First Steps To Building A Lead Generating Website

In this two part post series, I'm going to explore the basics of stepping out of what I call the announcement mindset and into the inbound marketing world of using your web presence to generate leads and get your site working as both a resource and a profit center for your studio. 

In Part 1, we'll do some work on the state of your current site and your paradigm of what it's job is for your business. By the end of this article, you'll have a framework to work form in order to build the elements for a lead generating page. In Part 2, we'll dig into building lead gen functionality and I'll provide you with some valuable courses for action. Basics first. ​

If you are considering a massive overhaul of your existing website, or you’re looking to start over again from scratch, you must start by writing a map of your site that has synergy with your business goals. Too often, I see small business owners make 1 of two mistakes, sometimes both.

They use templates that look good and think that will do the job.

They leave it up to someone else to build their site, a someone who has no clue about their business model, vision, mission and core values.

 It’s sounds like common sense to make a plan for your website, but I can’t yell this loud enough - that most (possibly even yourself) have not created a systemized game-plan for using your website as the primary lead generating center for your business. Your website should also be the main profit center of your studio, providing such service functionality as:

… much more.

Would you let someone plan the fundamental elements to your school’s business plan?

Of course not.

In order for you to scale properly with the constant evolution of the web, you simply cannot avoid keeping your ear to the ground and always be ahead of the learning curve. This is your business and it’s future will be, without question, highly influenced by the connectivity of the internet.

So where do you start?

Even if you’re web savvy and have a glowing web presence, do yourself a favor and read through this article to the end, I promise you’ll get a gold nugget.

My goal is to not just give you a place to start, but also show you the critical elements to designing a website for your studio that converts visitors to leads, converts those leads to prospects and those prospects to students.

But your site’s job does not end there! This is the major mistake of almost every studio owner I know. Your site must serve your existing students at the highest level possible, in fact - and I firmly believe - more so for your existing students. They are the ones who will be paying your studio every month, attending events, paying for webinars and always buying new stuff. They are your biggest fans.

Do not make a site that is simply a brochure online.

 Basics first; your site must cover the following seven essentials

1. Your site must have a professionally designed interface, look and feel. With what’s available today, there is simply no excuse for crappy UI (user interface). 
2. It must be easily navigable, with immediate menu options so the visitor can quickly find what they’re looking for.
3. Your site must be built on a CMS (Content Management System) such as WordPress, so you can make speedy updates and use plugins for such applications as membership sites, ecommerce and email marketing integrations.
4. Your site must be mobile responsive, meaning that it adjusts to smart phones and tablets. Don’t know? Here’s a link for you to run a test of your own site. If it’s not - stop reading here and get that fixed.
5. You must have a blog that is consistently updated and integrated with your social properties.
6. Given that Google Analytics is free, there’s simply no excuse to not knowing your stats. If you track your in-studio stats such as calls, trial class conversions and upgrades, then you have the discipline and knowledge to run your website’s analytics. Plus, you know how critical it is to the health of your business.
7. Social media is a heavy purchase influencer of your desired audience. Make your property like buttons front and center and your share buttons on blog pieces very clear. Know the difference.

For your studio’s site, those are the main elements for a basic, professional page that will rank well on searches and provide the necessary information for those who land there.

But what about generating leads?

Yes, that’s the goal of this article - but if any of the elements above are not in place, stop now and get those areas of your site fixed. Now, let’s move into converting your visitors, leads, prospects and students.

We have to consider every sequence of the buyer’s journey as a funnel. The person at the beginning of the funnel fits a specific persona that you want as a student and thus has arrived at your funnel through your marketing campaigns... built on your personas.

This visitor will step into the funnel based on the lead magnet you offer, enticing them to engage further with you - and if your content is valuable to them, they will gain trust in you and desire to move forward into the funnel. When they come out, you will have achieved your desired outcome through converting them to a new lead, prospect, student or upgraded member. There’s alot to this and for the sake of staying on topic, just consider every campaign you create to be a funnel.

Getting them to the beginning of your funnel is the most important function of your website. Period. And here are the undisputed steps to making this happen.

Create Your Buyer’s Persona

Ugh, this first step drives me nuts.

Not for the sake of doing it, but because nobody does it ... and it’s so damned important. We think that our service will serve everyone and at best most studio owners have a vague idea of who they want to teach. But in order for your campaigns online to effectively work, you must actually do the work of writing their unique, individual stories. You must study their habits, the common words they use.

Your studio most likely serves a number of personas, but I’ll guarantee that there are specific sets of students who bring more value to your business. They probably are the most loyal and are the easiest to manage. What’s their story? Don’t just think about it, write it down.

The story you tell and the words used will be the epicenter of your blog content, campaigns and call to actions. Of course you will want to speak to different audience groups, but your core content will be directed at the persona who brings most value to your business.

3-5 personas is ideal. Do not avoid this step.

Discover Pain Points and Questions.

Once you’ve written your persona stories, take the time to research what challenges they’ve experienced prior to, during and even after they’ve trained with you. Discover the same challenges that other studio owners you admire experience.

Write them down.

Take note of the questions your ideal personas ask during regular class. This is solid-gold as it will be topics to build your future content on for your existing members. Keep a database of these questions, I can’t stress how valuable the most insignificant question can be.

As well, do an anonymous student survey once a year to get an understanding of what they are challenged with or question. Get some perspective and begin to design your content pieces, targeted at your ideal personas.

One of the hallmarks of a true educator is being able to answer questions your student doesn’t know to ask. By providing these answers in your content, you are serving those early in the buyer’s journey, thus positioning you as an authority they can trust.

Your site will begin to evolve into a resource, versus an announcement. Critical.

Map Persona Buying Process to Your Sales Process

With your ideal personas written and your pain points discovered, it’s time to map these elements to a sales page where they will happily convert to a student. Before we go further, take a step back and audit the answers your providing. Are they consumable for their level? Next, are they actually realistic and achievable? Lastly, are you providing an invitation / permission to a next step through a call to action?  Sweet, read on.

You will need to figure out how your persona converts, which is done simply by looking back at how the last 10 students or customers who are your ideal personas converted or bought. What steps did they take along the way to signing up at your studio? This is your starting point for joining your personas converting and purchasing process to your sales process.

You must be continually optimizing. Your systems may have worked for these students, but technology is changing, your business is growing and your personas may have even shifted. Stay focussed always on optimization.

 The following questions should be asked at this point: 

Now, let’s match the journey of your 10 best students, combined with that perfect purchasing experience you just defined with your sales process. By doing this (on paper) you’ll be mapping alignment with their goals with an ideal purchasing path, providing the most value to your buyer while creating positive and increased conversions for your business.

In part two of this article, I am going to go into a deep dive of the actual conversion process and what you'll need to have in place to get the best results in attracting, converting and moving students into a bigger experience. For now, review the above steps and tasks and audit your site, see how you're looking and then get ready to move forward.