One of the primary reasons people start a blog is because they want to bring in more leads and convert those leads. You write blog articles with the hopes that other people will notice them and then stick around on your site. But rather than just hoping this happens, there are some things you can do during your writing process and to other areas of the blog that can help to generate and convert leads.
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Focus on Quality Over Quantity
When you first get started with blogging, it’s tempting to put out as many blog posts as you can in a short amount of time. You have a lot of topics that you want to cover, and you figure the more topics you cover, the more likely it is you’ll write something that other people like. However, this isn’t the approach you should take. Rather, it’s better to focus on quality rather than quantity.
There are a few reasons you should focus on quality. First, these posts are more likely to help out your readers. That, in turn, demonstrates the value of your site and helps to keep people on the site longer. Besides that, quality posts are more likely to be shared on social media networks. Now, because of your quality blog post, you’ve not only convinced people to stay on your site longer, but you’ve made it more likely that this blog post reaches more eyes – two things critical for lead generation.
Post Outside Your Site
Another common mistake new bloggers make is posting content only on their own site. This makes intuitive sense – why would you post blog articles related to your products or services on some other website? Wouldn’t that just help them? The answer is yes, it would – but it will also help you.
By posting blog articles on other websites you are doing two
things. First, you are reaching people who might not have heard of your blog yet. You are taking advantage of someone else’s built-in readership and using it to spread the word about your site.
The second thing you’re doing is generating backlinks for your blog. By posting on other sites, and linking back to your blog, you gain valuable backlinks that search engines love. Not only are you now reaching a wider audience thanks to those other websites, but because of search engines as well. This is bound to generate more leads.
Focus on Keywords
In an ideal world you could simply focus on the quality of your writing, and the value it provides, and not focus on things like marketing. You’d be able to devote all of your attention to your words and people would flock to your posts all because of their high quality. Unfortunately, this isn’t usually the case.
Before crafting any blog post you should have done some keyword research. Keyword research will tell you what sort of phrases people use to look for content similar to your own online. You then need to use these keywords strategically throughout your blog post, particularly in the titles and images. By keeping keywords in mind when you write and edit your blog posts you’ll do better in the search engines – and attract more leads as a result.
For more on getting started with keyword research, try this guide.
Don’t Forget a Call to Action
When someone finishes reading your blog post you need to give them something to do. You don’t want them to finish, absorb all of the useful information you just provided them, and then leave your site without converting. This is where your call to action comes in.
At the end of each blog post should be some form of a call to action. It could be something directing your readers to buy a product, share the post on social media, or sign up for your email list. This is a great place to try out some split testing so that you can figure out which calls to action work best.
For more information on crafting a great call to action you can check out this guide. The right call to action can be the difference between converting a lead and having them leave, so make sure you give it plenty of attention
Show Related Posts
Sometimes someone comes to your site, reads your blog post, but doesn’t get all of the information they were looking for. Or maybe they read your post, but now they have additional questions. Rather than going to another site to find the answers, you want them to remain on yours.
A great way to do this is through related posts. By either linking to similar posts manually throughout your blog post, or using something like a WordPress plugin to generate related posts, you give your visitors options for where to head next. Think about any major eCommerce website you’ve used – there are always suggestions for similar products listed so that you consider other options before you leave.
You’ve spent time and money getting people to your website – you don’t want this lead to slip through your fingers. There are many ways to convince people to stick around, but showing related posts is one of the easiest and most effective.
Make Your Posts Easy to Share
Social media is one of the most effective ways to bring in new leads. However, your own social media accounts only reach so far. To get the most out of social media, you need other people to share your content with their own followers.
Since you’ve started focusing on quality over quantity, you’ve already given your visitors a reason to share – now you just need to make it easier for them to do so. On each of your blog posts there should be buttons or links to instantly share the post with the readers’ various social media accounts. If you’re on WordPress, here’s how to add social media icons to WordPress. By doing this you’ve now increased your reach exponentially just by adding a few simple buttons.
Thank Your Sources on Social Media
If the above tips aren’t enough, we have one more strategy for you to try. When you were writing your high-quality post, you probably used some outside sources for information. A great way to generate leads is by thanking these sources publicly.
For instance, let’s say you learned an interesting statistic from
one prominent blog in your niche. You cite the source in your blog and include a link. Then, you publicly thank the blog on your social media accounts, saying something along the lines of “Thanks to StatsBlog for their helpful information!” If you’re lucky, this prominent blog will then share your message of thanks with their own followers, thereby promoting your blog article to their own group of followers.
By issuing a simple thank you to sources you’ve used, you not only increase the likelihood that they’ll share your post, but you increase credibility within your niche. This strategy only takes a few minutes of your time, but it could greatly improve the number of leads you generate from a blog post.
Make the Most of Your Blog
You’re putting a lot of time and effort into your blog, so you don’t want it to go to waste. By using the tips above you can use your blog effectively and turn it into fuel for your lead generation. Take some time to develop an action list with all of the things you want to start doing with your blog. Then, as you’re creating the blog, make sure you keep this list in mind as you work. If you can do this you’ll have a great tool at your disposal – one that generates leads for a long time to come.