Now that businesses are transitioning to the digital world, your website will play a key role in the sustainability and development of your brand.
As of 2018, there are approximately 3.9 billion active users roaming around the internet. With this many people hopping from one online service to another, your next customer will most likely be on the web.
Having a website provides convenience to your clients and your business. By being readily available on the web, you can gain more leads and conversion opportunities seamlessly. It’s one thing to have a well-designed page but driving organic traffic to it is another question.
Here’s where content marketing comes in.
A content strategy does two big things for your site: it allows you to build brand visibility and lets you be a credible source in your industry. When looking for solutions, 88% of consumers use online search. This should be enough reason for you to fill your blog with information that can help you promote the idea of your brand as a top choice without any hard-sell tactic.
In fact, 60% of people are inspired to seek a product after reading valuable content about it. This statistic alone shows how influential your content can be when customers are about to make a purchase. By posting blogs and other forms of media on various digital channels, you’re giving people more reasons to click through to your site and make a transaction.
But posting great content isn’t enough.
Just like any page on your website, altering a single element on your blog can define how well it performs. When maximized to its fullest potential, an optimized blog page can boost your overall sales, maintain your online reputation, and enhance your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts.
How to Create a High-Converting Blog Page
Starting a blog is just the first step. You may be enjoying high amounts of traffic, but this doesn’t necessarily mean your site is successful. If those leads aren’t subscribing to your newsletters, sharing your blogs, or making a transaction, then you may be facing a number of conversion issues.
Don’t get fooled by vanity metrics, such as registered users, downloads, and likes. These metrics don’t necessarily reflect the success of your content marketing performance.
Let’s say this certain business has over a million likes on its Facebook page. If you only pay attention to the numbers, it’s easy to think that they’re doing well with their marketing campaigns. But even though a million likes is a fairly good number (to say the least), how many of those users actually engage and transact with that brand?
Let’s keep the same principles in mind when it comes to your landing page.
Driving traffic to your site is essential for opportunities but acquiring conversions will always remain as your end goal. It’s always better to convert 500 out of 1000 visitors than to convert 500 out of 10 000. If you want to attain a higher conversion rate, you need to take the time to analyse your site and adjust according to the metrics.
Are my visitors having difficulty browsing? Why are they hesitant to share their information? Is the layout messy and filled with too many distractions? You can ask yourself these questions if you want to analyse the performance of your blog page. With the use of analytics tools, application of the best marketing tactics, and implementation of important website design principles, boosting your blog’s conversion rates can be easily accomplished.
9 Important Blog Page Elements
- Fast Loading Time
People want content and they want it fast.
About half of your website’s visitors will expect your page to load in two seconds or less. Now that people are living a fast-paced digital lifestyle, slow-loading websites, videos, photos, and apps will just lead to frustration. No matter how valuable your content may be, your visitors will be forced to look elsewhere if your site takes forever to load.
Don’t waste your blog’s potential. Lessen your bounce rate by compressing your files (e.g. visuals such as images and videos) and optimizing your site’s speed.
- Uses Different Forms of Visual Aid
Infographics, video tutorials, and images can provide an all-around experience for your visitors.
Making good use of visuals can condense complex bits of information and present it in an aesthetically pleasing way. Infographics, GIFs, and even some memes can strengthen your blog’s appeal while paving the way for a valuable and fun browsing experience.
If you regularly blog about products, you can use photos and videos for demos and tutorials. This will help your leads examine the features of your product and help them recall its details when they’re about to make a purchase.
- Allows Blog Subscription
An important key to a high performing blog is a large subscriber base.
After your leads finish reading your content, you should direct your visitors to a landing page with a subscription form. You can give people more reasons why they should sign up for your newsletter, so they’re regularly updated with the latest content and offers you’re providing.
Once you sell the value of your blog, subscribers that find relevance in your content will most likely share it with their peers. This will make it easier for you to widen your reach and establish thought leadership in your industry.
- Optimized for Multiple Devices
As of 2018, research shows that the average person spends at least 3 hours and 15 minutes a day on their phones.
While you’re doing research on your laptop, your next customer might be looking for service options through his or her phone. Make sure that your blog page has responsive design and automatically adjusts its layout, user interface, and user experience to the device it’s being accessed with.
Other than being mobile-friendly, you should also consider optimizing your site for voice search. By 2020, it is estimated that more than 50% of search inquiries will be done via voice, so incorporating this feature as early as now can put you one step ahead of your competitors.
- Accessible to All Web Browsers
You may be a regular user of Google Chrome, but some of your leads may be using Safari or Mozilla Firefox as their primary web browsers.
In the process of testing your site, make sure its performance is consistent across all platforms. Remember, if a user has trouble with your webpage, your website will be put to blame rather than the browser itself. Cross-browser optimization will prevent you from losing loyal customers that have decided to make a device/browser switch.
- Provides Social Sharing Buttons
Out of all the marketing tools and tactics available today, word of mouth marketing remains as the most effective method. Even though your content can provide tons of value, people will naturally trust the advice and recommendations of their friends and family more.
Since most of your customers can be found on different social platforms, having social sharing buttons strategically placed on your site will encourage your readers to market your content organically.
Remember that each social media channel has its own unique population and dynamic for interaction. For instance, if you’re planning to target a social channel with a population of credible individuals and professionals, it’s best to have a sharing button for LinkedIn available.
- Strategically Placed Pop-Ups
Even though pop-ups and push notifications can be annoying for the casual user, it’s an incredibly useful tool for marketers.
When strategically placed, you can encourage your visitors to take desired actions. This gives you an excellent opportunity to promote your current deals, win back a lead that’s about to leave, and even collect accurate customer data.
However, don’t overdo things by incorporating too many of them. Overusing pop-ups and notifications can make you seem pushy and turn off your visitor.
- Makes Good Use of White Space
White space doesn’t only emphasize your blog’s design, it also helps your readers digest the content you’re providing.
Long paragraphs can be a bit intimidating to look at and may cause your visitors to look elsewhere. If you regularly write about complex topics, remember that whitespace can be used to stress on important points, break long statements down, and improve your article’s overall structure.
- Utilizes Compelling Call-to-Action Buttons
Vague call-to-action (CTA) buttons are relatively ineffective.
When linking to other areas of your page avoid using “Click here” as your CTA. Instead, make use of compelling phrases such as “Visit this page for more information” or ”Contact us today for our marketing services”.
When creating call-to-action buttons, keep in mind that people will only click a link if they know where it will take them. Make sure that your CTAs have context and that they’re placed to help your visitors navigate your website.
Tips and Titbits to Have a High-Converting Blog Page
With these important page design elements in mind, you need to learn how to use them properly to boost your conversion rate. Here are some tips and tricks on how you can optimize your blog pages.
- Study your audience
Remember, the key to a pleasant customer experience is personalization.
The first step to a successful marketing campaign is to do a lot of research about your target audience. Take all the time you need to learn important bits of information such as their age, location, and other demographics. Doing so will help you create a customized content strategy that will fulfil the needs of your established buyer personas.
- Prepare your landing pages
One common mistake that web designers have is that they tend to re-direct their visitors to the home page.
If your blogs aren’t redirecting your readers to a subscription or a service inquiry page, you’re missing out on a number of conversion opportunities. When designing landing pages, always remember that less is more. Too many elements and distractions can confuse your visitors so only add what is necessary.
- Offer free valuable content
People love anything that’s free of charge.
Giving something away may not be the most profitable choice, but doing so will give you an opportunity to gain the trust of your audience. For blogs that have just started, your leads may still be hesitant to buy your products if you haven’t built a solid reputation in your industry.
Blogs that offer free content entice 53% of consumers to visit the site. If people have an idea of what they can get from you, you can capture their interests and capitalize on a conversion opportunity.
Look at what your competitors are offering and give something with the same value, but for free. You may have spent a significant amount of time on your eBooks, marketing guides, and webinars but being generous will have its long-term benefits.
- Insert your social media performance
Content marketing and social media marketing go hand-in-hand.
Even though social media’s primary purpose is to give you an avenue to distribute your content, it’s actually a great analytics tool, too. Thanks to the tracking capabilities of social media, the data you gain can help you learn more about your customers and the performance of your campaign.
Social metrics can guide your content and strategy. By tracking the number of shares, click-throughs, and leads your blog gets, you can figure out what type of content resonates best with your audience. Analyse reader demographics and interests, so you can build better buyer personas and customize your strategy according to their preference.
If you’re also planning to use paid ads, all social media platforms give you the ability to target your audience with more accuracy. You’re given the opportunity to target who you want and how you want to do it.
- Be customer-centric
If you want loyal customers, you need to be loyal to them as well.
This is where you can really see the value of social monitoring and customer-centric content. When you track the needs and concerns of your customers, you can easily make all the necessary adjustments to your content strategy as well as your products and services. By responding to emails, blog comments, and other related concerns, you are giving your customers the impression that you care.
By nurturing your audience, you are continuously establishing a relationship that’s built on trust.
Once you have established a consistent audience of your brand, you can reward them through exciting deals or by blogging about them. Other than providing recognition and sharing the experiences of your customers, it will give your leads an idea of what they can expect when they transact with you.
- Create content suited for different stages of the buyer’s journey
What roadblocks are they facing in their buyer’s journey? Do your leads want to learn more about your product? Maybe they’re already considering different options?
No matter what step they’re in, it’s always a good idea to have content aligned with various stages of the marketing funnel. Your customer may have difficulty deciding between options so blogging about your customer’s reviews and case studies can give them some insight and clarity.
- Hold contests and other engaging activities
If you want to maximize the benefits of social media and free content, holding a contest will allow you to widen your reach and help people develop a genuine interest with your brand.
To reap the benefits of your contests, make sure to incorporate social media actions in your mechanics. Something as simple as tagging a friend, liking a page, and even posting a photo will help you get the most out of your campaigns.
- Don’t take your e-mail list for granted
Even though instant messaging software has solidified its place as the top means for communication, email marketing still holds a lot of relevance.
Communication apps are great for community management and private messaging but it’s important to know that a lot of people still prefer to be contacted by email. Email is a more formal means of communication. If you want people to consider your deals, you need to have a professional approach and make use of an effective email marketing process.
Optimize for Conversions
Once you’ve set the goals you want to achieve, an excellent content marketing strategy can put those milestones within your reach. If you’ve just started your company’s blog, keep your expectations realistic so you can avoid getting frustrated. Remember that blogging is no easy task and acquiring significant results takes a lot of patience and resilience.
If you feel that you’re not making the most out of your blog, investing in high-quality content marketing services will be your best bet. Through an optimized content strategy, you’ll be able to speed up your company’s growth while establishing your online authority.
Looking for an agency that can provide you with top of the line digital marketing services? Partner with us today! With a team filled with passionate experts and specialists, we’ll assess your goals and situation to create customized solutions for your business.
Contact us now to get started!
