For 53% of marketers, blogging is their leading content marketing priority because 77% of internet users read blogs. This explains why blogging and vlogging (video blogging) have grown so dramatically over the past few years.
But writing blogs is one thing; getting conversions—making the blog serve as a way to bring in sales leads—is an entirely different story, but an important factor when undertaking any marketing tactic.
For SEO experts, blogging isn’t always a means toward an immediate sales lead. It could be a way to nurture a lead that may convert six months or a year down the line. If they came to your blog, they were looking for information that hopefully helped them make a decision. That decision depends on where they are in their buyer’s journey.
It’s important to understand that the primary purpose of blogging is to provide value to your readers. You can only do this if you know your audience and what they like or prefer. Irrelevant blog content will only increase your bounce rate and attract off-target visitors.
In order to convert your blog traffic into leads, you need to select blog topics that are relevant to your target audience, have concrete takeaways, and are “to the point” and highly engaging. Also, make sure a click-worthy title is always followed by relevant content; this will help build trust and lead to conversions.
Humans are visual creatures—they’re attracted to and are able to retain information presented to them visually more easily. So, powerful visuals are the perfect way to add value and improve the readability of your blogs.
There are several ways you can creatively incorporate visuals in a blog. For instance, you can use screenshots as examples for a particular idea mentioned in the content. Or you can use graphs and charts to highlight numerical information and trends. Alternatively, you can also convert entire blog posts into infographics to make them more readable and engaging.
A lot of blogs lack powerful calls to action (known as CTAs) because the writers don’t want to sound too salesy. However, in some instances, it might be okay to direct readers toward a product that’s relevant to the blog and might be of value to the reader.
CTAs are crucial for the sales funnel, and blogs are perfect for directing the readers toward landing pages and products—as long as the CTA appears natural and relevant.
The underlying idea to keep in mind here is that your readers are looking for solutions; if your blog can easily direct them toward a practical solution that also happens to be your product or service, you should go for it. This will also help you ensure that your blog content is always relevant to your industry and target audience.
If you want to get the most out of your blogs and other content marketing strategies, let the SEO experts at OAK Interactive help you out.
We’re a creative marketing company in Houston, Texas, and our staff members offer professional SEO services and a lot more.
Give us a call to learn more.
