Take a few minutes to google “how to boost website conversions” and what you’ll likely come up with are hundreds of posts talking about running A/B tests and changing web copy on your landing page.
But those actions, alone, aren’t enough to boost your website conversions. While changing your call-to-action button color to red, green, or polka dots might help, if you really want to grow your website conversions and get more prospective patients for your practice, you need to focus on the types of offers you’re promoting.
Folks who visit your site come in many shapes and sizes. Some visitors are ready to convert and will click on the “Contact Us” link or “Schedule a Free Consultation” button. Others, however, are not quite ready for that commitment. They’re looking for more information; they’re still chest-deep in research and comparing your practice to your competitors.
If you want them to become a lead, you can’t just promise them a free consultation – they’re simply not at that point in their journey yet.
You need to offer them something of value that they’re willing to provide contact information for, in order to receive. You need to offer them a compelling lead magnet.
But to know what types of offers your audience values, you first need to know a bit about them.
Get to know who your audience is
Making a valuable lead magnet requires you to know exactly what type of information your audience is looking for.
Fortunately for you, there are tools that can help you get to know the folks who visit your site. Google AdWords Keyword Planner, for example, allows you to see the volume for keyword phrases that people are searching for. It can also offer you related suggestions. Using the information from Google AdWords Keyword Planner, you can then get a clearer picture of which keywords and concepts are creating a buzz.
Buzzsumo is a great app to help you search specific topics and see how popular these topics are at the moment.
Here we performed a simple search on Buzzsumo for “plastic surgery.” While many of the results are irrelevant to our needs, there is one that’s intriguing: “Lip Reduction is the New Plastic Surgery Trend.”
With 65,000 total shares to date, this is clearly a trending topic. In other words, people are interested in this subject, making it a viable lead magnet focal point. Perhaps you can create an eBook. Perhaps you can create a checklist (“How Do You Know if Lip Reduction Is Right For You?”). Perhaps you can create a video that shows what patients can expect before and after a lip reduction procedure.
Regardless of the type of content you produce, your goal here is to create gated material that your visitors will have to exchange information for, in order to access. This digital marketing strategy is great for hospitals or medical practices that specialize in a specific service,
Ensuring your lead magnet is a useful resource
Even after you use tools like Buzzsumo, that doesn’t mean you’ll create a lead magnet that encourages conversions.
You must ensure that the content you produce is something your audience wants to consume. Tip sheets, research reports, webinars and more are all potential lead magnets, but knowing which one to use means understanding the mindset of your visitors.
If you believe that your visitors are in a rush to find answers, then a research report isn’t your best bet – perhaps a tip sheet is. If you believe your visitors are looking for in-depth data and evidence, then yes, a research paper could be your best option.
Beyond the type of lead magnet, in order to boost conversions, you’ll want to spend some considerable time with your landing page.
Your landing page – where your lead magnet offer will live – should match exactly what the users are expecting to see. It should also be free of distractions that confuse the visitor. Take, for example, our landing page for a reputation management guide for orthopedic surgeons:
The content of our landing page focuses specifically on the guide’s messaging and purpose. We also deliberately added an image of the guide (rather than some type of stock footage) to keep our visitors focused. And then, of course, is the red CTA button, which not only stands out on the page but uses wording that encourages a conversion.
Your CTA button’s text should reflect what the visitor will get once they hit that button. In this case, they’ll receive a free report. Studies show this type of specificity (vs., say, “Get It Now”) increases conversion rates.
Next, you have to sell your offer
Just because you created a lead magnet and landing page, doesn’t mean anyone will actually see that offer or make a conversion.
You have to do a bit of selling.
Social media is a tremendous way to sell your offer – specifically Facebook. You can create targeted Facebook ads to show up in the feeds of users who match your specific audience. For example, if you’re a plastic surgeon and designed a lead magnet tip-list called How Do You Know If Lip Augmentation is Right for You?” you can create an ad that promotes that offer and target it to Facebook users who have expressed some type of interest in plastic surgery (such as if they like or follow one of your competitors). This is a great strategy to get new clients with digital marketing if you’re a plastic surgeon.
You might also consider creating a custom cover photo for your Facebook page that promotes the offer. Pro tip: when you upload this cover photo, within its caption, add the link to your landing page to make it easier for prospects to convert.
Guest blog posts are another way to amplify your offering. You can mention the lead magnet in your post, or drop a link to its landing page in your bio.
Never stop promoting your lead magnets
One of the trends we see our medical clients practice when they market on their own is they develop a fairly impressive – yet short-lived – strategy to promote their lead magnet offers. But chances are your lead magnets have a long shelf life. Make sure to develop and ongoing schedule that ensures your team markets your offer throughout the year and beyond. That way, this once piece of content will continue to gather up leads and conversions with little effort on your part.