Developing an effective online lead generation offer can be a daunting task. Specifically, you must not only grab the consumer's attention with enticing graphics and text, you must also convey enough value in your offer -- and enough trust in your company -- to convince him or her to take the larger step of sharing information and consenting to be contacted. To help marketers overcome these barriers, I've compiled the following best practices...

Marketing sophisticated services and products would be great if it weren't for the prospects. These people are difficult. They don't read. They have short attention spans. They ignore ads. They only want to be entertained. For marketers, this presents a catch-22: People don't always respect those who entertain -- so while you may be noticed, you may not be trusted. And when what you're selling is your expertise, or a product requiring a significant investment, that's a problem.

When advertisers choose to engage in CPA (cost per action or acquisition) advertising online, there are several key areas that require specific focus to protect their brand and to acquire the highest quality of new leads through these channels. Although advertisers are often tempted to jump in head-first, they should not do so without careful planning and due diligence to understand the space and players in it.

Marketers, if you want to reach out and grab the elusive, ad-weary Generation Y, you'll have to fire up techno-rich lead generation campaigns and toss your old marketing tricks aside.