They say that content is king, but there’s certainly a quality of content that makes a difference — especially when it comes to lead generation. A lackluster landing page is unlikely to draw much attention; and if your gated content isn’t exciting, no one will want to sign up for it.

So if your lead generation has been suffering, there’s a chance that the reason could actually be your web content. It’s important to identify this so that you can make your content better. Let’s dive into identifying poor content in this blog, as well as how to improve.

How Poor Content Can Hurt Your Lead Generation

First, let’s discuss the ways that poor content can hurt your lead generation. If your web content isn’t strong, it could not only prevent you from gaining the right leads but possibly even turn them away. Here are a few things that could be hurting your lead generation:

No CTA or Unclear CTA

You can have an expertly written landing page or blog, but if your readers don’t know how you expect them to follow up, chances are they won’t follow up. Having a clear CTA at the end of the piece, and in some cases — as with long landing pages — throughout the piece, is essential to good content.

Content Irrelevant To Your Audience

If you don’t conduct market research on your audience before you create your content, you could end up with content that is irrelevant to them. This could still gain you some leads, but they might not be the leads you were hoping for. Your actual target audience, however, will likely move elsewhere.

Poorly Crafted Content

If you have written content that is riddled with grammatical errors and spelling mistakes, it will make your business seem unprofessional and incompetent. Similarly, if you use cheap graphics or videos for content, they’ll likely drive audiences away rather than draw them in.

Keyword Stuffing

You can use keywords to boost your SEO for landing pages, blogs, and more. However, too many keywords can result in keyword stuffing, which Google actually penalizes. Keyword stuffing also reads awkwardly. Try to fit keywords in only where they naturally fit.

How To Improve Your Content For Lead Generation

So now that you know what could be hurting your lead generation, how do you improve that content to boost your lead generation? Fortunately, once you know what’s wrong, it can be easy to find out what’s right.

Create Enticing Gated Content

When you research your target audience and understand what they want, you can create enticing gated content. This could be a webinar, an ebook, or a free template that they can use. This gated content should be something that your target audience can use and will solve a problem they are actively facing. They can reach it by signing up for your mailing list, effectively becoming a lead.

Use a Variety of Content

Rather than sticking to just written content, mix it up. You can use blogs, landing pages, whitepapers, and ebooks that all have value; but you can also use video, forms, infographics, podcasts, and more mediums. “Content” is a broad term, and it can keep your brand from feeling too one-note if you use different forms of content. Just make sure they’re content forms that actually resonate with your target audience.

Show Off Case Studies

It’s one thing to talk about everything your brand can offer. It’s something else entirely to back it up with an actual case in which your brand offered something helpful to a client. A case study is a specific case or job that you worked on for a client. You can go into detail about the process and include quotes from your clients. Case studies can help you in a few ways. It backs up your boasts with concrete evidence, and it allows you to show off your clients, as well.

Have a Clear CTA

This one is an exact reverse of the first poor content issue. You have to have a clear call-to-action in your content, preferably one that points the reader towards following up with your brand for a consultation or joining your mailing list. This is the way that you turn interested audiences into leads. But to do that, you have to also make it clear why they should follow your call-to-action. You know how it helps you. But how does it help them? How can you get them excited about what you have to offer? Work that into your CTA.