If you’ve read any of our existing articles you’ll know that we are huge advocates of lead magnets for small businesses. Why? Because they can help you capture potential customers’ contact information and turn them into paying customers.
In this article, we’ll cover the key places you need to include your lead magnet to maximise signups.
WHAT IS A LEAD MAGNET?
Lead magnets are any free resource that you offer in exchange for someone’s contact details (their name and email address).
They are the most effective way of building your email list, which is crucial for any small business in order to nurture the interest of prospective customers.
WHAT DOES A LEAD MAGNET LOOK LIKE?
A lead magnet can take many forms from an Ebook to a quiz to a report. The key to creating a successful lead magnet is ensuring it meets a want or needs of your audience, by doing so you’ll be pulling in new email subscribers in droves.
If you don’t have a lead magnet in place or you’re not sure which one is right for you, download our free guide. This guide will walk you through a bunch of ideas with real-life inspiration to get your creative juices flowing.
PLACEMENT OF YOUR LEAD MAGNET
Once your lead magnet is designed and in place, the next step is to promote it! Use the following placements to ensure maximum visibility of your lead magnet, which will result in maximum sign-ups.
Homepage
Your homepage is probably your most visited page on your website, so you must take advantage of that essential first touch point. Placing your lead magnet within the top third of your homepage will give it maximum visibility, and ensure people see it before enticing them with the other information you offer.
Even better – if you can place your lead magnet before the fold (in the area that appears before people have to scroll) you’ll ensure that every visitor sees your offer.
About Us page
Did you know that the About Us page is, statistically, the second most visited page on any website?
A common mistake to avoid is not providing visitors with a clear path forward on this page. Does your About Us page encourage people to move forward, or does it lead people to a dead end? Your lead magnet is a great call to action on your about us page, providing people with an obvious action for them to take. If people are landing on your About page then the chances are they’re interested in what you are doing, and will be interested in your offer.
Popups
Do you think popups are annoying and deter people from your site? Well you might find them annoying but truth is told, they work! Not only this but you can configure your popups behaviour so that it only appears in certain places, or even when someone is going to close out of your page (an exit intent popup). Plus you can usually configure them to not appear for returning visitors, so what’s the harm?
We suggest adding a delay to your popup so it only appears when visitors reach a certain point on your page or have spent a certain amount of time on it—this help to qualify their interest and engagement before the popup shows up.
Social media bio’s
Your social media bio is prime real estate, after all, it’s one of the first things people see when they land on your social profiles. Ensure you have your lead magnet featured within your bio, either as a direct link or through an App like Linktree. This will help to maximise the uptake of your subscribers.
Some apps are social platforms that also track link clicks, which will help you see how many people are signing up from that source.
Blog articles
Blog articles are a great way to connect with your audience on a level that demonstrates your expertise, and provides the reader with value. It’s also a fantastic tool for retaining the engagement of visitors once they reach your site. Ensure that you mention your lead magnet in relevant blog articles and also consider having a static opt-in at the bottom of each article. Chances are if a visitor has taken the time to read a full article, they’re going to want to hear from you more, so this is a perfect opportunity to request their contact info through your lead magnet, plus they get the free content so it’s a win-win.
There are a couple of key things to remember about the design and placement of your lead magnet. The first is that whatever your lead magnet is, it needs to be of interest to your audience. A little market research can go a long way in helping to validate your lead magnet ideas.
Secondly, you need to get into a ‘list building’ mentality. Always have this at the front of your mind when creating content. This way you’ll be able to quickly and easily identify the best places to include your lead magnet and as a result, you’ll see better sign-up rates.
Lastly, don’t be afraid to test things. Marketing is all about testing what works for your audience and what doesn’t.
If you’re seeing a low sign-up rate consider testing your call to action copy, your freebie description and placements before you rethink the lead magnet itself. Sometimes a simple change in copy can make the difference you need.