassure them that they are at the right place, and tell them the page’s purpose. Yes, all of those in a few sentences. It’s not easy to master the art of writing good headlines but it’s not rocket science either.

ii) A high-converting landing page

A landing page is where you give more details on how the product/services you’re offering will help your visitor. Deciding to use a long or short copy will have to depend on your target market and is your personal choice you’ll have to make. (I’ll suggest you do a split test! More on how you can do these in part 2)

Here’s an example from SEOPressor:

SEOPressor's landing page that contains all the necessary details
You can see an obvious call to action, a benefit-oriented headline, and a clear branding here.

Your landing page needs to have a headline that speaks to the target audience, a company logo, a quick explanation of your offer on the first fold, an image of the product offered, and a call-to-action button for a good landing page to work.

iii) A compelling call-to-action

A call-to-action is an invitation for a user to take on the next step. They exist everywhere – on your website, social media ads, blog posts, email campaigns, and more. Companies will put them at places they know their prospects are looking to invite them to subscribe, browse products, or input their information. 

The best call to action phrases uses brief but strong verbs such as:

Six examples of compelling call-to-action buttons
Source: Blaksheep Creative

These buttons have a specific goal: Get your prospects clicking and complete a conversion.

Sometimes, it’s not just about your call-to-action phrases. You’ll also need to have an aesthetically pleasing design. In the end, no matter how great your product and services are, your business is only going to be as successful as your ability to market it. 

6. Offer free tools on your website

In order to generate quality leads on a consistent basis, you need certain lead generation software in your arsenal. If you can offer easy-to-use tools on your site for free, users will be able to trust you more!

One example is the GDoc SEO Assistant, an SEO Add On For Google Documents, or the free Keyword Generator tool, as seen on Growth Seekers Hub

The last lead generation hack is by offering a free tool like how Growth Seekers Hub  did.
Head over to Growth Seekers Hub to try them out yourselves!

It’s obvious that free lead generation tools in any form will bring value to all prospects. Who doesn’t love some free stuff? In exchange for letting them use the tool without a charge, they are more willing to give you their contact information

    Here’s another example for you to bring home. The BiQ team has developed a new browser extension known to all as LiveKeyword!

    It provides useful keyword metrics for online marketing experts like you to excel in keyword research.

    This sleek extension has 2 main sections: “Relevant Keywords” and “Related Searches”. Both sections provide accurate estimates on your search query.

    Some main features include:
    ✔️ Related Keywords – phrases that people often search for in addition to your main keyword
    ✔️ Related Searches – searches that are closely related to your main keyword
    ✔️ Keyword Data – make better keyword research decisions with search volume, CPC, and competition
    ✔️ Export as CSV – download a large list of keywords in one go

    Get it here: https://biq.cloud/live-keyword

Take GDoc SEO Assistant as an example. The tool will be able to help content writers become SEO writing experts and strengthen their content with profound SEO optimization. Huge value right there, right?

Once trust is established, you’ll not only be able to get their contacts, you might even get them to purchase your products in the long run. 

More To Come…

Successful lead generation marketing requires strategy. These are 6 of the methods that I have been actively using. 

All of these methods have proven to be rewarding and practical all these years. I hope you’ll find them useful and put them into practice too! Until and unless you can generate high-quality leads, you can’t take your business to the next level.

Worthy prospects cum customers are what makes or breaks your business, remember that. 

What do you think of these lead generation methods and which ones have you tried that works for you best? Share your thoughts with me in the comment box down below!

About Winnie
Winnie is a copywriter and digital marketer in the vast world of SEO and marketing. She's as curious as she can be; constantly hunting for answers to her questions, never saying no to new experiences. When she's not spending her time typing up a storm, she is at home keeping up with her never-ending movie marathon & self-improvement books.