More than one lead magnet? Yes.

OK, there’s clearly much more to talk about when it comes to real list building. But, this week has been all about just your lead magnet.

Or, I should say… lead magnetS. With a big fat “S” on the end. Because, yes, you should most definitely have more than one.

One of the biggest mistakes I see are people who treat the lead magnet like a checkbox. Like it is this thing they have to create once. They check off the little box on their blog-building todo list and they move on as if their lead magnet is done.

They’ll use that same lead magnet everywhere. Often in the sidebar. And then, typically, they’ll play hell getting that thing to convert any better than 1-2%.

Yep, the single lead magnet strategy in your sidebar is pretty ineffective. For 2 reasons:

1. Usually the lead magnet is too generic because you’re trying to make it attractive to anybody who might visit your blog.
2. It is stuffed in the sidebar… an area of most blogs that people generally ignore.

To bust out of this, you’re going to need multiple lead magnets.

Remember the first criteria of an effective lead magnet is that it is specific to one solution, and one type of person. Most likely, your blog caters to multiple kinds of people, all within the broader context.

If you look at my blog, it falls within “the blogging niche”, or the “online business niche”. But, within that are a TON of interests. List building, theme hacks, membership sites, traffic, paid ads, social media, webinars…. yada yada and a lot more yada. Under the umbrella of the transformation I provide is a LOT of potential entry points.

For this reason, I have many different lead magnets.

I have a membership site planning checklist, lead magnet ideas, a redwood strategy checklist, an SEO checklist, among many others. Each one provides a new potential path of entry into the fuller Blog Marketing Academy experience.

And what’s more…

I am always very contextually aware of WHERE these lead magnets appear on my website.

I don’t even have a blog sidebar anymore. All of my opt-ins appear IN CONTEXT of the article they are reading.

If they’re reading a post on SEO, they’re going to see an opt-in right inside the blog post for the SEO checklist.

If they’re reading a post on building their list, they’re going to see the 45 Lead Magnet ideas checklist.

I do this with Thrive Leads, BTW. Each of my lead magnets has an opt-in form I designed with Thrive Leads. Then, I can just insert those things into the content where it makes sense using a shortcode.

Now, you might be thinking….

Oh, crap. You’re telling me I have to create a bunch of these things?

Yes, I am.

But, you know what?

If you’re actually doing what I’ve been talking about this week and using those 7 criteria, then those lead magnets are quicker and easier to make.

What’s easier… creating a checklist, or writing a 30 page PDF ebook?

I know which I’d rather do. 😉

– David