Building your email list is one of the most impactful things you can do for your blog. With an email list, you always have an audience to whom you can promote your content. Furthermore, email marketing opens the door for things like selling products, courses, and converting your readers into actual customers.
But if you’re serious about email marketing, you’re going to need a lead capture page at some point. This is because an effective lead capture page builds your email list with highly interested readers who also have high levels of purchase intent.
So, if you’re ready to grow your email list and blogging revenue, my guide on how to create a WordPress lead capture page is for you.
What is a Lead Capture Page?
A lead capture page is a page that collects information about potential customers, like their name, phone number, and address.
Typically, lead capture pages give away a freebie or something of value to users in exchange for entering their email. Use these pages to capture relevant potential customers so you can market your products and services to them down the line.
Examples of when a lead capture page makes sense include:
- eBook promotion
- Event promotion
- Getting customers to book a consultation or demo
- Product promotion
- Selling courses or online coaching
- Webinar promotion
In other words, if you’re selling or promoting something, using a lead capture page is probably the right call.
What to Include in a Lead Capture Page
A lead capture page only works if it convinces users to enter their information. This means you have to give readers enough value to justify getting their email. It also means your copy and page layout has to be done right.
There isn’t a correct formula for how to layout your lead capture page, but here’s what your page should include:
A Captivating Headline: Just like writing a blog headline, you need a headline that immediately grabs the reader’s attention and intrigues them to keep reading.
A Clear Value-Add: This could be a time-sensitive offer, coupon code, freebie, or anything that makes the reader feel like entering their email is worth it.
Images: You should break up your copy with images that provide a sneak peek about the product or service you’re promoting or validate it somehow.
Lead Capture Boxes: Naturally, your lead capture page needs a section for leads to enter their information. But don’t be afraid to use multiple capture boxes, or to experiment with different types of capture boxes, like ones that let leads book a consultation call or try a free trial.
Testimonials: Testimonials are critical for convincing potential leads to give you their information. If you’re selling a new product or service, consider giving it away for free to a few people in your network in exchange for a testimonial.
Your Call-To-Action (CTA): This is how you promote the freebie to your readers. Ideally, you should use eye-catching, bold text or buttons to get people to click. When they click, that’s when a lead capture box can fire to collect customer information.
If you want an example of an effective lead capture page, checkout ckbk, an online cookbook subscription.
This page has a clear value-add through its free trial, plenty of testimonials, mouthwatering photos, and a free membership option to throw in another freebie. There’s also a lead capture box at the end as well as multiple CTAs that direct you to enter your email.
How to Create a Lead Capture Page in WordPress
Now that you know what to include in your lead capture page, I’m going to cover the steps so you know how to actually create one with WordPress.
1. Use A Lead Capture Plugin Or Tool
WordPress is awesome because you have so many options for building a lead capture page right on your blog.
Personally, I like using ConvertKit to create landing pages since it’s the email service provider I use. ConvertKit lets you host landing pages on its platform or on your own domain, and there are over two-dozen themes available, with categories including:
- eBook
- Events
- Links
- Newsletter
- Podcast
- Product
- Waitlist
- Webinar
Once you choose a theme, you can quickly change your copy, fonts, colors, and images to match your brand and goal. Most ConvertKit landing pages are short and simple, so this is a quick way to capture leads on your blog.
If you want more control over your lead capture pages, you can also use various WordPress plugins to create your own pages.
SeedProd is one popular recommendation that’s currently used by over 1 million WordPress bloggers. With SeedProd, you design your own lead capture pages with a drag-and-drop builder, but there are also over 100 pre-built templates to provide a starting point.
This is just scratching the surface, and there are numerous other plugins you can try. If you’re already using ConvertKit I’d start there, and SeedProd is an excellent choice for beginners and experienced marketers alike.
Related: What You Need to Know Before Starting an Email List
2. Write Your Copy
Once you pick a lead capture page tool and theme, it’s time to actually create your capture page.
Starting with a template is useful if you’re a beginner since the content blocks are already in place and just need editing.
Remember: the goal of your copy is to quickly capture the reader’s attention, have a clear value proposition, and to collect emails. So, use convincing language.
For example, if you run a career coaching business, wording like “transform your career” or “take your career to new heights” sounds a lot better than “find a new job.”
3. Add Compelling Visuals
Visuals are an effective way to help sell a product or service, so make use of them.
For example, if you’re promoting a product or service that helps people make some sort of change, add before and after photos. If you’re promoting a new product, add in multiple visuals or a video of your product actually being used so potential customers have more information.
4. Add Your Lead Magnet
This is where you add in your freebie or deal to incentivize potential customers to give you their contact information.
Lead capture pages often use free trials or free eBooks to capture emails. But you can use time-sensitive discount codes, regular coupon codes, or provide something exclusive to give people who opt-in a deal.
5. Publish and Drive Traffic
A lead capture page is only effective if it captures leads, which seems pretty obvious. But in order to capture leads from your website, you need to drive traffic to your capture page.
There are several popular strategies bloggers use to drive traffic to lead pages, including:
- Email promotion
- Social media
- Embedding lead capture boxes in relevant blog posts
- Running contests
The most important thing is to always target relevant customers.
If you’re promoting a product or service that appeals to your entire blogging niche, hammer your promotional channels to get the word out. But if you’re promoting something more specialized, only promote it using relevant email subscriber segments and blog posts.
Related: How to Get More Email Subscribers
Tips For Creating A Successful WordPress Lead Capture Page
A successful lead capture page can be one of the most cost-effective forms of marketing when done right. If you’re currently struggling to capture leads or are new to this type of marketing, here are some tips to increase your odds of success:
Don’t Bury Your Capture Form: If your lead capture form is at the bottom of the page, you’re making it harder for leads to sign up. Usually, lead capture pages have a capture form at the start of the page following an actionable headline and CTA. You can also experiment with placing a second capture form somewhere else on the page.
Reduce Friction: Stick with people’s first name and email address for your actual lead capture form. It might be tempting to get a phone number and information about their business, but this adds friction to the sign-up process and is information you can collect later once you have their email.
Split Test: Once you build a lead capture form, you need to drive traffic to it to collect conversion rate data. But don’t stop there! Test how different copy, headlines, visuals, social proof, and form length impacts conversion rate by running two or more lead capture pages simultaneously.
Simplicity Works: Have a clear value proposition, call-to-action, and sign-up process. Generally, short and simple is the best for capturing leads, but your split tests should point you in the right direction.
Testimonials Work: Using social proof and testimonials are two of the best ways to improve your copy and capture more leads. If you don’t have either, prioritize getting happy customers first who can advocate for you and then promote your product or service to a wider audience.
Summary
Now that you know how to create a WordPress lead capture page, you’re ready to scale your online business by getting in touch with the right customers.
Just remember one final note: your post-capture experience is just as important as getting leads in the first place. Email or follow-up with leads quickly and know what your next step in the marketing funnel looks like. It could be booking consultation calls, nurturing leads through a free trial, or a follow-up phone call.
Whatever the case, use lead capture pages to your advantage, and keep testing new copy and ideas to find what resonates most with your audience.
