As businesses turn to blogging as a way to market themselves online, they can sometimes have trouble breaking free of what I like to consider an “Ad Copy” mentality. What I mean by this is that they will write an article so that it reads more like a long advertisement than a blog post. This can be painful to see, especially when the business is just starting out with blogging and come to the conclusion that it simply doesn’t work when in fact it is just their content itself that is the problem. To have blog content that truly drive conversions, you need to ensure that it doesn’t come off as too “salesy.”
Breaking Free of the “Ad Copy” Mentality
So why is having content that pitches your brand to potential customers so bad? Well, put simply, people use the internet to find relevant information, not to be sold to. They usually are looking to learn more about a topic or trying to find and answer to a specific question. Anything that interrupts this process is aggressively ignored by the reader (just think about how much effort is put into pop-up blocking). Blog content works best when it pulls in the reader in, not pushes them to hand over their money. By providing relevant content that helps educate the reader, you are more likely to keep them on your site and lead them down your marketing funnel.
How to Tell Your Blog Content Is Too Promotional
Here are some of the major indicators that your blog content is coming off as salesy:
You Talk About Yourself All the Time. This rule (often referred to as “The Cocktail Party Rule”) is typically mentioned in regards to social media, but you can apply it to blogs as well. If all of your posts are about your company and its offering then the reader will lose interest quickly, the same way someone at a party would lose interest if all you talk about is yourself. Talk about other things that your target customer would be interested in that relates to your business.
You Discuss Products/Services Instead of Solutions. Blog content is much more effective when it is solution orientated and doesn’t just repeat the selling points for your products and/or services. Let your individual product/service pages go through the major selling points of you offerings and let your blog show why the selling points solve the reader’s challenges. One exception to this rule is when you have a new offering, in which case it is a great thing to talk about it on your blog.
You Go Crazy With Adjectives. If at any point you are talking about your brand or you offering you suddenly go into a string of adjectives such as “amazingly awesome deals” then chances are the reader will feel that they are being sold to and bounce. Generally, when it comes to the language of your blogs you should have a helpful, natural tone.
Is there something else that makes blogs too salesy that I missed? Let me know in the comments below!
