I know how important a well-crafted lead magnet is for generating more traffic to your website, which is why I invited Marie, a graphic designer, writer and founder of SmartLeadMagnets, to share with you the ultimate guide to creating a conversion-optimized lead magnet for your business. Take it away Marie!

I would like to share with you the ultimate guide to creating a conversion-optimized lead magnet. How you do this is vital because simply offering a lead magnet won’t motivate people enough to subscribe.

As a business owner, the most important thing that you can do is create highly relevant content that your readers value. So much so, that it motivates them to provide you with their email address, which will add to your sales funnel.

Valuable content is the kind that grabs your audience’s attention because it offers them information on how to solve a problem that they are having. The first step is to do your research and find out what your audience’s biggest issue is, and what they can do to overcome it. Here’s how you can go about doing that.

Solid Research Leads to Success

Clearly, you cannot assume that you understand what your audience’s issues are without doing any research. If you try to do this, you will waste a lot of time and money. I once did this and I paid the price.

I tried to build a business, without first making sure that I had a solid enough foundation. Do not make the same mistake that I did.

If you’ve got an email list that you’ve already compiled, send out an email asking the recipients what they are struggling the most with. If you don’t have an email list, you can still move forward by engaging in the following strategies.

1. Use Buzzsumo For Research

Buzzsumo is an amazing tool that allows you to view which content is being shared the most. First, collect the keywords that pertain to your industry and niche. Then enter them in the search box and the posts that are being shared the most will appear. The titles, headings, and keywords will reveal which problems your audience needs solutions for and the issues that most concern them.

2. Search Relevant Forums

You can also search online for the most active forums pertaining to your niche. Look through all the topics that are being discussed and narrow down your search to bring up the posts that are getting the most replies. Search for the most popular ones as well. These posts are a virtual goldmine of the types of questions that your audience wants answers to.

3. Use Quora

Quora is a free platform for pinpointing the major obstacles that are facing your market. It allows you to question others on which challenges they are having the most difficulty with. You can also ask what features they are seeking in a product and/or service. Because there are such a huge number of questions being asked on all different topics, Quora can help you a great deal in coming up with lead generation strategies.

4. Use Analytics to Monitor Traffic

Having a tool like Google Analytics is a great way to to track traffic to your webpages, videos, posts and/or downloads. In assessing the data, make note of the type of content that is getting the most activity and ask yourself what problems or challenges you are helping your readers overcome. What solutions do you offer?

Method of Delivery Makes a Difference

When doing your homework, make note of the most popular manner in which your audience consumes their content. There are many different options: podcasts, courses, webinars, eBooks, blog posts, videos, newsletters, etc.

You need to determine which method will most appeal to your audience in delivering your lead generator or magnet. Do whatever you can to offer valuable, relevant content that resonates with your audience, and deliver it via the medium that they find most useful to garner the results that you want.

Critical Elements of An Effective Lead Magnet

Here is what you can do to make your lead generator so tempting, that it’s nearly impossible for people to resist it!

1. It must provide the solution to a problem.

If you want to convert your audience, you’ve got to deliver on the promise spelled out in your title or headline.

2. The more detailed you are, the better.

In order to get conversions, you must be as specific as possible in explaining or describing your solution.

3. Give them a quick taste of success.

Once your audience has consumed your content in whatever medium you’re presenting it in, he or she should be able to immediately go out and apply what they’ve learned to achieve a tangible result.

4. Offer something of “high-perceived value”.

Your prospect must believe that what you’re offering is extremely valuable to them. The easiest way to do this is by offering something of value for FREE. To establish perceived value, assign a dollar amount to what it is that you’re offering for free, and announce the value of your lead generator or magnet right on your opt-in or landing page.

5. Make it easy to read and comprehend

It doesn’t matter what topic you’re discussing or what medium you’re using to deliver your message, your lead generator must be easy to access, comprehend and digest. People have a short attention span, and they’ll just click out and look someplace else. Keep your audience engaged.

Tips To Convert Visitors Into Buyers

Once you have created high quality content that attracts visitors to your website, now you have to find a way to convert your visitors into buyers. Here are some guidelines for how you can boost your conversion rates to the maximum.

1. Write a compelling eye-catching title or headline.

Point out the specific problem that you are promising to solve and describe the benefit. Just naming the problem or pain point is not enough. They must be clear about how this is going to benefit them or they will not sign up.

2. Write your copy in an active, not passive voice.

This keeps your reader’s attention so that they will actually listen to your message. You want them to feel like you’re speaking right to them, so that you will get their full attention and engagement.

3. Be up front and direct.

When describing the problem that you will solve and how your prospective customer will benefit, do not meander. Ensure that your message is perfectly clear, without being confusing. You want your audience to feel confident enough to quickly sign up, in a matter of seconds.

4. Create a sense of urgency.

Unless your audience feels that there is a level of urgency to act, they will have no reason to decide. Tell your audience that you are only going to offer your eBook, for FREE, for a very limited time.

5. Visually represent your brand with your lead generator or magnet.

You want something this important to be well-designed. If you have the talent and time to do this without compromising quality, then go ahead. However, it might be wise to hire a professional to create this for you.

So, there you have it! That is the ultimate guide to creating a conversion-optimized lead magnet. Have you ever created a lead magnet to build your list? What tips do you have for someone starting out?

Marie is a graphic designer, writer and founder of SmartLeadMagnets, a done-for-you lead magnet service that delivers engaging, high-quality content, without the heavy lifting. Have a burning question about lead generation? Click here to get in touch.

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I would like to share with you the 12 best, must-have tools for your online business. These are tools that I've personally used in my online business.  Myself and my team have done ample research to ensure that they are the best of the best.

Keep in mind that the type of tool that you use depends on the type of business that you have.  Moreover, some tools will be more relevant to you, based on what stage you are at in your online business.

I’m a big believer that any time you can leverage technology, you should. This will allow you to scale, grow, automate, and free up your time.

Watch the video below:

(Click here to watch on YouTube)

[smart_track_player url=”http://www.buzzsprout.com/9299/489277-plm-414-the-12-best-must-have-tools-for-your-online-business.mp3″ ]

This page contains affiliate links. If you purchase a product through one of them, I will receive a commission (at no additional cost to you). I only ever endorse products that I have personally used and benefitted from personally. Thank you for your support!

Some if these tools are free, while others cost money.  Keep in mind that advanced tools that cost money may not be necessary when you are first starting out. Below are the 12 best, must-have tools for your online business. Plus, all the headings are clickable so you can try them out yourself!

1. WordPress

WordPress is a blogging platform that you can use to create a website on. I think it’s the best platform that is on the market.  It’s an open source, meaning that there are other developers that can design themes and plugins.

Other platforms, like Wix, are a closed source, which means that you are limited in what you can do, in terms of SEO, customizing, etc.  Newbies get marketed Wix or Squarespace because the technical aspects of WordPress overwhelm them.

Today, it's never been so easy to start a website. Invest your time and learn what it takes.  I highly recommend WordPress. It is 100% free, but if you are going to use it, you will need hosting and a domain name.

For hosting, you can use Bluehost, which is an inexpensive hosting service option. The cheapest plan goes for $10/month.  Bluehost gives you a free domain name and they have an easy WordPress install.  You could also use GoDaddy for your hosting.

If you are getting over 50,000 visitors/month to your website, you may want to consider getting something called, WP Engine.  It's more expensive, but it is awesome. This is what I currently use, and it is designed for WordPress hosting.

WordPress has different themes and layouts that you can use for free, or you can buy one to customize the look and feel of your website.  There are also plugins that you can download in order to add additional features to your website.

2. Google Analytics

This is a free tool that gives you all the data for your website.

You want to start tracking data as soon as possible because it's important to know things like, (a) which of your pages people are visiting, (b) how much time people spend on your website, (c) what the flow and sequence is that they go through, (d) what keywords they are using, (e) what search engine pages they come from, etc..

3. Research Tools

It's important that you identify what keywords people are searching for in your market.

Google Adwords

Google Adwords is an advertising platform. It’s free to download it, and you only pay once someone clicks your ad to visit your website, or calls you.  In other words, when your advertising is working.

Keyword Tool.io

This tool gives you keywords that people are searching for in Google and other search engines. It is free, but there is a paid version as well.

Long Tail Pro

If you want to master SEO for your blog, this tool will give you deeper information with regards to Adwords data, metrics, etc.  If you are a #’s person, this is a great tool for you.

BuzzSumo

With this tool you can put in a keyword and the website will give you all the top content relating to that topic.  It will tell you which topics are the most popular, shared, and most liked.

This helps you as content creator, because when you know what headlines and topics are resonating with people online, you can then create epic content.

4. Leadpages

On any website, you need to collect email addresses of people that are visiting your website or that are consuming your content.  A leadpage allows you to easily create landing pages, also known as squeeze or opt-in pages.

This tool enables people to come to your page, where you would offer them something for free, and then they would enter their contact info in order to subscribe to be on your email list.

If you want an example of one, view my free course, which outlines the 7 online business models that have made me an Internet millionaire in less than 3 years.

Leadpages are great for simple squeeze pages and they’ve got the best designs for that.

5. Aweber

Aweber is software that allows you to collect emails, send broadcasts to your email list, and set up auto-responder emails.  It integrates with leadpages and with WordPress. They all work together.

There are other email management softwares out there, however when you are choosing one, make sure that they are Internet-marketing friendly. It depends on what you are using it for.

It’s important to make sure that whatever software you use has high deliverability.  You can collect a lot of emails, but when you are sending out email broadcasts, if the emails are getting sent to people’s spam folders, it wont be an effective software for you.

I like Active Campaign, but it doesn’t allow affiliate links to be in the emails you send out, so that is why I use Aweber. AWeber is reliable and they have been in the industry for over 10 years.

Keep in mind that this tool does cost money, and you should only use this software when you are getting traffic to your blog or website.

This will allow you to build a relationship with your subscribers and market and promote other services and products to them.

6. OptinMonster

OptinMonster allows you to have opt-in forms appear on your website or blog, which makes a huge difference to the # of subscribers that you receive in your email list.  Another bonus is that it integrates with WordPress and Aweber.

There is a one-time fee for purchasing this software, but it’s been one of my favorite tools that I’ve been using for the last few years.

7. ClickFunnels

This is software created by Russell Brunson that allows you to create funnel pages for your online business.

Every online business consists of funnels where people come to a sales page or landing page where they sign up, and you then offer them a product or service.

ClickFunnels makes it easy for you to create those funnels and put it all together.  You can create landing pages for it, but for me, they aren’t as attractive or easy to set up as using leadpages are.

I like to use ClickFunnels more for sales pages. However, they suck with membership websites.  If you have a really basic thing that you are selling, like an eBook, it can be great for that.

8. WishList Member

If you are creating a membership website where people are buying something from you, and they have a members area where they access products or services, I recommend using WishList Member, which is a WordPress plugin.

It has amazing functionality and cool features that are beneficial for your online business.  Personally, I like to use ClickFunnels for my funnels, and WishList for my members’ area.

With WishList Member, there is another option called, Optimize Press, which has different themes for WordPress (landing pages, sales pages, membership themes, etc.).

I use Optimize Press for my members’ area. The design, look, and feel of it, is great.  It is cheaper than using ClickFunnels, which you have to pay for every month.  Ease and speed costs money, but if you want to do it yourself, use Optimize Press.

9. PayPal, Stripe, ClickBank, JVZoo

PayPal is great for receiving high transaction payments. It does have limitations, in that it doesn’t integrate with some of the other tools.

Stripe integrates with WordPress, ClickFunnels, and then when someone signs up and pays, you can set it up so that they immediately get access to the members’ area.

ClickBank is what I use to sell my products online. They have a great affiliate market.  JVZoo isn’t great, but I like to have both in my business, for production purposes.  You always need to have a backup.

10. Hootsuite/Buffer

Hootsuite and Buffer are great tools for driving traffic, increasing fan engagement, and saving time on social media.

Instead of manually doing it yourself, these tools allow you to schedule all of your posts on different social media platforms, in advance.

11.  Meet Edgar

If you have a blog or website and you are spending a lot of time creating content, you want to make sure that it reaches as many people as possible.

I have 1000’s of videos and blogs. Some of my content is really good, but it’s hidden from my audience.  With this tool, it takes content that you’ve published in the past and repurposes it on social media.

12. Crazy Egg

Crazy Egg is software that installs a heat map on your website and gives you information about how people are using your website.

An important component of an online business is split testing and optimizing it.  You need to receive feedback from people that visit your website.

For example, Crazy Egg allows me to know how many people are visiting my website, where they are clicking, what parts of my website they are clicking on, etc.

Another software that I suggest is Visual Website Optimizer, which allows you to split test your sales letters and landing pages.

However, I don’t recommend this software much anymore because, if you are using lead pages, they already have built-in split testing capabilities.

These are 12 best, must-have tools for your online business that have contributed to my business success.  If you can recommend other tools, please feel free to share.

Good luck with your online business!