Blogging is great, but a great blog doesn’t just mean post great content. Fresh and new content that is optimized daily won’t entice users to do anything except read it. When a visitor makes their way to your blog, how do you get them to learn more or about your business or brand? How do you get them to take their next step into their buying journey to use your products and services?
One of the main purposes of a blog is to educate potential and current customers on industry happenings and your brand’s products and services. However, a blog is also a great way to convert visitors into leads. The best way to convert visitors into leads is by utilizing enticing calls to action (CTAs) throughout your blog to help your visitor take that next step into their buying journey.
The Purpose of CTAs
CTAs are used to grab the attention of current website visitors and convert those visitors and returning visitors into leads. The important thing to remember about the purpose of CTAs is that they match the intent of your blog. Calls to actions can be grouped into different functions: content boosting, conversion generating and business-centric. These calls to actions can all be utilized for any blog or business, but they content focused types and conversion generating types will most likely increase your return of investment.
Content Boosting Calls to Action
There are a number of different content boosting CTAs to utilize on your blog, but my personal favorite are in-text CTAs. In-text CTAs are subtler than banners, and also increase the average time your visitor spends on your blog or website. They can be extremely flexible due to the fact that they could call a user to convert, or to learn more about the product or service they are interested in. These CTAs geared towards visitors in the beginning of their buying journey are geared toward increasing engagement metrics like pageviews, pages per session and can decrease bounce rate. Below is an example of two in-text CTAs:
Social sharing buttons also count as content boosting CTAs. These CTAs allow your visitors to share the content they viewed with others, ultimately drawing more visitors who are interested in your same product or service to your website, increasing brand awareness.
Conversion Generating CTAs
Conversion generating CTAs are used on blogs and geared more towards visitors at the middle of the buying journey. They also target your ideal clientele. These types of CTAs could be forms, buttons or banners on landing pages. Conversion generating CTAs entice users to convert to leads, and eventually to customers. These CTAs will be more heavily focused on prompting your potential lead to action. Words like, “download” “request” and “buy now” are widely used. Conversion generating CTAs can also offer special incentives given by your company or brand such a free trial, eBook, or discount. Below is an example of a conversion generating CTA:
Stream’s Kick-Start Step:
When using conversion generating CTAs, make sure your visitor is aware of the offer they will be receiving. Use verbs that instruct the visitor to action, and language that makes the offer extremely appealing.
Although there are a number of other CTAs to use on your blog, finding the right CTA depends on the mission of your brand or business and how your blog can properly promote it.
Using content boosting CTAs on your blog like in-text CTAs, or social sharing buttons have an effect on engagement metrics and brand awareness, where conversion generating CTAs are used to generate visitors into leads, and leads into customers.
If you think you understand CTAs and how to utilize them on your blog, you’re ready to take the next step in converting visitors to leads on your website, download your FREE eBook, “7 Little Known but Highly Effective Secrets to Creating Killer Landing Pages” to learn seven effective ways to directly engage prospects and drive leads.
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Happy Optimizing,
Keisha
-Keisha is a Content Strategist here at Stream Companies