If you’re in the beginning stages of growing your blog or simply looking for a way to boost your following, lead magnets are an absolute must.
Lead magnets are one of the most important aspects of growing your brand and staying in touch with your readers.
Whether you’ve heard of lead magnets or not, you will be on the right track to implementing some lead magnets into your site in no time.
What are lead magnets?
First and foremost, a lead is a potential customer.
A lead magnet is an incentive given by you to your audience in exchange for contact information – typically an email – from a lead.
These can be recipe printouts, screensaver downloads, ebooks, checklists, webinars, worksheets, or anything that your reader feels is valuable enough to stick around and hand over their email address.
These typically look like a pop-screen when first visiting a site, a banner near the top of the screen, or even simple sign up forms dispersed throughout your site (i.e. within blog posts, on sidebars, in the footer).
Lead magnets make all the difference in growing a following for your blog. They are the agent needed in attracting a viewer to come back to your site.
Why do you need them?
Lead magnets are absolutely essential for multiple reasons:
1. Growing your email list
People are often hesitant to share their email – I’m sure you can relate to feeling like you have hundreds of subscriptions you regret signing up for – and that’s why sharing something with your reader in exchange for an email is genius!
You grow relationship by showing them that signing up is going to be worthwhile. And while social media is great at attracting an audience, that’s about all it can do. Instagram, Pinterest, twitter, etc. can only get you so far in terms of growing a relationship with your readers.
An email list is the fastest way to grow and reach your audience, but they don’t grow without incentive.
If you don’t have an email list yet or trying to figure out how to grow it, sign up for one of the following webinars – they are 100% free!
- Get Your First 1,000 Subscribers – Beginner
- Earn Your First Dollar – Beginner/Intermediate
- Email Copy-writing Tips – Beginner/Intermediate
- Make More Sales With Funnels – Expert
2. Attracting the right clients
Lead magnets not only help you grow your email list, but also help you attract the RIGHT type of people to your email list and in turn, to your blog more and more frequently.
Depending on the niche of your blog, whether that’s cooking, starting a business, DIY, fashion, etc. the list goes on and on, you’ll need to create lead magnets that relate to your niche and the needs of your subscribers collectively.
There’s no use in having an email list with thousands of subscribers if none of them are the audience you’re targeting.
For example, let’s say you run a self-care blog and are trying to target young-adult women looking for ways to improve the way they care for themselves, which lead magnet do you think will attract YOUR type of audience:
- Daily Self Care Morning Routine Checklist?
- Or Lavender Scented Bath Salt Recipe?
Most likely the first one will be the one your ideal reader will be most attracted to. While both fall under the “self-care” category, the recipe one is something that any and everyone may be interested in and therefore may find better use as a simple blog post.
This is why picking and creating a lead magnet that relates to your expertise is so important. This way, people who are truly interested in the work you do will benefit from your freebie.
If you don’t have a target audience yet, read this: How To Discover And Engage Your Target Audience.
3. Lead magnets increase conversion rates
There’s a statistic that says that for every 100 visits to your site, 10 of those visitors will click/subscriber to your lead and of those 100, 1 will become a customer/dedicated reader. Now this is an approximate percentage, but the point here is to show that only 1% of your visitors are likely to become long-term readers.
This is why it is CRUCIAL to make sure that when a visitor comes to your site you are prepared to lock that reader in a draw them back. And this percentage drops close to zero when you don’t have a lead magnet acting as… well…your lead magnet.
4. Everybody loves free stuff!
Customers can get a taste of what you offer at no cost to them, which in turn, leads to a customer returning and becoming a loyal follower.
Due to the variety of the content that can be generated as a “giveaway,” it’s a no-brainer to consistently be refreshing the lead magnets you’re offering. This also benefits your repeat customers so that they can get great new content too. (It’s always a good idea to continue making your regular viewers happy. 🙂
Free stuff can also come in the form of a free course like the one I have for you below!
5. Increases brand awareness and differentiates your brand
Lead magnets not only benefit your customer/reader, but they are also about you/your brand.
When a lead (prospective customer) receives your lead magnet(s), loyalty and brand awareness in the eyes of your customer grows, and in turn grow your brand/business. They begin to trust in and believe in the content your brand is delivering.
Be thoughtful, deliberate and specific in what you create as it’s a reflection of your brand. And, it needs to set you apart from your competition.
Top types of lead magnets
Your lead magnet should always solve some sort of problem. Offer a way to give, or help, or solve a common issue that your audience may have. Below are some of the most common and effective lead magnets for bloggers:
- Cheat sheet
- Handout / Infographic(s)
- Resource list
- Video course
- Templates
- Free Trial
- Quiz or a Survey
Every website or blog has lead magnets that work better for them and their business, but testing out various lead magnets and finding what your specific audience is drawn to the most is key to creating successful lead magnets.
Brainstorm some ideas, ask some trusted friends for input, and have some fun playing around with the different ways in which you can attract the most amount of dedicated readers to your site. Most importantly, however, don’t give up on finding the best lead magnet(s) for your audience because they are so important!
Fran Kolars is a blogging intern for LadyBossBlogger. She is currently working towards her bachelor’s degree in Retail Merchandising and Interior Design at the University of Minnesota. Blogging is an interest of hers that was sparked by her passion for mental health, self-care, and motivation for women.