Who doesn’t like free things? When your favourite business offers you a product or service for free, wouldn’t you accept it? The same applies to your customers.
Free things attract people, and they can make your website work like a magnet that draws potential customers to your business.
In this post, I will show you how to turn your website into a magnet that attracts customers.
Your website should have one thing that you give to its visitors for free.
The purpose of this free offer is to help you generate leads and ultimately make sales.
In marketing, this is called a lead magnet.
A lead magnet is a free product, service, resource, or offer that you give to potential customers in exchange for their contact details, such as their phone number, email address, or WhatsApp number.
So, what can you offer for free on your website? There are many possibilities, and the best option depends on the type of business you operate.
I have used lead magnets myself, and they have helped me get customers.
For example, I used to make social media posts offering to assess people’s websites for free. People who were interested would click the link and go to my website, where they entered their name, phone number, email address, and website address.
I would then assess their website and send them a detailed video explaining what I found and what they could improve. The assessment was free, but it gave me an opportunity to demonstrate my expertise and show the business owner what their website could do better. Later, when they needed a website redesign, some of them came back to me to do the work.
I also did something similar with social media page evaluations. I would advertise the free evaluation on social media, and interested business owners would sign up through a form on my website.
After evaluating their social media pages, I would send them a report showing what they were doing well, what needed improvement, and what they could do differently. I would also include information about the services I offered that could help them address the problems identified in the evaluation.
Another lead magnet I used was much simpler: a checklist. I created a checklist of things to do when setting up a new social media account. Visitors who wanted the checklist would enter their details on my website and were then given a link to download it automatically.
The checklist did not require me to provide a personal consultation or spend time evaluating anything. Yet it still helped me build a list of potential customers, and over time, some of those leads became customers.
This is the important lesson: your lead magnet does not have to be complicated or expensive to produce. It simply needs to be useful to the people you want as customers.
For example, you could offer:
- Free consultation — Give potential customers a short consultation to help them understand their problem.
- Free evaluation or assessment — Review something related to the service you provide and show them what can be improved.
- Free checklist — Give them a practical list they can use to complete a task or avoid common mistakes.
- Free eBook — Provide a short, useful guide that answers a question your potential customers commonly have.
The goal is not to give away your entire service for free. The goal is to give enough value to demonstrate your expertise, build trust, and give the potential customer a reason to start a relationship with your business.