When new prospects visit your website, what happens?

Ideally, you want a high percentage of them to converting intoleads. However, before your website can convert prospects into leads, it must beequipped with lead generation pages, also known lead-capture oropt-in pages.

What's the difference between a landing page and regular webpage? One is designed to provide high-level information while theother (the opt-in page) is built to do one thing: generateleads.

On traditional corporate websites, prospects can come and goanonymously. And while traffic and visitors are important, they arenot the same as leads. Leads are those who are interested enough toleave you their contact information so you can follow up withthem.

Of course, most prospects think twice before completing anyforms on your website. In fact, I'll bet 90 percent of you neverget more than one or two leads a month from your site.

How do I know that? Because after reviewing hundreds of advisorsites, I've come to the realization that almost none of them havebeen optimized for lead generation. They are still functionallybuilt like it's 1998.

So how do you optimize your site or pages for leadgeneration?

Key to online lead generation

An important first key is to understand that online leadgeneration is a value-for-value exchange. Prospects willonly give you their contact information if doingso will get them something of value inreturn.

This happens by having two things:

1. A valuable offer (also known as a lead magnet).
2. Optimized landing pages.

In this article, we are specifically outlining number No. 2above — how to optimize your web and landing pages forlead generation.

You can use the following points to refine any landing pages youcurrently have up and running, as well as the ones you create inthe future.

You only have 2 seconds to grab visitors' attention. Makeyour headline count. (Photo: iStock)

1. A compelling headline

When visitors hit your landing page, you have only 2 seconds tograb their attention. The headline is the first thing they're goingto read, so a compelling headline is the best way to ensure theyspend time on the site or page.

One formula for writing a headline that works really well is touse a proven headline formula like the following:

“How to (Insert Positive Benefit Statement) without (InsertNegative)”

Or

“How to retire confidently without the fear of running out ofmoney.”

This speaks directly to both the desired end result of yourideal prospects as well as the negative thing they want toavoid.

There are lots of formulas for crafting headlines thatwork. Bottom line, the headline is extremely importantand any lead-capture or web page that youcreate must have a compelling headline if you'regoing to convert visitors into leads, so be sure to spend some timeon creating several you can use on various pages.

Related: 3 ways to optimize your fiancial websitecontent

Don't hide your call to action where readers will never seeit. (Photo: iStock)

2. A call to action located above thefold

Most web visitors don't scroll down the page. So the button theyclick and the form they must complete to receive whatever offeryou're making on the page must be positionedabove the fold. What does that mean? “Above the fold” simply meansthe top half of the page, the section of your site that's viewablewithout scrolling down. Anything you can't see without scrollingdown is located “below the fold.”

This is an area where we see a lot of websites fail. Mostadvisor landing pages have tons of text, bullet points and images,and then, at the very bottom, there's a button. We want to avoidthat. We recommend what we call a “high-level call to action” or an“above-the-fold call to action.”

Related: Insurance websites need to be mobilefriendly — it's about more than just looks

Keep the amount of navigation options to a minimum sovisitors don't get distracted or confused. (Photo: iStock)

3. Limited navigation

Ideally, the only action a prospect should be able to take onyour landing page is complete a form and become a lead. That's it.That's the whole purpose of directing them to a landing page. Toavoid distracting visitors, your landing page shouldn't offer linksto a lot of other pages. This is another big mistake that we see alot of advisors make.

Multiple links draw prospects away from your offer. Granted, ifa prospect decides to leave your page without converting, that'sokay, but you don't want to encourage them to do so. You may thinkyou're going to grab their attention by showing them a lot ofexciting things to click on, but it's actually going to kill yourconversion rate.

Related: Advertising your agency online? Here are sometips

A high-quality, compelling image of your offer demonstratesvalue to your prospects. (Photo: iStock)

4. A high-impact image of your lead magnet(offer)

Let's assume for a moment that you're offering a case study, awhite paper or a planning guide as your lead magnet. Your landingpage should always include a professionallydesigned image of the cover of the piece you're offering. This isthe first value for value exchange you're going to have with thispotential client, and while your lead magnet is being offered for“free” it should look like something they'd be willing to payfor.

By making it visually appealing, you increase the perceivedvalue and increase your chances of converting more leads. They'llbe more willing to give you their contact information if they cansee what they'll be getting in exchange.

The lead magnet is a critical variable in the lead-generationequation. Prospects are giving you their attention, their contactinformation and their permission for you to follow up with them. Inexchange, you are expected to deliver a high-quality piece ofcontent.

Related: 5 ways insurance agencies can improve theirwebsites

Don't scare prospects away by asking for more informationthan you need. (Photo: iStock)

5. Limited form fields

Another huge mistake we see most advisors making is asking fortoo much contact information. A perfect example of this is askingfor their address and or phone number. Unless you plan to cold-callyour prospects, don't ask for more than their name and emailaddress.

In fact, given the way automation and online marketing havechanged how prospects move through your sales funnel, you reallyshouldn't be calling leads at this stage in the process anyway.

At the very top of the funnel, when they first provide you theircontact information, they're really just expressing some level ofinterest. They may be very interested or just marginallyinterested. You really don't know yet, and you want to let yoursales funnel do the heavy lifting of moving them through the salesprocess for you.

To pick up the phone and start calling leads as soon as youcapture them would be premature. And let's be honest, 99 percent ofyou aren't going to call them anyway. So if you don't absolutelyneed a piece of contact information, don't ask for it. Eliminatingunnecessary form fields will dramatically increase the number ofleads your site produces.

Related: 5 things every insurance agent's website shouldhave

Make sure to give prospects a reason to stay when they startto navigate away. (Photo: iStock)

The exit pop

An exit pop is that little window that pops up once you visit apage but then start to leave or navigate away without completingthe opt-in form. It says, “Wait, you forgot to get [fill in theblank].”

I used to think that these were just annoying, and thatprospects probably hated them, but then I researched thestatistics. What I found, is that by having an exit pop in place,you'll convert 20 to 30 percent more leads than you would havewithout one.

That means that you'll get two to three additional leads forevery 10 people that visit your page. This one tip alone can make adramatic difference in the total number of leads you generate. Ifyou do nothing else, get this in place ASAP.

The key to successful exit pops — those that aren't annoying— is that they need to offer something relevant to the page aprospect is visiting.

For example, if they click on a page that says, “Top TaxStrategies for Business Owners,” don't have a pop up that sayssomething generic like, “Wait! Join our newsletter!” Instead, havean exit pop that offers a tax planning white paper, and yourconversions will be MUCH higher.

Armed with the information in this checklist you'll be able topull up your site, lay the checklist right beside it, and beginconstructing a game plan foroptimizing your website for maximum leadgeneration.

Related: 4 strategies for dealing with onlineleads