Download my guide on how to build a lead generation website with WordPress and Convertkit that generates sales leads.

What is a lead generation website?

A lead generation website turns visitors into leads by collecting their information with persuasive offers and contact forms for businesses to turn into paying customers.

Step 1: Write down your goal

I spoke to a prospective client recently, and the first question I asked was about the project value of a new customer.

£5,000.

Then I asked how many projects she wanted each month.

2.

Then I asked how many enquiries she typically talked to that she turned into a customer.

1 in 5 (20%).

So, she needs 10 enquiries each month to get 2 customers.

Then, using 1% as the website traffic to enquiry conversion rate means she needs around 1000 website visits each month.

That’s the traffic she needs to meet her goal.

So the next part of the conversation is, “who pays £5000 for this service“?

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Step 2: Find your prospective customers

There are 4 questions to ask yourself to find your prospective customers.

How do you classify your services?

For example, garden designers are also referred to as landscape designers.

My services cover SEO, keyword research, and digital marketing, such as building lead generation websites and running Facebook ads and email campaigns.

An accountant told me he wanted to focus solely on tax rather than bookkeeping and tax returns.

👉 Jot down your service classifications (or seed keywords).

Do they have money?

Over time I’ve learned small business owners aren’t my ideal customers because most can’t afford my SEO services.

The best customers I’ve acquired are established software companies in the online marketing industry and professional service companies.

Likewise, landscape designers in London seek wealthy clients investing £50,000 in large garden renovations, not those simply wanting a £30 lawn trim.

👉 Jot down how much you charge for your services.

Do they have a bleeding neck?

A bleeding neck signifies an urgent problem that needs immediate action, so to sell your service, you must address and solve pain, inconvenience, loss, or pleasure.

• A bleeding neck could be an ugly garden a homeowner looks at every morning from their expensive home.
• Putting the wrong fuel in a car is a bleeding neck problem.
• Not getting paid what you’re worth is a problem.

👉 Write down the urgent problem each service solves.

What do they search for on Google?

Google is the world’s biggest buyer research tool, and a simple way to find out what prospects search for is

• Use a keyword research tool.
• Enter the seed keyword (service classification).
• Filter the seed keyword with “service“.

This approach has two drawbacks; it can take time to outrank competitors, and the searches for these keywords may not result in sufficient traffic.

To better target prospects, use the buyer funnel model to identify what prospects search for during each funnel stage.

As a result, you have a keyword research plan to help you create pages and content that targets prospects throughout their customer journey.

Here’s an example keyword research plan.

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Step 3: Choose domain name and web host

A domain name identifies a website, while web hosting provides a secure location for storing website files and managing upkeep, including security updates.

A popular domain name registrar is 123 Reg, but there are other options available.

Choose a short and memorable brand name for your website, and check that it’s available before registering it.

Flywheel is a specialised web host for WordPress sites, and all of my client’s websites are hosted on their platform.

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Step 4: Set up WordPress CMS and GeneratePress theme

A CMS or content management system is a digital platform for publishing and managing website content.

WordPress is the most popular CMS for lead generation websites, but others like Duda and Webflow are ideal.

A website theme is a website’s visual style and design, including the layout and graphics.

Themes often come as part of a content management system but can also be created separately.

I use the WordPress CMS and GeneratePress premium theme that comes with a number of pre-built templates that I customise to suit the client’s brand, services and goals.

But you’ll need some essential design assets to build a website.

You’ll need the following:

• Logo – a representation of your company name.
• Brand guidelines – colours, font, tone of voice.
• Page content – pages written about your services.
• Photography/images – photos and images that represent your services and company.
• Local listings – register your company on local directories eg: Google My Business (if you are a local business).
• Social proof – industry accreditation logos.

Set up a test site on Flywheel

When setting up a test site, Flywheel automatically installs WordPress or prompts me to install a blueprint to use as a template for the new site.

Add GeneratePress theme and customise

1. To install Generate Press, log in to your WordPress Dashboard.
2. Go to “Appearance > Themes” in the menu on the left.
3. You’ll see a “Add New” button; click that button.
4. In the “Search themes” bar, type: generatepress
5. You’ll see GeneratePress appear.
6. Click “Install”, and then activate.

GeneratePress Premium

I pay for GeneratePress Premium because it includes free web design templates and other benefits.

Here are installation instructions

https://docs.generatepress.com/article/installing-gp-premium/

Install Generate Blocks and Generate Blocks Pro

Then pay for and install Generate Blocks, which comes with many build blocks necessary to build and design a lead generation website.

Install Blocks

https://generateblocks.com/install/

Install Blocks Pro

https://docs.generateblocks.com/article/installing-generateblocks-pro/

Choose a template and customise

• Go to Appearance > GeneratePress
• Activate your preferred modules
• Active site library and then open site library

Add Fluent Form

Whilst Fluent Form is a free web form plugin for WordPress; for $41 a year, you get more form customisation options, and you can send your lead forms into Convertkit.

Set up Convertkit

Strictly speaking, Convertkit isn’t a CRM, but it captures lead information using different types of web forms and ways to follow up on these leads.

To store 1000 subscribers, the monthly cost is $29, whereas to store 3000 subscribers, the monthly cost is $49.

With the groundwork in place, it is time to construct the lead generation website.

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Step 5: Write copy and content

The copy on your home page and service pages aims to convince visitors to click, read, scroll, subscribe, contact, or take other desired actions.

Write home page copy

Your home page should tell visitors who you are, what you do, and what problems you solve and encourage them to act.

1. Write your page title – in 40-60 characters, write your company name, business category or main service, the problem you solve, or the outcome prospects are looking for. If you’re a local company, include your location.
2. Write your page heading – the heading reinforces what you write for your page title.
3. Include supporting copy – supporting copy should reinforce your headline and encourage users to take action or scroll down the page.
4. Include proof and testimonials – use accreditations, reviews or results to create trust.
5. Reinforce the problem you solve or outcome – remind people of the problem you solve or the outcome they’re looking for.
6. Link to services – if you have more than one service, links to all your service pages from the home page in the body of the page and/or in the top navigation.
7. Include a call to action – use a call for visitors to learn more about your services or to get in touch, or get a quote.

Write service page copy

Each service page should be mapped to a target keyword found in your keyword research plan.

1. Write your page title – in less than 60 characters; use this formula – “service name + for + intent/outcome/problem” to write your service page title.
2. Write your heading – based on the page title, the heading should explain the promise, benefit, result or outcome they’ll get from the product or service.
3. Features and benefits – identify the individual features of your service and convert them into benefits that customers can derive from them.
4. Add proof and testimonials – use evidence such as reviews, results, and facts to create trust.
5. Include risk reversal – compose FAQs and guarantees to minimise the risk associated with using your service and motivate users to contact you.
6. Process – a section on how you deliver your service.
7. Add a call to action – the call to action should be underneath the heading and include more than more on the page.

Write content for posts

Blog or content posts aim to educate people about a topic related to a service rather than convince readers to inquire about services, yet still lead to leads and customers.

• Pick a keyword or topic from your keyword research plan.
• Create an SEO content brief – use the prompt in the above screenshot.
• Give the brief to your writer.
• Use an optimisation tool like Frase to ensure the topic is covered in depth.
• Check for grammar, spelling and plagiarism.
• Source or design relevant graphics or images.

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Step 6: Build pages and posts

Now that you’ve got your home and service page copy and a few content posts written, it’s time to build your lead generation pages and posts.

Building pages

Once you’ve built the foundations of your website, it’s time to build the service pages that can convert visitors into leads.

• Go to WordPress pages and add a new page.
• Click + to add a block.
• Click Pattern library, select hero and choose hero element that contains a button.
• Add your headline copy and call to action, then change the image/graphic.
• Add additional blocks for your testimonial, proof, and service pages on your home page.
• Add to your service pages blocks for features & benefits, proof, risk reversal, how you deliver your service and multiple calls to action.
• Make sure you preview and customise the page for mobile users.

Building blog posts

Next, add blog posts from the content you wrote.

1. Type or paste in your title.
2. Copy and paste the content you wrote.
3. Add your images and/or featured image.
4. Select a category or add a new category.
5. If you’ve installed Yoast, add your page title, description and focus keyword.
6. Save as a draft.

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Step 7: Add offers, calls to action and opt-in forms

Now it’s time to add the lead capture elements to your pages and blog posts, i.e.: your contact forms, pop-ups and extent intents.

Top navigation bar

Go to Appearance > Menus > Add Contact Page to your top menu.

You may wish to style the contact button a different colour from the other links.

Fluent Forms

1. Edit fields of an existing form.
2. Add to your service pages and contact us page.
3. Test the form and integrate it with Convertkit.

Convertkit

I use Convertkit to create offers and opt-in forms for my blog posts; here’s how.

Follow the video instructions

Step 1: Grow > Landing Page and Form.

Step 2: Create New.

Step 3: Form > Modal.

Step 4: Select Mills.

Step 5: Craft an offer headline and sub-headline.

Step 6: Add First Name field and move above the email address field.

Step 7: Change the button text and colour.

Step 8: Use custom CSS if you want to change the default fonts.

Step 9: Select settings.

Under settings – general, select show a success message and enter a message.

Do not select “Send incentive email”, on the incentive tab; I will cover that in the next step.

Choose a display option – I prefer exit intent.

Copy the modal trigger code and save.

<a data-formkit-toggle=”xxxx” href=”https://platonik.ck.page/xxxx>Your link text</a>

Now add the following above the code

<script async=”” data-uid=”xxxx” src=”https://platonik.ck.page/xxxx/index.js”></script>

Change xxxx to the ID of your form eg: 715d3f4b71 and the URL eg: platonik.ck.page

So, the complete code looks like this

<script async=”” data-uid=”715d3f4b71″ src=”https://platonik.ck.page/715d3f4b71/index.js”></script>

<a data-formkit-toggle=”715d3f4b71″ href=”https://platonik.ck.page/715d3f4b71″>Your link text</a>

Now, in the “Your link text” part, you want to write an offer encouraging visitors to click the link.

e.g.: Download my guide to advertising your business locally

Step 10: Give your form a unique name and save.

Step 11: Create HTML block in WordPress post.

Create an HTML block in the WordPress post and paste in your code.

I’ve added a unique Convertkit form link to the very first sentence of key blog posts.

Alternatively: add a button link throughout the article **

Before each subheading, add a container block.

Inside the container block, add an html block.

Paste this code in.

<script async=”” data-uid=”xxxx” src=”https://platonik.ck.page/xxxx/index.js”></script>

<a data-formkit-toggle=”5xxx” href=”https://platonik.ck.page/xxxx”>Change your call to action text</a>

Save the article as a draft and test the window that pops up when the button is clicked.

Duplicate the container and position it above each main subheading.

** one issue with this approach is that you generate lots of unnecessary code that could slow the page down.

I use Content Upgrades, a low-cost plugin that lets you insert a bespoke offer and call to action to a post and sync with Convertkit.

Create site wide offer and CTA

I have a sitewide offer at the top of every blog post to help increase conversion.

Another way to create a site-wide offer is to create a sticky bar form at the top or bottom of pages and posts.

Choose to display at the top or bottom of posts.

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Step 8: Follow up

After creating lead capture forms, you need to create an email sequence to acknowledge the lead, deliver their incentive and follow up with an email marketing education and conversion sequence.

Create email sequence

Create a sequence if you’re delivering an incentive.

1. Go to Send > Sequence > New Sequence.
2. Choose a template.
3. Write the subject line, personalise the copy, and include the incentive you offered on your web page.
4. Select send this email to immediately.
5. Preview or email to yourself to proof.
6. Change the toggle to published.
7. Select Add Email to add further sequence emails to educate and convert subscribers into customers.
8. Name your sequence (same as form) and save.

Add the sequence to a visual automation.

You must connect the email sequence to an automation to deliver your incentive or a series of emails to leads.

1. Go to Automate > Visual Automations > New Automation.
2. Select Start from scratch.
3. Under “Any form”, choose the form you just created.
4. Press Add event.
5. Click the + button.
6. Under the Action option, click Email sequence.
7. Search, select and add the email sequence you created earlier.
8. Name your automation.
9. In the top right corner, toggle the live button.

Ps: if you don’t want to use a sequence and automation to deliver your incentive, go to Setting > Incentive > Select Send incentive email.

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Step 9: Measure and test

The Convertkit dashboard shows subscriber growth and conversion metrics in various views.

You could use Google Analytics to measure conversion, but that’s beyond the scope of this article.

I’ve been using Clarity to visualise how visitors interact and act on my website and make improvements to boost conversions.

All my service pages were re-designed due to the Clarity insights gained from site visitors.

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Summary and next steps

👉 Download my guide on how to build a lead generation website with WordPress and Convertkit that generates sales leads.