Lead Generation and Follow-Up

One thing that Web site owners don’t often think of in terms of driving traffic to their sites is lead generation. Lead generation in this context is nothing more than the process by which you gather the names and e-mail addresses of people who may be interested in your Web site or blog — these are all potential visitors. And following up on those leads is how you convert those potential visitors into actual visitors. Lead generation takes place in several different ways. For some sites, it’s a newsletter sign-up, but for others, it’s a contest or promotion that you e-mail to a mailing list you purchased from a
marketing company.
How can generating leads help you build traffic on your site? It’s easy, really. If you’re collecting leads, you can keep your site in front of potential visitors more often.
That does require follow-up, though. Although some Web site owners are great at collecting leads, they don’t do much with them — you should. If you have a collection of people who have willingly given you their e-mail address, you should be using that address as often as you can to keep in touch with those potential visitors.
Many Web site owners do collect e-mail addresses (which in this case are your leads). Having folks sign up for a newsletter is one of the most popular harvesting methods out there. You can also collect the e-mail addresses of visitors when they register for your site or when they purchase goods or services from you.
However you collect the addresses, they’re no good to you if they just sit on a list doing nothing. After you have your e-mail addresses, use them to put your name in front of those people — and the more helpful you can be in the process, the better it is for your Web site.
Here’s an example: One Web site owner collects people’s e-mail addresses for a newsletter. The newsletter goes out without fail (consistency is key with newsletters) every two weeks. That same Web site owner also sends out a message about once a month that contains tips that the readers can use immediately to improve their business.
This type of extra information — service above and beyond the call of duty — is what helps build traffic for the Web site. When potential visitors turn to the area that the site addresses, that site is of course the first site to come to mind because the Web site owner has kept the site’s name in front of them as often as possible.