As a content writer, one of your major goal is for your write-up to attract readers and generate hordes of traffic to your sites or blogs. But you need to ask yourself does that really count without potential leads and sales?
All the traffic and audience are cool, but really, all these are futile if it doesn’t lead to conversion, as “the bottom line of content marketing is in making conversions”. So if you got all the traffic but lack conversions then you have to plan again. So if you desire to create outstanding content that leads to great conversions then you have to adopt a new perspective of studying your audience or let us call it content marketing psychology, in doing this you have to become one with your audience, create attractive contents which totally leads to readers engagement and if you can do this then you are sure to generate lots of clicks.
So let’s take a journey and discover how we can create terrific content that counts.
Get Familiar with your audience
Just as you know most of the great companies you see around are always keen on knowing more about their customers and come up with various ways to satisfy their multifarious needs and in doing this they become successful, if you are willing to go an extra mile in knowing more about your audience then you are sure to see great results but if you aren’t willing then i guess you know how that ends up.
It is only common sense to know more about your audience since you have a goal of converting them, like if your audience are professionals and you create content for beginners, that is so not going to lead to sales or conversions so you have to have an in-depth knowledge about your readers in order to create contents that are sure to meet their needs.
There are various ways by which you can get relevant information about your client like visiting forums related to your niche, social media interaction, inviting visitors to fill in a survey on your site, you could also research on the blogs and magazines they like to read, et cetera.
Come up with a topic that is germane and applicable
One of the secret of content marketing dwells in generating contents which will be of utmost relevance to your audience; it is obvious that your audiences are in search if something and they believe you are capable of meeting their needs.
The more applicable your content is, the more interested your audience is and this leads them into having more trust in you.
If you are interested in having more conversions then you should endeavor to be selective in your choice of topics that is you should only pick topics that will interest your audience, like those ones that shed more light on their weaknesses as this allows you to showcase your ability to proper solutions to their problems. Remember you already have an insight on your audience’s needs based on your previous research so you can now use that as a tool to create great topics for your content as Engagement leads to Conversion.
Write a fascinating headline
This is by far one of the most crucial part of content writing, because the first thing your audience are bound to see is your headline, if this doesn’t attract them, then there is a high possibility that they won’t be interested in the rest of your contents …” in content marketing, the headline is king”. This is of no doubt the truth, as even experts have asserted the same.
Switching from a bad headline to a good headline can produce as much as a 500% increase in traffic.
– Peter Koechley of Upworthy
Always keep in mind that your headline has one major goal, which is to secure your reader’s undivided attention because once you can achieve this, and then the rest is history.
So you may be wondering How you can capture their attention and keep them hooked, well it is as simple as creating a headline which promises them a benefit, I mean if you are in their shoes that would surely be a reason to keep you hooked. As David Ogilvy says “The headline which works best are those that promise the reader a benefit”.
Some examples could be:
“10 major secrets that content marketing experts will never tell you”
“20 excellent ideas that is sure to boost your content marketing career”
It is all about research and putting your creativity to work, once you can do this, writing a fascinating headline will be a piece of cake.
Following is a list of 180+ power words for writing emotional headlines, from copywriter Karl Stepp @CoSchedule.com
Get them enchanted by your Opening
Yes, now we are done with our headline but we still have a long way to go, the next thing to do is to put your creativity to work and once again hook your reader’s attention with an awesome opening.
According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information people’s attention spans are getting shorter and shorter. Our average attention span is now 8 seconds – 1 second less than a goldfish.
Now, what does that mean to you?
It means you have to create an opening that counts as your audience’s attention can be diverted in an instant and that is so not a good thing, this means you have to come up with one that will be of interest to your readers because in doing that you are sure to get them enchanted.
Below are some ways you can start your blogs:
- Hit them with a stunning statistic: this is something that is sure to grab your readers attention, as i said “a stunning statistic” that is one that they may likely have no idea about.
- Delineate a problem: You could also go straight towards saying more about the challenge or problem your content will be shedding more light on. In doing this you have to elaborate more on the distress the challenge is causing.
- Ask a question: giving your audience something to think about is also a great way of grabbing their attention, as reasonable questions gets them into the thinking phase and thereby engages them.
Click to read 15 Awesome Cues That Sparks up Captivating Content
Create a link between you and your audience
As we all know, the basis of content marketing dwells mainly in the relationship you build with your readers, because once this is done, it is sure to lead to conversion.
For this to be done you have to be familiar with the needs of your audience, their interests and values also counts, remember that this relates with the first point of our journey, if you have properly researched about your audience, then creating a rapport with them will be easy and fun. So with this, your content should be congruous with those interests and values. Like for example, if your audience consists of avid gamers then you should focus on gaming tips or some other things that relates to the gaming niche.
You could also study the kind of words your audience normally use when discussing a topic that relates to your business and endeavor to use those same words in your content.
Bottom line is for you to show your audience that you understand how they feel or think, once you can achieve this you are sure to gain their trust, which I believe is one of the lifeline of your business.
Offer genuine assistance
One major thing your audience need is for you to be of genuine assistance to them, you need to prove that you can truly add value to your audience, because if you fail in this part then there is no need for them to buy your products.
That is the why you must take your time to craft a content that will be helpful to them because once your readers find your content to be helpful, they will have more assurance that your products or services will be of greater benefit to them and that is a win for you.
Your content can be of great help in the following ways:
- Give a well-founded opinion: with many advice and opinions in various niches, your audience are bound to be confused as to which advice to take or follow, this is an opportunity for you to offer your audience a well informed and unique opinion that will clear up all their doubts and confusion in a moment, in so doing your expertise is established and your value to your audience is increased.
- Proper solution to a problem: providing solution to your audience’s problem is something that cannot be overemphasized, because once you give an idea to your audience on how to solve a problem and it actually delivers, then they will be stuck on you for more.
- Teach your audience: As someone who is proficient in your niche, you have a sole responsibility to teach your audience on certain topics that relates to your niche, but in doing this you have to use the kind of language that best suits them. Also ensure to have more modesty and less haughtiness.
Spark up emotions
There is no doubt about the fact that your audience’s decision to buy your products has a lot to do with their emotions, these emotions could either be positive or negative.
According to analysis of data from the institute of practioners in advertising, adverts with emotional contents performed almost twice as well as those with purely rational content.
(31% effectiveness vs 16% effectiveness)
Arousing positive emotions are sure to yield greater benefits in content marketing, also you could use negative emotions but this has to be done in a more planned and strategic manner.
Positive emotions can be evoked by:
- Giving words of encouragement to your readers to achieve their goals
- By using an active, optimistic writing pattern.
Make a persuasive offer
If you have truly followed the previous strategies that we have listed it means that you are almost done, because you have successfully gotten an audience that is fully engaged with your content, all that you have to do now is to make an offer that will rapidly convert your audience into sales leads.
An offer could be:
- To download your e-book
- Buy your products
- Subscribe to your newsletters et cetera.
You have to create an attractive Call to action as this is what introduces your offer and it should be place at strategic points, this could be at the end of your blog post, the homepage, on pop-ups, et cetera.
Also your offer has to have some qualities to make it truly persuasive, this could be by:
- Listing some benefits it brings.
- Also you could highlight your content’s uniqueness
- Making use of figures
Now you are fully equipped for your content marketing journey that leads to rapid conversion, by simply applying the listed tactics your audience cannot possibly resist your offer.