4 Must-Have Website Elements That Generate Leads Online

A lot of websites are designed for failure from the very beginning.

And really, I don’t blame the website designers, they’re just following instructions. Most of them take these outrageous requests of entrepreneurs and then implement.

And as for the entrepreneurs, I don’t blame them either.

Why? Because most of the time, they also don’t know what they want.

Websites are designed for two reasons- for plain ol’ brand awareness or to generate leads for the business. Either one has its peculiarities.

However, the design for each one is different. This is why it’s always good as an entrepreneur to know why you want a website designed. This would help you know the kind of results you should expect from it.

What’s The Purpose Of Your Website?

As I said, websites are designed for different reasons and this is one question I always ask my clients before embarking on any blog design projects. To make that question more personal, before embarking on sending your out-of-this-world website requests to your designer, answer this;

“What is the ultimate result I want from this website?” Break it down further by answering these:

1. Do I want it to make me money (lead generation)?
2. Do I want it to only showcase my business and brand?

This to me, is the first step before outlining what you want in a website.

If you answered ‘yes’ for number 1 (as is the purpose of this post), how do you know if your web designer got your design right? Here are 4 must-have elements you website must have if it will generate leads for you.

1. A Targeted Homepage

Your homepage has to speak to only one person- that person in your audience whom you’re trying to help. Now this entirely depends on how you want the layout to be. If it’s a blog layout you’d like to use for your homepage, then something on that page should show your messaging.

It could be a tagline beneath your website logo or an above the fold newsletter sign up form, like Marie Forleo’s website below.

With respect to targeting, your homepage also needs to have the right calls to action. Depending on what your purpose is, this could be for visitors to sign up to your email list, visit your ‘Start here’ page, go to your Services page or Sign up for your contest.

Your homepage also serves as a landing page and it would be one of the most visited pages on your website. The best thing you could do for yourself is to optimize it.

2. A Clear Landing Page

While your homepage can have several calls to action on different sections, the landing page only has one. I said clear because the only thing found on an optimized landing page is the content and the call to action. It’s often stripped of all navigation.

Why? A landing page only has one purpose: get the visitor/reader to take one specific action. This action then depends on what you want to achieve. Here’s a landing page below to show what I mean.

That’s actually my landing page. You’ll see that on it, I only have the text and the call to action that urges you to sign up to my email list to receive my free lead generation blueprint. Nothing more!

That should tell you something.

3. A Visible Lead Generation Sign Up Form

Since your purpose is to build an email list of leads that could buy what you’re selling, this goes without saying. You need to have a lead generation form in very visible places on your website.

So how should this form look like and where should it be?

Your form is also a call to action and so, it should not put your potential client through much stress.

A short form often comprises of just two fields- name and email fields. However, this also depends on what you want to achieve. Sometimes longer forms with fields such as location or name of business may be necessary, especially if your marketing requires more information from your visitor.

Hubspot and Smart Insights have long forms to help their lead generation practices be more targeted.

Where should you place your form? In a very visible place. This could be above the fold, or below it. The most important thing is that your website does its job of convincing the prospect so that his mind is already made up to subscribe once he spots your form.

However, above the fold is always preferable because only 20% of visitors even scroll down to read below the fold.

Above the fold could mean on the sidebar, as I have my form, or just below the navigation as you can see in the image below.

Also, if you have a blog attached to your website (if your purpose is lead generation, this is a no-brainer), you should also have the subscription form after the blog post (scroll to the bottom to see mine). This is because the purpose of people reading your post is ultimately to sign up for your newsletter.

Another place you could have your form is in the footer. But that entirely depends on you and your designer.

4. An Empathizing About Page

Oftentimes visitors, before engaging with any website, want to know what it’s about and the person (or people) behind it.

What this then means is that the job of your About page is to tell the visitor what your website is about and then what you, or your team are about. Your about page is the first place readers connect with you.

So, just like your homepage, the messaging on your about page has to be directed to one specific person in your audience. And you want to do this so well that once they read it, they’ll automatically relate with it and even subscribe to your email list.

Summing it all up…

As the entrepreneur with the business, you’re to dictate to the designer in clear terms what you want. This would help you get the results you want from your website. Your designer is not a magician and so he can’t read your mind.

If you don’t have a website yet, or plan on getting one soon, here are the things to look out for;

With these four elements, you’re well on your way to getting a badass website.

What do you think? Does your website have these elements? Share your thoughts in the comments below.