One of the more common issues that prompt companies to call us is when they have a blog which they have been posting to regularly, but haven’t been seeing any conversions from it. The content is compelling and does a good job with attracting traffic to the site, but visitors still end up bouncing once they have finished reading. When we take a look into this issue, we find that while the content is good, it isn’t paired with the right offering (i.e. eBook, whitepaper, free trial, etc). In order to help companies that may be experiencing this issue, I thought it would be a good idea to come up with an easy little guide to pairing blogs with Call to Action offerings.
Don’t Rush It
Picking out a Call to Action (CTA) for a blog article is both a process and an art. While you can slap any old CTA to the end of a blog article, you will find that this approach won’t generate a whole lot in the way of conversions. The problem is that oftentimes writers rush through this stage of creating a blog, which results in poor or mismatched CTAs.
Here is my brilliant theory on why CTAs sometimes end up as afterthoughts for the blog article: it’s because they come last. You spend a huge chunk of time researching and writing your article, and now you just want to get it published, so you tack on a CTA that seems to fit and declare yourself done. We are all guilty of this at some point, but if this becomes a habit then chances are good that you will end up with a blog page that acts like a brick wall,blocking readers from going further instead of encouraging them to do so.
You should spend as much time selecting an offer and honing your CTA as you do coming up with the title, which is to say a bit. By having a process in place and taking the time to follow it, you will find your blog being more of a highway and less of a wall.
Pairing a Blog with the Right CTA
Step 1 – Determine Who the Target Persona for the Article Is
This should be relatively easy if you went into writing the article with a target persona in mind. If not, then take a look at the content and determine who would benefit the most from your content.
Step 2 –Look at What Stage of the Buying Cycle They Are In
Is the blog article for someone who is just becoming aware that they need your product or service? If so, then you shouldn’t pair it with an offering meant for someone who is just about ready to buy.
Step 3 – Compare with Your Existing Offerings
Take a look at what offerings you have keeping in mind the persona what stage of the buying process they are in. The important thing to look for is whether or not the offering you have for this persona at this selling stage is actually related to the blog content. There needs to be some logical connection between the two.
Step 4 – Pair the Blog with the Offering
Once you have found a compelling offering that is specific to the target persona, relevant to the selling stage that they are in, and somehow related to the theme of the blog article, you can pair it with confidence.
Have your own tips for paring a blog article with a CTA? We would love to hear them! Please share in the comments below.
