Lead Generation for Small Business Owners: Seven Ways to Increase Your Visibility– Part 2 of 5

As a business owner you know you must be seen to attract clients or customers. This does not mean you must have a billboard, balloons hanging on your store front or a person out front of your business holding a sign. There are many no cost and low cost things you can do to increase your visibility. My seven avenues below will help you increase your visibility and drive traffic to your website or squeeze page.

Seven Ways to Increase Your Visibility

1. Floating Form – a floating form can be placed on your blog, website or squeeze page. It will float or pop up in front of the viewer asking for his or her contact information in order to receive a free download i.e. special report, article, tip sheet or eBook.

2. Email Tag Line – you will want to have an email tag line below your email signature. This consists of just a few sentences that tell about you and your business. The last sentence will direct the reader to visit your website, blog or squeeze page to download something for free or to read more about you. You will include the url for your website, blog or squeeze page. The email tag line is important especially when your email is forwarded to people that do not know who you are or know about your business.

3. Phone Greeting – when someone is listening to your phone greeting take a few seconds to share about an upcoming event or special offer. This is the opportunity to direct the listener to your website or squeeze page while he or she is waiting for you to return his or her call.

4. Social Media Updates –you do not want to SPAM people with your social media updates. However, when someone connects with you for the first time you can offer the person an avenue to learn more about you and your business in your auto reply. You can also send an occasional status update sharing great content with the url to finish reading the article or learn more about you and your small business.

5. Public Speaking – speaking at various organizations where the audience is in your niche is a great way to increase your visibility. Many times you will not be allowed to “sell” from the stage but you can offer the attendee something for free.

6. Article/Blog Resource Box – article writing and blogging are great ways to increase your visibility and drive traffic to your free offer. Your resource box could also be placed on the back of your business card or on your marketing materials. Your resource box is similar to your email tagline but contains more information. The resource box will also be used when submitting media releases.

7. Auto Responder – do you know if your email service provider has an auto responder? Most email providers offer this free tool that is often unused. When someone replies or sends you an email your email service automatically sends an email to the sender with your brief message. I suggest you use this free retail space to direct the sender to your website or squeeze page to download his or her free report or eBook.

Remember, when you receive someone’s email address at an event do not automatically add it to your newsletter list. You must abide by the FTC regulations. When the person opts in to receive your free eBook or other item he or she is opting in and acknowledging that he or she wants to receive future emails or ezines from you. Opting in is the legal way to add someone to your list.

The seven venues above are great ways to capture leads without violating FTC guidelines or rules. They are great ways to increase your visibility, grow your list and grow your business.

This is the second part of a five part series on attracting and generating leads to grow your business. The next in our series will discuss designing your offer.