How to use the web to find new customers online

Every business needs a reliable source of new customers, and the Internet is always ready to provide. Here are the things you need to consider...

Do you want local, national or international customers?
How much are you prepared to invest in lead generation?
How much time are you willing to invest in online marketing activity?
What do you need to learn about web marketing?

Let's take a look at each question, and find out how well placed you are to find new customers on the web.

Local, national or international?

If you're able to sell to an international audience, you're well placed to find new customers online. The Internet will literally bring the world to your doorstep, and you can target less-contested key words for both SEO and inexpensive AdWords campaigns.

If you can only sell to people in your own country, and it has a large online population used to responding to lead generation activity, you're also well placed. If not, you're going to need to invest more money or more time in online marketing.

If you can only sell locally, you may still be able to use the Internet to generate new clients. For example, most businesses based in London UK will find enough prospects online to make it worthwhile. In fact, some businesses in London can even invest in local SEO.

A business based in a small town should probably look elsewhere for leads.

The investment

All marketing activity requires an investment of some kind. You'll pay in money, or in time. If you're making good money, it pays to employ a professional to get your online marketing up and running. If you're not making good money, invest your time in finding out how to make online lead generation work for you.

A solid marketing education

Get yourself a good book about direct marketing technique. Find out how professionals plan, implement and measure direct response campaigns. Get a copywriting book, and learn how to write good direct response copy.

Try everything for real on your website. Learning from the masters is only the first step in your journey. Their advice doesn't necessarily translate directly to your product, country or clients. You learn much more by trying and failing, than you'll ever pick up from a book.

It's those hard marketing lessons that teach us our craft, and make us strong. But remember, failure can only teach when your marketing activity is properly measured (i.e. you have data).

Getting good leads from the web

The best way to test a new online marketing idea, is to run a low-cost Google AdWords trial. Find relevant keywords that won't cost too much, and allocate a small daily budget (e.g. £3 a day). Run a trial campaign for 30 days, and measure everything.

If properly constructed, such a trial will tell you...

Which keywords deliver the best clicks (volume and conversion of visitors to serious business enquiries)
Which of several lead generation ideas convert the most visitors into serious business enquiries

Professional lead generators never stop testing. In a sense, every campaign is a trial. New marketing ideas are being introduced, and tested against those that have proven most successful. In this way, your online lead generation activity is constantly evolving.

Over time, you'll end up with an incredibly powerful lead generation system that none of your competitors can match.