In our last post, we talked about the many ways a blog can support your conversion strategy. In this post, we want to go a little further and talk about how to make those conversions happen.
Bringing visitors to your website is great; having them read your posts is fantastic. But how do you get them to stay engaged, establish a relationship, and turn into customers?
Start with the right stuff
To convince visitors to become customers, the very first element you must have in place is high-quality custom content that addresses the needs of your readers. Without that quality, visitors will leave immediately. You must create your content for people first.
That means first understanding your target customers and their pain points. When you write expert, high-value blog posts that directly explain how to solve customers’ problems and challenges, you’ll establish trust and lay the foundation for long-term relationships.
Success is in the keywords
Once you are writing for people, you must next enable those visitors to find your content. The use of strong keywords is vital to the success of your blog. A blog centered around one or two top keywords will rank higher in search engine results and will be discoverable by people searching for that topic.
Use analytical tools and SEO best practices to determine the keywords that are driving traffic to your site — and to your competitors’ sites. You can create new blog posts around those keywords, and you can also go back and optimize older blog posts to bring those top keywords to the surface.
And … action!
Now you have your blog readers’ attention. You’ve established your credibility through custom blog posts that answer their questions and provide solutions for their challenges. Next, you must keep them engaged.
Nothing is more frustrating than spending time and effort brainstorming, writing, editing, posting, and sharing your blog only to have your readers … do nothing. It’s up to you to tell them what the next step should be.
To convince visitors to take that next step, you have to include a call to action with each post and on every web page. Calls to action can take many forms, but keep in mind two important rules.
- Keep it in context. If your visitors read a post about your latest software version, offer a discount or free trial. If visitors are reading a post about an industry trend or innovation, offer a white paper or webinar to help them continue learning. If the post is explaining a multifaceted solution, offer a case study or consultation so readers can explore how such a solution would work for their companies.
Make sure your calls to action include the keywords that led visitors to your site in the first place. If a call to action doesn’t match the keyword used to find the blog, find a more relevant offer. By using keywords in this manner, you’ll not only gain more traffic but also more conversions. - Keep it simple. Remember, visitors may not be ready to purchase immediately, especially if they are new to your site. Give them a variety of ways to stay connected with your company.
- Ask visitors a question or request their information through a poll or survey.
- Invite readers to share the post or join the conversation on social media.
- Tell them they can get more great content when they subscribe to your blog.
- Create a sense of urgency. (Limited-time offer! Limited quantities! Act now and get this bonus!)
- Make it easy for them to carry out the action by creating clickable buttons such as “subscribe,” “share,” “buy now,” or “contact us.”
Converting a site visitor to a customer is a process, and each visitor progresses through his or her own buyer’s journey differently. Start with high-quality blog content that is customized for your target audience and easily discovered through appropriate use of keywords. Then, continue building the connection through calls to action that convert your readers from passive observers to active participants on your site.
The more engaged visitors are, the more likely they are to become customers.
Contact Marketing Expert Marc Dube at Active Blogs to learn more about enhancing your B2B marketing — and how a blog can be the best approach for your company’s business!
