If we could turn back the time and see blogging in its infancy, we would say that blogging is easy-peasy. But that was a long time ago. Blogging has evolved from being a new portal for writing to one of the most effective marketing tools for businesses.
Blogging is a type of content marketing that you can use to grow your business. However, with recent predictions about content marketing getting more and more challenging, your blog marketing also needs some revamps to transform it to a lead-generating asset.
If you want your blog to be your marketing machine, you need to integrate new tactics and ideas to successfully transform it into one. Are you dying to know how?
Let’s find out some killer ways to leverage your blog for your business.
Slide-In CTAs
A CTA, or call-to-action button, is an essential element of your blog. However, most call-to-action buttons have been a nuisance for readers that they learn to ignore while reading your blog. Different types of CTA, like smart CTAs at the bottom of the post, social CTAs and in-line CTAs have been so overused that your audience doesn’t notice them anymore.
Slide-in CTAs are a newer option. These appear in the sidebar or bottom sidebar of the screen when your readers keep on scrolling. This kind of CTA eliminates what most viewers don’t like about call-to-action buttons: it doesn’t cover the content.
In an experiment conducted by Hubspot, they compared slide-in and static CTA in terms of click-through rate (percentage of clicks from blog post visitors), conversion rate (percentage of people converted to the landing form) and submissions (number of lead generated). They found that the CTR and conversion rate for slide-in CTAs are actually higher, by 192% and 27% respectively.
A call-to-action button is one way you can encourage your audience to take action. How well you construct your CTA for a certain target market can also affect the success rate of your CTA. So, if you want to have a greater chance of success in CTA, it is recommended that you perform an in-depth study of your market first.
Learn more about creating user-friendly blog pop-ups in this blog post.
Blog summaries & downloadables
Blog posts can go into nitty-gritty detail, especially on complex topics. You may want to include images, case studies and research to prove your points. But what you may not know is that people like to take in content differently.
Some may find it too much seeing all the numbers and details in one reading. They may ignore some important points as they go through your content. So it would be helpful if you could provide them with a blog summary, and offer them a downloadable version of the whole content so they get back to it whenever they want.
Not everyone has the time to read everything you have posted in your 3000+ word content. Some may just be looking at certain information. Offering them a shorter version, and/or a downloadable full version, can benefit both your blog and your readers.
Some bloggers and marketers offer a downloadable version for free in exchange for an email subscription, while others monetize digital downloads. It’s up to you to decide your approach.
Link to posts by influencers
Most influencers operate at least one blog, which can give you ideas and inspiration for your own content. Sourcing to these influencers’ blogs is a plus point for you. Readers like to read posts backed up with credible information from industry leaders. It adds up to your credibility as a blogger and marketer, thus building up your blog traffic.
Moreover, by including links from influencers in your post, you can often tap into their popularity and get them to share your content. This increases your blog audience in the process.
Overall, sourcing out your information from influencers is a good old way of reaching out current and new audiences. It helps you reach out to new viewers while building trust, credibility and loyalty to your current readers.
Share content other than your own on social media
So how will you put your blog content in motion? Your blog content remains superfluous unless you learn to promote it to different platforms. And when it comes to content promotion, the first thing that pops into our mind is social media.
However, users these days are smart enough to know if you are just sharing your own content for the sole purpose of promotion, rather than sharing to inform and educate.
It may seem counterintuitive, but sharing relevant blogs other than yours to social media actually increases your following and builds trust. These followings, if nourished with rich, reliable and valuable content through your own blog posts can actually be converted into regular blog visitors.
Try out Quuu for daily content suggestions, ready to share on social media.
Adding schema markup
Adding a schema markup for your blog may not have a direct benefit for your users, but it can actually give your blogs a search and visibility boost in search engine results. The schema is actually a validation of data within your blog. It tells search engines what your blog is all about beyond what they can see and read.
Now, seeing all these source codes might overwhelm you, but do not fret. The Google Structured Data Markup Helper assists you in implementing your schema. An “article” category would best suit a standard blog post, and then you can place your URL and start tagging.
To tag, you can highlight certain elements and assign a tag. When you are done assigning tags, you can click on the “create HTML” to view your HTML source code. You can either download or copy this source code to your webpage source code. For WordPress, you can download a plugin to implement a schema.
Be careful in implementing your schema. You have to be accurate. It is also recommended that you backup your original file before changing anything in your code.
If you are not comfortable with editing your files and code, it is highly recommended that you seek a professional just so you won’t lose any important data in your blog.
Final Thoughts
Leveraging your blog can be done in multiple ways. But often it can be a struggle, especially if you have no idea where to start. But quite frankly, there is no secret sauce for a successful blog. The truth is, consistency is the key. Be consistent with content creation, be consistent with promotion and most importantly be consistent in seeking for new ideas and tools which can help your blog grow.
I hope these tips helped. If you have other tips and suggestions, don’t forget to leave a comment below.
Al Gomez is the man behind SEOExpertPage.com, Dlinkers and UnliDeals. With more than nine years of experience in digital marketing, he enjoys supporting smartpreneurs like himself to achieve online success.
