Thanks to machines, there are a plethora of tasks that no longer need human intervention. With the mundane tasks taken care of, people can turn their attention toward the mentally challenging ones. For example, when the first Ford Model T line was created, people stood along a conveyor belt to put the vehicle together.
However, the digital landscape has changed all this. It has allowed companies to use automation to carry out tasks. Technology is the biggest enabler in any industry. Well, most industries.
You see, technology is good for most tasks, but when it comes to writing an amazing blog post, there are still some problems. There is software on the market that can find content for you on the Internet. However, these software produce posts based on RSS feeds, leading to duplicate or poor content.
The biggest problem with them? You could be accused of copyright infringement.
The best way to do any blogging is to do it by your own hand. That’s right! You need to sit behind the screen and start typing on your keyboard and publish it after several sessions of editing.
Blogging really gained ground during the 1990s and, since that time, has grown tremendously. In times’ past and even today, anybody that had a connection to the Internet could use a personal blog to vent or showcase their creativity.
But, the word “blog” has changed. And, the purpose behind one has also changed. Instead of personal journals and daily updates about life, blogs have become an important business tool. In fact, blogs are regarded as one of the best ways to produce leads and help a business’ bottom line.
According to HubSpot, marketers who use blogs are 13 times more likely to see a higher return on investment (ROI).
Marketers who use a blog are 13 times more likely to see a higher return on investment @HubSpot
5 Other Ways Your Business Can See Positive Results From Blogging
You Set Yourself Up As A Leader
When you regularly generate high-quality material, you’re establishing yourself as an industry leader. When you offer quality material, it lets people know that you know what you’re talking about. Be sure you educate the industry readers so that they’ll see you as the source they should turn to.
Neil Patel (@neilpatel) for example has set himself up as marketing industry leader by publishing epic blog posts 7 days a week on his website neilpatel.com and generating 1000 new leads every single day, which he stated in a webinar on the Listbuilding School Summit.
Create Trust and Authority
To establish yourself as the go-to authority leader, developing high-quality content is just the beginning. You need to make sure you do this consistently. It takes the time to garner one’s trust. And, you can’t take any shortcuts to get this done. You must prove to them that you are who you say you are.
Make sure you publish material steadily, so you show them that you offer a product or service that’s going to be around for a bit of time. You don’t want to look like you’re just trying to make money.
Believe it or not, mistakes will also help establish trust in the followers. Just admit them to your followers and offer solutions to it, and your authority won’t diminish in capacity. Showing them that you’re human gives you some authenticity. You’re letting your readers see how you address problems when they arise.
Increase Your SEO Efforts
Did you know that blogging can help boost your digital presence? It allows you to become seen more on Google, Yahoo, and Bing. And, if you have valuable pages for them to show, your ranking in their search results will be higher.
Blogging boosts your inbound links up to 97 percent, which also increases your search engine rankings. Do all this, and you garner the attention of more visitors to your blog through search engine.
Captivate Your Audience
In order for you to engage the audience, you need to show them that you’ve got content that they want. You want material that will pull your audience in, gets their attention and boost their chances of becoming a loyal customer. You can use the blog to answer questions your audience has. However, you need to be consistent if you’re going to get the best results.
Produce Quality Leads
After you have attained your audience’s attention, provide them with a reward for them providing you with their content information. This will lead to qualified leads. Your blog can be a lead magnet. How so? You offer your visitors something for free or of worthwhile value so they’ll provide you with their zip code, email address, and other information.
Quality leads are much better than cold leads because it ensures customer lifetime value. Use their contact data to target your advertisements and marketing campaigns.
10 Tips To Increase Lead Generation By Blog Optimization
Obviously, you want your blog to become a lead generation machine for you. How can you do this? How to generate leads from your blog ?
Provide Your Audience With Exclusive “Members-Only” Material
A way to garner leads is to give something “extra” to those folks who decide to follow you. This would be something you wouldn’t typically offer casual readers. Provide the “exclusive” content alongside the free content the followers see on your blog.
You don’t want to get rid of the public posts because you want the search engine spiders to find it. However, you want the followers to have a reason to follow you. You want to offer them something that free access doesn’t give them.
For instance, you can create a “members-only” section on the blog that gives them comprehensive information on ideas that were presented in the free blog posts. You can do webinars that offer in-depth feedback that’s been tailored to clients who give their personal and contact information.
Integrate The Blog Into Your Primary Website
While it’s tempting to have a blog away from your primary domain, this can actually hurt the business more than help it. A separate blog doesn’t benefit your main website if someone is searching for your material through a search engine (inbound blog links). Make sure your blog is listed on the main website, so there is brand identity.
Remember, the first time a visitor sees your brand may be through a blog post, which means they may not even go to your homepage. Be sure you offer them amazing customer service regardless of where they land – key website or blog.
Slide-In CTA Marketing Tool
If you want to lure your blog readers back to your page after they’ve scrolled to the bottom of the post, the slide-in call to action is a marketing must-have. It gives you an indication that the people want to read what you have to say.
With the Slide-in CTA, a box will appear in the lower right-hand corner that provides with an offer they can’t refuse. The CTA could be detailed information about the post, a white paper or other important content they’d get after they provide you with their content information.
People would rather see CTAs instead of pop-ups.
Hello Bar Marketing Tool
The Hello Bar is what shows up in the top section of a website. It’s situated in the area of the screen the visitor is going to see first after the page opens. These bars often have a call-to-action in them to bring traffic to squeeze or landing pages.
Many readers may not click on these right away, but they will read the post that follows after it. It’s a very effective tool in bringing traffic to the website and increase your email list.
Provide Links To Useful Inside Information and Resources When You Can
When you create your blog post, you want to focus on certain phrases and words that relate back to other posts you’ve created for the site. During your post, you want to link these words to other site resources.
Keywords are linkable to other pages such as your landing pages. They can relate to offers you have, or deals prospects can benefit from. They can be about an e-book, free trial or whatever.
Use The Real Estate Around Blog Posts
Everything on the website, the top, sides, and bottom of a post is real estate you need to be using. Don’t waste it. Use buttons, banners or CTAs to increase attention to the website.
The footer that comes after a blog post is ideal to present your readers with a supplementary offer. Use the space to link to landing pages that entice them to sign up. Or, you can use a CTA that suggests they sign up for more offers.
Offer Must-Have Incentives
You want to give your readers something they can’t say no to. Add discounts or free shipping on items when they provide you their email address for your newsletter. This will help in attaining more subscribers and possible customers.
Have a physical catalog as a way to attain email address. IKEA uses this method to provide prospects the choice to download the online catalog or to have printed mailed version. You want the form to include a physical address or an email address.
This will help you to stay in touch with prospects with an opt-in button, adding them to the email list for specials or updates.
Include Subscription Services
With a subscription service, you give visitors a way to easily sign up for regular blog posts through RSS feeds or email. Every time your blog or website is updated, they’ll get a notification about it.
The majority of blogging platforms have subscription plug-ins. Email marketing services like ConvertKit have a plug-in that lets you create and expand your subscription list.
Ensure Content Is Easily Sharable On Social Media
A real big way to garner more visitors is to make your blog posts shareable on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites. This can be done by putting social media icons throughout the website and blog post.
When you make your content shareable on social media platforms, it ensures more traffic will come to your website and boost your lead generation campaign.
Devise An Editorial Calendar
Besides creating high-quality material your audience wants from you, you need to be consistent with the blogging. That cannot be stressed enough. In order to be consistent, you need to devise an editorial calendar, scheduling your material to be posted on that date. You can post manually or have a plug-in such as Coschedule that will publish your already written material based on how you set it up – every day, weekly, monthly or whatever.
You don’t want to become burned out by the task, but you don’t want to inundate your readers either. Come up with a calendar that is worthwhile for you and your readers. And, if you don’t want to handle the writing yourself, writing freelancers are available to take advantage of.
What You Should Keep In Mind
It would be nice if your content could fit in an algorithm and be fed effortlessly but life doesn’t work that way. When you devise a blog, you need to develop a strategy that will let you produce high-quality material regularly. There are several digital tools at your disposal – they will free those times and resources up. Use them so that you don’t feel bogged down by the task.
Remember, social media can be your best friend in driving more traffic to the landing page. Use the above idea to help set yourself up as the industry leader so more traffic becomes subscribers. Before you know it, your sales funnel will be overflowing.
Blogging really is just a means to an end, which is lead generation. It’s the best way for you to reach out and engage your customers – software or apps can’t do this. The only way you’ll do is to be active involved in the process. Be sure you blog for your business’ sake and your lead generation efforts. Do that, and your persistence and patience will eventually pay off.
Are you getting enough exposure from your blogging efforts? Is your blogging paying off? Please let us know in the comments below.
