Leads are the lifeblood of any successful business. Without leads sales grind to a standstill, cash dries up, and the business is on life support. Having effective strategies to generate a consistent flow of qualified leads is essential.

Let's take a look at the basic step by step strategies used in an effective lead generation system.

1. Define Your Ideal Client- Develop a detailed description of who you are trying to attract to your business. Build a profile that includes demographic, geographic, and psycho-graphic aspects of this ideal client.

2. Plant Seeds- To attract these Ideal Client prospects to your website, you must plant seeds of valuable information and offers, both online and offline. There are hundreds of tactics to use to generate traffic to your site. The strategy is to match the traffic source to where your ideal prospects are found. Do they spend time on Facebook and other social media sites? The search engine terms they use when seeking solutions to the problem you solve determines your paid and organic search efforts.

Don't forget to use offline tactics to drive traffic to your website. Targeted direct mail, trade show participation, and referrals still work in encouraging prospects to learn more about your business with a quick website visit.

3. Offer an "Ethical Bribe"- Once prospects hit your website, make an offer they can't refuse to capture their name and email address. Use a free report, free eCourse, or a free webinar that delivers information about the problem they have that you solve. This motivates interested prospects to sign up for your email list and gives you an effective, inexpensive way to keep in touch and nurture these leads.

4. Keep Delivering Value- After prospects join your email list, it's important to deliver value. Informative, entertaining, and engaging email messages build the relationship with the prospect. Your strategy is to educate the prospect about his or her problem and reveal the unique solutions your business provides.

Using a mix of email messages, blog posts, free download reports, webinars, and phone consultations, you position your business as a leader in your particular market, and over time as you nurture and build the relationship with the lead, you become the obvious choice to help solve your Ideal prospect's problem. This approach builds demand generation for your business solution.

Follow these four basic strategies for lead generation success in your business. When you have a system that automatically generates, attracts, nurtures, and qualifies leads, your business is positioned to grow and thrive.

Joan Price loves writing and owns her own consultancy. Follow her on Twitter @JoanniePrice