Convert Blog Readers Into Customers

Eight ways to help convert blog readers into customers

You want to make money from your blog without alienating your readers. There are eight key rules for producing content that will encourage your readers to buy without making them feel they are being pushed into making a purchase.

Your blog’s content serves several purposes. It adds to your site’s value and encourages loyalty from existing customers while bringing in new customers through ongoing syndication. Of course, a well-planned blog also keeps your site in the top rankings of search engines. However, the most important purpose of good content strategy is to increase the number of customers and bringing in more revenue for your business.

Good blog content converts readers into customers. The right approach to content will create a straight pathway for your reader toward becoming a buyer. Different businesses may define conversion in different ways, and it is important to choose the correct format to convert your readers. Whatever your situation, finding the right style will produce an instantaneous and measurable conversion that creates more revenue.

It can be difficult to create the optimal content for conversions, especially if you lack experience. Here are some suggestions to help you build a content strategy that will help convert your readers to buyers.

1. Know your target audience and speak to them

Many businesses make the mistake of tailoring their blog to everyone, but to be effective they need to understand their target audience. You need to research your target audience and narrow it down to a few particular demographics. What type of audience is likely to read your blog? Once you understand who your audience is, write for them in a way that builds trust and makes your particular brand feel familiar to them. Targeting your key audience will make the blog more approachable. When the reader feels you are speaking directly to them, they will feel more comfortable and be more likely to convert into a customer.

2. Do not push a sale.

Do not confuse conversion with a direct sell. In a direct sale, you are making a pitch to the customer with the goal of making a sale. For a conversion, you need a softer, more information-based approach to encourage your reader to become a customer. To optimize your conversion rates, provide your reader with information and advice that will lead them on their own to the decision to buy. Blog postings that are little more than sales pitches for your products or services will turn away prospective buyers. Your best approach is to provide great, informative content that gives the reader good advice on what they need. With this approach, the customer will be able to decide for themselves if your product or service is what they need.

3. Promote yourself as an authority in your field.

Your blog should demonstrate your expertise. Use your posts to show readers that you have a thorough understanding of the products and services they are interested in exploring. You will need to prove your expertise by understanding your target niche, selecting topics that fit into that area and then exploring those areas in great detail. Also, use your blog to introduce new ideas and thoughts on the subject matter to show readers that you are leader in your field. Customers want to do business with companies they trust. It can be difficult to establish brand trust, but establishing yourself as an authority in your field will increase the likelihood of converting your readers to customers.

4. Borrow authority and expertise from others.

Even the most competent businesses will not have all the answers. There are limits to even the most experienced business owner. To boost your authority don’t be afraid to borrow from others. Use the authority of leaders in the industry through quotes and references to their information. This shows you have researched your topic and accessed all the available information. Do this by citing facts from official and prominent sources, using their expertise to boost your perceived authority. Use customer testimonials to demonstrate your expertise in your field of business.

Even the most competent businesses will not have all the answers. There are limits to even the most experienced business owner. To boost your authority don’t be afraid to borrow from others. Use the authority of leaders in the industry through quotes and references to their information. This shows you have researched your topic and accessed all the available information. Do this by citing facts from official and prominent sources, using their expertise to boost your perceived authority. Use customer testimonials to demonstrate your expertise in your field of business.

5. Use emotional elements

Blog readers respond to the appropriate emotional undertone in your posts. The key is to gauge the appropriate style and level of emotion which will cause your readers to respond without making your posts tacky, aggressive and off-putting. Consider your brand and the subject you are exploring when choosing the appropriate style and level of emotion. You may choose to promote your product with excitement for a quick conversion of reader to customer. Fear is an appropriate tactic to suggest to readers that they are vulnerable unless they make use of your product or service.

6. Pepper your blog with strong action words.

You will get better conversion rates by using action words in the call-to-action segment of your blog. “Click here” and “act now” are overused and seem gimmicky. Modern readers have seen these phrases too many times. You will get better results with phrases such as “Read more,” “Get Started” or “Find out more.” You will get your best conversion rates by avoiding passive language, which bores the reader and causes them to skip past your call-to-action language.

7. Avoid distractions.

Keep your call to action simple. You want your readers to convert to buyers, so do not distract them with too many options that will overwhelm them and cause them to lose interest. If you are trying to lead your readers to a sign-up form, do not include options directing them to other areas of your site or, even worse, to an outside site. Readers will become disoriented and distracted if there are too many options or if they are left to wander around your site rather than being led directly to your conversion opportunity.

8. Decrease bounce rates.

The longer a visitor stays on your website, the more likely they will convert to a customer. The best way to decrease your bounce rates is to tightly interlink your pages. You can accomplish this by including links in your content that take readers to other sections of your web site. The key is to keep them interested in your content for a longer period of time instead of giving them a reason to leave. The best method is to lead your reader to a conversion site rather than another page, however, linking your pages is a good way to hedge your bets.

Strategic content is key to boosting business, but to make it work you need to stay vigilant with an ongoing system of analysis and adjustment to optimize your conversion rates. Once you have implemented the strategies listed above for a month, examine the results and make adjustments as needed. Examine the results again in another month. You should continue this process building on the changes that get the best results and abandoning the ones that do not. This process will, over time, allow you to improve and perfect your content-based conversion strategy.