Do you want to generate more leads on your website? If so, you should be using gated content. Gated content will pique the curiosity of your website visitors and encourage them to provide their email and other information in exchange for access to that awesome content that’s under lock and key.
Now, you might be thinking that gated content means that you have to have a membership site, where all the content is under lock and key. But that’s not true, any type of website can use gated content to generate more leads for their business, while still offering non-gated content as well. In fact, according to statistics, 80% of B2B content marketing assets are gated.
So, how can you grow your email list and get qualified leads for your business with exclusive freebies? Here’s how to generate more leads with gated content.
Content Upgrades
One of the easiest and most popular types of gated content to offer is content upgrades. Content upgrades are simply bonus content that relates to the content you’re already providing on your website. This includes PDF guides, eBooks, checklists, templates, calendars, and more. So, how do you gate your content upgrades and entice users into unlocking them by providing their email address? A highly-effective method is to use popups, like in the example below.
With a lead generation tool like OptinMonster, you can easily create eye-catching popups to promote your gated content. OptinMonster has a content locking feature that seamlessly integrates with the WordPress dashboard and all of the best email marketing services. You can also set display rules for when to show your popup such as when users visit a specific page, time spent on a page, scroll percentage, exit detected, and more.
Email Courses
Another great form of gated content you can offer is an email course. Pretty much everyone has an email account. In fact, by 2022, global email users will grow to 4.3 billion users, that’s half of the world’s population. Plus, there are tons of people online searching for free courses to boost their skills or master a new subject. So, email courses are a valuable type of gated content to offer and will generate you a lot of leads.
An email course is also easy for your subscribers to consume; you can create an email course that’s broken into easy-to-manage lessons that get delivered each day over the course of a week. For instance, Elna Cain offers a 6-day email course to her website visitors in exchange for their email address.
If your target audience wants to learn how to do something, an email course is something they won’t want to pass up. In turn, by teaching them these priceless lessons for free, they’ll be more likely to sign up for a paid course or purchase your products in the future.
Webinars
Webinars are another awesome way to teach your audience something new and generate a ton of leads for your business. Webinars are especially effective because your audience gets to connect with you in real-time, face-to-face, which helps to build trust and a stronger connection.
To gate your webinar content, you would create a user registration form on your website. When a user signs up, you would then email them a link that gives them access to the webinar.
You could even create a coming soon page to stir up excitement for your webinar months ahead of time. But, if you want people to sign up for your webinar, you’ve got to let them know what’s in it for them. On the landing page for your webinar registration, tell users what they can expect to learn from your webinar and how it will help them with their goals. Be sure to include a Q & A section at the end of your webinar in order to give users a chance to interact with you.
Free Demos
Now, this form of gated content won’t work for every website, but if you have a SaaS company, offering free demos is the perfect way to provide gated content and generate quality leads for your business.
Take a look at this example from Xero, an accounting software company. They offer their website visitors a chance to try out their software for 30 days in exchange for their email address. Many consumers are hesitant to provide their credit card information for free trials because they don’t want to risk being charged if they don’t like the software. But, they’ll be more than willing to give up their email address for a chance to take a test drive.
Not only does this type of gated content allow you to generate leads, but it also allows users to test out your software and see how awesome it is — your prospects are practically selling themselves.
Over to You
If you want to grow your business, you need to work on generating quality leads and gated content can do that for you. Just make sure you’re offering gated content that’s useful, interesting, and relevant to your audience. The goal of providing gated content is to prime your audience for becoming paying customers down the line. So, you want the gated content you provide to satisfy your audience and position your business as a trusted authority in your industry.