Let’s say, just for fun, that you’ve implemented all of the strategies and techniques associated with both “on-page” SEO and “off-page” SEO. That would mean that you’ve dramatically increased the amount of traffic to your website.
What’s the problem with that? You don’t make placements by driving more traffic to your website. You have to somehow transfer all of that traffic and all of those leads into cash. You have to turn website visitors (hiring officials and candidates) into qualified leads (and eventually, into placements). Easy to say, but not as easy to do. Speaking of that, how do you do it? I’m glad you asked.
Visitors to your website want to get something. Isn’t that why you visit websites? What you give your visitors can vary widely, but it must be something that they consider to be of value. The reason for that is they’re going to give up something in order to get it, namely their contact information.
Before discussing in detail the steps involved in this process, I’d like to list those steps. There are three main ones:
- Offer something of value to your website visitors.
- Create a “call to action” prompting visitors to take advantage of your offer.
- Build a “landing page” on your site that will allow visitors to submit the information you want in exchange for the offer that they want.
Let’s start with the first step: the offer. Above all else, offer something attractive (i.e., something of value) to your visitors. For example, for job seekers visiting your site, you might offer a free resume review or free resume writing services. For potential clients, you might offer a free job order review, free salary surveys, or market research. (I’m using the word “free” loosely here, since you are obtaining information for what you’re offering.
So the first step is to decide what your offer is going to be. The second step is to create what’s termed a “call to action.” You want to invite your website visitors to take advantage of your offer. Your call to action could be a link, but ideally it should be a HTML graphic that grabs the attention of visitors, something that will compel them to click on the image. For example, a graphic with the words, “Receive a free resume review today!” would be compelling enough for job seekers to click on.
Once visitors click on your “call to action” HTML graphic, they’re taken to what is called a “landing page,” the third step in the process. A landing page is designed to collect information from the visitor (who, once they submit their information, is called a “qualified lead”). The information you collect is up to you. It could be as simple as just their name and phone number, or it could also include their email address, home address, title with their current employer, you name it.
After visitors—job seekers or hiring officials—submit their information, they should then be taken to a thank-you page, where they can access the offer which sparked their interest in the first place. So, by offering something of value to a website visitor, you’ve converted them into a qualified lead and are one step closer to turning the increased traffic to your website into revenue in the form of placements.
So to recap, the three steps involved in converting website traffic into qualified leads are as follows:
- Offer something of value to your website visitors.
- Create a “call to action” prompting visitors to take advantage of your offer.
- Build a “landing page” on your site that will allow visitors to submit the information you want in exchange for the offer that they want.