5 ways to convert blog traffic into leads
I’m a big believer in making sure your blogs are pulling their weight. That means it’s not just about getting traffic to land on your blogs, it’s about turning that traffic into leads. Easy right?
Not always. But the good news is that there are a few things you can do to help turn your blog traffic into leads, capitalising on the time, effort and resources you put into creating your content.
Why are blogs important to lead generation?
The end game of every business is to generate profit. We all want to make money. Blogs can be a great way to do that, if you don’t believe me check out this blog on that very topic.
Using your blogs strategically allows you to target your customers at different stages of the buying cycle with different content. That means when they’re ready to buy a blog can be the tripwire for them to hit go. Of course, they aren’t the only lead generation tool you should be using, but if you’re creating a multi-layered lead generation strategy then blogs absolutely should be on your list.
They can boost your SEO, show off what you stand for, demonstrate your breadth of knowledge and build a rapport with your audience. By writing and sharing your blogs, you can expand the reach of your business, getting more eyeballs on your business, your service and your website. That’s why they’re important to your lead generation.
Tips to convert blog traffic to leads
When it comes to converting traffic, the key is to get the basics right. Let me explain.
Have a clear message
Before you write your next blog identify what the one message you want to convey is. For traffic to convert our blogs need to be impactful and packed with value. If you’re trying to say four things in one blog you aren’t doing that.
Having absolute clarity on that one message along with who the blog is for and what stage of the buying cycle they’re at will help you to tailor your blog and make it more useful to your audience. If you need help with that, read this blog.
You can write that as a sentence at the start of your blog (just remember to delete it before you upload it to publish!), you can always use this template:
The blog is about:
The point I want to make is:
This blog is for:
They’re researching / looking at options / ready to buy
2. Build their interest
Remember when Wikipedia was growing in popularity and you’d go to one article and 15 minutes later would still be scrolling on the site but on a totally different topic? That’s how we want to build out our blogs.
By including 2-3 internal links in our blogs we’re weaving a picture for our audience, building their interest, demonstrating our authority and keeping them interested. Those links might be to complementary blogs which delve into a slightly different part of the main topic or maybe it’s to your service pages.
You need to ensure the links are relevant and will take your customer on the right path for them. The more time they spend on your site, the more likely they are to convert. Dwell time (the length of time someone spends on your site) is a key factor in SEO but also had a direct correlation to sales. It’s been found that a 1% increase in dwell time results in a 1.3% increase in sales. So make sure people have a reason to stay.
3. Track their journey
Do you know where your blog traffic is coming from?
How long do people stay on your site?
Which parts of a page they’re engaging with?
How many people are clicking your CTA?
No? You need to change that now.
Without robust data about your audience’s journey and behaviour on your site, you’ll find it difficult to change anything to increase your conversions. Make sure you’ve installed the relevant pixels, heatmaps and other tracking features. Then check you understand what they mean and how to use them.
4. Measure your results (and test)
Could you tell me what your current blog conversion rate is?
It’s all well and good having your tracking in place but you need to be monitoring it, recording it and benchmarking. When you’re doing that you’ll be empowered to test different approaches. Maybe one type of headline is generating more traffic, or perhaps a CTA positioned in the first half of the blog is being overlooked for the one at the end.
Testing different things and being able to see the results means that you’ll be in a better position to optimise your blogs for conversion, rather than shooting in the dark and hoping you get a hit.
When it comes to blog conversion, while I’d love to tell you it’s all about the words, the data is just as powerful.
5. Tell them what to do next
The one thing that will make the biggest difference to your blog conversion rate is your call-to-action (CTA). It’s amazing how many blogs I see that don’t have a CTA.
Now there are different ways to approach your CTA and that will depend on who your audience is and whether they’re ready to buy.
If your audience is in the information-gathering stage then send them to another relevant blog.
If they’re researching solutions, it’s your service page you want to push.
If they’re ready to buy, make it easy for them.
Understanding your audience, their needs and then presenting them what that at the end is the best way to increase your leads from your blogs.
But CTAs don’t just have to be at the end, you can gently scatter them throughout your blog - particularly if they’re longer. That way even if your audience is skim reading or doesn’t make it all the way through you’re still giving them a next step.
CTAs are also something you should be testing. Different audiences respond differently, so play around with the wording, whether it’s a button or a direct link, the placement, track your results and make informed decisions going forward.
Your blogs can and should be a big cog in your lead generation machine, but that doesn’t happen by itself. You can optimise your blogs for SEO but you need to make sure that you’re also optimising them for conversion.
By keeping your message sharp and simple, getting the right tracking in place and monitoring performance you’ll have the data at your fingertips to make strategic decisions about your blogs going forward. You’ll know what your audience loves and what they ignore. It’s understanding those quirks that will make the biggest difference in turning your blogs into traffic-converting lead machines.
Alternatively, if that seems like too much or you’ve tried and exhausted your knowledge, it’s time to call in an expert like me! Drop me a message and let’s find a time to talk.
