Generating leads is a perfect career choice for 2021, and this article will guide you on how to begin even without prior experience.
- Businesses are constantly searching for leads.
- Lead generation allows for remote work.
- Earning a six-figure income and beyond is achievable.
- No formal education or training is required.
This comprehensive guide will provide a step-by-step approach to starting a lead generation venture from scratch.
What Does Lead Generation Mean?
Simply put, if your aim is to acquire customers through digital marketing, you need leads, also known as prospective customers. And a large number of them are required. Lead generation processes, encompassing email marketing, search engine optimization, and online advertising, focus on attracting individuals interested in your business, converting them, and nurturing them until they become paying customers. Essentially, it involves generating excitement for a business among potential customers and guiding them towards making a purchase. Here’s the key point: Lead generation plays a vital role in the expansion of any business. Generating leads essentially means finding innovative methods to attract people to a business. According to a study by Hubspot, 61% of businesses perceive lead generation as their most significant obstacle. This indicates an abundance of potential customers to whom you can sell leads. Combine this with the fact that you get compensated for each lead you generate, and it becomes evident why a lead generation business presents a highly appealing opportunity. So, how do you embark on establishing a lead generation business? Let’s delve into that next.
The Mechanics of Lead Generation
Here’s a breakdown of how lead generation operates:
- Initially, a visitor discovers the business through one of its marketing channels, such as its website, social media presence, or an advertisement.
- The visitor then clicks on a call to action (CTA): a visual element, button, or message that prompts visitors to take the intended action.
- This CTA directs the visitor to a landing page, a dedicated webpage crafted to collect lead information in exchange for an offer. Note: An offer refers to content or something valuable provided on the landing page, such as an ebook, a course, or a template. It should hold enough value to persuade a visitor to share their personal details in return.
- Upon reaching the landing page, the visitor completes a form to access the offer. And there you have it: a newly acquired lead. To summarize: the visitor clicks a CTA that leads them to a landing page, where they fill out a form to receive an offer, at which point they become a lead.
Getting Started with Lead Generation: A Beginner’s Guide
Imagine your uncle runs an air conditioning installation business in Florida. You, with your keen business acumen, create a website offering his services and manage to secure its top ranking for the keyword “air conditioning Florida,” which receives an average of 390 monthly searches. It’s highly likely that numerous individuals seeking air conditioning to beat the Florida heat will land on the website. Before that happens, you have several options:
- You could provide your uncle with the leads in exchange for a PlayStation 4 as a birthday gift.
- You could lease the website to him for a fixed fee in return for all the leads.
- You could charge him for every lead generated. It’s an excellent starting point for anyone looking to establish their presence in niche markets and generate income. You might think this isn’t groundbreaking, and you’d be right. The novelty lies in the simplified approach of targeting smaller, localized niches where it’s easier to stand out. Lead generation is a universally valuable skill. Numerous resources are available to aid you in this endeavor. This skill has no limits, so don’t consider it merely a stepping stone. Before you begin:
Step 1. Master the Fundamentals of Local Lead Generation
Start by familiarizing yourself with the basics and progressively work your way through this list. So, what constitutes “the basics,” and where can you find them?
- Explore all the FREE and valuable information available on Google. You can start here. Countless posts, articles, and reports are at your disposal. Numerous strategies exist for acquiring leads, and you can build your lead generation business in various ways. Therefore, delve into anything that seems beneficial, jot down notes, and begin implementing your newfound knowledge from day one.
- Enroll in a high-quality local lead generation course and leverage all its resources: networking opportunities, mentorship, strategies, etc. Immerse yourself completely. The amount of information available on lead generation is vast. For those seeking a comprehensive online training program, we recommend our unbiased review of: “Modern Millionaires Review | Is It a Scam or legit?”)
Step 2. Craft Your Lead-Selling Website
Seems straightforward, right? But what if you lack experience in this domain? How do you proceed? Let’s address the fundamentals of starting lead generation with no prior experience.
2.1 Identify Your Niche
This crucial decision will determine the success or failure of your entire business. My strategy involves targeting mid-sized cities like Venice or Key West in Florida and seeking out professions or services with a limited online presence. Profitable opportunities abound; it’s a matter of persistent searching until you unearth a lucrative micro-niche. Concentrate on taking incremental steps, seeking out uncontested markets with less competition.
2.2 Design a Clean and User-Friendly Landing Page
This is the least time-consuming aspect. I allocate a maximum of 2-3 hours to create an informative and intuitive landing page containing at least 1,500 words of high-quality text to initiate lead generation without any prior experience. If content creation is a concern, employ the “SEO white hat” technique. This involves writing content that aligns with what your target audience searches for on Google. By doing so, you increase your chances of ranking higher in search results and reaching the right people. While the Keyword Planner tool (free and provided by Google) no longer displays precise search volumes without active Google Ads campaigns, you can utilize affordable, and even free, alternatives to approximate “optimal results.” If you’re just starting with your website and aim to rank well but lack the budget for keyword research tools like KeywordTool.io or SE Ranking, consider using:
- Übersuggest
- Google Trends By implementing these strategies, your page will surpass the majority of the competition in terms of quality and content. The next step is to enhance its ranking through quality backlinks.
2.3 Boost Your Website’s Ranking for Seamless Lead Generation Without Experience
To enhance the website’s ranking, apart from SEO efforts, I’ve adopted a specific method for acquiring links without resorting to begging. I acquired this knowledge from the online program mentioned earlier. Typically, you’d reach out to website owners to explore guest posting opportunities. However, as you can imagine, this is a time-consuming process. There’s a surprisingly simple way to achieve a top ranking on Google in this masterclass. (For less than $10, as we’re operating on a tight budget) It’s an excellent starting point to understand ranking strategies and outmaneuver the competition from the outset. It’s a foolproof method. But I won’t sugarcoat it. Your goal is to start generating leads immediately, even without any prior experience. So, let’s move on to the next step.
Step 3. Identify Lead Buyers (Client Acquisition)
This is the most straightforward part, yet it’s where most individuals falter and give up. While certain sectors are easy to rank in, selling to the end customer can be challenging. My approach has been to position a niche on the first page of search results and prominently display my contact information. Once I receive the first lead, I identify companies within that sector that might be interested in purchasing future leads and explain the process. If they hesitate, I offer the first lead for free. Occasionally, I even target a company struggling with sales and begin generating leads for them without charging a penny. After a few days, they witness the increased traffic (and hopefully, conversions), and I send an email along the lines of: “Hey, I’ve been providing you with free, high-quality leads. If I can achieve this in a week, imagine the long-term impact I can have on your business. Hire me.” I’m kidding, of course. But you get the idea, right? It’s a great way to initiate lead generation without any prior experience. It’s a practical way to showcase your value proposition to potential clients before they even come on board. I borrowed this idea from Abdul, my mentor and the founder of the Modern Millionaires program. Another effective strategy (also credited to Abdul) is to offer a free free marketing audit. This won’t cost you anything either. Simply use free tools like Spyfu and Übersuggest to identify the potential revenue they’re missing out on. When conducting the audit, gather their website address, phone number, email address, and schedule a follow-up call in 2-3 business days. If you execute this well, you’ll secure a client! (Cheers!)
Embarking on Lead Generation Without Experience: Conclusion
It’s undeniable: Traditional marketing is obsolete. Why? Personally, I find myself becoming increasingly indifferent to celebrity endorsements, and I suspect you do too. When considering a capsule coffee maker, I believe most people would trust an in-depth review by an average consumer over a celebrity endorsement. Here’s the key takeaway: We live in an era where anyone can access knowledge for free and share it with others. The best part? One can easily become an authority in a specific specific niche without appearing on television or authoring a bestselling book. You could be just a few steps away from achieving financial independence through the power of the internet. Taking action now will yield noticeable results in no time. However, always remember the fundamental principle:
Never Stop Learning.
Consider this the fourth and final step. While starting with lead generation is simpler than it seems, it’s an expansive field. The more knowledge you acquire, the more resources you’ll have at your disposal to generate the high-quality leads your clients demand. (In return, you’ll receive the financial rewards you deserve.)