How to get started with an online presence, without a website

These days its no longer absolutely crucial to have a fully fledged website. In the past, the cost and time involved in creating websites has been a hindrance.  Technology has developed so much, that we no longer require full on large scale professionally designed websites, we can start with a simple landing page and lead capture form and grow into a more developed website over time.

Read on if you’d like to know a quick way to get up and running with an online presence without excessive time and cost commitments.

The purpose of having an online presence in this case is to have somewhere to send people in order to engage them enough to fill in an online form so you can continue talking with them.

As per any marketing initiative, you must fully understand your audience before creating a marketing communications piece. There is a lot of info on this elsewhere so I won’t spend time on it now. Check out this blog post for more details and a free target market profile tool.

A lead magnet is something of value to your audience that they would be willing to exchange their contact details for in order to get access to it.  Some common examples of lead magnets are white papers, video series, eCourses, newsletters, swipe files or templates.

The objective of the lead magnet is to give your audience an experience of you and how you can help them. Aim to establish credibility by giving them useful solutions and take aways they can implement immediately.  At the very least, get them thinking differently.

The keys to creating an awesome lead magnet are:

1. Solve a high value problem for your audience

2. Give them great value without asking them to buy

3. When you think you’ve given enough value, give them 10-20% more

4. Invite them to join you elsewhere… eg subscribe to your newsletter or eCourse, podcast or Facebook group.

Spend a bit of time creating this, as it will become a vary valuable part of your lead generation tool kit.

This is super easy these days.  You can use a variety of tools such as Word Press or Wix (free options) or Leadpages (for a small monthly fee).  If you use a Marketing Automation system, it may also have the functionality to create landing pages.  For more information about the free website generators, listen to this podcast or read the transcript on that page.

Here is an example of a lead magnet and landing page we have created which will give you a live example.

Make sure the contact form you are using captures leads in an organised way.  The most effective option is to use a form from your CRM.  Alternatively if you use WordPress, you can add a plug in that captures the details and send you an email.  We use Infusionsoft which integrates nicely with Lead pages, but that’s a fairly expensive option. For smaller budgets I’d recommend Lead pages for the landing page.  They have notification emails that are sent to you automatically once someone completes the opt in form.  You then need to make sure you save those emails and manage them in a way that avoids any follow up failure.

This is a manual process unless you are using a Marketing Automation system that allows you to have automated email responders. You can follow up by email, letter or phone (if you have captured a phone number in your form).  The most effective method is phone, you get an instant response and can establish good rapport.  If you don’t like making phone calls, then email is the next best option.

The rule of thumb is you will need to follow up in some way 7-10 times before converting a sale. Most people give up after one or two attempts.  This video explains how to Fix Follow Up Failure.