Do you know where the majority of your leads come from?
For most service-based businesses, our number one resource of new sales are referrals, but you can’t control how often those come in.
What do you do when you need to generate steady leads and sales for your business so you have control over whether or not you can scale?
The answer is not posting more often on Instagram.
In fact, one of the biggest mistakes I see small business owners make is putting all of their eggs in the social media basket.
But the truth is that your #1 leads generator should never be a platform that you don’t own or have any real control over.
It should be your website.
Ready to argue with me on that? Before you head to Instagram to DM me, let me tell you exactly why you’ve probably been putting the emphasis on the wrong parts of your marketing.
Your Website is Your Home Online
If you’re running an online business, chances are that you work out of your home and/or maybe from a coworking space.
The great thing about an online business is that you don’t need to have a brick-and-mortar location for people to be able to find you.
In fact, most of your customers don’t even have to be in your same geographic area.
But when your business runs online, you need a home online.
Think of your website like it’s your office space on the internet. You’re inviting customers into your business. Your office space showcases your brand’s personality and lets people know you’re a real business. There’s a lot of trust that is built when someone can invite you to their office.
It’s the same with your website. It not only provides social proof that you are a real business, but it also allows you to show the transformations you’ve helped other clients get, your brand’s personality, and lets your customers see who exactly they’re working with.
It’s the ultimate way to invite someone into your business and build trust with them.
When you don’t have a website that accurately reflects your business and how you help people, it can absolutely affect your bottom line.
All Your Marketing Leads to Your Website
In a perfect marketing world, all of your marketing should lead your customers back to your website. But your marketing needs to match your website, otherwise, you’re creating confusion and possibly distrust in what you do.
I was working through website copy with a client the other day. He mentioned how excited they were to have their new website coming soon because their current one just isn’t accurate to who they are as an organization anymore.
But more than that, he knows that everything they put out there needs to come back to the website. It needs to be their online hub.
Think of when you post something on Instagram and you’re trying to get someone to buy a course or sign up for your VIP day. You’re likely telling them to go to the “link in bio” so they can purchase that from you.
Where does that live? On your website.
When you’re sending out emails to your list, are you taking them back to a social media site to take action?
Absolutely not.
Your sales all happen (or should be happening) on your website.
You Have Complete Control of Your Website
The big reason for that?
You have complete control over your website. You don’t with land you’re simply renting space for free from a giant social media company.
When you meet a new brand on Instagram, you don’t control what post you see first. You’re just shown a Reel or post that Instagram thinks you want to see.
Even with ads, you might be targeted for something that doesn’t totally make sense to you because you’ve never met this brand before.
But when you visit a business’s website, you get to meet them at the beginning and get taken through a story of how they can help you. (Of course, this is when a website is built correctly.)
Unlike with social media and other digital marketing outlets, you have control of how your brand is represented to your customers. You get to choose how they meet you and what parts of your story are told.
And of course, you have far more control over your own visual branding than you ever will on a social media platform.
A Website Makes it Easier to Capture Leads
One of the best things about your website and how that translates to sales and leads? It’s just so much easier to actually capture those leads.
There are lots of tools out there that can help you automate any leads you get from Instagram or LinkedIn, but I’d bet money you want a hot lead to fill out a form on your website so you can control how that information feeds into your customer relationship management system or just your own sales process.
You’re Not Fighting the “Algorithm”
One of my favorite things about websites though? You’re not fighting the algorithm to get your content seen.
Even those people that follow you won’t see everything you post on social media. But if that same person comes to your website, they can literally see everything they need to, choose which pages to look at, get to all of your blog articles, and so much more.
With your website, your customer is truly in control of getting to know you and seeing the whole picture of how you can help.
You’re not putting out content and crossing your fingers that they actually see it all.
(Man, isn’t that annoying?)
Building Trust with a Professional Website
Your business needs its home – its office space – online so that your prospective customers can find you and will want to work with you.
You need a website that backs up everything else you’re saying on social media, in your emails, in your ads, and even in your podcast interviews.
I saw a post in a Facebook group this morning wondering what people do to get new leads. In that post, this business owner basically admitted to just posting on Instagram and wanting more ideas.
Look, that’s never going to cut it.
When your emphasis isn’t on your website and having a good solid foundation for your marketing for your website, you’re going to lose those leads you may have gotten from other places.
When someone is referred to you, they’re going to check out your website and the other 3 people they got references for. Will your website show them why they want to work with you and how you can actually help them?
If you’re not treating your website as your #1 leads generator, taking care of it, and updating it as your business grows and changes, you’re going to see your sales dip. You’re not going to get those new leads on autopilot because you’re neglecting the one thing that could do that for you.
Your website has to be the place where you’re putting the majority of your focus and you’re sending interested buyers back to, taking those cold leads and giving them a place to convert.
Do you want a website that can actually be your #1 leads generator? Then it’s time to book a clarity call with me. Let’s talk about how that can be possible.
