This 12,000-word tutorial walks you through 13 online lead generation tactics you can use to attract prospects, optimize your website, and capture free website traffic into your marketing funnel.
You’ve been churning out content your audience will love.
You’ve done your research, and there’s a hole in the market that you’re about to fill.
Your content marketing strategy is in place.
Yet nothing is happening.
Email signups are level, and there aren’t any noticeable increases in sales.
Your lead generation tactics are running flat, and it’s almost time to tell your boss or client what results your strategy has gotten them.
OR it’s time to evaluate how your own strategy has been doing.
I’d be freaking out.
But I’d also be puzzled. You’re producing great content, which everyone says is essential. And you’re distributing it in all the right channels.
Yet it’s not accomplishing one of the ultimate goals of every content marketing strategy:
Generating high quality leads that will have a strong chance of turning into happy customers.
Don’t worry.
I put together these lead generation tactics to demystify the path it takes to get these results.
You’ll learn…
- How to optimize your site to capture leads
- Techniques for attracting high quality, targeted leads
- How to use your free content to generate additional leads — without having to lift a finger
- And the essential step to maximize your efforts before lead generation
All of this with actionable steps you can follow, right this instant.
Whether you work in marketing or you’re thinking about starting a lead generation business, these tactics will help you get the results you’re looking for.
The Guidelines for Each Lead Generation Tactic
When I set out to write this article, I came up with a few guidelines each tactic must meet.
There’s a lot of information out there, but most of what I’ve found talks about ideas and concepts.
It’s useful information, but I wanted to write an article that can be used as an actionable guide.
I wanted this article to become a “one-stop shop” that can improve your lead generation efforts right now.
Here are those guidelines:
- Each tactic must be free to implement, but may have a paid option.
- They’re proven and tested tactics to attract targeted leads and capture them (with examples and links to case studies), not just ideas or overall best practices.
- They’re simple enough to walk through and implement, for anyone from marketing professionals to first-time bloggers.
Are you ready for this?
Great.
Fire up another tab, and delve into 13 actionable lead generation tactics you can implement right now.
Let’s get started.
Note: Learn how to drive 34,000 search engine visits in 60 days (for free) using cost effective SEO.
Contents:
Part I. Optimizing Your Site to Capture Leads
#1 How to Create Valuable Free Content that Converts Visitors
#2 How to Integrate Content Upgrades that Readers Can’t Ignore
#3 Increase Conversions by Using Pop-up Forms
#4 How to Use Dedicated Landing Pages with Dedicated “Subscribe Bribes” to Capture Guest Post Traffic
#5 Cut Down the Choices People Have on Your Lead-Generating Pages
#6 How to Capture Leads Using Gated Videos
#7 Twitter Lead Generation Cards
#8 Harness the Power of SlideShare Presentations
Part II. Techniques for Attracting Targeted Leads
#9 LinkedIn Tactics for Targeted Traffic
#10 How to Generate a Master List of High Quality Leads Using Followerwonk
#11 Google+ Tactics With Your Content as a Lead Magnate
Part III. Optimizing Free Giveaways to Maximize the Viral Value of Each Lead
#12 How to Optimize Your Subscribe Bribes to Generate Additional Leads
Part IV. The Essential Step Before Lead Generation
#13 The Final (and Most Important) Tactic
Part I. Optimizing Your Site to Capture Leads
In this part, we’ll prepare your site to capture the traffic you’re building.
This is the meatiest section, because without a solid framework to capture leads, the work you’re putting in to generate leads through your content will be futile.
Including all of the work it took to create your content.
Speaking of content, here’s our first tactic.
#1 How to Create Valuable Free Content that Converts Visitors
I believe Jon Morrow coined the term “subscribe bribes,” describing free content that’s given away in exchange for contact information.
Without a valuable asset to entice someone, it’s tough to solicit email addresses and other contact details.
Prospects would have to spend enough time on your site absorbing your content to be inspired (not enticed) to hear from you more often.
Even though this should happen either way — because your content is excellent — people have short attention spans. We need to capture leads as quickly and efficiently as possible before they leave, sometimes never to return.
You have tons of options to offer visitors.
Here are a few:
- In-depth eBooks
- Free courses
- A video series
- Access to a membership area filled with content
- Free webinars
- Templates and ready-made spreadsheets, which help people skip a major step in the planning process
You don’t have to choose just one. Give away multiple pieces of valuable content to cater to different needs.
No matter what you choose, it should be specific to your audience.
Despite these being free giveaways, they need to be extremely high value. They should be worth paying for.
This “bribe” will be an asset that continues to garner returns far into the future.
For people to give up their information (and become leads) the value of your offer must outweigh what they’re giving up.
For instance, on Quicksprout, Neil Patel gives away a 30 day course on generating traffic.
Courses are great. They convey high value information
And once those leads are generated, the length of time helps them become more invested in you.
They’re also nice for building relationships. So if you offer a course, keep the dialogue open by telling participants to contact you if they need anything.
More examples of high value giveaways
Pat Flynn gives away an eBook on creating eBooks.
One of HubSpot’s many giveaways is a collection of eBook templates, and it’s even preloaded my information from a previous opt-in.
Copyblogger gives away not one, but 16 eBooks AND a 20-part internet marketing course.
Note: If you’re running a small business make sure you have a stable and reliable internet connection – such as centurylink internet plans.
That’s a powerful opt-in right there.
Notice: Each giveaway is high value and targeted to their audience.
Place your free content in accessible areas of your site.
- The navigation bar
- Home page
- The top of each page
- Your sidebar
- Embedded at the end of posts
- Embedded within posts (tactic #2)
- And pop-ups (tactic #3)
If you’re struggling to come up with an opt-in, I suggest repurposing your most popular content.
You can repurpose content many ways.
Take your best blog post and make it into an eBook
This is super quick.
Just copy-paste your most popular, highest value blog post into a word document. Format it nicely so it’s easy to read (I usually go with 14-point font).
Then create a cover.
The best free tool I’ve found is Canva. They have preset sizes for book covers, as well as other online images, such as email headers.
Save your document as a PDF and your eBook is finished.
You’ll then want to host it online. I host mine with my email provider, but you can also use something like Dropbox to accomplish the same thing.
Then you need to set up an automatic delivery system once people opt-in. I link it in the “Thank You” email on Mailchimp. But you can also set up a custom “thank you” page on your website with a link to download the eBook, or send it in the “Welcome” email.
Then you’re all set!
Your asset is in place.
Collect multiple posts into an eBook or course
To create an eBook using multiple posts, use the same method as above. Generally, the more content in your giveaway, the higher the value (and the more likely people will opt in).
To create a course, you can distill the most important information into an email autoresponder series. However, this is a paid service.
For a free option, create multiple eBooks that are set up in step-by-step order for people to follow.
Courses are usually engaging experiences, so come up with “homework” to get readers involved and taking action.
Also, keep the line of communication open. Make sure people know they can contact you or someone else for additional help and advice.
Set milestones that people should aim to accomplish after each step, and your course is underway.
You can deliver it the same way you would deliver an eBook. Just make all of them available for download in one automated email or a custom page.
Transcribe the dialogue of a webinar or podcast to create an eBook
Webinars and podcasts are valuable giveaways in and of themselves, but if you already have one made and would like to repurpose it, this is a great option.
These guys offer a free trial transcription.
Install a membership area of your site filled with your best content, and only allow subscribers to have access
Copyblogger has gone this route, and they also use it as a way to introduce their paid membership area.
If you would like to try this out, check out this list of 7 plugins to create a membership area from Blogging Wizard.
The bottom line
If you want to optimize your site to convert traffic, and capture a large number of leads, it’s almost non-negotiable to have some sort of giveaway.
You need something of value to exchange with visitors for permission to contact them further.
That way, you can send them more valuable content. This builds a unique bond between you and your audience, and you can sprinkle your interactions with targeted promotions to convert them into happy customers.
#2 How to Integrate Content Upgrades that Readers Can’t Ignore
Content upgrades allow you to give away valuable, post-specific freebies within your content in exchange for an email address.
Content upgrades are useful because they force the reader to scan over your opt-in.
On the other hand, a visitor may arrive, read your article, and leave without ever looking at your sidebar or making it down to the bottom of your post (where most people place their opt-ins).
But visitors can’t ignore an opt-in within the body of the content they’re reading. (click to tweet this epic quote)
(Check out this case study done by Brian Dean at Backlinko, describing how he got a 785% increase in subscribers with just two content upgrades on his site)
Let’s check out some tools to help you generate leads with content upgrades.
SumoMe “Leads” app
I first realized the usefulness of SumoMe in this article by Robbie Richards, where he describes how he grew his email list at a tremendous rate.
SumoMe has tons of cool features and apps, including heat mapping and content analysis software that lets you see how people interact with your site.
Most of their apps are free, but they offer paid ones as well. I would highly recommend checking out SumoMe if you haven’t already.
The Leads app lets you to place a button anywhere in your content. This button allows the reader to download the article they’re reading as a pdf, in exchange for their email address.
SumoMe offers Leads as a free trial first, with the option for a paid subscription.
(If you don’t want to pay, I came up with a free option that can have the same effect. We’ll discuss it at the end of this section.)
First, choose where to place the button, and whether you want it to be small or the full width of the article.
Then, click on the orange button to bring up the following screen.
Create a title and a compelling call to action.
Then, choose the type of upgrade you want your reader to get.
You can choose between a checklist PDF, custom URL, just collecting their email, or a generic PDF.
I went with the generic PDF.
Then upload a logo and grab the HTML from your WordPress editor (or wherever the HTML for your content is located) and input them into SumoMe so it can create the PDF for you.
And you’re good to go!
For those who are looking for a free alternative, I would suggest this…
A completely free option
Create a PDF of the article yourself.
Build a landing page for it. I used LaunchRock (thanks for the heads up, Robbie).
Then, simply place links to it within your content at strategic locations – typically half way, one-third, and/or two-thirds of the way through the article, depending on its length.
I place a link at the beginning of the article as well, providing a little more detail about the download.
This lets readers download the article and save it for later, so they can read it offline as well.
It also gives you a chance to connect with your audience through your email list, and potentially gain additional leads through the content you give away (we’ll talk about how to do this in tactic #12).
Offer category-specific opt-ins at the end of your posts
Making your giveaway related to the topic of the post can aid your lead generation efforts.
The logic is simple.
If a reader has been interested enough to read your article all the way through (or they’ve skimmed to the bottom), the individual is primed to want more information on the topic.
Enter your perfectly placed, perfectly timed, category-specific opt-in to save the day.
Let’s check out some examples.
After an article directed towards sales reps, HubSpot places the following non-coincidental opt-in form.
Contently places this opt-in at the end of their posts on content marketing and content strategy.
And this one at the end of their freelance articles.
To make this technique even more effective, you could create upgrades that directly enhance the post, such as a template or checklist to help them with the next step of what you’re discussing.
You would link to these upgrades at the end of your article and 1-2 times within your content, to give readers maximum exposure without being too pushy.
If it’s related to the topic, and it’s highly valuable, it shouldn’t come off annoying. It should come off helpful.
Making category-specific opt-ins available for download does mean that you have to create extra content.
But if it will generate more leads, leading to more sales down the line, why not invest more time now to gain additional benefits later?
#3 Increase Conversions by Using Pop-up Forms
Have you noticed how many sites are using pop-up forms?
There’s a reason for that.
Dan Zarrella published this case study analyzing his conversion rate between email pop-ups and not having them.
He saw a noticeable decline in subscriptions when they weren’t active (from 3.08% down to 1.52%) and almost no change in bounce rate (75.66% with pop-up and 75.13% without).
His subscription rate increased with a pop-up form, while there was almost no change in user satisfaction.
Another example:
In this case study, WPBeginner installed a pop-up and increased their daily subscribers from 70-80 per day to 445-470.
PER….DAY….
That’s a 600% increase.
Of course, every website is different. And this doesn’t meant these successes will be replicated for anyone else.
But I suggest giving them a try, and split testing with your own site.
I’ve broken down two pop-up forms for you.
The first is straightforward and pops up in the middle of your screen, and the other offers some more more customizable options.
SumoMe “List Builder” app
I’ve found SumoMe’s List Builder app to be the quickest and easiest form to set up.
It pops up in the center of the screen, and of course, it’s 100% free.
Install the plugin by going to your WordPress dashboard and searching for “SumoMe” in the “Add Plugins” tab.
Then click “Install” and activate the plugin.
You will need to register an account. After that, you’re ready to rock.
All of your SumoMe apps are accessed through a blue tab on the side of your browser, next to your scroll bar.
When you hover over it, it pops out like this.
Click the tab.
A screen will pop up with your settings, notifications, installed apps, and a link to the Sumo Store. For now, the Sumo Store is what we want.
Once you’re in the Sumo Store, install the List Builder app and click “Open.”
Here, you’ll be presented with 5 tabs on the left side.
Head over to the “Design” tab.
Fill out all of the information you want. You can also check out mine below for an example.
A couple things about List Builder:
- Test out how the pop-up looks on mobile devices. If it’s too big, sometimes the user won’t be able to scroll to get to your call to action button (BIG DEAL). I’ve had this happen on both iPhone and Android when I included a picture of the eBook. It made the box too long, so I had to remove the image.
- Don’t forget to click the green “Save” button at the top right before moving on to another tab. If you don’t, you may lose the work you’ve done on that tab.
Some pieces of HTML you might want to include:
- Header tags — <h1>YOUR TEXT</h1> (or h2, h3, h4, h5. Play around and see what looks best.)
- Line break — Place </br> where you want to make space before the next paragraph. You might need to use two in a row (</br></br>) to create sufficient space.
- Italics — <em>YOUR TEXT</em>.
- Bold — <strong>YOUR TEXT</strong>.
- Aligning your text — <p style=”text-align: center;”> YOUR TEXT HERE</p>
Of course, you could always use an HTML editor or the WordPress post editor, type in the text, style it how you want, head over to the “text” tab, and then copy-paste the code.
But, it’s always nice to know these things when you’re in a hurry.
When you have finished designing, click “Save” then head to the “Behavior” tab.
In this tab, we’re going to set the delay time before the form pops up and how often we want to show it to visitors.
Here’s how I’ve got mine set up, but do your own testing and see what works well for you.
Click “Save” and head over to the “Services” tab.
Connect the app to your email provider.
Finally, the advanced section is for people who want to custom code their own form to use instead.
Pretty nifty if you’re a coder.
I’m not, so I left that tab alone.
That’s it!
You should have a sweet new pop-up form that isn’t too intrusive.
Let’s check out another service with different options.
The Dreamgrow Scroll Triggered Box
This plugin has some cool features, and it’s much less disruptive than most of the pop up plugins out there.
You can choose which area of the screen you want it to pop up, whether it slides in or fades in, which pages it shows up on, how often it pops up, and how far down the page people need to scroll
It’s fully customizable, including the code.
Here’s what it looks like integrated with my Mailchimp embed form.
Let’s install this bad boy and see what cool tricks we can do with it.
(Note: Integration happens by copy-pasting the code of your email provider’s embed form into the plugin’s editor. It works with Mailchimp, but I don’t know about the other providers. Do a quick Google search to check if your provider is supported. If you can embed a code, I don’t see why it wouldn’t work.)
You can install Dreambox straight from your dashboard, or download it here and upload it to WordPress.
Once it’s activated, the plugin will be under the heading “Scrollboxes” on the left side.
Click on “Add New Scrollbox,” and you will be brought to a page that looks like a regular post editor.
Lo and behold, it’s the editor for your new scrollbox.
From there, you have three options:
- You can use their default themes. There’s 3 to choose from.
- You can custom code your own and replace their code.
- You can grab the embed code from your email provider and replace their code.
The quickest and easiest way is to grab the embed code from your email provider.
It’s also the only way I’ve found to directly integrate the scrollbox, meaning that as soon as someone enters their email, they’re on your list and it triggers whatever automated emails you have set up.
If you don’t integrate this way, the email address of each person that signs up gets emailed to you, which can create some hassle manually adding those emails to your list.
(Especially with the amount of emails you’ll capture after reading this article.)
😉
Let’s run through the set up real quick, assuming you’re going to copy-paste your email provider’s embed code.
Grab that code, delete the default code, and paste in your code.
If you want to change the call to action of the subscribe button, look for a piece of code that looks like this:
<div class=”clear”><input id=”mc-embedded-subscribe” class=”button” name=”subscribe” type=”submit” value=”Subscribe” /></div>
And change “Subscribe” within value=”Subscribe” to the CTA of your choosing.
Example: value=”Get It Now”
Then head down to the next section.
Here, you can decide where you want your form to pop up, how far readers have to scroll, how frequently it will pop up, and on which pages of your site.
Choose where you want the form to pop up.
For the “Triggering action” part, you can choose to have it pop up when people scroll down a certain length or once they hit a certain element on the page (like the comments section).
Scrolling is intuitive, but if you want it to pop up on an element, set it up like this:
“#comments” will trigger the pop at the start of the comments section.
Check out this page for a list of elements to choose from (you’ll need to scroll down a bit).
After that, decide which pages the form will pop up.
I chose posts only, because I have other forms in place for the rest of my pages.
I also disabled the form on mobile devices. When I tested it, the form made entering your email address almost impossible. I asked about it on the support forum, and they said there’s no way around it yet.
But test it for yourself and see how it works.
The next part is extremely important, because it threw me through a loop (despite the solution being so simple).
Check out the section where it says “Where to send default form data?”
If you are NOT integrating your email provider, put your email address in there so it can send you the addresses of people who sign up.
If you ARE integrating your email provider, LEAVE IT BLANK. Otherwise, the form won’t work.
The rest of the settings help you customize aesthetics.
The most important one is the size of your box. 300 px works best for me.
I decided to leave all of my social icons inactive, because when the form pops up, I want people to do one thing and one thing only:
Stick their email address in there and click the button.
(We’ll delve into the theory behind this in tactic #5.)
#4 How to Use Dedicated Landing Pages with Dedicated “Subscribe Bribes” to Capture Guest Post Traffic
This guest post by Noah Kagan adequately sums up the benefits of dedicated landing pages and bribes.
He also employs it nicely with that post.
(Smart guy)
The gist is this:
When you get an opportunity to guest post, try to get as much value as possible out of each post.
How do we define value?
In a lead generation sense, value is determined by clicks to your website that turn into email subscriptions.
Now, this could happen without a dedicated landing page or free giveaway.
For example…
People could click one of the links within your article or a link in your byline, head over to your site, check it out for a bit, decide they want to hear more from you, and then subscribe to your list.
But, as we learned in the section on post-specific giveaways, it’s more effective to create a specialized piece of content for each guest post that is targeted for those readers.
Then, when we combine this targeted content with the conversion power of a landing page, we get a double whammy of Guest Post Lead Generation.
It should also be noted that guest posting isn’t restricted to bloggers.
Companies, corporations, small businesses; any business can benefit from guest posting.
If you’re a company, and you don’t want to guest post as a brand, have one of your staff members post as themselves, but on behalf of your brand by linking back to a landing page on your company website (or wherever you want to send traffic).
Two techniques
Let’s walk through two techniques to generate leads from guest posts.
One is done by most people, and the other by Noah Kagan.
Noah Kagan uses a slightly different technique:
He DOES NOT require people to opt-in to receive his free giveaway.
Check out what he did for a guest post on HubSpot:
(I’m already a subscriber. Otherwise, it would have worked on me.)
He leaves it up to the individual to make their own decision about whether they want to hear more about his growth tactics.
They’re not forced to give away their information first.
By doing it willingly, I would assume this method converts gets higher quality subscribers, but less volume.
I also think, by requiring the opt-in, people don’t lose a significant amount of those higher quality subscribers.
And they may even convert the lower quality subscribers into devoted followers, once these followers engage with their content through email.
Then again, I’m not Noah Kagan.
Here’s another example. This time from Ramit Sethi.
Readers got funneled to this landing page from a guest appearance on Tim Ferriss’ podcast.
Different type of content.
Same effect.
But in this case, Ramit decided to require visitors to opt-in to join his free mini-course.
It also became an avenue for Ramit to promote his upcoming paid course.
He got two benefits out of this:
- Targeted subscribers who are interested in what he has to say, because they listened to the podcast
- Direct leads to promote his product
With your next guest post (or guest appearance), split test requiring readers to opt-in versus not requiring it, and see which performs best.
Then write up a case study so we can all learn from it.
Thanks.
The point is…
You should always have a dedicated landing page and bribe in place to maximize the returns from each guest post.
It takes slightly longer to put together, but it could send you high quality, targeted leads for a the life of the post.
#5 Cut Down the Choices People Have on Your Lead-Generating Pages
“The time it takes to make a decision increases proportionally to the number and complexity of choices” – Usability.gov
This is the definition for Hick’s law, or the Hick-Hyman law.
In terms of conversion rate optimization, the fewer options you give a visitor, the faster they’ll make a decision. (click to tweet this epic quote)
And if you only give them one decision (signing up for your list), they have a much higher likelihood of making the decision you want them to.
I first heard about this law in an article on Unbounce.
It cites a case study done by Marvin Russell of MySiteAuditor, in which they decreased the number of choices on their free trial sign up page from 13 options to 1 (filling out the form) and increased conversions by over 25%.
The article also cites a quote from the CEO of Groove, who said they simplified their sign up form and increased conversions by over 30%.
Additional choices increase the time it takes for your visitors to make a decision.
When generating leads, you want them to make your desired decision as fast as possible with minimal distractions.
The more options they have, the more likely they’ll choose not to give you their contact information.
This is why you’ll come across sign up pages with no header, no footer, and one form with one call to action.
Doing this minimizes the number of choices people can make, it forces them to zero in on the choice you want them to make, and increases the likelihood of them making this choice.
This is a simple lead generation tactic that can make a substantial improvement in your lead conversion rate.
An example
I love James Clear’s website. And his blog in general.
It’s clean, it’s simple, and it’s…well…clear.
Check out his header.
And his footer.
Does he have a sidebar?
Nope.
Does he have 15 social share icons?
Nope.
He has limited his site to what people need to know, and nothing more.
If they want to learn more about him – one click.
If they want to read his articles – another click.
If they want to check out his books, photography, or contact him, there’s a few more.
And he’s got a link to his newsletter that stands out above everything else.
(I actually borrowed the layout for my home page from him, because I love its simplicity.)
Can you guess how many subscribers he has?
Also, the sign up page for his newsletter has one choice.
Signing up.
No header.
No footer.
Nothing else.
The bottom line
Want more leads?
Cut down the number of choices people have on your lead generating pages.
Then split test.
#6 How to Capture Leads Using Gated Videos
An opt-in “gate” requires the user to submit their email address to gain access to a piece of content, or sometimes to an entire website (like Jon Morrow’s).
If you’ve been contemplating how to get more value out of your videos, try installing a gate to capture leads.
Most services give you the option of requiring an opt-in at the beginning, end, or in the middle (once the viewer is invested in the video).
Gears should be moving inside your head.
This is powerful stuff.
Check out these two examples.
Matthew Woodward is an SEO expert who creates tons of high quality video tutorials.
Most (if not all) of his videos are gated.
You can skip the opt-in if you wish, which is gracious of him. Most I’ve seen don’t let you do this.
Brian Dean teases you with four minutes of his video on how to rank for any keyword (a massive tease) before prompting you to opt-in to his email list.
(P.S. This is how he got me.)
Getting excited?
Are those gears moving?
Good.
Most of the tools to create gated videos are paid.
In keeping with the free guideline of this article, let’s check out a tool to help you create gated videos that won’t break the bank.
(I’ll throw in a link to a popular paid one afterwards)
Note: If you’re not planning on creating gated videos, or you just want to see the paid option, click here to skip down the page.
ShortStack
ShortStack is a versatile tool used for campaign-building.
You can create promotional campaigns, quizzes, voting sessions, Instagram promotions, photo promotions, contests; almost anything you can think of to engage an audience by promoting content.
Like most of these types of services, ShortStack offers paid and free features.
Their free features are more than enough to create a gated video.
However, you won’t be able to host it on your own site or with a custom URL.
But you can still make one. And it works well.
(Note: As of the writing of this article, ShortStack only integrates with Mailchimp. If you don’t use Mailchimp, I have included a work around option when we get to the integration step.)
First, go to their home page and click “Start Creating Free Campaigns.”
You will be prompted to sign up.
Create an account.
You will then be taken to this page:
Click on “Start with a Template.” This will make your life much easier.
Then, go up to the search box at the top-right.
Type “video” and click “Search.”
Find the template that’s called “Super Video Tab.”
That’s the one we’re going to use, so give it a nice, solid click.
Then click the orange “Make Campaign” button.
You will be taken to the main screen where we’ll edit your page.
Each box is called a “widget,” and we can edit and move them around to do our bidding.
The first thing you should do is delete the “Template Instructions” widget.
You don’t need that, because that’s what I’m here for.
Delete it by hovering over with your cursor and clicking on the trashcan symbol in the top-right corner.
The page will reload and it should be gone.
Now we’re going to add our sign up form.
Our “gate.”
Like I mentioned in the beginning, ShortStack only integrates with Mailchimp.
However, here’s the work around:
If you don’t use Mailchimp, I suggest making an account to collect leads from your videos, then transferring the list over to whatever email provider you use.
To keep this tactic free, you can gather your first 2000 addresses with Mailchimp at no charge. If you end up hitting that number, just transfer those leads to your main list and delete the addresses on your Mailchimp list. Then you can continue adding to it for free.
That should do the trick.
(However, don’t quote me on that, because I haven’t tried it myself. Experiment with a couple addresses first before setting up your video.)
Back to creating our gated video.
On the left side of the widgets, you’ll see a long panel with tiny squares for tools and such.
That’s where our sign up form is.
Look for the “Forms” heading and click on the symbol with the letter. It looks like this:
That should bring up a form to enter your Mailchimp API key.
If you don’t know where to get your key, log in to your Mailchimp account.
Click on “Account.” Then click on the “Extras” drop-down menu. API keys should be your first choice.
Click on it, generate a new key if you like, and copy-paste that key into the box in ShortStack.
Once you do that, Step 2 will magically appear below, allowing you to choose which list you want people to sign up to.
Next, use the left navigation to click on “Options.”
Where it says “Send This Notice to New Subscribers,” I suggest choosing “Double Opt-in Confirmation.”
After that, give your viewers some instructions on how to play the video.
In the box that says “Instructions to User” type something along the lines of “Subscribe now to view this video on lead generation.”
Then, use the left navigation and click on “Text.”
It will look like this:
Your text should compel people to sign up.
In the row that says “Submit,” write a new call to action under the heading that says “Display This Instead.”
I chose “Play” so the viewer knows once they enter their email they’ll get to play the video.
You can edit the other parts to your liking, depending on how you’re going to frame the sign up.
Leave the rest of the settings as they are.
Click the orange “Save & Exit” button.
You should be taken back to the widgets screen, and you should have a new widget with your sign up form that looks like this:
I clicked and dragged the widget to position it above the video, but below the categories widget.
Next, we’re going to integrate the video we want to show.
ShortStack supports Youtube and Vimeo, so it should cater to almost everyone’s needs.
To integrate a video, head to the long panel on the left and look for the “Integrations” tab.
Then, look for the icon that has a little play button. That’s the one we want.
Give it a nice, firm click.
A screen will pop up for you to enter the URL of your video.
Grab the URL and stick it in there.
Next, head down to the “Sharing” tab on the left and create a label for your share buttons. I would also select “Use Image from Share Widget.”
IMPORTANT: Do not adjust the visibility settings. You can play around with the other settings, but we need these to stay as they are. You’ll see why in a bit.
Click on “Save & Exit” when you’re ready.
At this point, you may or may not see your video on the widget screen.
If you don’t, that’s okay. We’re going to delete their default videos.
At the very top of the screen, find the symbol that looks like three pages stacked in front of each other.
It should say “Edit Widgets Panel” when you hover over it.
Click on that symbol.
(This panel may already be open for you.)
It should look something like this:
We’re going to rearrange these widgets, adjust the visibility of one of them, and then we’re almost finished.
If you don’t have a “Container” widget already, head over to the left panel and find the symbol below. Then click on it.
It should have been added to your widgets panel, possibly under the “Main Container” heading.
We want the regular Container we just added to be by itself, so it’s not under anything else.
Simply click, drag, and drop it at the top.
Next, we need to put your YouTube or Vimeo video under the Container header we just moved.
Your YouTube video should be named “Video” by default and have a blue symbol next to it.
Click, drag, and drop it under the Container heading so it sits slightly aligned to the right.
This means that however we edit the Container widget, it will do the same thing to our YouTube video.
Now, let’s delete ShortStack’s default videos.
Click on each video to select it. Then use the trashcan symbol in the bottom right of the panel to delete.
You should end up with something that looks like this:
Next, we’re going to change the visibility settings of the “Container” widget, so that it’s hidden when the page loads.
Then, we’re going to set up an action that shows the video once the user submits their email address.
Hover over the Container widget within the panel and click on the eyeball symbol.
This will bring up the visibility settings.
Where it says “Display State” choose the option that says “Starts Hidden.”
Leave everything else as is and click “Save & Exit.”
The video shouldn’t be displayed on your widget screen anymore.
And next…
We’re on to our final step before publishing.
Here, we’re going to tell ShortStack to only show the video once the user submits their information.
On the long panel, find the tab at the bottom that says “Advanced.”
The first symbol should be an arrow called the “Action Widget.” This lets us do an “If this, then that” type of proxy.
Click on it.
It will bring up this screen.
Where it says “in” next to the box, use the pull-down menu to bring up “Newsletter.”
Then make sure the box to the right says “the form is submitted.”
Then click “Add Action” to bring up another form.
In the first drop-down menu, select “Container” and in the one next to it select “Show.”
Now, after someone submits their info into the newsletter widget, it will show what’s in the container widget (AKA your video).
That’s our gate!
Click “Save & Exit.”
Finally, head up to the top-right of your screen and click “Publish Campaign.”
Ignore all the stuff about upgrading.
Click on the hyperlink “Publish to the Web only.”
Again, ignore all the stuff about upgrading, and click “Try it Free” in the bottom-right corner.
It should say your campaign is live and provide you with a URL for your page.
Grab that link and copy-paste it into another tab.
Your page should show up without the video.
Test out your form by submitting your email address.
Then your video should appear.
There’s your gated video!
Lastly, head over to your email account and make sure whatever automated emails you have in place got sent over.
If they did, you’re good to go.
And if you hate the link for your new page, you can use a plugin like Pretty Link to make a custom one using your domain.
I know that was a long process, and I’m sure there are more efficient free options out there.
So if you know of any, please tell me in the comments.
For a paid option, I’ve heard Turnstile from Wistia works well.
The gist
Gated videos can be extremely powerful ways to capture leads, and now you have some options to choose from.
#7 Twitter Lead Generation Cards
I was stoked when I found out about these.
Twitter Lead Generation Cards allow you to attach a sign up form to any Tweet, with a call to action and an image, so people can sign up to your list without ever leaving Twitter (if you choose).
When people sign up, you will receive their information, including their email address and Twitter handle.
And these cards are free to use, as long as you completely set up your Twitter “Ads” account.
First, head over to your Twitter home page.
Then look for the “Advertise” link in the bottom-left module below “Trends”.
Click it and you will be taken to the Twitter Ads section.
If you haven’t used it before, you’ll be prompted to set up your account by filling in your country and time zone information.
This is normal information for social media advertising, and if you want to use Twitter Lead Gen cards for free, you must complete the process (which will include billing info. You will not be billed unless you run a campaign.)
Fill this information out and click “Permanently save these settings”.
Next, head up to where it says your name in the header. There should be a drop down menu.
Click on your name to bring up the menu, and click on “Set Up Credit Card Payment” to fill in your billing information.
Once you have submitted your information, you should see new options in your header, like this:
The one we want is “Creatives”. Click on it to expose a drop-down menu. Then, click on “Cards”.
Click on “Create your first Lead Generation Card”.
You will arrive at a page to input all of the necessary information to create your card.
Fill in the information.
If you’re sending prospects to a landing page to sign up, don’t forget to input the destination URL.
When you’re done, create your card.
Then click on the blue symbol in the top-right corner of the screen to compose a new tweet.
You should now have an option to attach a card to your tweet.
You can choose between a standard or promoted tweet.
Standard sends it to your followers, and it’s free. Promoted sends it to a targeted audience, and it’s paid.
Compose your tweet, attach your card, and fire away!
#8 Harness the Power of Slideshare Presentations
SlideShare allows you to upload PowerPoint presentations, Word documents, and PDFs to share publically or privately.
It’s becoming more popular for people to share, engage with, and promote interesting content.
These presentations can be shared, embedded, “liked,” or saved to your computer.
Google seems to like them, and people are generating solid traffic and leads from their presentations, like this person, this company, and this person.
Here are the important parts:
- You can include URLs back to your landing pages within the description.
- You can include live links within the presentation with specific CTAs.
- With the paid option, you can include opt-in forms within the presentation.
SlideShare gets over 60 million unique visitors per month and 215 million page views.
There’s tons of lead generation potential here.
This article on HubSpot does a good job of explaining how to get the most out of each presentation, but I’m going to walk you through how to set it up, and the options you have to funnel traffic and generate leads.
Setting up and launching a SlideShare presentation
First, create an account and head over to your account settings.
From there, connect it to your social profiles.
Go through and sort out the rest of your settings as well.
I changed up the privacy settings and my contact details.
Next, create a presentation to upload.
Of course, you can upload PDFs and Word documents as well, but they come out as the full document in a presentation format (which isn’t appealing, in my opinion).
Leave some room for desire, so if you’re creating a presentation around a free giveaway, summarize the giveaway with slides, then prompt viewers to head over to your landing page to download the full piece of content.
PowerPoint (or whatever software you have) will do the trick. You can also download Open Office for free. It comes with presentation software.
Here’s a link to my presentation, if you want to see how I did it.
I took this article/eBook, condensed it down to information-rich bullet points, and made it into a presentation.
Some tips before you create your presentation:
- Make your presentation 800X600 (or 10.67in by 8in) to fit in the SlideShare screen with no black edges. (Thank you, Ana Hoffman.)
- Include clickable links and images (with CTAs) in your PowerPoint presentations. Make sure your links are in the center of the slides, because SlideShare reserves the left and right areas for people to click forward and backward in the presentation. This HubSpot article notes that if you put your links on the sides, they won’t work. Keep them in the middle part.
- SlideShare doesn’t allow links in the first three slides, so put them on the fourth slide and beyond.
- You can’t include live links in the description, so paste your URL in there with a call to action.
- To maximize view potential, this article says to upload your presentations at 11PM EST (8PM PT). This way, it’s uploaded it right after SlideShare changes its Top Presentation of the Day, and you have 20 or so hours to collect views and hopefully get featured.
- Include clickable social icons on the last slide to share your presentation.
- Google can crawl the transcript that’s displayed below your presentation, so optimize your presentation like you would any other page or blog post. Keywords in the title, headlines, description, slug, etc.
- HubSpot says to disable SlideShare’s option for viewers to download your presentation as a PDF. That way, their only option to get more information is to follow the CTA to your opt-in form (or even to a “Pay With a Tweet” page). Basically, you want them to go somewhere you can get value out of the download as well, even if you’re just offering the presentation slides.
- Ana Hoffman also notes that you can re-upload your presentations if you notice a spelling mistake, want to change your CTA, or make any other changes. You won’t lose your views, settings, etc.
Once your presentation is ready to go, here’s how to upload it:
Click “Upload” in the top-right corner of your screen.
You will be brought to a page where you can choose to either upload a file, or create a presentation or a professional journey.
Click the big orange Upload button, and select your file to upload.
It will bring you to a page where you can input your details. Here’s where we’re going to do some optimization.
You can customize your title how you like. Throw your main keyword in there.
Then choose a category. Make sure it’s related to your video.
In the description, make it compelling for the viewer, with your main keyword included.
Include the URL of the landing page (or wherever you want them to go) to opt-in to your email list.
Choose tags related to the keywords you want associated with your presentation.
Then make sure it’s “Public.”
(Sidenote: Your “Virality Score” should have a full bar now. So if your presentation doesn’t go viral, you can sue them.
Either way, it’s a win-win.)
Click “Save & Continue.”
You will be taken to the second step, where you receive your embed code and share options.
Click on “Advanced Settings.” You should be taken to the privacy settings page.
Switch the “Allow users to download?” setting to “No”.
This means viewers won’t be able to download your presentation directly from SlideShare.
Remember Hick’s law?
We want to give prospects less options, while pointing them to the desired action we want them to take (opting in to your email list).
Click “Update”.
And you’re good to go!
Share your presentation, especially in related groups you’re a part of on LinkedIn.
I suggest sharing it on StumbleUpon as well, because it has massive viral potential for content like this.
Part II. Techniques for Attracting Targeted Leads
We’re going to use social media as a tool to reach a large number of targeted prospects.
Don’t worry, I won’t be telling you stuff like “post 5 times a day and follow a bunch of influencers.”
We’re going in-depth and actionable, especially with Twitter.
#9 LinkedIn Tactics for Targeted Traffic
LinkedIn is prime real estate for lead generation opportunities.
It’s literally made to connect professionals with other professionals.
Neil Patel makes at least $250,000 per year from LinkedIn-generated business, so the opportunity is there.
Lead generation on LinkedIn through content marketing employs the same principles as content marketing in general.
- Figure out what your target audience wants, needs, and craves from you.
- Create amazingly useful content that caters to those needs.
- Find where they hang out on the Internet (or on LinkedIn).
- Promote your content to build authority and display your expertise.
- Attract traffic to your site and let the lead capturing tactics you employed in Part One do the rest of the work for you.
I’m going to assume you already know what your audience wants and how to create great content.
(If not, I’ll have articles on those subjects coming up in the near future.)
So, let’s start with finding where your audience hangs out on LinkedIn.
Go to LinkedIn, and in the top search bar, click the drop-down menu and select “Groups”.
Then search for your industry.
Join groups with a sizable number of people.
You can join around 50 groups maximum.
However, don’t join 50 groups in your industry alone.
Join groups in related fields – where your potential leads would reside.
Other professionals in your industry may enjoy your content, but they most likely don’t need your services. They’re not targeted leads.
Think about your target market. The people who want what you offer.
For me, I have joined content marketing groups, SEO groups, email marketing groups, etc.
But I have also joined groups of start-ups, entrepreneurs, small businesses, and internet entrepreneurs.
Next, post content in these groups just like you would on Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, or any other social network – with a mix of your own content and valuable content from other people. You should also answer questions and contribute your expert wisdom in discussions, just like a forum.
If your content is excellent, don’t be shy about promoting it. (click to tweet this epic quote)
If you know it’s content people will love, then not promoting it is actually doing them a disservice.
You’re depriving them of valuable information that could help their business, their life, or both.
We may be able to hide behind our computer screens, but the Internet isn’t for shy people.
Get yourself out there and attract those leads, like your business depends on it.
(Because it does.)
Being active in groups is great, but it’s a long-term strategy.
Let’s check out a more direct tactic.
In this PDF from HubSpot, they discuss a way to generate leads through your connections at a specific company.
Think about a company with people you want to target.
Head over to the search bar and type in the name of that company.
Click on the company.
You’ll see a “How You’re Connected” tab on the right. Click on “See all.”
This will show you the staff members with whom you are connected, and how you’re connected to them.
If you can’t connect with them directly, click on their name.
This will bring up their profile.
On the right side, you will see which connections you share.
These shared connections allow you to request a virtual introduction to the person you wish to get in touch with.
After being introduced, you’re off to the races.
Use your people and business skills to close those leads.
Another tactic
Robbie Richards has an interesting technique to connect with influencers.
If you’re in the same group as someone, and you share a connection, you can send them a connection request without knowing their email address.
So if there’s an influencer you want to connect with (or anyone in general) head over to their profile and see which groups they’re a part of.
Join one of those groups and send them a connection request.
In your request, don’t leave the default “I would like you to join my network” message.
Make it personal, but professional. Maybe even state that you wish to discuss a business opportunity.
If they accept, you now have a direct line to their inbox.
There’s your lead.
Robbie Richards also notes that in any group you’re in, you can do a search for someone’s title, such as “CEO,” and pull up a list of the people in the group with that title.
Then you can then connect with them using the same technique above.
One more tactic to generate leads with LinkedIn
Another way to generate leads with LinkedIn is to use the “Who’s Viewed Your Profile” module.
People who have checked you out (hummina hummina) are usually interested in what you do and are in a related industry.
Click over to their profile, send them a message, and ask if there’s anything you can do for them.
You never know what opportunities could arise from reaching out like this, and it’s takes about two minutes.
#10 How to Generate a Master List of High Quality Leads Using Followerwonk
Followerwonk is a Moz tool that allows you to analyze your Twitter followers.
We’re going to use it to segment your followers into highly targeted potential leads to contact.
By the time you’re done, you’ll own a master list of your direct target market. These are people who are already interested in you AND likely to need your services.
Not only this, but you can use this lead generation tactic to analyze and segment your competition’s followers as well (or anyone who’s followed by your target market).
Kathryn Cudemo wrote an epic post on using Followerwonk to find prospects. It should have more shares than it does, so I would check it out as well (and give it a share).
I’m going to extrapolate her steps here, with a more content marketing focused approach and in a little more detail (because I hit some kinks along the way when I first did it).
Let’s put those followers to good use, shall we?
Analyze Your Followers (Or Your Competition’s)
Head over to Followerwonk and sign in with your Twitter account.
Then click “Analyze” at the top.
Type your Twitter handle in the form, and select “analyze their followers” from the drop-down menu.
Then click “Do it.”
This will pull up some pretty cool data, including where your followers are located in the world and when your followers are most active during the day.
They’ve even integrated with Buffer to automatically create a tweet schedule for you that’s optimized based on when your followers are most active.
Next, we’re going to download a CSV or Excel file of your followers so we can filter the data.
To download this file, you need a paid Moz subscription (which I don’t have), but they do offer a 30-day free trial.
I would highly recommend signing up for the trial, because going through this process just once should give you more than enough targeted prospects to keep you busy for a while.
This includes prospects for clients, joint ventures, guest posts, customers, etc.
Once you’re signed up for the free trial, link your Moz account and you’ll be able to download the CSV file.
To do that, follow these steps:
Find where it displays your sample size of followers under the heading “Analysis of YOUR HANDLE’s Twitter followers”.
Click “view all.”
A window should pop up with your followers and some data.
Click the symbol in the screenshot below to download your CSV or XLS file.
It may take some time to generate, depending on the size of your following.
Open your report, and add three columns to the right of the URL column – “DA”, “Status Code”, and “Linking Yes/No.”
Select all of the data and format it as a table.
Filtering Your Followers to Get to the Good Stuff
First, we’re going to delete all of your followers without a URL linked to their profile.
(Make sure you’ve saved a separate file with the original data, just in case.)
Select all of the data again, right click, and click on “sort” >> “custom sort.”
In the Sort By column, choose URL. In the Sort On column, choose Values, and in the Order column, choose A to Z, like this:
Close the window and all of your followers without a URL in their profile should be at the top of the list.
Select all of them.
Delete them.
You should be left with followers who have URLs in their profiles.
Next, we’re going to filter out social sites.
Go to the URL column and click the symbol next to it.
Next, use the following list (provided by Kathryn) to filter out each social site.
Fb.
Linkd.in
Youtube
Gplus
Goo.gl
Yahoo
Amazon
Ask.
Myspace
Flickr
iTunes
Vimeo
IMDB
Wikpedia
Wiki
Apple
About.me
Etsy
Flavors
Zazzle
Vizify
Soundcloud
Fiverr
Wefollow
Eventbrite
Meetup
Forum
Kathryn lists these as optional, depending on your goals:
Tumblr
WordPress
Blogger
Wix
Type each site into the search box, one by one.
Uncheck the box that says “Select all search results” and check the box that says “Add current selection to filter”.
Then click “Ok”.
These social sites should be removed from the list, further narrowing it down to your target audience.
(I know it seems like it would take a while, but it only takes a couple minutes.)
Next, we’re going to filter out your followers who haven’t tweeted recently, thereby filtering out the people who are inactive.
Go to the “Last tweet” column and click that symbol again.
Then sort it by “Oldest to newest.”
Head over to the “Tweets” column. Sort it from “smallest to largest” and create a custom filter to include all of your followers who have made less than 200 tweets total (or choose a threshold based on the amount of followers you have).
Delete these followers, so you can get rid of people who aren’t active.
Then click on the symbol in the tweets column and check the “select all” box to bring back the rest of your followers.
Go to your “Last tweet” column and remove all of the followers who haven’t tweeted in the last 6 months.
That’s gets rid of more people who are inactive.
Next, we want to filter our list by domain authority.
Grab this free tool from Netpeak. It will allow you to do a mass analysis of URLs to determine their domain authority.
Once you have installed the program, uncheck everything in the “Parameters” module using the X symbol, and check only “moz.com” >> “Moz Domain Authority”.
Then copy all of the URLs in the URL column of your spreadsheet.
(Note: in order for it to copy correctly, you may have to select the cells, click the big “Filter” button under the Design tab to un-filter it, copy them, and then press undo to bring your filtered data back.)
Go to Netpeak Checker and click “Load” in the top-left.
An editor will pop up. Paste your URLs in there and click “Save”.
Then click “Start Check” and it will analyze each domain.
When it’s done, export your file and copy-paste those domain authorities into the “DA” column of your spreadsheet.
(If you get an error that says “command cannot be used on multiple selections” when you try to paste, just paste your Domain Authority data into a notepad or text editor. Then copy-paste those DAs into the spreadsheet.)
Next, sort the DA column by “smallest to largest”.
Choose a domain authority threshold (based on my data, I chose 25) and delete all of the domains that have a lower level of authority than your threshold.
Next, take the remaining URLs and input them into the HTTP Status Code Checker so we can filter out domains that aren’t active.
(You could also give this bulk checker a try.)
Paste the status codes into your spreadsheet, and delete the followers with 400 and 500 codes.
You can also use a tool like Open Site Explorer to see if they’re linking to you, then place that data in the “Linking? Yes/No” column.
That’s it!
You should have a solid list of highly targeted prospects who are already interested in what you’re doing, they’re active, their sites work, and they’re waiting for a lucrative business opportunity to come knocking on their door.
After this, I would suggest milking that 30-day free trial for all it’s worth.
Repeat this process to analyze your competitors, and Twitter accounts that are being followed by your target market.
Use this tactic to create a master list of high quality prospects. Then reach out to them.
(I want to give a HUGE shoutout to Kathryn Cudemo for writing her amazing article. If any of this didn’t make sense, check out what she wrote.)
#11 Google+ Tactics With Your Content as a Lead Magnet
Using Google+ to generate leads is similar to using LinkedIn to generate leads.
Your main source of traffic is going to come from Google+ communities.
Much like LinkedIn groups, some are open to join and some you must be accepted.
Either way, join a bunch of them that are related to both your industry and to your target market.
Once you have joined some communities, become active in a select few that have the highest likelihood of driving targeted traffic to your site.
And whenever you post your own content on Google+, make sure you link it to a targeted community as well.
And throw a relevant hashtag in there to help it reach more people.
If you have mentioned prominent people in your article, tag them to send them a notification.
Hopefully they’ll respond with a +1, which will expose your content to their followers.
Part III. Optimizing Free Giveaways to Maximize the Viral Value of Each Lead
In this part, you’ll learn how to turn your free, lead-generating content into a viral lead magnet.
We’re going to take your content, employ some social sharing tactics, and give each piece a chance to generate additional leads without you having to lift a finger.
#12 How to Optimize Your Subscribe Bribes to Generate Additional Leads
Your free giveaways are already aiding your lead generation efforts in a monumental way.
But their value doesn’t have to stop after someone downloads them.
They can help generate additional leads while your content is being consumed.
Here are a couple ways to make this happen:
Click to Tweet
You’ve seen my “click to tweet this epic quote” links a couple times in this article.
(And hopefully, you clicked ‘em :D)
If you haven’t used this before, it’s a great way to get more engagement and social sharing from your content.
The service is called Click to Tweet, and it allows you to craft a ready-made headline for anyone who clicks to share it.
A window automatically pops up with a tweet ready to go. All they have to do is tweet it.
It seems simple enough, but there are a couple caveats to consider.
Read on…
Head over to Click to Tweet.
Then find the section where you can create a basic tweet for free.
Now, this is key.
For whatever reason, the 140 character limit in CTT doesn’t match up with the 140 character limit in Twitter.
CTT overshoots it by 2 characters (in this test), so make sure you test it out before you link it within your content. It’s been off by around 6 before.
The best thing to combat this: Write the full tweet in Twitter then copy-paste it into CTT.
The link it generates can be used like any other URL.
Adding it to your free giveaways provides many benefits.
- You give people a quick and easy way to share your content
- This exposes your content to their followers
- You get to decide what’s in the tweet. It’s customizable, so readers can change it if they wish. But most people are too lazy (which works in your favor).
In your ready-made headline, include the following:
- If you’re telling them to tweet a quote from your content, don’t forget to include the quote.
- Tag your Twitter handle (such as @_MichaelKarp) so their followers can find your profile easier and follow you.
- Include a bit.ly link to your content so you can track how many clicks you’re getting.
- Add in one or two popular hashtags related to your content, so the tweet gets shown to more than just their followers.
Give it some compelling anchor text, and you’ll be set to receive some nice additional returns from those leads.
Social Share Images with Ready-made Headlines
You’ve likely seen social share icons in people’s eBooks and other downloadable content.
It’s the same concept as Click to Tweet, but I don’t think people utilize them for the best results.
With the amount of social icons we’re exposed to every day, I think people are starting to become desensitized to their presence being everywhere.
Just having them isn’t enough to compel people to take action.
They need to be in a prominent place (or places) with clear instructions for what to do next.
You should go beyond “Please share this eBook.”
In my eBooks, I only have them in one place – at the end – and I devote an entire page to them.
The sole purpose of that page is to communicate to the reader that if they enjoyed the book, they learned something, and if they think other people could learn something, then I’d love it if they used the social icons to share it with their followers.
On top of that, I explain that I’ve made it extremely easy for them to do so, because I’ve set up each image to pop up with a window and a headline ready to go.
All they have to do is click.
Then I make the icons nice and big, so they can’t miss them.
You could place icons on every page, possibly in the footer or header.
But I think you’ll have a much higher likelihood of getting devoted and eager shares from people who actually finished your book, learned a lot from it, and are inspired enough to share it with other people.
(I haven’t done any tests yet, but I will. And I’ll share it on the blog.)
But that’s just me. That’s the way I prefer to do things. Make your own decision based on your goals and values.
Either way, here’s how to set up your social share icons:
First, we need some images.
I download mine from IconsPedia.com. All of their images are free and they have a wide selection.
I usually go for Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn.
After you’ve downloaded the ones you want, head over to Share Link Generator. It’s the same service as Click to Tweet, except you’re linking to the URL of your content directly.
So grab the URL of the landing page, or wherever people opt-in to your email list to receive their free content.
Then paste it into each service you want to use.
The Twitter and LinkedIn generators allow you to create a custom headline. The others just use the title of the original page and its description, but all of them let the sharer customize it before officially sharing it.
Then, drag the icons into your eBook and resize them. Make them prominent and noticeable.
Make each image into a live link using the URL generated with Share Link Generator.
After that, go ahead and edit your Alt text, so when people hover over it, it’s not a crazy long URL, but it says something like “Share this eBook on Twitter”.
To do this, right click each image and go to “format picture”.
Then click on “Alt text” on the left side and change up your Alt text, so when people hover over it, it says something like this:
I suggest writing another call to action.
Test out each image before making it live, to see if it all pops up the way you want it to.
Then you’re good to go!
Next, we have one more quick one…
Make it easy for them to connect with you on social media
If people enjoyed your content, they’ll likely want to hear more from you.
To increase the odds of them doing it NOW, when they’re hyped up from your epic content, make it easy for them by providing links like these:
After this, your free giveaways should be optimized for your leads to share your content, share the love, and do some lead generating for you.
On to the final piece of the lead generation puzzle.
Ironically, it’s what needs to happen before lead generation, to make sure your efforts are as effective as possible.
Part IV. The Essential Step Before Lead Generation
Lead generation through content marketing is about attracting enough people to your website, while making sure that it’s ready to capture their contact information, like we discussed in Part One.
It’s also about knowing where to find the right leads, and where you can expose your content to as many of them as possible, as efficiently as possible (Part Two).
Then, it’s about adding some extra oomph to your efforts by making it easy for your free content to be shared (Part Three).
#13 The Final (and Most Important) Tactic
HOWEVER.
Before all of this, something else needs to happen.
We need the bait.
We need the lure.
We need the shiny object to attract the eyes of our prospects.
What is that shiny object?
It’s the supremely valuable content you’re creating and catapulting through the web.
Without an attractive lure, your lead generation tactics will attract no one.
Your optimization efforts will be futile.
So.
How do we create this superior content that’s irresistible to your market?
TONS of articles have been written on this topic. EBooks, seminars, courses; they’ve all taught people how to create great content.
But I think there’s something missing.
Something crucial.
Unfortunately, I have yet to write about it on this blog.
But you’ll be the first to know if you join my email list.
Until then, I leave you with this…
To build or hone your writing skills, my 5000 word article:
19 Powerful Writing Skills that Will Supercharge Your Copy
Download the eBook right here.
To understand your audience and what information they crave from you:
How to Identify Your Customer’s Pain Points
And for some inspirational thinking:
How Tweaking Your Horizons Can Help You Exceed Your Goals
I sincerely thank you for reading.
And if you enjoyed the article and learned something from it, please share it with your followers.
To read it anywhere you want, the full article is available for download right here.
I took notes! 😉
Thanks for such a detailed post, Michael. Took me a while to get through it, but it’s definitely actionable and well-worth the time.
Also, thanks for mentioning Traffic Generation Café, of course; honored.
Glad you enjoyed it Ana :-).
And no problem. Thank you for writing up the SlideShare study for all of us to learn from. That information is gold.
Who that was a lot of content. Thank you for taking the time to put together this information. I do think the popup is one of the best things. Because it can reduce the bounce rate a little, and grab some attention, and it makes a person a little more engaged.
I totally agree. It’s responsible for about half of my subscribers ;).
Thanks for stopping by Alex.
Thanks for such a detailed post, Michael. Took me a while to get through it, but it’s definitely actionable and well-worth the time.
No problem Raymond. Glad you liked it.
Other professionals in your industry may enjoy your content, but they most likely don’t need your services. They’re not targeted leads.
I see what you’re saying, but I’m actually working with two professionals in my industry right now.
I’ve found that too many marketing agencies (specifically) don’t focus on a big enough range of content. They think that because they specialize in helping one type of client, they should only create content for that client.
I believe that by specializing, they’re actually capping off their potential growth. If you look at the biggest agencies, the top consultants, etc., they don’t specialize.
They take a broad approach to their content, and in effect, attract a broad range of potential clients from both within and out of the industry.
This means that their email lists are a mix of warm leads, potential prospects, and people who will never buy or need their services.
But all of them will potentially share their content, talk about them, link to them, and help them spread their services to other people who will actually buy from them. There’s a hidden value in every visitor to the site, whether they buy or not.
I think you’ve made a great point, and it might definitely be true in other circumstances. But I keep my content broad so I don’t limit myself.
So far, it’s working out :).
Thanks for sharing wonderful post.
You’re welcome. Hope it was useful.
It’s tough not to feel intrusive when you miss the beginning of the chat, that’s kind of like budging in line and feeling a little ire from the others. But you’re right, if you take a few minutes to scan the landscape you can jump in without coming off like an arrogant boor. One of my challenges has been getting the “show listing” of sorts – a run-down of what chats exist, and when they take place.
Wow!!!1 Great Thanks for sharing very informative and useful post.
No problem. Thanks for reading.
One word man!! Iove!! I love you for this piece
Thanks Chinonso. Glad you liked it 🙂
Wow. What an in-depth piece, Michael. I imagine many have bookmarked this one. Way to create the article others won’t even dare to skyscrape!
Thanks Cameron! Took a long time to put together, but it’s definitely worth it 😉
Awesome article, thanks for sharing. Totally going to use your advice!
That’s great to hear Dylan :). Let me know how it goes.
Hi Michael.
Thanks for your great delivery again!!!!
I´m a new (completly) blogger.
I´ve being following your https://copytactics.com/cost-effective-seo-ranking post for 6 or 7 days to make my first post with some kind of strategy, because previous were 0 traffic.
And this still going slowly but are some things still to implement.
Two things:
1) THANK YOU: Very clear, step-by-step and logical post.
2) When trying to find the Sumo app: Leads looks like they don´t have it in their main page (already using list builder) or I can´t find it anywhere. Looking for other options to link image or text to a popup optin and found severals, but no idea how to make the link, hahahah, told you, I´m new.
Sorry for the english
JM López-Silva
Guanajuato, MX
VuelaLibre.net
Hey JM,
Glad you liked it!
Front-loading the work by following the steps in that post should do wonders for you. I would also check out my free traffic generation tutorial to help promote your post when it goes live.
Hmm.. maybe they got rid of Leads or it’s under construction or something. Thanks for the heads up, will look into it.
As an alternative, for Copytactics I use Content Upgrades PRO now and it’s been working out really well.
Nice article but it would be much helpful if its divided into parts rather than single long article…Don’t you think it leaves bad impression when people come across such a long document ..actually it bores, no doubt content is super rich but when people searching on google they’ve multiple tabs open to go through and when they see such a long one they decide leave the article to come across at end or maybe sometime ignores…Don’t mind but its just my opinion.