The Newbies Guide to Lead Generation

Probably the biggest reason for failing to find suitable leads for your business is because you're not searching for them. Instead, most newbies tend to look for signups - people who join your business or opportunity right from the start.

This is certainly what I did. Why? Because that's what I was told to do. Go out and get people to join your business, make money, have residual income, sell them the opportunity...

But the problem comes when people don't want to join your business. You spend all your time promoting it, directing traffic to your signup page, and zilch, nothing, zero results.

Stop trying to build your business right off. Very few people will make an instant decision to join something (and those that do tend to make that same decision over and over again, every time a better looking opportunity comes along.)

This undoubtedly leads to frustration and despair which is why so many 'newbies' fail to stick with it and end up jumping from one programme to another thinking the next one will be easier to get folks to sign up to.

Wrong!

You need to quit trying to build your business and start building your list.

Instead of looking for signups to your primary business, you should be looking for prospects. Suitable candidates for your business, but people with whom you can build a relationship first.

Leads are your ticket to success. Done right, you can make money from leads even if they never choose to sign up to your business, but that's a whole other hub!

Finding leads is a pretty daunting task when you're a 'newbie'. I'd never heard of such a thing when I first started. And when I did hear about them I thought they were the ones who had chosen to join and were in the 'downline' of my business. (dumb I know, but hey, who tells you these things?)

There are a number of lead generating programmes out there, or you can buy them. Personally, I don't recommend either of these methods. Who wants leads that are shared? And apart from anything else, there are better ways to spend your money when you're just starting out.

Nope, you gotta learn to generate your own. And it isn't that hard. Really.

Once I figured it out, I generated over 260 leads in the first couple of months. Now, I get folks opting in to my list on a daily basis, usually between 7 to 12 a day. Trust me, with that many prospects coming to you, building your business and making money is inevitable.

In order to obtain good quality, targeted leads into your list, you have to be sure you do a couple of things.

1. Create a good capture page - eye catching, attention grabbing, unique.
2. Make your 'hook' irresisitable and worthy of your potential prospect's information.

If the capture page isn't good enough, people will pass it by. It needs to be professional. It needs to stand out. It needs to 'grab' your visitor instantly. There's no excuse for sloppy, badly created capture pages these days. There are so many free website creators out there that absolutely anyone can create a good looking page in less than an hour! Check out Weebly.com or Blinkweb.com

Getting someone to give you their email address is pretty easy IF you make it worth their while! If all you're offering is some more hyped up business opportunities that nobody is making money at, then you're not going to build much of a list!

Your offer has to be something that fills a need in your prospect's life. Whether that be a way to lose weight, a way to reduce their heating bills, or a way to build a successful online business, your offer has to be their solution!

And make sure that what you're offering does exactly what it says on the cover. The quickest way to lose your leads is to under deliver on your promises. If your capture page tells them they will reduce their heating bills by 10% then your product had better reduce their heating bills by 10%!

This will make sure they stay on your list. And getting them to stay there is important for a couple of reasons.

1. They may not be ready to buy your product right away. But that's not to say they won't be ready to buy in a few weeks, or a few months. Either way, when they are ready, you want them on YOUR list, not your competitors.
2. Keeping them on your list allows you time to build a relationship with them. And this relationship is the key to lead generation.

As your list grows to trust and value you as their solution provider, they will recommend you to their friends. "Hey, you need to be on X's list. They give great value". Getting testimonials from your list, even though they've never bought one of your products is great PR.

You've probably done this yourself. I certainly have. You better believe when I find someone who's really great at delivering top quality information, I tell my friends to get over there and get on their list. This is networking after all.

Without a doubt, the world's best marketers give the best value. Yes, they want you to buy their products. But in order to convince you that their stuff is worth paying for, they give some enormously valuable stuff away.

As a newbie, you can't always afford to buy the latest software, or the best manual. But getting on the list of the big guys out there, you get some of the best for free.

Check out Eban Pagan. I got a great piece of software from being on his list! Eban is probably the greatest advocate of "moving the free line". Everyone else learned this from him.

Check out John Reese. I have just watched a free video from John that has shown me at least 5 strategies I will be putting into place in the next couple of weeks.

Check out Fernando Ceballos. Ferny is one of the nicest guys on the Internet. And what he doesn't give away probably isn't worth having. If you're into SEO in any way, shape or form, you defnitely need to be on Ferny's list.

Check out Cenay Nailor. Cenay is probably the greatest when it comes to creating free training videos. She can show you the 'how to' of just about anything. And this lady even does them on request! Talk about your own personal mentor.

Okay, I could go on and on. I'm on so many lists because, as a newbie, I have so much to learn. And learning from the best is the best way to do it. Don't be afraid to give up your details in return for something of value. The more you learn, the more you will have to offer when asking folks to give up their details to you.