7 Ways To Improve Your Inbound Lead Flow — The Ambitious Freelancer

Welcome back! The Ambitious Freelancer podcast is back in full effect, and I am so excited to chat with you today. Today, I am sharing an audio version of an Instagram post you all seemed to love. If you are looking for ways to improve your inbound lead flow, I can’t wait for you to keep reading and listening.

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1) Focus On SEO Improvements

Search engine optimization is the key to improving inbound leads as a freelancer. What do you want to be known for? On my website Amanda Cross Co., my focus is being recognized as an HR tech content writer. I use this keyword and similar ones on all of my main pages like my home page, hire me page, about page, and even some blog content. I hope that everyone who comes to my freelance website leaves knowing that I am a content writer for HR technology companies.

Specificity will reduce your inbound lead flow, but it will improve the quality of your inbound leads. I don’t get mountains of inbound leads on my website each month, but each one is perfect for me and my business.

Go through your site and do a website audit. How can you improve your messaging to reach your ideal audience?

Also, make sure your site is registered with Google Search Console, so that Google can crawl your site ASAP.

2) Let People Contact You When They Feel Like It

Having a contact page is fantastic, but it shouldn’t be the only way to contact you. You should have a contact form on every page where contacting you is an obvious next step.

My email address is listed in my website footer, so people can quickly shoot me an email on whatever page they land on.

I have contact forms on my home page and hire me page.

I also have a contact page for more general inquiries.

I’m in the process of creating detailed pages for all of my services. For example, I have a page dedicated to my one-off blog post writing services. There is a contact form on those pages.

I use Squarespace for my freelance website. Squarespace makes it incredibly easy to have multiple contact forms throughout your freelance website.

3) Label All Of Your Contact Forms Appropriately

Since I have so many contact forms on my site, I also label them appropriately.

For example, the form name for my one-off blog posts contact form is “Introduction: One-Off Blog Posts” Thanks to Squarespace, this is included in the email I get when I get an inbound lead from my website. This allows me to know what they are looking for, research the listed prices on my website, and start the conversation with the potential client on the right foot.

If you use the multiple contact form model like I do, make sure that you label them if the contact doesn’t give you information about the page they were on when they contacted you. Clients aren’t always organized when sending you a message. Give yourself an advantage by getting more information from your forms.

4) Respond To Leads Promptly

You don’t have to check your email 2,000 times a day to be a good freelancer. Sometimes your inbound leads will be low, and that’s perfectly fine!

Make sure you do take the time to check your inbox for new leads a few times a day, especially as your inbound lead count increases.

I would suggest checking once in the morning and once before you log-off for the day, at least.

If you are fond of checking your inbox more often, there isn’t anything wrong with that. Do what works for you and your business.

Make sure you are setting proper expectations around email replies, though. You don’t want to set the expectation that you will drop everything to reply to a client’s every whim!

5) Track Clicks And Opens For Emails To Leads

I am a big fan of tracking email clicks and opens. I use a tool called MailTrack.io to track who is opening and clicking on my emails.

Your first email response to a prospect is important. Leads will likely ask questions in your first response that may require website links. They’ll also click around your email signature and see what you’re all about (even if they’ve spent some time on your freelance website.) Tracking these clicks is crucial because it helps gauge interest in your service.

Above tracking clicks, tracking opens is equally essential. A potential lead can’t contact you back if they haven’t even opened your email yet. Tracking opens helps you temper your expectations while allowing you to do a follow-up if your emails haven’t been opened or they were opened and not responded to.

6) Use Prospect Conversations To Tailor Your Content

After you’ve talked to a few inbound leads, you can begin to tailor your content to prospect conversations. Here are a few examples of that:

Write a blog post based on a pain point you heard from a client.
Update an existing frequently asked question based on the conversations you’re currently having with potential clients.
Create a landing page to talk about a new service offering you’ve built out based on past conversations with new clients.
Update your keywords based on what new clients have searched for.
Revamp your social media strategy to target a client in a new vertical based on prospect conversations.

Knowledge is power. Once you have these conversations and know what your prospective clients are looking for, you can tailor your messaging and improve inbound leads.

7) Audit Your Inbound Lead Flow At Least Once A Quarter

Last but not least, you should audit your inbound lead flow at least once a quarter. Here are some things you can look at the number of inbound leads:

Total
Who were an excellent fit for your freelance business (based on criteria you set.)

You can also look at the number of inbound leads that lead to:

Discovery calls.
Pricing/quotes.
One-off projects.
Long-term projects.

Spend ample time with your inbound leads during your audit time. Did certain months have more inbound leads than other months? What contributed to the influx of inbound leads? Where did those inbound leads find you? Get as specific as you can. Once you know, you can perfect your inbound strategy.