Converting blog visitors to customers is a process that requires a combination of effective content strategy and conversion rate optimization (CRO) techniques.
1. Research Your Target Audience
The first step in converting blog visitors to customers is understanding who your target audience is and what they need from you. Knowing who your readers are will help you create content that resonates with them and encourages them to take action. You should also consider how much time they have available to read your blog posts, as well as their level of technical knowledge when creating content.
2. Plan out a Content strategy
Blog content that is optimized for search engines (SEO) is more likely to be found by potential customers, so it’s important to plan your content with SEO in mind. This includes researching and using relevant keywords, creating high-quality and informative content, and promoting your blog through other marketing channels.
However, when doing your research, you must be mindful of search intent behind keywords that you’re targeting. The best way to do this is to manually look up the keywords you think are relevant to you and see what’s already ranking, and whether the context of these pages fits a conversion strategy. If the results are mixed, err on the side of logic.
For example, someone looking for the query “black belt styling ideas” isn’t necessarily looking to buy a black belt – they likely already have a belt. While landing rankings for this keyword is not necessarily bad, it likely won’t end in any belt sales. But, someone looking for a query such as “the best black belt for any outfit” may be in the market for a new belt, and writing a blog post promoting your brand’s belts may just sell the reader on getting one on-the-spot.
3. Experiment with CRO techniques
Once you have attracted the right kind of visitors to your blog through SEO research, the next step is to prompt them further into conversion. This can be achieved by using CRO techniques such as A/B testing, heat mapping, and creating clear and compelling calls to action (CTAs):
- Not every conversion needs to be immediate: while adding “Shop Now” CTAs will convert users who are already set on making a purchase, they can throw off users in a decision stage. Offer some mid-funnel options, like a newsletter sign-up form, or listing out your social media channels asking the reader to continue following your content across other platforms.
- Test out scattering multiple CTA buttons that lead the user to your conversion paths throughout your blog post and use heat mapping to pinpoint which placement works the best in your particular case.
- Wording matters. Once you find the best placement for your CTAs, conduct A/B tests on how users respond to different calls to action.
- Make sure your blog content is reviewed by an eCommerce copywriting expert who can introduce direct response copy techniques to your blog articles and/or your website CTAs, and increase chances of conversions.
4. Use marketing automation
Marketing automation tools can help you to segment your audience and personalize the customer journey. This can include sending targeted email campaigns, retargeting ads and creating personalized landing pages for different customer segments.
This is especially important for reengaging users who did not make any secondary action after reading your content initially. In that sense, a blog post can still be valuable even if it doesn’t drive direct conversions – your blog can be the place where users first get exposed to your brand, or a particular conversion path. Then, using remarketing, you lead that user toward the next conversion point in the funnel.
5. Make it easy for visitors to take action
Ensure that the process of making a purchase or signing up to your newsletter is easy and straightforward. This means providing clear and visible CTAs, reducing the number of form fields, and making sure the checkout process is secure and user-friendly.
References:
- Aaker, D. A. (2017). Building Strong Brands. New York: Simon & Schuster. https://www.scribd.com/book/224313057/Building-Strong-Brands
- Eisenberg, B., Eisenberg, J., & Davis, L. (2019). Call to action: Secret Formulas to Improve Online Results. https://www.perlego.com/book/555396/call-to-action-pdf
- Osterwalder, A., & Pigneur, Y. (2018). Business Model Generation: A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers, and Challengers. John Wiley & Sons. https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Business+Model+Generation-p-9780470876411
Please note that some of the links may be broken because of the publisher’s policies.
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