How to Scale Your Blog Traffic and Convert Visitors Into Buyers

MonsterPost Editorial

7 years ago

Consumers are gradually growing skeptical of traditional advertising and are preferring to do their own research online before making a purchase.

This evolution of behavior shift means that online content that addresses specific needs is becoming more important than merely having many, broader ads advertising your product. That is why blogs have become indispensable tools in customer acquisition and nurturing site visitors along the path to a purchase. But creating the perfect blog post that does that is not an easy task.

Your first challenge is to create content that brings traffic and the second is to convert that traffic into paying customers. Let’s take a look at how to do that.

Be Methodical With Your Content Creation

The sure way to grow your traffic involves dedication and attention to detail. To get results from your blog post, you have to put in the legwork. Start with what you write, optimize your process, and do not be afraid to delegate and hire extra hands to scale faster.

Source: CoSchedule

Write Your Blog Posts Strategically

Make sure you know your audience and their preferences. Use your data to see what has been performing well on your blog. Write blog posts that answer specific questions that your target audience needs to have solved. Also, try to write content that will always be relevant so it can generate even more traffic.

Address feedback from your customers, or respond to issues in your niche that they face.

Do not underestimate your headline. Only 20% of readers go past the headline, so spend some time on it. For example, test it with your team first to see their reactions. You can also use online tools like CoSchedule or ShareThrough to analyze your headlines.

Boost traffic by riding current trends and topics that you notice on other industry blogs, Reddit, or Quora. As the holiday season approaches, you can write about Black Friday and Christmas sales and how to be prepared for them.

Use quality images and videos, create infographics to boost engagement, and entice people to share your posts. Another great way to give your blog posts an edge is by researching long tail keywords that are performing well and creating topics around them. That way, you are increasing the chances of your posts of being found by users organically.

Source: Moz

Stay on Top of Your SEO

While reading up on SEO can be tedious and time-consuming, try to follow best practices as you go along. SEO is one of the most powerful and affordable long-term strategies to get traffic to your site. It is often wise to build entire posts based on a long tail key phrase with an optimum search volume.

Use tools like Semrush, Moz, and Google Keyword Planner to get insights into search volumes and plan your content. Another excellent tool for WordPress sites is SEO by Yoast. It’s a plugin that is immensely helpful in optimizing your WordPress blog posts.

Keep it Regular

Create an editorial calendar and stick to a regular posting schedule. People trust sources that they know are updated frequently and stay on top of current needs and wants. A structured approach also creates deadlines that will motivate you to get your content ready.

Also, search engines rank sites that post regularly and more frequently better than sites with just the occasional new post.

Optimize for Speed and Mobile

Keep in mind that more than half of your traffic is on mobile. Readers often use their smartphones on slow networks, and they’re not known to be patient with slow loading pages. Optimize your images so that your blog posts load as fast as possible without compromising quality.

Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to test your pages and see what might need tweaking. Install apps or plugins that make your site more responsive to mobile. The shorter your load times and smoother the reader’s experience, the more traffic you will get, and the more people will trust your blog.

Source: Sumo

Promote Your Posts

Most blog posts are at the very top of the marketing funnel, raising awareness and offering value first. You have to use all the tools at your disposal to promote them to your target audience.

Invite readers to subscribe to your blog and receive each post as it is published. This will help remarket and further nurture them along their decision-making process.

Create partnerships with other blogs in your niche, and invite them to guest post on your blog. In return, ask to guest post on theirs. That way, you are reaching a wider audience and can link to your site and improve your ranking in organic search.

Don’t forget social media. Make your social media efforts focused so you can get the best out of them. Find the three or four channels that your target audience is using the most. Then, craft quality, well-thought-out updates that make your users engage with your blog posts and share them.

Getting social media updates right is not always easy. That is why experts recommend A/B testing to get your audience to optimum engagement. You can use a platform like Sumo to split test your posts.

Get More Writers

Traffic is also a function of your output, or the volume of blog posts you publish. And for every blog, a time comes when you can’t grow anymore without extra hands. That doesn’t mean you have to hire full-time in-house writers. Tap into the freelance economy, and you can get quality writers to contribute to your blog at an affordable rate.

You can also hire VAs with specific skills to outsource routine tasks on your blog, like page SEO or graphics design. You can use sites like Upwork or Freeeup to get help on a part-time or occasional basis. Automating your content creation and optimization will allow you to focus on promotion, creative marketing, and optimizing your conversion efforts.

Convert Browsers Into Buyers

Now that you have the traffic, it is time to convert it! Your blog post conversion tools are the various types of call-to-actions (CTAs). CTAs are buttons or links that invite your readers to subscribe to your newsletter, test drive your service, share your post or otherwise engage with your site.

Source: Pixc

Types of CTAs

The great thing about CTAs is that you can have nearly all of the different kinds in a single blog post. What you use depends on the type of post you’re writing and what stage of the consumer journey it is targeting.

The major types of CTAs include:

Learn more links;
Blog subscription button;
Social media share or follow;
Invite to comment;
Free eBook;
Free trial;
Product demo;
Limited time offers;
Direct buy offer.

With learn-more, social media, and invites to comment, you are addressing browsers that are at the very top of the marketing funnel who are still actively searching for information. Offer them that information in the form of another blog post, white paper, or worksheet.

CTAs like email capture offer something of value, like an eBook, to your readers in exchange for their contact info. Then, you use their email to send them more information, build trust, and nurture them to, hopefully, making a purchase.

By offering your readers incentives, you are keeping them engaged and building your image as a thought leader in your niche. That way, when they move to the next stage of comparing products, you stand a better chance winning them over.

With free trials, demos, and offers, you are addressing the readers who are towards the end of their research and might be ready to make a decision. Win them over with solid proof by inviting them for a test drive.

When revising your blog posts, try to craft the right mix of CTAs that speak to readers in both the awareness and consideration stage so you can make the most of your traffic.

Source: AdEspreso

Graphic Elements and Placement

The placement and graphic elements of your CTA are vital in optimizing your conversion. Results vary greatly between industries and sites, however, so the only way for you to find your optimum placement and appearance is by testing. You can employ platforms like Sumo to A/B test your CTAs just like you would with other elements of your post.

Remember to test only one tweak at a time so that you know where the change in conversion comes from.

Here is a list of possible placements:

Inline;
Mid-post;
Bottom of post;
Slide-in;
Popup;
Static sidebar;
Scroller sidebar;
Notification bar.

Source: HubSpot

The general rule of thumb is to make your CTA stand out from the rest of the page. Say, if your page theme is blue, make your CTA orange. In some cases, more aggressive CTAs like popups lead to better conversion rates. But every site is different, and you should test your CTAs before they implement as they may come off as too obtrusive to your customers.

Conclusion

Your blog is one of the most effective and affordable tools for a sustainable long-term growth. So use it to its full potential! Crafting quality blog posts, optimized for search engines, and streamlining your content creation builds up your traffic. Give your blog a boost with the right content, WordPress theme, and tools so you can build a following and lead your customers to make a purchase.