The online world is a crowded place and your entire online presence needs to efficiently work together on your company’s behalf. Although still a relatively new concept, inbound marketing strategies are quickly taking the Internet by storm, and changing the way in which we connect with both our current and prospective consumers.

Inbound marketing is leading a shift away from the internal focus on sales, marketing, and product, towards strategic decision-making based on the wants and needs of the customer. Unfortunately, there are still numerous businesses that remain a bit unclear as to why this shift is occurring, what inbound marketing is, and how it can be taken advantage of to boost B2B sales.

Offer compelling content that drives visitors to take action

Establishing your buyer personas and creating a blog is only half the battle. Now that you have a means for drawing web traffic to your website, you’ve got to figure out how to turn them into actual leads for your business. This is what will fuel your ability to move forward with the buying cycle.

How can website visitors be turned into leads?

Because you are not directly approaching your audience with a sales pitch, it’s important that you learn how to take a casual reader’s interest in your blog, and direct their attention to the products or services that you have to offer. In other words, you’ve got to compel your visitors to take further action to learn more about your business.

In order to accomplish this objective, you will need to make use of three valuable tools:

1. Premium Content – We have already discussed the importance of providing relevant, useful content for your blog readers, but its value can never be understated. Although a visitor may arrive at your post in search of the answer to a very specific question, the best business blogs are able to hold a reader’s interest, and keep them on the page.

This is only possible when the content that you create is of the highest quality, and is directed at your targeted buyer personas. Providing internal links to related blog posts and information is also a smart idea, as this will give your audience the opportunity to explore the depths of your expertise, and will encourage them to seek out further information from you.

2. Calls to Action – Sometimes abbreviated as “CTA”, a call to action is simply an image or a line of text that prompts your page’s visitors to take action. In some cases, the “action” that you want your readers to take may be to download an eBook, a special offer, register for a webinar, come to an event, etc.

Unfortunately, there are many businesses that don’t actually understand how to compel an audience to respond to the CTA. Simply slapping “Click Here!” on a flashing, neon button won’t get the job done; you have to earn it. You’ve got to prove your value to your readers, and then create an exciting CTA copy that will make them feel excited about acting.

How will responding to the CTA help to improve your prospect’s business, save them money, or make things easier for them? Also remember to be clear; whether you are offering a product demo, a subscription to a weekly newsletter, or a white page download, your readers should know exactly what will happen when they click on a CTA.

3. Landing Pages – So what happens once a visitor decides to take action? The best CTAs offer something to your readers while requesting something else in exchange – their information. For example, an individual may need to provide their name and e-mail address in order to receive their free eBook, or the visitor could be filling out transactional information in order to register for a seminar.

In order to properly obtain this information, it’s crucial that your CTA takes people to a dedicated landing page after they click on it. A landing page is simply a web page a visitor lands on after clicking on a call-to-action. It is the gateway to your remarkable content, providing a customized pitch based on your buyer personas. The more relevant your landing page design is to them, the more likely your visitors will see the value in sharing their information.

How do these components affect the B2B sales process?

As you can clearly see, the creation of premium content, and the correct usage of calls to action and landing pages are all necessary components in converting leads. Unless you are able to impress your page’s visitors with helpful, informative blog posts that are tailored to their specific needs and wants, you will not be able to hold their interest long enough to push them forward in the buying cycle.

With all three of these elements in place, and utilized properly, you can double the amount of viable B2B leads that you bring in for a fraction of the effort required by traditional outbound marketing tactics.