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Do you have your web site's good content under lock and key? I've written numerous times that you're wasting your time by trying to force people to become leads before they tell you they are ready to speak to a sales person.

You'll have more success if you give them access to your content without requiring them to register first.

Research shows that if you require registration on your website to download content such as articles, white papers, studies or other "free" resources, you could be losing 75%-85% of your potential leads!

I saw a press release for a study last week completed by the Nielsen Norman Group, which also supports this finding. According to their study, the practice of making users register before providing them with deeper information will send sales prospects scurrying.

There should be a balance between collecting information and providing value; i.e., be careful about requiring registration to receive anything worthwhile. Your thought-leading content can be a lead generation tool, but only if it is easily accessed.

Almost every company has at least some decent content for leads who are in the later stages of their buying process, including: brochures, case studies, success stories, sell sheets, etc.

The key is to reach people as early in their buying process as possible. That's where you have the biggest influence. It's not effective to wait until they are narrowing their short list.

Overall, what most companies lack is thought-leading content that addresses needs of people who are in the early stages of their buying process. KnowledgeStorm made this same point in their recent report on evaluating and scoring web leads. And interestingly, those who do have good, relevant content lock it up behind registration pages.

Ardath Albee over at the Marketing Interactions Blog has some great thoughts on this too. Marketing Interactions: B2B Websites Not Effective

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Brian Carroll is the CEO of InTouch Inc. InTouch is a 50-person company focused on delivering effective lead generation solutions for "the complex sale."
Brian authors the very interesting B2B Lead Generation Blog which focuses on B2B lead generation, sales leads, and marketing for the complex sale.