There’s a difference between a blog post that just sits on your website and one that’s engaging enough to keep people reading.
There’s also a difference between a blog post people read and a blog post that converts readers into leads.
Don’t get me wrong. You need to engage them in order to convert them, but you can have an engaging blog post that people read all the way to the end without converting.
So, how can you make sure your blog posts are both engaging and help your bottom line?
By making sure your blog posts check off every item on this list:
Table of Contents
- Provides Value
- Is Written Exclusively for Your Ideal Client
- Your Brand Voice Is Evident Throughout Your Content
- Tells a Story
- Is the Ultimate Guide
- Has an Optimized Headline
- Includes Relevant Keywords
- Ends with a Strong Call to Action
- Need Some Help with Your Blog?
1) Provides Value
Of course you’re not spending hours researching, writing, editing, and promoting blog posts out of the goodness of your heart.
You do it so the people who are looking for you online will find you, recognize you as an expert in your industry, and hire you and/or refer you to their friends, family, colleagues, dog walker, etc.
But the best way to do that is to ensure every blog post on your website provides value all on its own.
Yes, it needs to have a powerful call to action (CTA) that compels readers to take the next step in the buyer journey, but we’ll get to that later.
The best way to convince someone they need more from you is to give them something they can use now.
So tell them the 3 reasons they need to do ABC or the top 5 ways to get the most out of XYZ or the 8 elements of a great blog post 😉
The key is to keep your ideal client top of mind. While you’re writing blog posts to attract, engage, and convert leads, you need to remember that they’re not looking for your services yet. They’re just looking for information on an industry or a particular topic within your industry.
Or they’re thinking of hiring you, and they’re taking some time to explore your website to ensure you’re the real deal.
All of those goals are best served by content that answers their questions and/or tells them how to do something (or not do something) to make their lives better.
Depending on the services you provide, you might want to be careful about how much information you include in your blog posts.
Since I provide marketing services for my clients, I have no problem telling them everything that goes into creating that content. Most of the time they look at all the research, prep, and editing I do and decide it’s in their best interests to just have me do it for them.
If someone is committing to going the DIY route and they use the content on my blog to figure out how to go about doing that, they are welcome to it. They were never going to be my client anyway, so they might as well get all the information they need from me. If nothing else, that positions me as an expert in my field and makes me their go-to person for all things blogging and SEO, and there’s value in that.
On the other hand, I’ve worked with coaches and consultants who make a living off selling their knowledge. If they give away too much for free, there’s no reason to hire them.
If you’re in that situation, decide how much you’re willing to give away and what people need to pay for. Everything that fits into the first category should go into your marketing content and free giveaways. Everything else gets saved for paying clients.
2) Is Written Exclusively for Your Ideal Client
A good marketing strategy is all about cutting through the noise to reach the people who are most in need of your services and whom you can best serve.
When your marketing content answers their questions using their language, magical things happen.
And, by magical, I mean psychological things happen.
Seeing you have the answers to their questions is a great way to get people to pay for your services, but others might still be on the fence about whether to hire you or one of your competitors.
When they see you’ve provided an answer to their question, not just in language they understand, but in the language they use day in and day out, that signals to them that you’re a member of their tribe.
Despite technological advances like the airplane and the internet making this planet feel smaller, we are inherently tribal creatures. People we consider to be a member of our tribe are deemed safe. Those outside of the tribe are a potential threat because they might take the resources we need to survive.
While we know we are no longer tribes hoarding water in the desert, our brains don’t know that. They still operate on the assumption that the tribe is safe and those outside the tribe are not. As a result, we tend to like people we perceive as being part of our tribe and dislike/distrust people who are perceived as being outside of our tribe.
All this happens subconsciously, which doesn’t make it any less powerful. If anything, it makes it more powerful because it enables you to earn your audience’s trust without them understanding quite what it is about you that draws them to you.
3) Your Brand Voice Is Evident Throughout Your Content
Another way to build trust is through consistency.
When we can predict what someone is going to do next, we feel safe with them because we feel they are less likely to spring a nasty surprise on us.
That tendency to perceive safety in predictability translates in our modern world as a preference for that which is predictable. By encouraging us to like the safe and familiar, our brains keep us safe.
That means we don’t like people and companies who do one thing one week and something else entirely the next week.
This means everything about your marketing needs to be consistent. The words you use, the words you don’t use, the font, the colors, the topics you cover, when and where you publish and distribute that content — all of it needs to be unified.
And all of it needs to provide the same experience people get when they reach out to work with you.
If they see one thing in your marketing content, but they get a completely different experience when they reach out to you, something will feel off and they’ll back away. They might not be able to articulate what made them back off, but on some level their brain will notice the discrepancy in experiences with your brand and label it unsafe.
So, if you have not already done so, take a few minutes to define your brand voice, and make sure you’re using it consistently throughout all your content … and your sales calls, client meetings, etc.
4) Tells a Story
Not only are we more likely to keep reading your content if you tell us a good story, we’re also more likely to remember the lesson you were trying to impart through the content.
There are a lot of different ways you can incorporate stories into your marketing content, so feel free to get creative with it — this is the fun part of content marketing!
If you’re struggling to get started, might I recommend using the Cinderella formula or the Hero’s Journey?
5) Is the Ultimate Guide
I often get asked how long a blog post should be, but there’s no one right answer to that question.
At a minimum, your blog posts should be at least 500 words because Google won’t pay attention to anything shorter. So if there is a single right answer to this question, it’s 500 words, which is about one page in a Word document with 12-point font and single spaced.
On the other hand, the average length of a piece of content to rank on the first page of Google is about 1,500 words.
But that’s the average.
That means there’s longer content that’s high ranking, but there’s also shorter content that’s high ranking.
My only advice is to make sure your blog post covers everything there is to cover on the topic.
This is why I tend to write up a draft of a blog post with all the points I want to make, then I see what content is out there covering the same topic. If they’re including points I forgot about, I add them to my blog post.
This is how you get an ultimate-guide-style post, and Google loves those.
It also ensures that people who want to dive deep into the topic, can get everything they need in one place, which is convenient for them, and it’s why Google loves this type of post.
Additionally, if someone has a specific question on the topic, if you’ve covered everything there is to cover, they’ll be able to find the answer to their question in your content. Not only will that make it more likely Google will put you higher up in the rankings, but Google can also direct searchers to the particular section of your blog post that answers that question.
6) Has an Optimized Headline
The headline is the hardest part of your content to get right.
It’s also the most important piece of your content.
You can’t afford to get the headline wrong, because if you do, no one will click through to read the rest of your content, much less convert to become a client, or even a warm lead.
Your headline needs:
- Your target keyword so Google knows which searches to pair you with
- To give readers an idea of what they’ll get if they click through to read the rest of your content
- An emotional component to give them a reason to click
There are more tips on how to write a successful headline in this article.
7) Includes Relevant Keywords
Every piece of content needs a target keyword, which is the main keyword you’re trying to get that piece of content to rank for in searches.
Your target keyword needs to be included in your headline, URL, and sprinkled throughout the rest of the content, including a few subheadlines.
Then you need at least 3-5 related keywords spread throughout the content in addition to the target keyword. It might make sense to have more related keywords depending on the topic and the length of the blog post. The keywords need to be a mix of short tail and long-tail keywords.
8) Ends with a Strong Call to Action
After your headline, the CTA is the most important part of your content.
This is where people decide whether they’re going to click away and get on with their lives, never to be seen or heard from again, or take the next step in the buyer journey.
Determining the right CTA can also be tricky. If you come on too strong and ask for more than they’re willing to give, you’ll scare them off.
If you don’t ask for enough, or if you ask for something at the right commitment level, but is totally unrelated to the topic of the blog post, they’ll lose interest and click away, never to be seen or heard from again.
While I can’t tell you what the right CTA is for every piece of content, I can tell you I see a lot of professional service providers go straight for “book a consultation” at the end of a blog post. We all know “consultation” really means “sales call” and making this CTA now is like proposing on the first date.
Yes, your blog gets some repeat readers, but it also gets a lot of people visiting your website for the first time, which is part of what makes it so hard to determine the right CTA for your blog post.
How can you convert the people who are in the early stages of the buyer journey without losing the people who are in the later stages of the buyer journey?
My recommendation is to build your funnel. Ask blog readers to sign up for your next webinar, subscribe to your newsletter, or follow you on social media. Then use those channels to promote your services.
That said, there’s nothing wrong with the occasional salesy blog post, as long as the majority of your blog posts are comprised of content that adds value all on its own.
But if you’ve just launched a new service or published your first book, by all means, write a blog post about it. Use that space to explain why you’re so excited about this new service or what prompted you to write the book. That will get your readers all worked up about it, making it a perfect time to ask for the sale.
Regardless of which CTA you end up including at the end of your blog, you need to make it as quick and easy as possible for people to take that action. The more roadblocks you put in their way, the less likely they’ll be to follow through and take the action you want them to take.
If it can be as easy as clicking a single button, make it that easy.
If you need some information from them, such as their name and email address, ask for the bare minimum of information you need from them. The more you make them work to get to the next step of the buyer journey, the less likely they’ll be to take that step with you.
Last, but certainly not least, is the emotional component. Your readers have to be motivated to take that next step in the buyer journey, and they’ll only be motivated if they understand what’s in it for them.
So make it clear how your webinar/ebook/newsletter will benefit them, then make it as quick and easy as possible for them to get it.
9) Need Some Help with Your Blog?
This is a lot, so if you need a professional to write your blog posts for you and make sure every post checks all these boxes, we can help with that.
And if you’ve been writing your own blog posts for a while and not seeing the results you want, and you just need to talk it over with a professional, we can help with that, too.
And if you want to continue writing your own blog posts, you just need an SEO expert to look it over and make sure it checks all the boxes listed here, we can help with that, too.
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