A blog is often a key part of a company’s content marketing strategy. It is where seed content is created and a brand’s unique identity is built. It’s no surprise, then, that developing a strong blog content strategy is one of the top priorities for many content marketers. According to Hubspot’s State of Inbound 2018 report, companies that operate a blog are 67% more likely to convert leads than those who don’t. This finding is still relevant today. The report also found that businesses that blog regularly tend to see greater returns on investment.
How to Reach and Convert More Customers Through Your Blog
1. Identify your core audience
You can’t create a brand that appeals to everyone. Determine who your product or service would interest, and blog accordingly.
You will only be able to create successful blog content if you know who it is you are writing for. Do some research and identify your target customer base to establish your target audience. You can do this by creating ideal buyer personas that have the best chance of converting. All the content you create from then on will be based on the buyer personas you are targeting.
2. Define your content’s goals
It is time to think about what you want your blog content to achieve. Do you want it to convert readers into customers or clients? Do you want it to help build a strong brand image? Keep these goals in mind as you move forward.
Also choose the right format and tone to match the goals you are trying to achieve. Are you trying to create awareness of your brand? Drive sales? Answer relevant questions your audience might have? Your content goals will help you decide what kind of blog content to create.
Think about what you want your blog to achieve and what your audience might be interested in reading. Most people are looking for information that will help them solve a problem. Figure out what problems your target audience has that you could help them with through your blog. This will give you some direction for what to write about.
3. Set yourself apart
If you want your blog to convert leads, you will need to make it stand out among the millions of other blogs online. This will require some careful planning on your part.
a. Write posts about your business’ and customers’ unique experiences and issues
In today’s market, it is important for businesses to have a good customer experience in order to build a good reputation. Customer experience can also influence other potential buyers. This is why many platforms encourage customers to write reviews. Even companies such as Microsoft have a web page dedicated to customer stories.
Testimonials from satisfied customers can be an effective way to promote your company and build your brand. People looking for reliable information about products and services will pay attention to positive reviews.
b. Address your audience’s burning issues
To find out what issues your target audience is facing, you can search online. For example, if your target audience is mothers of newborns, you can search for “mothers of newborns” online, and you will find many online forums and social media pages related to this topic. These pages can be a valuable source of information, as people often post queries on these forums hoping to get answers from their peers. To find out what is affecting the majority of your target audience, you can read through these posts and look for common themes. Then, you can write a post offering a unique solution to these problems.
If you want to find out your audience’s pain points, you can try using live chat on your website, an online survey, or reviews on other related sites. However, don’t give too much information away in a blog post. Instead, ask your readers to register their email or visit your website if they want to know more. This can help you generate leads.
4. Tone and Format – Choose an appropriate tone of voice for your brand
Some brands need a more light-hearted and friendly tone. This fits in well if your blog is targeting youngsters or wants to create a more casual persona for itself.
Some businesses require a more formal or reassuring tone. For example, if you are in the healthcare business, you need to have a comforting and reassuring tone of voice in all your content. This helps build trust among your prospective clients.
It is important to be consistent with the tone you use when writing for your blog, as this can have a big impact on your ability to build rapport with your audience.
This also applies to the format of your blog. If the topics you cover and your target audience are relatively simple, then you can keep the format and your writing style casual. However, if you are targeting a more experienced audience, then the format will need to be more structured and the content will need to include more technical details.
5. Create high converting Optin forms
In order to get as many readers as possible and to turn them into customers, you need to be attentive to the design of your optin forms.
If popups aren’t your style, then there are plenty of other optin types to choose from, like:
- Slide-ins: Animated optins that slide in from the side of your page are eye-catching but still off to the side so they don’t interrupt readers.
- Floating bars: Not a fan of content blocking popups? A floating bar that sticks to the top or bottom of the page is attention-grabbing without bothering your visitors.
- Inline Optins: How about placing an optin right in the middle of your post? You know you’ve already got their attention. This also works great if you hide the rest of the content until they subscribe, using a content lock optin.
- After Post Optins: After a visitor finishes reading your whole post, they’re primed and ready to subscribe. Promise them similar great content and they’ll be happy to provide their email address.
Although simply asking people to subscribe to your email list may not be enough to persuade them, it is a common request on many websites.
It is beneficial to offer something in return to them.
6. Bribe readers to become subscribers
Even if your content is great, you might need to offer an additional incentive to get people to read it.
A lead magnet is a great way to get subscribers to exchange their email for something. A simple checklist, cheat sheet, or worksheet can be a great incentive for subscribers.
If you are looking for ideas for lead magnets, our list can provide inspiration. The simplest way to create a lead magnet is to reuse existing content from your blog.
Here’s how:
First, find your most popular posts in Google Analytics by going to Behavior » Site Content » All Pages.
I would recommend choosing a popular post that is at least 1,000 words long to use as an eBook. This will give you enough content to work with and make a good sized eBook.
You can create your eBook by copying the content in your favorite word processor and saving it as a PDF.
Or, you can use a free tool like Beacon. Just click on over to their site and sign up for a free account. To get started, click on the eBook option.
To import a blog post, copy and paste the URL into the “Import” field and click “Create Publication.”
After you finish entering your book’s content, you can select a template to determine its layout. When you’re satisfied with your choices, click the “Generate PDF” button in the top right corner of the screen. That completes the process!
After someone subscribes to your optin, they will receive your lead magnet immediately.
If you offer different lead magnets to different kinds of visitors, you’ll be able to capture more email addresses. It is more effective to offer a lead magnet than just asking for email addresses. However, every person who visits your site has unique interests and needs and may not want the same lead magnet. By offering different lead magnets to different kinds of visitors, you will be able to capture more email addresses.
7. Build a blog subscriber landing page
One effective way to get visitors to subscribe is to have a dedicated page for them to sign up on.
The purpose of this page is to convince people to sign up for your email list.
Usually, an optin landing page will explain:
- The specific benefits of subscribing
- The type of content your email blog subscribers will get
- Email frequency
- Subscriber bonuses such as your lead magnets
Your landing page is published and now it is time to promote it.
You can link to your landing page from your website’s main navigation menu, or by e.g. creating a floating bar campaign.
A blog subscriber landing page is also a great destination for any external blog promotion you do. For example, you can:
- Link to it from your social media profiles
- Drive traffic to your landing page with online ads
- Redirect readers after they comment on a blog post
8. Use guest appearances to win blog subscribers
If you want to get your work featured on large blogs, reach out to them and see if they accept guest posts. Make sure to follow their guidelines and submit a high-quality article that will show off your skills.
Some sites allow you to include a link to your blog content within the articles. If this is the case, be sure to link to a page that is designed to get you subscribers. Your optin landing page or a blog post with a content upgrade is more likely to get you subscribers than simply linking to your homepage.
Even if you’re not able to add links to your post, your author bio is a great place to put one.
You can grow your audience by publishing guest posts on your blog. When you allow guest bloggers to post on your site, they will share their content with their own audience. This can help you reach new readers who may be interested in your content. Try to choose guest bloggers who write about similar topics as you. This will help you attract readers who are interested in what you have to say.
Podcasts and videos are a great way to get in front of a new audience. Being a guest on a show gives you an opportunity to talk about resources you offer that are relevant to the topic. Any links you mention will appear in the show notes.
Joining in on expert roundups, like the one on landing pages, is a great way to get your name in front of new people. Roundups are popular types of posts that can provide immense value for readers.
Biographies for each expert will be provided with a couple links of their own choosing. These links can either be to a blog landing page or a blog post with a content upgrade.
The more useful your contribution is, the more likely people are to follow the links to your blog and subscribe. Many expert roundups are widely shared and read for years, which can keep bringing in new subscribers for a long time.
9. Use your email signature
You can promote your blog by editing your email signature to include text links to your email newsletter landing page.
Any time you would normally link to your website homepage is often a good opportunity to link to your landing page.
10. Make your emails shareable
As long as your content is valuable, people will share your emails with their friends and family, increasing the likelihood of new subscribers. Consider the main motivators for sharing emails
Most people said they think about how useful their email will be to the person receiving it, so it’s important to make sure your emails are actually useful.
The most effective way to get people to share your newsletter is to ask them to. Include a call to action encouraging your subscribers to share it with someone new.
You should look for an email marketing service that makes it easy to insert links into your emails.
Putting social sharing buttons in your emails can make sharing easier.
Related posts:
