Blogs can be used to generate leads and more. But then, any random blog post won’t help you in that cause. You need to create a lot of high-quality, actionable, reader-friendly blog posts that come with right CTA buttons. Plus, there are loads of other stuff that needs to be taken care of before you start attracting leads via blogs.
Here I walk you through 10 high-quality tips to create compelling blogs that generate leads and more:
1. Nail Down Popular Topics from Different Platforms
To convert more customers via blogging, you will have to come up with topics that strike-a-chord with your audience. If you are finding it hard to find a relevant subject for your blog, make use of multiple tools that will help you arrive at topics that are widely shared on social media and searched for in Google.
Some of the tools that you could use to find topics include Buzzsumo, Quora, Facebook Group and more. Although not specifically for blogs insight, teachinguide.com is fantastic for nailing down popular course topics and insights. This can help you figure out what people are looking to learn at the moment.
#2. Make it more Readable
Sometimes you write a blog just like that, without any structure or anything. However, this is risky because you may end up rambling without adding any value to your content. So, make sure to organize your thoughts and break them to digestible chunks. Also, design the outline with an eye toward delivering value to your audience.
Further, your blog post should focus on how-to-do-things rather than what-to-do. More importantly, add screenshots and other images to make things far more apparent to your audience. Next, make it more detailed and descriptive. Choose to write more than 1,000 words. Focus on writing short lines, short paragraphs, and short words.
#3. Use CTA’s inside the text
As the name suggests, a call-to-action button compels the reader or visitor to take immediate actions. And they are commonplace in landing pages and ads. But then, they are quite underused in blog posts. So, try including a link within the post that leads the reader to relevant ebook or whitepaper. Seek help of best SEO companies to embed right kind of CTAs in your posts.
#4. Embed the “Hello Bar”
The ‘Hello Bar’ is a favorite lead generation tool for blogs. The bar runs across the page and even includes a CTA button that drives traffic to landing pages and also compresses pages without being invasive. The best part? If users don’t click immediately, it follows them as they keep scrolling down to read your blog post. You can use this tool to build your email subscription list.
#5. Offer Paid Content
Offering free tips and tricks to help small businesses expand their business is a good idea. But then, if you wish to make some money out of your expertise, it doesn’t harm to charge something, especially, from those who are willing to pay for more information.
However, to generate interest in readers about your paid content, you need to provide value in your regular posts and then go in-depth in your exclusive, paid content.
Facebook Marketer Jon Loomer has set up a separate section on his blog called “Power Hitters Club,” which elaborates on concepts that he mentions to in his regular posts. Consult top content marketing companies to get better insights on generating paid content.
#6. Offer Content Upgrade
Remember, the goal of business blogging is not readers, but customers. And your blog content is the first step in your visitors’ journey to become a customer. Enter Content Upgrades.
A content upgrade is a bonus content that readers receive in exchange of their email address. They are considered to be a powerful marketing tool because it not only adds value to your content but also satisfies the intent of the readers. You can use a call-to-action (CTA) button in your blog post to prompt people to download your content upgrade.
#7. Make use of slide-in CTA’s
As soon as you reach the bottom of a blog post, you will see a CTA pop up sliding up. That’s the slide-in CTA inviting you to download the company’s latest research report and things like that.
The feature allows you to offer committed readers valuable content that’s in keeping with what they are currently reading.
The trick is to offer more in-depth content related to the post they are currently reading. You can find a slide in CTAs in Hubspot’s blog posts.
#8. Offer Blog Summary Downloads
With readers’ attention span going downhill, you cannot expect them to read your 2000+ blog every time.
So a smarter way out is to offer shorter, downloadable summaries to readers in exchange for their emails. The content should primarily comprise key takeaways of your blog posts.
#9. Touch base with Influencers
All the points shared in this blog, so far, are all reactive. However, influencer marketing approach is a little proactive as it requires some effort on your part.
First, you need to nail down influencers in your industry. For this, you will have scan social media networks to find accounts that have a huge fan following.
Second, you will need to make efforts to engage with them. It could be in the form of retweeting their comment, writing a comment on their Facebook post among many other things. The idea is to get familiar with them. The more and more they see you, the more they become familiar with you.
Third, you will have to reach them in a way that no one does. Influencers always have their hands full. They receive no fewer than 1000 emails, requesting them to promote their product, brand and more. No matter what, make sure to keep your tone friendly and polite while contacting the influencers.
#10. Include CTA’S in your Comments
It’s pretty much a known fact that the comment section of the article page helps generate qualified leads.
How you may ask?
Naturally, because only those who care enough would take the pain to go through the content and ask questions, provide recommendation and even praise your content.
So, the next time someone leaves a comment requesting in-depth information about a blog post, don’t just reply, include a CTA button as well that leads them to the landing page where they could download a whitepaper or an e-book to collect more information.
Wrapping Up
Creating action-oriented, good-quality content takes considerable time and effort. For that matter, even content upgrades are a tedious and time-consuming process. But then, it’s worth your time and effort and help generate quality leads for your business.
What’s your say? Have you used your blogs to generate leads? Let us know in the comment section.
Author Bio: This is Jennifer Warren, a Content Crafter for GoodFirms – a review and research platform for mobile app development, web development companies and more. The company publishes research report on a time to time basis, the latest one is on Email Marketing.