10 Tricks for Generating Website Leads From being mobile friendly to having a solid SEO foundation, here are a few tips for boosting your website's leads.

Most small businesses want their website to generate leads — but, unfortunately, most small business websites are not built to do so. All is not lost, though.

Here are 10 things you can do to improve the lead generating power of your website, starting immediately.

1. Go mobile-friendly

Having a mobile-friendly website is HUGE. More people access the Internet via mobile phones than desktops, and the gap is widening. You'll pick up lots of mobile traffic and leads by delivering mobile users a great website experience. Also, a mobile-friendly website will help your online visibility. Converting to a mobile-friendly website can be quite affordable, too, depending on the platform and design of your current website.

2. Prominent phone number

Make your website big and bold at the top of every page of your website, and for mobile viewing, keep an interactive phone icon fixed at the top of the page. Hot prospects, especially on mobile devices, will want to call you rather than fill out a form. Make it super easy for them to do so.

3. Make forms simple and easy to find

Links to inquiry forms should also be prominent on all pages because there's no telling when a visitor will want to reach out while perusing your website. Keep required fields to a minimum, and make the form field boxes big enough for easy entry on mobile phones. Again, the whole idea is to make it easy for visitors to inquire!

4. Give your site a solid SEO foundation

Before you spend a dime on SEO, make sure your website is configured to support a campaign. Most important: Give each page a unique title tag with important keywords, have a clear navigational structure, make sure all content is unique and useful, and have your website developer run a diagnostics text to identify and fix technical SEO problems.

5. Write benefit-oriented content

Focus content on how your products and services solve problems for customers. When visitors come to your website, they want to quickly find out if you have what they're looking for, and if so, why you're the best choice. You've got to get these messages out quickly; if visitors can't figure it out within a few seconds, they'll be off to your competitor's website.

6. Use lots of white space

Crowded, cluttered page design looks amateurish and disorganized. White space conveys expertise and organization. Which image would you rather portray to your prospects?

7. Use custom images

Bland stock images tell prospects you're just going through the motions. Instead, get creative, and show professional photos of your staff and facility, if possible. This makes your business real and personal, which attracts leads.

8. Have a great offer

Are you giving visitors a good reason to inquire? Prospects always need a push. The company website is no place for subtlety, so offer something of value, like $100 off or a free month of service.

9. Track your inquiries

Your website may be producing more leads than you think … or fewer. The only way to know is to track phone and form inquiries. This can get a little tricky, so make sure your website developer sets up tracking properly.

10. Review analytics and tweak

Finally, review your website analytics to see what visitors are doing. Pages with short view times may need better content. Pages with long view times may generate more leads with a stronger offer. If you analyze user behavior, you can continually improve your site to make it a lead generating machine. It'll take time, but it's worth it.

By Brad Shorr, Straight North