Few content creators write blogs with the intention of generating sales. Instead, if you asked most copywriters, they’d probably tell you they write blogs to inform website visitors or to build up an online presence. At best, a content marketer might say they write blogs to send leads to further content offers. However, it’s crazy to spend so much time and energy maintaining a professional blog that doesn’t produce tangible results in terms of sales.
After all, there are many ways to educate and engage with leads –– and plenty of techniques to increase web visibility that don’t involve writing new content constantly. The best business blogs need to be effectively geared toward generating sales and making money. This is done by gauging your ideal audience’s needs and finding them on the platform they spend their most time on.
Here are 4 ways you can reshape your company’s blog to make a positive impact on your business’s bottom line:
1. Evaluate your consumer base
One reason why many business blogs fail to inspire sales is that they’re too general. Trying to write content to satisfy every possible consumer on the market will serve no one in the end. Progressive businesses perform market studies regularly, and engage with consumers through in-depth surveys and digital feedback.
Make sure to hold internal discussions first to determine how best to reach customers and decide whether to adopt a qualitative vs quantitative research approach. Either way, use the data collected from market research to form content specifically designed to address your most qualified leads’ concerns.
2. Link your previous content
Most B2B businesses boast a number of blogs designed for consumers in each phase of the buyer’s journey. For instance, some pieces of content cover products or services in a general way, while others on the same site are more detailed and explore the finer points. In order to guarantee interested customers have access to all the material they need to make an informed decision, consider linking your content together.
Referencing yourself and linking to other web pages on your site can help leads move through the sales journey faster. Best of all, they do so without ever leaving your website! Constructing a pillar page is a savvy play in this regard as well.
3. Add a price tag
Even the most compelling business blogs rarely include a price for products or services. Many content marketers are afraid to broadcast how much they charge. Yet, this is an essential aspect to closing a deal online. For one, adding a price tag to services you feature on your blog will provide readers with something they rarely get anywhere else. In addition, when you set the price, you offer interested leads a reference point.
Sure, some visitors might be turned off by the cost, but then again, they wouldn’t have made a purchase from you anyway! At the end of the day, if you want people to buy something on your site let them know the price up front. The more transparent your tactics are, the more online leads will trust you.
4. Funnel new leads through social
It’s important to build a social presence while you’re building your blog — preferably before you start. Google and other search engines are rarely enough in this day and age. Most of your blog visitors will find you through social, and that’s a proven fact. Over half of seniors over the age of 65 use social media, perhaps many more than that at the time you find yourself reading this.
By building an attractive social presence, potential readers and customers will find you, check out your blog, follow you, and turn into eventual customers. This is obviously and ideal, not a guarantee. However, if you don’t build a social following, don’t expect very much traffic right away. A social account also allows people to get to know you and/or your brand in a more intimate way, and a genuine brand personality is key to driving sales on this leg of the digital era.
Conclusion
Selling online is the new normal. Brick and mortar may never die fully, but even those businesses need to have an online presence to maximize their customer base. Follow the tips mentioned on this page and you’ll have a definite advantage over lazy competitors who don’t realize the advantages a blog can offer.