Marketing Channels

How To Create Content For A Lead Gen Site?

CopyPress

November 6, 2020 (Updated: February 9, 2023)

There is nothing worse than a great piece of content that doesn’t convert, and trying to figure out how to make your content convert can be daunting.

But here’s the thing: 

You can take several steps on a lead gen site to make your content easier to consume, better at converting, and more focused on lead gen while still staying true to your reader. 

In this post today, I will go over a few things that, if done correctly, will help increase your leads and help you to make better content. 

Build From the Bottom Up

When it comes to creating content that converts, you should focus on the beginning, middle, and end of your customer’s buying journey. 

The Top of the Funnel

The top of the funnel is the start of your customer’s journey.  They might have some basic knowledge, but your content is going to get them more educated.  

This content will not be created to generate a lead; however, you might be able to grab emails with this type of content. 

Some great examples of top-of-the-funnel content would be something like the examples below: 

• How Does Term Life Insurance Work?
• What Is Long Term Care Insurance? 
• What Are The Different Types Of Life Insurance?
• What Does Homeowners Insurance Cover? 
• What Is Mortgage Protection Life Insurance?

As you can see, each of the above pieces of content has titles that teach the reader or introduce them to a new product. 

You want to do your best with this content to hook the customer because, eventually, this content will get them to the middle of the funnel.

But as I stated above, it’s best not to start with this type of content on your blog. 

The Middle of the Funnel

The middle of the funnel is about answering the questions your customer has when they already know they need your product or service. You could expect a few conversions from this type of content if it is written with enough information for a customer to decide at that moment.

Some strong examples of the middle-of-the-funnel content would be something like the below posts: 

• How Much Does Life Insurance Cost?
• How To Get Instant Life Insurance
• How To Find Cheap Homeowners Insurance
• How Much Renters Insurance Do I Need? 
• Do I Need Homeowners Insurance For a Townhome?

If you look at these questions, you can easily see that your customer already knows they need the product and understands what the product is about and how it works. 

They are now in the middle of the buying process and could become a lead at that moment. 

When you create this type of content, it is essential to have a very clear call to action paired with informative content.

The Bottom of the Funnel

The bottom of the funnel is all about answering the questions of people ready to buy and giving them an easy way to become a lead.

At this stage, your customer knows they need your product, they understand how it works, and they are ready to buy and have a few more questions.

Having content for this type of customer will give you the most leads and convert better than any other content you have on your site.

That’s why it’s essential to start with this type of content. You might not be able to rank for a short-term keyword like “life insurance” but you could still be able to dominate for a long-tail keyword like “what is the best way to buy life insurance online.” 

Some strong examples of the bottom-of-the-funnel content would be something like the below posts:

• How Much Renters Insurance Should I Buy?
• Get Term Life Insurance Quotes
• The Best Auto Insurance Companies
• How To Buy Car Insurance Online & Fast
• Get An Instant Home Insurance Quote

As you can see from the above topics, you can quickly start with content that is at the end of the customer’s journey. Not only will it be a bit easier to rank for, but you can also start generating leads at a much faster pace.

Eventually, you will want to have a solid mix of all three content types on your site to add to overall site authority on the topic.

Dive Deep Into High CPC Keywords

A great way to find keywords that convert is to focus on keywords that have a high CPC for your industry, and here’s why.

If an advertiser is paying a high cost per click for a keyword, it means they are making money from that keyword. 

Just imagine paying $25 per click for a keyword that didn’t convert. You would lose your mind. 

There are a few steps you can take to find profitable keywords: 

Answer the Right Questions

The most crucial part to all of this comes down to knowing the right questions to answer for your customer who is looking to make a purchase or become a lead.  

What are the roadblocks that may stop them from purchasing?  If you answer those correctly, you will come up with the right keyword Ideas for strong content.

Pay Attention to Keyword Difficulty

While keyword difficulty can be relative, it’s still important to pay attention to the keyword’s difficulty.  

Your goal isn’t to waste months on content and outreach for keywords that will probably take you years to rank.  

If you find a great keyword but it’s too complicated to rank for, try to make it longer and go for the longer tailed version.

Go for 100+ Volume Keywords

There are some occasions where you will create content for keywords that have a 10 or less search volume but a very high CPC. 

This means that the keyword has a low volume but probably a high conversion rate. 

However, you should try to focus more on keywords that have at least 100 searches per month when you are starting.  

This is because you want to make sure you send enough traffic to the page to convert and that it’s a topic people are searching for. 

Review Competitors Pages for Layout & Intent

One thing you should always do before you create content is to check out your competitors who are at least in the top 3-5 on page one of Google. 

You are doing this to check the post’s layout and look at the general information provided that put your competitors on page one. 

Is it a list post, a question post, a versus post? What is the format, and what is the intent of the content? 

If you are going for the keyword “buy renters insurance,” what should my post be about?  Are my competitors giving a sales page or an information page?

Intent and layout are important factors that can be looked over easily, but you will start standing above your competitors if you do it. 

Now:  

Let me give you an example from another site that I own. This specific site is all about credit education and helping people rebuild their credit.  

Some great high CPC keywords would be: 

• best credit card for single mom – CPC – $35.00 | Difficulty – 2 | Volume – 20
• how fast can a credit card build credit – CPC – $35.00 | Difficulty – 16 | Volume – 20
• does a phone bill build credit – CPC – $25.00 | Difficulty – 4 | Volume – 150
• line of credit vs credit card – CPC – $19.00 | Difficulty – 8 | Volume – 500
• how fast can i get a credit card – CPC – $12.00 | Difficulty – 4 | Volume – 200

As you can see, these keywords are geared toward people who are ready to buy and just have a few more questions.  

It’s why I stated earlier that knowing your customer and the products you have to offer them is essential.  

You want to make sure you are going after the keywords you can win and convert into a lead if someone reads your content.       

This is a crucial step that you shouldn’t skip when looking to create new content or update old content.

Write Reviews for Every Product You Offer

One of the most important types of content you can create for a lead gen site will be product or service reviews. 

They are essential and super powerful when it comes to creating bottom-of-the-funnel content. 

There are a few things you should put in each review: 

Your Honest Opinion

This might sound cliche, but the truth is that sometimes reviews can come off one-sided and make the review seem downright fake.

People can easily tell when you have actually used or experienced a product and when you haven’t.  

Giving your honest opinion, good or bad, is your best bet when it comes to writing a review, even if it means you have to recommend a different product to your customer. 

A Star Rating

Everyone loves a star rating; it gives them a quick idea of your overall thoughts about a product. It also helps that they look cool.

If you aren’t using star ratings on your content and in your schema markups, you are missing out on a great opportunity for more clicks and conversions. 

Offer an Alternative

It’s always a good idea to offer an alternative to a product if there is one close in value but more affordable or if there is a better product in general. 

Don’t be afraid to be honest about the alternative product and if you think it’s better or if it isn’t a better option. 

Giving your customer another choice makes you seem more honest in your review. 

Show Yourself Using the Product

If you can show yourself using the product or service in your review, you bring 100% authenticity to what you say about the product. 

There is nothing better than a review of a product or service written by someone with first-hand experience. 

You can do this by uploading images or videos of you using the product and your experience. This one small change could make your review convert better than others. 

Give a Detailed Review of the Product

Last but not least, it’s essential to give an actual review of the product. You should be able to find well over 1,000 words to write about a product or service that you review. 

I also add content to my review that no other site has. 

This could be something like how the company was started, what they might have been in the news for, or if they have a charity.  

Anything unique that no other site has will help your review seem more original and get more leads. 

But here’s the thing: 

Product review keywords can be competitive; however, if you start with reviews about specific products and build content relevant to those products, you can create a small content silo around the review that’s powerful enough to put you on the first page of Google. 

For example: 

Let’s look at the below top 10 results for the keyword “bestow life insurance review.”

As you can see, out of nowhere, there is a DR 10 site on page one of Google with other sites that are much more powerful. 

If you are serious about creating lead-generating content, then you have to review all of your products.

Make Your CTA Easy To Find

One of the issues I used to have on my blog was that my CTA wasn’t clear; it was not easy to find and didn’t stand out. I couldn’t understand why my conversions weren’t as high as I would have liked them to be.

The issue was that I didn’t have clear calls to action on the page, and to make things worse, I only had 1 on each page, usually just in the sidebar. 

This also made it much harder to get conversions from mobile. However, after doing some research, I came up with some solid CTA’s that stood out, as you see below: 

Breaking up your content with things like this can make your site look better and give your customer a straightforward way to buy or become a lead. 

You need to make it stand out and have it multiple times throughout your content. Just make sure you don’t have too many.  

I try to put one after each Header Section, and they are all different call to actions with at least 3 to 4 different options for each page.

Become the Authority & Write as the Authority

I receive tons of emails a week with people asking if they can write a guest post for my site. 

And while I am perfectly fine linking back to relevant and valuable content, I will only allow licensed insurance agents to guest post on my site. 

This is essential because it’s hard to take insurance advice from someone who isn’t an agent and doesn’t understand the ins and outs of a product. 

This also means that people can trust all the content on my site is written by licensed agents, which builds solid trust with my readers. 

This is what you MUST do to stand out of the crowd, so if you need to have specific certifications or get a particular license, you need to get to work.

Trust is a huge factor, and becoming the authority in a particular space and adding your author box to the bottom of all your content will help your page rank better. 

The more authority behind your name, the better your content can rank, and it will make people feel way more confident in becoming a lead or buying from you.

Taking Action

I know there is a ton of homework in this post, but if you want your content to start generating leads, you have to get to work now.

The best place to start for new content will be at the bottom of your sales funnel.

If you work your way from the bottom to the top, you will generate leads while growing your site into an authority in your space. 

About the Author: Sa El is the Co-Founder of Simply Insurance and a licensed Insurance Agent with over 12 years of experience in the industry.  He specializes in Life & Health Insurance and is certified in Long Term Care Insurance in the state of Georgia. He is also an Official Member of the Forbes Finance Council, a licensed real estate agent in the state of Georgia (License #382602), an entrepreneur, insurance educator, and freelance writer.

CopyPress

November 6, 2020 (Updated: February 9, 2023)