Online Lead Conversion: Methods for Tracking Marketing ROI (Part 2)

Again, different industries have different online lead conversion rates.

What is a conversion rate?

Conversion rate basically refers to the frequency of converting casual visitors on your business website into success leads for the business. This list can include customers who buy your services or products, sign-up on email lists, post comments, make inquiries, as well as perform interactions with your website. Your company needs those interactions to be immediate, ongoing and user-friendly.

Also, measuring web traffic can be tricky. It can depend on several variables like location (if the visitor lives inside or outside the United States), demographics (age, race, gender, socioeconomic status, education); which browser (Google, Firefox, etc.) the visitor has; and which analytics or metrics are being used.

What is web traffic?

Web traffic refers to the number of consumers who actually visit a website AND how often consumers visit your site in a given period. For example, a company might tell an advertiser that it has 100,000 visits per month to its site. But how many are original visitors? How many are repeaters? How many are competitors? How many are pranksters? Depending on the variables used, it's difficult to tell. More importantly, how many of those visitors become leads and how many of those leads become clients?

Neither measuring conversion rates nor measuring web traffic is an exact science. However, the two issues are related. What's the connection? If you don't have much web traffic, you don't have many potential leads. That makes it difficult to persuade leads and advertisers to do business with you, particularly if your company also lacks a presence on social media, such as Facebook and Twitter.

According to IncomeDiary, here are some of the top ways to measure website traffic:

1. Alexa ranking
2. Compete.com
3. Google Trends for Websites
4. FeedCompare.com
5. SEMRush.com

6. YouTube or Vimeo Views
7. Blog Post Comments (referring to the business)
8. Total Comment Counts (referring to the business)
9. Check Its Archives (referring to the business)
10. Check Its "Advertise Here" Pages (referring to the business)

Strategies to increase conversion rates include using tests and quizzes such as "What Should I Do With My Life?", the Gemstone Test and "Should I Quit My Job?" before and after your site asks someone for his or her email address and/or contact information. The point is to try to get to know the customer and establish a relationship before you try to sell the customer a product or service.

Other strategies include emphasizing what your company does well online as well as emphasizing customer service offline. Also, having a quick response time and knowing the best times and days of the week to respond to inquiries are key factors in converting casual visitors online to potential leads for your business.

What is the structure and communication like in your company in regard to monitoring web traffic, online lead conversion and sales? In other words, is your sales team talking to your marketing team? Are those teams one and the same? And, who is responsible for holding the sales teams and marketing teams accountable for followups, lead nurturing and securing contracts?

Below are some related articles, infographics, websites and video intended to help answer these and other questions about online lead conversion:

http://www.leadresponsemanagement.org/lrm_study

http://www.cio.com/article/2383133/online-marketing/9-proven-ways-to-generate-sales-leads.html

http://www.smartinsights.com/conversion-optimisation/landing-page-optimisation/online-form-conversion-data-capture/

http://moz.com/ugc/how-to-measure-roi-for-leadgen-websites

http://asparian.com/blog/5-steps-b2b-lead-nurturing-sales-conversion

http://blog.wishpond.com/post/82696364795/25-tips-to-optimize-landing-page-conversions

http://unbounce.com/conversion-rate-optimization/optimize-lead-gen-forms/

http://masterful-marketing.com/lead-generation-using-inbound-marketing/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6Mt_iFWb6Y

http://avalaunchmedia.com/blog/best-lead-generation-tips-22-ppc-experts

http://www.usertesting.com/blog/2014/10/22/usability-tests-tripled-lead-generation-conversion-rates/

http://www.contactus.com/managing-online-leads/how-to-turn-more-leads-into-customers-5-best-practices/

https://support.google.com/adwords/answer/1722022?hl=en

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140724132938-15935731-the-secret-sauce-of-lead-conversion-online-fuels-offline

http://marketingwizdom.com/strategies/leads

http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2014/10/15/lead-generation-strategies#.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kenkrogue/2012/07/12/the-black-hole-that-executives-dont-know-about/

http://activeconversion.com

http://conversionscientist.com/generate-leads/5-sure-shot-tips-to-help-convert-more-leads

http://www.inboundsales.net/blog/bid/38074/how-to-convert-marketing-leads-to-sales

http://inboundsales.net/resources/articles/how-to-convert-inbound-leads-into-sales-performance

http://www.hubspot.com/marketing-statistics

http://www.marketingwisdom.com/strategies/conversion/

https://blog.kissmetrics.com/lead-conversion-with-social-media

https://blog.kissmetrics.com/15-psychological-triggers

http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hub/11198/file-13092718-pdf/docs/7-proven-tactics.pdf

http://www.heinzmarketing.com/2013/01/eight-reasons-why-your-lead-conversion-rates-suck/

http://www.circlesstudio.com/blog/improving-lead-generation-and-conversion-rates-using-ab-testing/

http://blog.crazyegg.com/2014/04/14/b2b-lead-gen/

https://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/advisor/3-tips-improve-lead-generation-conversion-results-072733863.html

http://groovedigitalmarketing.com/website-conversion-funnel/

http://www.onlinemarketinginstitute.org/classes/marketing-automation/increase-lead-generation-quality-conversion-and-velocity/

http://www.marketingmattersinbound.com/conversion-websites/conversion-optimization-consultant-lead-gen-conversions/