Are you personally involved in content creation? Or, do you have an in-house team of content creators? Whatever the case, are your blog posts converting? Also, in a world wheremarketers publish millions of blogs daily, everyone can find information free on the internet.
So how do you produce content that stands out from the noise and converts? How do you make your target market to pay attention to your blog posts?
In this article, I will show you the best practices for content writing that convert visitors to leads.
However, let us look at what and why you should care about content creation processes.
Content creation is the method of brainstorming content topic ideas that engage your marketing persona. In other words, it is the production of content around your topic ideas. These content materials include:
Moreover, the process involves using the right formatting and keyword phrases that appeal to your audience.
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Becausecontent marketing produces 3x as many leads than traditional marketing, and it costs less─over 60% lower. Further survey shows that you should invest in content creation because it is the top lead generation strategy for most marketers (B2C and B2B marketers).
Here are a few content marketing statistics to consider:
But, these marketers are not using just any content pieces. They are investing 25% of their budget in the creation of quality content that speaks to the reader. For this, theygenerate more leads.
Therefore, whatever types of content you produce, whether visual content pieces or article writing, you need to invest time, effort, and money, if necessary, to create informative materials for your readers.
Please, note that for this article, I’m focusing on blog post writing or article writing. That said, what makes a piece of content valuable?
There are several traits of a useful blog post. Some of the characteristics are:
Arfa has a whole ebook on ‘Evergreen Content’ strategies. This ebook walks you through all steps from brainstorming a successful blog post topic to monetizing it with effective strategies. You can check out the ebook hereand also, get the bonus workbook.
With so many content creation processes available, I have selected top blogging tips that work for any niche market. Below are seven content creation best practices you can start using today to convert readers to leads.
The success of your content creation relies heavily on what you want out of it. For this reason, you need to have a defined goal and strive to accomplish it. So, ask yourself these two questions:
Your content creation goals may be anything from “make money blogging online to growing your email list.” But to accomplish your blogging and content writing objectives, you need toestablish a content strategy and document it.
Your content strategy helps you get organized, productive, and more successful. Studies have it thatthe most successful marketers have a documented content marketing strategy.
The report shows that almost 70% of the most successful B2B marketers document their content strategy, in contrast to only 16% least successful. So, use this marketing tool to pump your blog creation campaign.
Creating a content strategy is a fantastic way to understand your readers and write more targeted blog posts. However, your blog content will not make sense if you’re not writing to your ideal reader.
That is where the audience persona enters the picture. Yes, you need to know the reader you’re talking to and how best he likes to communicate. Although you have several thousand or hundreds of thousands of readers, you should create content with a single reader in mind.
That way, your blog posts will connect well with your audience.
How? Because you write in a way that makes your readership feel like you’re talking to each one of them. So, by creating blog content that produces a sense of concern among your target market and makes them feel important, you will gain their trust and quickly convert them.
And, that’s what we want.
An audience person, which is also called a marketing persona and buyer persona is vital because it gives you a better understanding of your target audience. Also, it enables you to address your campaigns for acquiring new customers and retaining existing clients to customer needs.
For instance, when consumers want to buy a product or pay for services, they settle for the brand they trust. As a result, you have to build your brand credibility to acquire and convert more blog readers.
And, the most effective way to establish trust is to demonstrate that you understand your audience well. Thus, it is for this reason you need to develop an audience or marketing persona. You canread this article by Optinmonster to learn how to create buyer personas.
Blogging and content marketing are vital elements of inbound marketing. They contribute to attracting users to your website. But for a more effective inbound marketing strategy, you need to understand that your buyer personas are at different stages of their journey.
There are three significant factors of inbound marketing:
Blogging, copywriting, and content strategy falls under these categories, particularly the first stage of the buyer journey. So, your blog content should address each step of the buyer journey. That way, you will answer each audience’s questions and provide needed help.
As a consequence, they become satisfied users and convert to loyal readers and repeat customers. Therefore, your Content for each buyer journey must be helpful and engaging.
The best way to make it happen is to consult section one, “your objective for creating content.” Addressing that question allows you to create valuable content materials that connect with your target market.
Moreover, use credible tools for SEO keyword research to find target keywords that will improve your Google research rankings.
We, as bloggers and content marketers, have written much abouthow to craft compelling and irresistible headlines for blog content and social media posts. Why is that so? Because headings can make or break your blog posts. It can be the reason your content goes viral or dead, among others.
However, as much as click-worthy headlines are fantastic in driving web traffic, making your titles unique to the reader is also essential. In view of this, write forceful headings, but ensure they are unique and stand out.
The primary objective is to get people to click your headline and read through your content. It means that your titles should be enticing and click-worthy to influence your target audience to click.
Nevertheless, if you can’t get them to click your headline, you’re losing money. Why is the uniqueness of your headline so important? Because several readers may only click to read and share your content exclusively on the grounds of the headings.
But how can you know whether your headline is outstanding? Simple! After creating your title, add quotation marks at both ends, then copy and paste it on Google. The results will show you whether your heading is unique or not. See the screenshot example below.
Here I searched for content creation strategies that will convert readers…
As an example, I Googled the title for this article and found no matching result for it. Although people have written on the subject, I brought a different twist that makes it unique.
Related post: Here are great business books for entrepreneurs and business owners.
The second component of your blog post after the heading is the introduction. Therefore, you may ask, “how persuasive is my content introduction? Will it keep readers on the page long enough? Remember, the longer a user spends time on your page, Google uses it to rank your blog. It is called “Time on Page,” a Google ranking factor.
Therefore, how can you make visitors stay longer on your blog? Yourblog posts introductionplays a vital role in this regard. Hence, use it to convince the reader to keep reading. And since the target is to move the reader further down the article, it has to be forceful. This is infact one of the best content creation strategies one should concentrate on.
Incorporating these elements enables you to create introductions that will land you a standing ovation. And in the end, instead ofreceiving negative feedback, you will be converting readers to leads and customers.
If you are new to blog writing, then this post shows some basic tips for writing engaging content.
Creating content is not all there is to content marketing. After producing your posts, you need to take them to your target readers to increase exposure and conversions. So, submitting your materials to the right marketing websites will help you drive more web traffic back to your site.
Thus, some of the best content promotion and distribution platforms include:
Moreover, you can republish your blogs on LinkedIn by leveraging the “LinkedIn Publisher.” Also, post your blog posts on Linkedin groups to attract more eyeballs.
Use Facebook groups and other social media platforms for blog promotion to drive more traffic.
The shares, likes, and comments you get from social media marketing activities count as social signals. And Google uses those signals to rank your site higher on search results. So share your content across different marketing channels, including social media and your email subscribers to grow your list, to increase content visibility and rankings.
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It is essential since they come with more value for the reader, and also ranks better on SERP. In other words, it gives you more of what you and your ideal reader needs.
The primary purpose of creating long-form content is NOT to increase your word count, buy to offer added value to your audience. As a result, your content will increase user engagement and drive more traffic. Furthermore, long form content is vital to SEO as it helps tostrengthen your content marketing strategy. Why?
Because it provides several competitive advantages, such as enhanced visibility and better Google ranking, for instance, a survey byOkDork, in collaboration with BuzzSumo, found some exciting results. They found that longer content accounts for more engagement on social media.
Keep in mind that these signals are useful indicators that search engines use to rank your site. They add up to improve your search ranking since they’ve more information. As stated above, longform content has many competitive advantages, some of which are:
Almost every marketer is into content creation in recent times. So, to beat the competition, start creating long-form content.
Are you tired of creating content every day? And, still struggling with traffic, sales and subscribers? Check out the concept of ‘Evergreen Content’ strategies with examples, and illustrations to learn exactly how I create content that lives forever on my website. Unlock all proven strategies, ninja tricks and an ultimate guide on creating best content for your readers.
Here, I have broken down the seven content creation strategies that will take your blogging business to the next height. Understanding these processes is vital, but applying the blog tips you learn is even more critical.
There is no better way to make a success of your blog than to implement what you learn. Therefore, integrate the content marketing tips above and continue testing your strategies. It will help you define helpful marketing tactics that are working for you and those that need improvement.
Thus, in line with this article, do you have more content creation and blogging tips to add to this article? Please, share your thoughts and recommendations in the comment!