Blogging is objectively a great way to get people on your website when done right. Many online marketing experts see blogs generate 13x more returns on their investment, just a smidge behind social media and email marketing.
Potentially, you can drive a lot of traffic if you write relevant, high-quality articles on your blog, and optimize them for search engines (a process known as SEO). However, this does not automatically mean you’ll generate hot, targeted leads for your business, which should be your primary goal. In fact, only 2% of page visitors on average will interact directly with a site even if they like your content and visit often.
The good news is you can definitely convert blog readers to leads. A well-planned lead generation marketing strategy should go hand in hand with content marketing to make it meaningful. There are organic ways to generate leads with a blog with a nudge rather than a push. So, without further ado, let’s discuss a few of them.
Use some type of CTA (call-to-action)
Sometimes, it’s as simple as ask, and you shall receive. A call-to-action, or CTA, allows your readers to interact with your site in a way that they might have wanted to in the first place but didn’t know-how. It may be an invitation to get in touch, register on your site, subscribe to your newsletter, download an app, etc.
This will prompt visitors to engage further with your site and brand, and increase your chances to generate hot, targeted leads. However, you need to make your CTAs persuasive and wisely located. Some people swear with equal conviction that the top of the page, the hello bar, or the end of the post is the perfect place for a CTA. That is not always the case. In some cases, putting the CTA in the middle of the post or as a pop-up works very well, while others stop visitors from leaving with an exit-intent overlay.
You can experiment with placements using A/B testing to find out the sweet spot for your case. The important thing is to have a strong CTA for your posts to turbo-charge your lead generation.
Use a retargeting campaign
Naturally, a few of your visitors will miss or ignore your CTA for various reasons, which is a shame. However, you can give it another shot by using a retargeting campaign.
For that, you need to take a proactive step, which means, in this case, that you have to install a pixel on your site or blog that will tag each visitor with a tracking cookie using tools such as Adroll, ReTargeter, PixelMe, or other remarketing services. The service is not free, obviously, and it takes some time and effort to get it right, but retargeted ads can definitely help you capture some hot leads when appropriately done (as also seen on other lead generation platforms such as CPL One, Taboola, etc.).
Use exclusive offers
A good way to get people to subscribe to your newsletter or register on your site is to offer them unique, exclusive content. People will often readily give their contact details if they can get something exclusive free of charge.
For example, your offer could be a downloadable e-book, a video tutorial, a discount coupon, or anything else that could be relevant or even desirable to the reader based on the post he/she was reading. Making a special offer to subscribers is a great way to get them more interested in the service or product you are offering.