Web design and development have an extraordinary role in an effective online lead generation. Many companies go astray by failing to appreciate the interconnectivity, taking (or not taking) design and development decisions without taking into account the impact on their lead pipeline.
The Lead Generation Ecosystem infographic was created by Straight North, an SEO agency in Chicago to help online marketers, designers and developers see the whole picture. Two aspects of the infographic designers and developers should take special note of:
1) UX & CRO: Regardless of their source, all inquiries tracked through Internet marketing campaigns flow through the company website (at the center of the infographic). Thus, any shortcomings in user experience (UX) and conversion rate optimization (CRO) will put a damper on lead generation — often a very significant one. Designers and developers with expertise in UX and CRO have great value to companies that depend on Internet leads. Design and development issues that often impede website conversions include complex and burdensome forms, hard-to-find phone numbers, poor (or no) mobile design, lack of white space, inwardly rather than prospect-focused content, slow page loading, non-intuitive header and/or sub-navigation and lack of credibility elements.
2) Lead Validation: Lead validation (below and to the right of the website hexagon) is the process of screening website inquiries to separate true sales leads from non-lead inquiries. From a development standpoint, leads must be tracked back to their campaign source in a granular fashion, in order for lead validation to have its greatest impact. Online marketing analysts and campaign managers can only evaluate and properly test campaign variables if they know which campaigns, keywords, times of day, days of the week, etc., produced true sales leads. Frequently, companies lump all inquiries together considering them leads and has only a hazy idea at best about whether the lead came from SEO, PPC, social media, etc.
Does Your Web D and D Get an A for Lead Generation? (Infographic):
The above Lead Generation Ecosystem infographic is shared by Brad Shorr. He is Director of Content Strategy for Straight North, a B2B Internet marketing firm. With decades of marketing, sales and management experience, Brad has been featured in online publications including Entrepreneur, Forbes and Moz.
Web developer and SEO specialist with 20+ years of experience in open-source web development, digital marketing, and search engine optimization. He is also the moderator of this blog "RS Web Solutions (RSWEBSOLS)".
