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SEOversite’s VP on ‘Why My Website Lead Quality Feels Low’

 

John Berry here, VP of SEOversite, here to provide some commentary on a common recent refrain from many business owners and leaders:

“My website lead quality seems lower than usual. Why is that?”

Before I dive in, a bit of background…

In my role at SEOversite, I personally oversee the performance of websites and digital marketing strategy for a multitude of clients across the nation. Despite the digital marketing challenges most businesses faced in 2020 from Covid implications and Google algorithm updates, nearly every SEOversite client enjoyed record visitor and lead counts last year, and that trend has continued in 2021. Most of our clients averaged a 30-50% increase in traffic over Q1 2020 (and remember that most of Q1 2020 was pre-covid) with some as high as 300%. We had the occasional client face some rankings fluctuation during Q4 2020 and Q1 2021, but even those clients are bouncing back and in the black as of this writing. So if you feel your lead count and site visitors are not tremendously up year-over-year, you’ll want to get in touch with us to review what may be happening.

With that said, while visitors and leads are up compared to the previous year (which is expected considering the onset of the pandemic in March and April of 2020), many clients also feel like some leads are more difficult to reach, less likely to book, or are clogging their sales pipeline. We do not believe this to be the reality after perusing our data, and simply would suggest it is a “feeling.”

Why? I thought you’d never ask.

So a rising tide floats all boats. When visitor and lead counts rise, the number of spammy or lower-quality leads rises as well. I just returned from Las Vegas for a birthday celebration with my team and I saw very quickly that if you play 5 hands of blackjack at once, you will, overall, lose more hands.  Because of this phenomenon, it can feel like the overall quality is suffering, but the truth is that if you received 20% more inquiries this year, you likely received 20% more spam, folks with no plan or budget, salespeople trying to reach you, and more. The quality is still there, and the percentage of high-intention inquiries is likely the same or close, but there are simply more inquiries of all quality levels. Just take the time to filter and distill to the blackjacks and twenties and overall you’ll be up.

Another factor, now that vaccines have arrived and over 40% of the country has had at least one dose, is that consumer spending is on the rise and projected to flourish over the coming months. Despite this, we are still seeing that the pandemic is not entirely over, consumer behavior is not back to “normal,” and may seem more erratic. You may notice more prospects submitting a form on your website, but not answering the phone when you call or returning e-mail. We’ve advised our clients to continue to follow up with these inquiries for weeks and months to come. And, in addition to your sales coordinators managing follow-ups, continue to nurture these leads through e-mail marketing and social media until they are ready to proceed. Put simply, stay the course and don’t give up.

Summarily, don’t overthink nor jump to conclusions. Leads should be up, and up in a big way in your business. With that comes more perfect, and quite imperfect, inquiries. Have a superstar salesperson. Manage and follow up with inquiries many times (politely and professionally, of course), regardless of perceived value, and watch your sales skyrocket. If any of this is not your reality – leads are not up that much, you don’t have a world-class team, your social media or online presence is lackluster, etc. – stop the bleeding and get in touch with SEOversite.

If you have any questions about your online marketing strategy, including website, digital advertising, phone systems, text marketing, e-mail newsletter, or social media marketing, feel free to reach out here to schedule a complimentary call. Our track record shows it’s not a roll of the dice.

By SEOversite, learn more about our team.