Another daunting task is starting you in the face\u2026 How do you optimize a web page for lead generation? You\u2019ve landed yourself in the right place. Here are 10 tips to make your blog a lean, green, lead generating machine.<\/p>\n
Quick Takeaways:\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Thought leadership<\/a> is a type of content marketing where you tap into the talent, experience, and passion inside your business to consistently answer the biggest questions in the minds of your target audience on a particular topic.<\/p>\n When you produce insightful content on a regular basis, you demonstrate industry expertise. Providing valuable content that few others are offering will quickly establish your position as a thought leader.<\/p>\n Educating your readers about the industry you belong to will turn your brand into a go-to resource. When you do this on a regular basis, you\u2019ll be acknowledged as an important and trustworthy voice who is deserving of your audience\u2019s attention and patronage.<\/p>\n Establishing trust<\/a> takes time. There\u2019s no shortcut to gaining a new prospect\u2019s confidence. You need to prove that you\u2019re the real deal and not just a fly-by-night operation. Stay consistent, be reliable.<\/p>\n Publishing quality content<\/a> in a steady fashion shows that you\u2019re offering a service or product that is here for the long haul and that you\u2019re not simply looking to make a quick buck.<\/p>\n Blogging increases your digital presence so that you\u2019re more visible on search engines like the almighty Google.The more valuable pages you put out there, the more favorable your ranking will become.<\/p>\n Blogging increases inbound links by as much as 97%<\/a>, which improves your search rankings. These factors, in turn, attract even more visitors through search and improve your blog readership.<\/p>\n Image Source: HubSpot<\/em><\/p>\n When you have domain authority, your content will perform better on search engine results pages (SERPs)<\/a>. Another bonus; building domain authority through blogging is an owned asset. The benefits of your blogging don\u2019t screech to a halt just because of a budget decrease. Paid assets on the other hand, well the results stop with the buck.<\/p>\n Quality content attracts the right audience. It pulls them in, captures their attention, and increases your chances of turning them into loyal customers.<\/p>\n Your blog can be a venue to answer questions through the content you publish there. But, you have to make sure you\u2019re doing this on a consistent basis to maximize results. You also need to prioritize the type of content you\u2019re creating. If you come across as too sales-y, no one will care about what you have to say.<\/p>\n Once you\u2019ve captured their attention, offering a suitable reward in return for their contact information is a great way to generate qualified leads<\/a>.<\/p>\n A blog can be used as a lead magnet<\/a> where visitors are offered something of value in the hopes that they\u2019ll provide their email, address, zip code, and other details in exchange for something of value you\u2019re providing.<\/p>\n Quality leads are more likely to have a better customer lifetime value compared to cold leads. You can also use their contact info for target marketing and advertising purposes.<\/p>\n How do you turn your blog into a lead generating machine? Here are a few ideas you can work with:<\/p>\n Remember how we presented ourselves as thought leaders earlier? This is where that comes into play again.<\/p>\n Leave out a little extra content for loyal followers that casual readers won\u2019t normally get. Do this alongside the free content you\u2019re already posting on the blog to maximize the benefits of each. (We use the WordPress plugin AdRotate to place non-abrasive banner ads within our content.)<\/p>\n Image Source: Orbit Media Studios<\/em><\/p>\n By establishing yourself as a thought leader through consistent blogging, people are more likely to opt-in for gated content.<\/p>\n Create an ebook that gives more detail on your process. Tease your audience with your public post and urge them to download your ebook<\/a> for more. You can also host webinars that provide detailed feedback that\u2019s customized for clients who provide their contact and personal information.<\/p>\n The goal is to obtain contact information for potential customers. Once you have that you can begin nurturing these top of the funnel leads.<\/p>\n You might be tempted to put your blog on a separate domain, but you\u2019ll miss out on many opportunities to generate leads if you do.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, if you make your blog a separate entity, your main site won\u2019t benefit from the search engine rankings you\u2019ll get from inbound blog links. Your brand identity on the blog should consistently mirror what is on your main website.<\/p>\n A visitor\u2019s first encounter with your brand might be via a blog post, and they might not even land on your homepage. Give them a seamless customer experience with your brand regardless whether they\u2019re on your blog or the main website.<\/p>\n A slide-in call to action<\/a> (CTA) is a nifty tool you can use for blog readers who\u2019ve managed to scroll all the way to the bottom of your post. It\u2019s an indication that your prospect is interested enough to consume all of your content. This is where the Slide-in CTA comes into the picture\u2014literally.<\/p>\n A box on the lower right-hand corner slides in with an irresistible offer your prospect can\u2019t refuse. Your CTA could come in the form of a white paper, in-depth details about the post, or other valuable content in exchange for the reader\u2019s contact information. This type of CTA is generally a lot less annoying than a pop-up.<\/p>\n A Hello Bar<\/a> is a bar that appears at the top portion of a website, typically spanning the page. It\u2019s hard to miss since it is located in the area on the screen where a visitor is likely to see first when the page opens. Hello Bars often include a call to action to help drive traffic to landing pages or squeeze pages.<\/p>\n Readers who don\u2019t click immediately but read the post will find that the \u201cHello Bar\u201d follows them as they scroll through. It has been proven to be an effective tool to drive targeted traffic and build your email list in a relatively short period.<\/p>\n When you write a blog post, be mindful of specific words or phrases that are related to other posts or content within your site. Throughout the post, link these words (i.e. Database Marketing) to other resources on your site.<\/p>\n Keywords can be linked to landing pages or other pages, and you can have these lead to related offers or deals that your prospects might find interesting. It could be a webinar<\/a> or course sign up<\/a>, a free trial, or an ebook that expounds on a certain topic. Your possibilities are endless!<\/p>\n The \u201cleaderboard\u201d at the top of the blog, the sidebars on either side of a post, and the space at the end of an article are prime real estate on your website. Don\u2019t let these spots go to waste by not putting CTAs<\/a>, banners, or buttons on full display.<\/p>\n Image Source: Marketing Insider Group<\/em><\/p>\n The footer following a blog post is also a great opportunity to include a supplementary offer or another exciting piece of content. That space can also be used to link to landing pages to encourage subscription or CTAs that require email registration.<\/p>\n Each of our blogs is accompanied by a newsletter sign-up as well as our top blogs of all time and more content related to the blog you\u2019re already reading. As you scroll, this right hand column also displays a button to download The Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing.<\/p>\n Make them an offer they can\u2019t refuse. If you\u2019re selling a tangible product, consider adding free shipping or discounts when they sign up for your email newsletter. This boosts your chances of gaining new subscribers and interested customers. Every online store I go to gets me with this one\u2026 Who am I to refuse 15% off!?<\/p>\n In some cases, offering a physical catalog could be used as a way to collect email addresses. IKEA generates leads this way by giving prospects the option to download an online catalog or have a printed version snail-mailed to their delivery address. You just need to fill out the form that includes your email address or physical address.<\/p>\n This is also a chance to keep in touch with a prospect through an opt-in button that adds them to your email list for updates or other special perks.<\/p>\n Offering a subscription service gives your visitors an easy way to sign-in to receive regular blog updates through email and RSS feeds. When they do, a subscriber is notified each time you publish a blog post.<\/p>\n Most blogging platforms include subscription plug-ins, while other email marketing services can integrate a plug-in that allows you to build your subscription list. Other providers can offer this for free such as FeedBlitz<\/a> or Mailchimp<\/a>.<\/p>\n Capitalize on your subscription services even more by implementing a lead nurture series for new subscribers.<\/p>\n You can do this by adding social media icons in and around your blog post. This encourages visitors to share your content on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and other sites, which in turn, helps enable your audience to expand your online network.<\/p>\n You want to drive traffic to your site as much as possible and social sharing is an excellent (and easy) way to complement your lead generation campaign.<\/p>\n You\u2019re already creating great content, so why not let it live on other websites as well? Guest posting can help you build authority even further and expand your audience beyond just your website\u2019s scope. Finding blogs to partner with will essentially let each blog benefit from the rankings of the other. Say you really want more small business owner leads, but you don\u2019t have authority in their industry. Guest posting on different blogs is your key to reaching an audience that wouldn\u2019t normally visit your website.<\/p>\n\n
How Blogging Helps Generate Leads<\/h2>\n
1. Establish Your Position as a Thought Leader and Build Trust<\/h3>\n
2. Boost Your SEO<\/h3>\n
![\"web](\"https:\/\/marketinginsidergroup.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/traffic-for-companies-that-blog.webp\")
<\/p>\n3. Build Domain Authority<\/h3>\n
4. Engage Your Audience<\/h3>\n
5. Better Lead Quality<\/h3>\n
10 Ways to Optimize Your Blog for Lead Generation<\/h2>\n
1. Offer Exclusive \u201cGated\u201d Content<\/h3>\n
![\"gated](\"https:\/\/marketinginsidergroup.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/gated-content-pros-and-cons.jpg\")
<\/p>\n2. Your Blog Should be Integrated into Your Main Website<\/h3>\n
![](\"https:\/\/marketinginsidergroup.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/giphy-17.gif\")
<\/p>\n3. Try Marketing Tools Like a Slide-in CTA or the Hello Bar<\/h3>\n
4. Link to Other Useful Internal Resources as Often as Possible<\/h3>\n
![\"Internal](\"https:\/\/marketinginsidergroup.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/internal-linking.jpg\")
<\/p>\n5. Maximize the Real Estate Around a Blog Post<\/h3>\n
![\"article](\"https:\/\/marketinginsidergroup.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Article-Wireframe-final.png\")
<\/p>\n6. Include Irresistible Perks<\/h3>\n
![](\"https:\/\/marketinginsidergroup.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/giphy-downsized-large-2.gif\")
<\/p>\n7. Add Subscription Services<\/h3>\n
8. Make it Easy to Share Your Content on Social Media<\/h3>\n
9. Utilize Guest Posting<\/h3>\n