A visitor clicks “submit” …and a lead is born.

It happens a million times a day, all over the web. They searched, they found a website, it was clear and persuasive, they filled out the contact form.

That’s what a lead generation website does. It builds a bridge from a traffic source to a thank you page. This is the purpose of B2B digital marketing.

It’s common, but not simple. There are dozens of little factors involved in lead generation. They all work together to create visibility, then clarity, then trust.

There is one feature that every website has in common: the back button.

One mistake and the visitor will simply leave and find an alternative. We need to avoid that click and keep visitors in the flow.

The lead generation website flow

A lead generation website has a specific set of pages, each with a specific job and specific elements. Each element aligns with the psychology of the visitor and the marketing goals of the business.

The flow usually looks something like this:

The website is gently guiding the potential customer through a series of steps: awareness, interest, trust, then action. That’s a classic “conversion funnel.” Notice how the pages align with steps in the funnel:

But this only works if each page in the process is built specifically for the purpose.

Each page needs a set of elements that keep the process moving and the visitor flowing. So to avoid mistakes and missed opportunities, here is a set of best practices for lead generation websites, including a breakdown of all the elements on all the pages involved.

The blog post: Helpful advice

The process starts even before the visitor lands on the website.

Your audience is looking for information and answers. To attract them, you’ll need a content strategy framework that gives them a reason to visit. The better you are at getting your expertise out of your brains and into your content marketing, the more visitors you’ll attract.

The article should be so useful that the reader will be thrilled to have found you. And during their visit, they’ll find easy ways to engage

• Get more of your advice via your email program (a prominent signup form)
• Get more or share via social media (social icons, share buttons)
• Get more content during this visit (internal links to related content)

The likelihood that they do any of those things is partly a result of the blog template itself. So a great blog post template is key to the lead generation process. It should include all of the following elements:

How common are each of these UX elements? Check out our research into blog template design.

1. Keyword-focused header

If the topic is something your audience is searching for AND your website has sufficient authority to compete for the phrase, you have an SEO opportunity. In other words, do your keyword research first.

To capture that opportunity, you’ll need a super high-quality article that indicates its relevance for the phrase. That starts at the top.

Use the target keyphrase once in the

header. Along with the