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The Secret Key To Converting Search Engine Visitors Into Subscribers And Customers

March 29, 2010 By 8 Comments

The key to any successful site or blog is conversions. Once that reader hits your page from a search engine or other online resource, you want to convert that reader into a regular subscriber or customer of your products and affiliate promotions. That is why we are all here right? To grow our blogs and hopefully make a little bit (or a lot) of money doing so? So what is it that successful blogs do that convert readers at a high rate to increase their bottom line?

There is a lot of talk on the web about where to place your newsletter subscription sign-up form, rss button and sharing icons, but what can you do to raise your conversions rates drastically to increase your business up and over that plateau?

Tailoring Your Content For High Conversion Ratios

I see a lot of bloggers that are taking all of the right steps and still not seeing any success. They create a free ebook to entice newsletter subscriptions, they are creating high-quality content on a regular basis, they have a logo and design that is clean and easy to navigate…but they are still spinning their wheels trying to figure out how to get those high dollar and subscriber numbers.

The Key To Success Is Attracting The Right Audience

One of the major mistakes that most bloggers make is ignoring their highest converting part of their blogging…the content. I’m not talking about just “quality content”, I am specifically targeting content that will draw in the exact reader you are looking for in your converting process. Who exactly do you need to land on your page and find value in what you are delivering?

When I set out to write Ramped Riding on Bike198.com (paid ebook on becoming a better mountain biker), I started writing a series of “riding tips” articles on my blog to attract readers who want to become better mountain bikers. These were not articles that were in the ebook, but separate, quality content that would preview what was included in the 130+ page paid ebook. This got my readers used to what I am able to provide in the world of riding tips and pre-qualified those readers as customers for the ebook.

Now…what about that search engine visitor that is reaching my page for the first time? They are searching for riding tips and happen to land on one of my in-depth how to’s. After they read the article that helps them with a specific aspect of their riding, they see there is an ebook on the site that can help them with even more…so they click on the landing page and find a more in-depth solution for their needs.

Do you see what I am doing?

I am pulling in quality, qualified, targeted leads on to my pages through my free content to convert on my paid content.

The same holds true for your free options as well. On RobbSutton.com, I give away a free eCourse and eBook titled Ramped Blogging. Do you think I would get a lot of conversions on newsletter sign-ups if most of my articles were centered around blog design? Absolutely not…so I write articles on RobbSutton.com that attract readers who want to become better bloggers. I then show them (you guys) how I do it and how I can help you do the same through my free and paid products (Ramped Blogging and Ramped Reviews). By doing this, I am solving your issues on the web by attracting the right audience through my free content.

When you go to draft your blog articles, you need to ask yourself a simple question before you hit the publish button.

Who am I targeting and what are they going to do once they hit my site?

Can you answer that question about your last 5 articles?

If you can not answer that question, you need to start taking a serious look at how you are planning out your content generation on your blog.

One of the common misconceptions when bloggers offer a paid product on their blogs is that they can not give away any free content on their blog about that topic. But…if you have no way to draw in free leads, then you are going to see low conversion ratios. By offering complimentary, relevant, free content related to your paid options, you are pulling in highly targeted readers that have a real need to purchase your paid options or sign up for your free ones.

Having a successful business, online or brick and mortar, is all about bringing in targeted leads that need your products and services. 1,000 targeted leads will always be better than 100,000 worthless leads, so as you chase the latest “hot topic” that is bringing in thousands of worthless visitors, try to focus on the profitable content that will bring you the 1,000 targeted leads that will drastically increase your bottom line and growth. It is not about high numbers…it is about targeted ones…

Image by Charlyn W

Filed Under: Blogging, Generating Cash, Tutorials/How To Tagged With: , , , , ,

Your Blog Content: Meat and Potatoes or Parsley?

June 29, 2009 By 2 Comments

When it comes to blogging, your content is everything. You can not expect to grow a readership and make any money online by writing and publishing substandard, light content. Blog readers are able to see through, with painful accuracy, poor blog content and this can ruin your reputation in the blogosphere leading to an unsuccessful blog that eventually falls off the end of the Earth.

Over the years, I have seen many “services” that promise unique content that will automate your blogging, but I have rarely ever seen a blog become successful using these auto generated methods as they are rarely as unique as they claim. When it boils down to it, there is no replacement for self written, quality content that engages your readers. When it comes to publishing articles on your blog, you need to take a look at your content/writing and really analyze what you are offering your readers in your quest to become an expert in your niche.

Is your writing meat and potatoes or parsley?

Funny question…but it does have a point. When you publish content on your blog, are you providing information that is heavy and full of useful “nutrients” or is it decorative crap that has absolutely no value to the reader? When you provide information/articles that are useful and provide value to your readers, your content will attract a bigger following and allow you to grow you blog from a weekend hobby to a viable business. Often times, you might find it hard to get into your meat writing grove, so here are some examples of blog posts that will provide meat and potatoes content.

  • “How to” Articles – The more you can teach your readers how to accomplish some task…the better. How to posts are an incredible way to provide direct worth to the readers of your blog. Your readers will end up looking to you as a resource in your niche and this will further promote your brand in your industry. How to articles…when done correctly…take a little bit longer to draft than most other forms of blog writing, but the long term benefits and link bait are worth their weight in potatoes.
  • Lists Articles - Are there 10 things you can’t live without in your niche? Are there 7 hot spots that everyone related to your industry should visit? Publishing these sort of list articles are another way to provide serious nutrition to your blog. Recently, I saw a blog in the cycling industry do a top 50 cycling blogs list that brought him traffic and links that surpassed his expectations. Other bloggers and readers love to pass list posts around. Again…they take a little bit longer to draft up…but they pay off in the long run.
  • Review Posts – High quality reviews on products related to your subject matter are another great way to provide some serious worth to your blog. Review posts provide a insight into products that your readers are interested in purchasing (affiliate revenue) and they are SEO gold as you strive to find new ways to pop on that first page of Google.

As you can probably tell by the list above, meat and potatoes articles take longer to publish than a fly by night, this is how my day is going journal entry. If done correctly, providing high quality, nutrition filled articles will grow your blog faster than you can imagine. The extra work that goes into providing this wealth of information for your readers is what separates the successful blogs from the un-updated failures that plague the web.

As you write your next blog article, read through your draft and ask yourself, “is this meat and potatoes or parsley?”. If you are writing worthless decoration, make the changes necessary and provide some meat and potatoes content that will blow your readers away. It does not matter if you have 4 readers or 40,000, quality content should be your goal with every click of the publish button.

Filed Under: Blogging Tagged With: , ,