50 Lead Generation Posts Your Business Needs You to Read

Remember the “good old days” of lead gen when all you needed were flashy red banners, promises of free computers, and sketchy sign up forms? With half a marketing brain, you could make leads fall from the sky.

Thankfully, those ridiculous days are over.

Consumers are getting smarter and have high expectations for your brand, and as a marketer, it’s your job to do the wooing. Luckily, that’s also what makes your job fun.

Lead generation is all about connecting brands and audience. These 50 posts will teach you how to do it right.

If You Love Content, You’re in Luck

1. Why Content Marketing Is Your Key to B2B Lead Generation

Solve a key problem, and your customers will like you better. Content is the web’s most powerful match-maker, and here is some data that explains why.

2. The Foolproof Formula for Writing a Solid Blog Post

Quit over-thinking your content. All you need is an old-school mad lib to be a rockstar writer. Seriously though, when you write relevant content, leads will flock to your sign-up form. This post will squash your excuses for why you can’t blog.

3. How to Justify the Cost of Content Marketing

Word on the street is that content marketing costs less per lead than paid search.

4. Five Reasons Your Content Marketing Effort is Failing

You spend hundred of hours writing blog posts that generate zero leads. Ouch. Here’s what you’re probably doing wrong.

5. Six Lead Generation Offer Ideas for Your Content You Already Have

Wow your visitors with an all-in-one white paper, webinar, and slide deck. Like this idea? Click through for five more.

6. Free eBook: How to Brainstorm Content that Rocks and Converts

You sat down to start. Five hours later, you’re procrastinating by reading this blog post. That’s precisely why we linked to this eBook.

7. Seven Tips: Convert Readers of Your Blog into Paying Customers

Time to kick it up a notch! Blogs will improve your search visibility and attract readers, but at the end of the day, your posts need to pay. Bad rhyming aside, here’s how to hit a content home-run.

8. How to Convert Blog Readers into Paying Customers

Scroll down to section four, and read about the ‘free product’ model. Then, read everything else.

9. Creative Ways You Can Profit from Content Marketing

Need one or two lead gen ideas? How about 49? Thank you, Sonia Simone!

10. How to Use Content to Find Potential Customers

Here’s how to kickstart a solid commercial relationship with your readers.

11. Why Content Is Still King When It Comes to Lead Generation

We know that the expression is cheesy, and yet, it makes way too much sense.

12. Content Marketing Is not as Simple as Writing a Ton of Blog Posts Every Day

Before you write out your next blog post, map out your content marketing sales funnel. Here’s how.

Just Don’t Do Any of This

13. Online Lead Generation Mistakes to Avoid

Link overload, bad calls to action, and confusing content will scare away any prospective customer.

14. Nine CTA Mistakes to Kill Your Lead Generation Process

Your awesome content isn’t converting anyone. What’s wrong? Find answers here.

15. Five PPC Lead Generation Mistakes to Avoid

When running paid campaigns, do you send most of your traffic to your home page? If so, keep reading because you probably need to change your strategy.

16. How to Avoid the Three Most Common Mistakes in Lead Gen

You have leads, but are they sales-ready? Here’s how to tell. Stop harassing leads that don’t convert.

17. Eight Frequently Missed Lead Gen Opportunities for Your Homepage

Make sure that you make the most out of all traffic that comes to your site. Use empathetic photos, and don’t be afraid to stand out from the crowd.

18. Nine Ways to Truly Suck at Lead Management

Can you tell a good lead from a bad one? When was the last time that you organized your messy, messy database? Here are nine mistakes that you need to stop making today.

19. The Seven Worst Marketing Emails You’ve Ever Seen

Oh, they’re bad. Real bad. Read until you can’t take it anymore.

20. 20 Clues Your Marketing Stinks, Straight from the Horse’s Mouth

Are you pushing or pulling your customers? The answer to that question is mission-critical.

21. Are Your Lead Generation Tactics Targeting the Wrong Buyer?

You’re selling clothes to 20 year old women, so why does your landing page feature an 80 year old man? If you’re second-guessing your answer, you better read this post.

22. Ten Companies with Insanely Bad Marketing

Four jaw-dropping words: “singing rodents called spongmonkeys.”

23. Birthday Wishes from my Marketing Friends

Birthday marketers aren’t fooling anyone. Here’s a breakdown of the good, bad, and ugly.

24. Not Generating Leads from Social Media? Here’s Why

Here’s why your social media campaigns are falling flat.

25. Why Lead Generation Is Irrelevant

If you’re sales and marketing efforts are two codependent, you’re probably doing something wrong. The relationship should be harmonious, not intrusive.

Boost Your Creativity

26. Ten Ways to Generate More Leads

Think that everyone wants free stuff? Think again. Freebies are getting tougher and tougher to give away. Keep reading for more counter-intuitive tips.

27. How to Promote Your Old Lead Gen Offers So They Feel New

Every great promotion comes to an end, right? Nope. Repackage your offers to drive more sales.

28. Have Customers Write Your Ads

Why your best customer is your best sales rep.

29. Five Tactics for Improving Lead Generation

Best practices for balancing your technology and marketing strategy.

30. How Offline Promotion Landed 300 New Blog Visitors

Believe it or not, there is more to the world than the Internet (gasp!). Learn about how The Penny Hoarder used a bumper sticker to build traffic.

31. 101 Offline Ways to Generate Leads for Your Online or Network Marketing Business on a Shoestring Budget

Read this article, and you’ll realize that opportunity is truly everywhere.

32. Six Lead Generation Strategies for Local Businesses

How to make the most of the world around you: segment your database, create partnerships, and develop a referral strategy.

33. 98 Lead Generation Strategies to Grow Your Business

Don’t let the title deceive you. This four-year-old blog post is convenient, quick, and easy-to-scan.

34. The Ten Commandments of an Awesome Lead-Generating Website

“Your leads are only as good as the website that produces them.” True story.

35. Ten Simply Awesome Examples of Email Marketing

Here’s how to rock your emails and newsletters.

36. What are Some Good Examples of Lead Generation Activities for B2B SaaS Companies?

The Quora crowd weighs in.

37. Seven Tips for Landing Page Greatness

Your landing page is a critical step for generating leads. Here are some tips for building the best one possible.

38. 20 Lead Generation Tips: Part One

A technical look at managing your leads.

39. 20 Lead Generation Tips: Part Two

Have a solid campaign goal. Best suggestion ever.

40. Seven Small Tweaks that Boost Conversions

Little changes have big results. Here are seven to get you started.

Remember to Stay Social

41. 13 Brands Using LinkedIn Company Page Features the Right Way

If you’re generating leads through your LinkedIn company page, make sure that you give this post a read.

42. LinkedIn Beats Twitter and Facebook at Lead Generation

By 277% say recent reports.

43. Popular Internet Memes to Use in Marketing

The best way to get people to share your content? Make them laugh.

44. How to Social Media Lead Generation

At the end of the day, social media is about results, not shares. Here’s how it all fits together.

45. How to: Use Social Media for Lead Generation

Three timeless principles: engage, monitor, and share.

46. 26 Ways to Use Social Media for Lead Generation

Here’s what you do when you think you’re running out of ideas.

47. How to Measure our Social Media Lead Generation Efforts

When you set up your numbers, make sure you do it right.

48. Seven Reasons You’re Not Generating Leads from Social Media

What the heck happened?

49. Seven Missed Social Media Lead Generation Opportunities

Don’t worry, next time will happen sooner than you think.

50. How to Use Quora as a Marketing Tool

If you’re a B2B marketer who isn’t using Quora, you seriously need to start.

There you have it — 50 of the web’s most awesome perspectives on lead gen. Do you feel like a smarter, more sophisticated marketer? Share your thoughts, and we’ll leave you with a virtual high-five.

— Ritika Puri