No matter what your business is, getting leads is probably one of the most important things on your mind. In a perfect world, leads turn into customers, who turn into subscribers that keep your business growing.
If you’re feeling stuck coming up with new ideas for generating leads, you’re in the right place. According to a recent HubSpot report, 61 percent of marketers identify lead generation as one of the most challenging aspects of their business.
Research shows that content marketing is more cost-effective than outbound marketing for lead generation. Plus, it’s three times more effective. That’s why starting a blog is one of the best ways to generate leads. The more content on your website, the more likely you are to get leads. In fact, marketers who use blogs for lead generation are 13 times more likely to drive positive ROIs than marketers who don’t use blogs.
If your business doesn’t have a blog, it’s not too late to start! Let’s dive into how you can generate leads for your business by blogging.
What is Lead Generation?
First, let’s clarify what we mean when we talk about generating leads.
The phrase “lead generation” refers to the process of attracting the attention of potential customers (called “leads”) and getting them to share their contact information with you.
Once you have a lead’s contact information (usually email, but sometimes phone number), you can nurture your relationship with them to direct them through the marketing funnel. Connect your leads with quality, relevant content that speaks to their pain points and, eventually, directs them to buy something from you and convert to a paying customer.
You can think of lead generation as the first step in moving customers through the buying process. It’s a critical one because you need a person’s contact information to move them through the stages.
In general, the buying journey starts with awareness, which is when the lead first learns about your brand (i.e., by coming across your blog post organically or being directed to it through social media, email, or another method). From there, the lead moves into the consideration stage, where they research to learn more about your brand and the products you sell. Finally, they move into conversion, where they become a customer.
There are many tools available to help you with lead generation. One of the simplest ways to get started, though, is by focusing on your business blog.
What is a Good Conversion Rate?
It’s essential to recognize that you’re not going to convert all of your leads into customers. In fact, you’re not going to convert most of your leads. Statistics can vary from one specific niche field to another, but, in general, marketers consider a good conversion rate to fall somewhere between two and five percent.
Now, that might not sound like a lot at first glance. However, think about how much your business would grow if you could get 2 – 5 percent more customers without outside sales pitches.
Blogging Benefits for Lead Generation
Bloggers generate leads by publishing high-quality content that speaks to their target audience. Here are some of the specific ways writing a blog can help your business.
1. Blogging increases organic traffic
Unless your brand is a household name, people aren’t likely to search for it directly. Instead, they will come across it when they search for a related topic. When you write blog posts on topics people are searching for (more on that in a minute), you’ll rank higher in search results.
Once people land on your blog post, they’re likely to stick around and click on other pages of your website, which is a major signal to search engines that your website is providing users with the experience they’re seeking.
2. Blogging gives readers options to become leads
Your blog is a prime location for attracting leads. Therefore, every blog post should end with a call to action (CTA) that encourages people to either convert (e.g., “buy now!), learn more (e.g., “get a quote”), or simply stay connected (e.g., “sign up for our newsletter).
3. It’s an effective long-term strategy
Blogging is a proven strategy for lead generation, and there are no signs that it will become less effective anytime soon. Evergreen blog posts (i.e., blog posts that remain relevant regardless of timing) can generate leads for weeks, months, or even years after you publish them. Plus, you can repurpose older blog content into social media posts, webinars, videos, emails, and more.
8 Tips for Making A Successful Blog that Generates Traffic
Ok, so, how do successful bloggers generate leads?
Here’s everything you need to know about what it takes to write content that performs well and leads to more conversions.
- Develop a content strategy
Before you jump into blog writing, you need to have some sort of strategy in place. This should include what types of articles you want to publish, when you’ll publish them, and who they will be marketed toward.
Having this general strategy in place can help you determine what is and isn’t working. It can also help you decide the best places to promote your content so you can most effectively reach your target audience.
- Identify your audience
Get specific about who you want to target with your blog posts. If you have multiple audiences, then determine what type of content each of them will want to read.
You can create buyer personas based on your different audiences. For example, a website that sells software may have different audiences, such as solo entrepreneurs, mid-sized businesses, and large enterprises. These different audiences will have varying needs, budgets, and questions.
By drilling down your target audiences, you can direct your blog posts to specific buyer personas. You can use your blog posts to speak to their pain points and challenges, demonstrating your knowledge of who they are and offering solutions that speak to their needs.
- Be specific
It’s better to write about specific topics than to create generic blog posts for lead generation. The best way to boost your organic traffic is to write blogs about topics people are searching for.
Use tools like Moz, Ubersuggest, or SEMRush to find keywords related to your product or service. Incorporate these keywords into your blog posts to rank higher in search results and organically drive more traffic to your website.
- Be consistent … but know that more is better
Regularly publishing content is key to generating leads and getting more traffic to your website. With that being said, it’s important to be realistic when you start your blog. Are you really going to be able to keep up with daily posts? Start with a manageable level of content, like publishing once a week or once every other week. Then, you can build up to publishing more frequently as you get data that tells you what types of posts resonate well with your audience.
Posting a few times a month is a good start, but it’s just scratching the surface. Research shows that bloggers that publish 16 or more posts a month generate nearly 3.5 times more traffic and 4.5 times more leads than those that only publish up to four posts a month.
- Focus on quality over quantity
We know it might seem contradictory to say that you should post a lot and also focus more on quality than quantity. However, you want to make sure that the content you are publishing is actually relevant to your audience and full of accurate information. One of your primary goals of using a blog for lead generation is to build trust with your audience. Then, you can start nurturing relationships with them.
People don’t trust blogs that don’t deliver valuable content. So it’s much better to publish less frequent content that is thorough and well-written than it is to churn out unhelpful blog posts more frequently.
Use tools like Grammarly to check for grammatical errors, Hemingway Editor to ensure your content is clear and concise, and Slick Write to stop yourself from repeating the same words over and over again.
- Use visuals and video
Your blog doesn’t have to be strictly text-based. People love watching videos! In fact, 84 percent of people have been convinced to buy a service or product after watching a video.
With video, you can show your visitors how your products work and answer their questions in a more lively format. You can also use video to showcase your company culture, product launches, customer reviews, and more.
The great thing is that you don’t need to be an expert videographer to create and share videos with your audience. Use video editing software to expertly cut and edit videos from any device, including your smartphone. Try software like Movavi Video Editor Plus and OpenShot.
- Ask readers what they want to learn
If you have a robust email list or social media following, you have an excellent opportunity to directly ask your audience what they want to know!
Use your platforms to find out what topics are on your audience’s mind, then incorporate them into your blog. This way, you can create unique content that you know speaks to your audience.
- Assume every blog viewer is new
Hopefully, your blog will help you start building a loyal audience who will frequently return to your website to learn more about your brand and convert into paying customers. However, treat every blog post like it’s being seen by someone new, and you want to make a great first impression.
Use articulate, professional language that speaks to your brand’s tone and voice. Add links to relevant pages on your website where readers can find additional information. Include a CTA that directs the reader somewhere else on your website to keep them engaged and guide them through their buying journey.
How to Know if Your Blog is Working for Lead Generation
So, you’ve created a blog. You have a strategy, relevant topics, and a target audience. You’ve even written a few posts.
Now, how will you know if your blog is working to generate leads and, hopefully, conversions?
Here are some things you need to do after writing your blog posts.
Use a lead form
Add a lead form to the end of every blog post. This is an easy way to encourage blog readers to turn into leads.
Analyze which blog posts received the most leads to help you direct your content strategy and determine which topics or types of blog posts led to the most leads.
Track your visitors
Churning out consistent blog posts every month is no small task, so you need to make sure it’s worth your time. The best way to do this is by tracking your conversions with JotURL. Use our tool to track how many people are visiting your site along with what they’re clicking on, downloading, and installing.
Use conversion tracking data to identify where your traffic is coming from, whether it’s social media, online ads, your newsletter, a QR code, links from your website, or anywhere else. From there, you can figure out the best places to invest your time and resources to maximize conversions and offer the best content to your audience.
You can even drill down to the more minor details to target users by location, browser type, and device type. Plus, you can A/B test different landing pages to determine which content is better for conversions.
Compare your email subscribers over time
You’ll know your blog is working to generate leads if your email subscriber list is growing. Use data from your email marketing to track growth over time and compare month to month, quarter to quarter, or year over year.
Make sure you leverage your newfound leads by sending them valuable content through email, including links to your latest blog posts.
Bottom Line
Blogging is a proven method for generating leads that turn into converting customers. Use these ideas to develop a blogging strategy that will provide value to your audience and encourage them to become leads. From there, you can nurture your relationships with them to convert them into paying customers.
