Don’t you get so frustrated when you put a lead magnet out there and people don’t sign up for it.
YOU know it’s amazing!
But, no one else seems to think that it is.
And you can’t help but wonder -> how in the heck do other people get it right all the time?
To help, this is what you’re going to learn in this post:
- The fool-proof system I’ve used to find great lead magnets over, and over again!
- How to make it awesome
- The strategies and tools I use so that you can find your idea in as little as 30 minutes after reading this post.
Let’s start with my 2 early blogs, how I came up with the lead magnets, and why they worked so amazingly
My very first blog was a wedding blog.
It was all about “simple” weddings.
It was in the days where SEO and Keyword research worked a bit differently. To be honest, it was a lot easier.
It was sooooo easy making my first $500/mo with adsense AUTOMATICALLY. It literally only took a couple months and about 10 blog posts.
And even though I knew nothing about online marketing at the time, I must have read the right blog post because I knew enough to create an email list right away.
And this is the method I used to find a topic for my lead magnet
- I used a keyword tool to find a phrase that was popular
- I made sure that not too many other bloggers were using it (so google might actually list me on page 1)
- And I made sure it made sense as a lead magnet.
The keyword I picked was “Wedding Planner”. Simple enough right…
But… I wasn’t going to give my people any’ole planner. Mine had a spin!
I tested two ideas.
- A wedding planner for people who wanted a simple wedding
- A DIY wedding planner for people who wanted to keep it simple
Low-and-behold they both did well.
But the DIY Wedding Planner converted quite a lot better!
It was more niche’y. And no one else seemed to be doing it at the time. At least not well.
Side note:
Positioning and niche’ing isn’t new even though a lot of people act like it. It has ALWAYS been really powerful! And it always will be!
Basically, 30%-40% people who went to that page ended up on my email list!
I followed the same strategy for my second blog and it still worked perfectly!
My second blog was related to natural, homemade skincare.
- I did keyword research
- I looked for a fairly popular term that not a lot of other people were using (or at least not using it well)
- And I made sure that it made sense as a lead magnet
In this case, I settled on the phrase “essential oil use chart”.
But, I wasn’t going to create your everyday essential oil use chart (like most other natural beauty sites did).
Instead, I created an essential oil use chart FOR SKIN CARE!
This was pretty unique and helpful because it didn’t bother mentioning all of the health-related stuff that a DIY skin care enthusiast doesn’t need on their chart.
As you can imagine this was really popular too.
I’ve used this approach with clients too!
I worked with a real estate agent and we created two lead magnets using this approach.
- One for 1st-time buyers in Toronto (the market was HOT so it was hard for 1st-time buyers to get in and he had a lot of tips to share)
- The other was for people buying a second a home.
Both ended up being really popular. But the 1st time buyer lead magnet did better just because there were more people searching for this.
Why this approach works so well
I still think that keyword research is still one of the best ways to come up with ideas for lead magnets.
I believe that this is the case because it takes the guess-work out of it.
It’s basically like market research without having to talk to people.
Essentially, you’re meeting people where they’re at.
- they want “_____”
- and you can give it to them.
It basically means that the question of “do they want this” fades away.
And once that has been answered, all you need to do is add your spin to make sure you attract the right people onto your list.
Easy Peasy.
So how do you do that?
I’ve already given hints on how to do this in here several times.
For example – you could spin an essential oil use chart in ton of different ways.
Aside from the approach I took, here are two more:
- one for people with cats (because most essential oils are actually very bad for cats)
- one for people with babies and young kids (because there are very few essential oils safe for kids
And the same goes for a wedding planner:
- One for low budget weddings (because there are certain things a budget bride would focus on less with a small budget)
- One for brides over a certain age
- One for second-marriages
For a real estate agent:
- A first time buyers guide for a particular city
- Purchasing your second home for families
- A first time buyers guide for condo dwellers
- etc….
That is probably the most impactful way to give it the vavoom you need.
Other things that matter to a successful lead magnet
It’s one thing to get people on your email, it’s another altogether to get them to buy from you.
So, my number one tips for this is to just make something that looks awesome!
Don’t cheap out – just hire someone or buy a template. There are even tons of free ones on Canva for you to choose from.
Making the cover 3d or putting it in an ipad or computer can make it seem more enticing so do this too!
And don’t stop at the cover! Make the actual document nice-looking too!
It doesn’t have to be AS designed as the cover. But add a little color to it and at least SOME design elements.
- It just makes it more special.
- Special things make people pay attention, hold onto it, and then use it again and again – and share it too!
- And it will feed into your reputation as being professional and providing value
These are the tools you can use to do this
Something like the google keyword tool can work. But “Ask The Public” can be pretty awesome too!
The only problem with those is that they don’t do a great job of showing how many other website are using those terms.
Unfortunately, the other tools are pretty pricey and often give you things you don’t need.
But, I still highly recommend them – even if you get them for a month at a time.
- I use a tool called Sitesell which has a wicked tool and is a lot cheaper
- The other really good tools are Moz or Wordstream.
What’s next?
This is the fun part – going off and getting some work done.
If you don’t have a lead magnet go into any keyword tool and look for keywords related to what you do. Then, add your spin!
Then start adding it to your footers and widgets, and even start posting or promoting it on social media to see what happens. If you got the right keyword and spin you will be very excited by the results.
And if it isn’t killing it right away, maybe you need to modify the “spin”, or how you’re presenting. Or perhaps whether or not you come off as an authority selling it (whhhooosh. Now that’s a whole other conversation!).
For now though, focus on some of the tactics and strategies I share in here about creating an awesome lead magnet. It will be so much easier than guessing!
