Many of us have. I know I have. My post on getting a big whiteboard on a small budget gets pretty good Google traffic every day, but it has very little to do with what I do, and, for that reason, it doesn’t do me a lot of good. It actually generates more clicks to Lowes than to any of my own content.
So, it got me thinking about how to maximize the results from these kinds of posts. In fact, it goes right to the heart of maximizing conversions from any blog post.
The thing is, every single blog post you have on your site can be a marketing asset for you… IF you treat it right. This is the bread and butter of content-based marketing.
On that note, here are some strategies for maximizing conversions from individual blog posts.
1. Include a Targeted Lead Magnet
Take the topic of your blog post and think up an additional lead magnet that will complement the material. Then, include an opt-in form to snag that resource.
To maximize your opt-in rate, the lead magnet needs to be pretty tightly related. Resource lists are great for this. For example, if you have a blog post on how to do something related to making videos, then a great lead magnet is a resource list of your top 10 preferred pieces of equipment under $100 used in making awesome videos.
For further reading: The 7 Criteria For An Effective Lead Magnet
2. Link to a Follow-Up Post
If you think about it, people arrive on your blog for content….not to be sold. Sometimes, they need to be led forward to qualify them as a valid lead.
At the bottom of your post, you can link prominently to a “next step” post. A conspicuous link such as this leaves readers with the feeling that they’re not done yet, and they need to click that link to continue what they’ve started.
What you link them to can be just a standard blog post, but a more effective marketing funnel points leads to a content landing page. Keep it focused and free of clutter or distractions. And, of course, give them a call to action at the end.
3. Include a Call-to-Action Box
A targeted call to action box at the end of your post is a great way to spur conversions. I recommend the plug-in Magic Action Box.
Now, if you have one of those posts that’s getting good traffic yet under-performing, give that post a specific, unique call to action. That way it is tightly targeted and more likely to convert.
4. Use Tweetables to Increase Social Shares
Comb through your blog post and cull some short, cool snippets that you can share on social media. Be sure these little quotables don’t exceed Twitter’s 140 character limit (your link included).
Then highlight that quote using something like the Click To Tweet plug-in. Get more social shares and magnify your traffic just a little bit more.
5. Include a Quiz
Quizzes and tests are an ideal tool for lead generation. Ask visitors for an email in order to get the results, and you’ll find a large percentage will oblige. Bonus points for gamification! Allowing visitors to see where they ranked or how they stack up compared to others boosts engagement and is a treat for the inquisitive mind.
Creating a quiz is a little more on the technical side, but there are shortcuts. The Gravity Forms plug-in, for example, offers a quiz add-on you can integrate with your email host provider to collect leads. Another option might be a third-party quiz creator like Interact.
6. Place a Targeted Affiliate Product Offer
This strategy works best if you have a high-traffic post that isn’t really earning you anything. Monetize your content by using a targeted affiliate product offering.
You can do the same with a banner ad, if you use banner ads on your blog.
For further reading: How To Leverage Your “Money Posts”
7. Remove the Sidebar
Simply put, if you have a blog post that’s already pulling favorable traffic, then for all practical purposes it IS a landing page. So treat it like one. Remove the clutter (such as your sidebar) and keep the visitor’s attention more focused. In turn, whatever call to action you include has a higher visibility and will likely perform better.
Now, if you’re using a typical free theme on your blog, removing your sidebar from an individual post will prove challenging. This is one of many reasons why I recommend you use a framework such as Genesis/StudioPress. It just makes life so much easier.
8. Magnify Results Using Native Advertising
If you implement a number of the aforementioned strategies on a blog post that’s performing well traffic-wise, you can certainly drive more traffic to it using paid advertising.
Native ads appear in context with the platform they’re posted on. Examples of this are Facebook news-feed ads, promoted tweets, promoted YouTube videos, etc.
To bake paid ads into your content-based marketing:
- Use your analytics (Google Analytics/CrazyEgg) to find those blog posts which seem to be pulling more traffic.
- Optimize individual blog posts for max conversions (using the tips in this post).
- Create a compelling social media ad to pull more people to that high-performing blog post and expand your audience.
The theory is simple. If the post is working, drive more people to it in a proactive fashion.
How to Apply This
At the top of this post, I mentioned my whiteboard post — an example of a post I wrote that (unexpectedly) gets a decent amount of traffic yet is rather untargeted to my business.
Since I’ve posted it, I haven’t done a thing with it, but if I were to go in there and maximize the results from that incoming traffic, here’s what I’d do:
- Remove the specific product mentions from the post and instead put them into a resource list. Then, ask readers to opt-in for that. Now, this isn’t a perfect idea because it would probably result in unqualified leads getting on my list, but it would garner conversions.
- Create a new front-end product targeting home-based entrepreneurs who are interested in perfecting their home office. This takes into account that somebody expressing interest in this whiteboard project likely fits that profile. That kind of person may also be interested in using online marketing to grow his or her business. So, a cheap “office hacks” type of product to get people into my funnel might work.
You get the idea.
It comes down to first putting yourself into the mindset of people visiting the post, then finding a targeted “next step” that makes sense for them.
I mean, that’s pretty much the art of marketing summarized into a single sentence.
About David Risley
David Risley started blogging in 1998 as a technology blogger completely as a hobby. That hobby blog turned into its own company, a six-figure blog-based business with an editorial staff and multiple products within a few years.
After 10 years as a technology blogger, and having gained a lot of marketing and business knowledge as he worked to grow that site into a major income stream for me, Risley decided to “branch out” and begin blogging about blogging.
Six years later – and 17 years after originally getting into blogging – he is now concentrating on what he loves most, building real businesses based around blogging. That little side blog he set up 6 years ago turned into the Blog Marketing Academy, and he sold off that tech site in order to concentrate fully on this mission.
Aside from that, Risley says, “I live in Tampa Bay, Florida. I’m married to a woman who is way out of my league, and I’m the father of two beautiful young children. I am a father, husband, entrepreneur, blogger, author, occasional speaker and consultant. In that order.”
