What is sustainable marketing?

Getting started with marketing your corporate sustainability

• Do you speak about sustainability but develop your product with non-sustainable resources? 
• Are you cooperating with companies whose missions are at odds with yours? 
• Is your team a good reflection of the future you want to foster?

Sustainable marketing isn’t easy, but it is worth it

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After decades of writing a wide variety of direct response campaigns, I’ve found that approaching the messaging like a fisherman approaches his sport is one of the most effective ways to create high converting copy.

That’s why I call this approach the Fisherman Framework. Here’s what’s involved:

Lure or bait

The first step in the Fisherman Framework is to entice your target audience. Just as fishermen choose specific lures or bait to attract specific types of fish, you should choose your lure to attract your specific audience segment. What’s in it for them?

If your target audience already knows your company and has a desire for your product, then an attractive offer, such as a sale, could be an effective lure.

For prospects who are in the first few stages of awareness (or any of the stages for that matter), the lure will be the benefit of what you’re offering. Since benefits are about the reader more than the product, this may vary for different segments.

For simplicity, though, you can break this down into Pain and Gain. Your lure will be something that alleviates pain or helps the reader gain something worthwhile.

Pain points are the motivation behind many products and services, and they are great motivators for your marketing prospects as well. The more immediate and frustrating the pain point, the better it is for a lure.

Let’s say your prospects have been in debt for years due to high credit card APRs. They may feel like they they’ll never get ahead of it despite making monthly payments. Being able to finally break free from the debt treadmill would be a great lure for a 0% APR credit card offer.

Promising a gain can also be effective, especially if it is tied to a strong emotion like greed or pride. People want to get more money, be more attractive to the opposite sex, and increase their status, just to name a few things.

Toothpastes that tout whiter teeth are a good example. That’s one of the benefits of the product, but the real lure is improving the user’s appearance. The copy should tap into that early and often.

Hook

You only have a few seconds to engage your reader. If you don’t hook him in your opening, you could lose him before you even get started.

Great openings often use emotions, curiosity, or a combination of the two to hook readers.

Consider these examples from successful direct mail campaigns:

“These must be the best-kept secrets at the IRS.”

“I’m sitting here in my wheelchair today, mad as hell, trying to control my anger, but without much success.”

“America has a drug problem, but it’s not the one you think.”

What are those secrets at the IRS? Maybe they can help me keep more of my hard-earned income.

Why is the writer so angry? Is the answer going to make me angry, too?

What kind of drug problem is it then? Should I be worried?

The reader has to keep reading to find out the answers to these questions.

Hooks aren’t just for letters, though. Here’s an example from a famous print ad:

The first sentence in this VW ad is “This Volkswagen missed the boat.” That’s not what you’d expect to read in a Volkswagen ad, so you naturally want to know more. What was wrong with it and why are you admitting it?

Reel

Once a fisherman has a fish on the line, it’s time to reel it in. The same is true with your marketing.

After hooking your readers, you need to reel them in by overcoming potential doubts, objections and anything else that puts distance between them and the sale.

These are just a few specific ways to do that.

Present benefits. The more readers understand what the product or service will do for them, the more value they will see in it. Paint a picture of how the reader’s life will be better once he or she responds to your offer. 

Answer questions. Doubt kills conversion. That’s why you need to anticipate readers’ questions and provide answers. Some common ones include: How does it work? Will it work for me? What makes it different than alternative solutions? Why should I believe you?

Offer proof. It’s natural to be skeptical of claims made in advertisements. Backing them up is the best way to counter that. When possible, show results as specifically as possible through things like statistics, before and after images, and demonstrations.

Social proof is another great way to build credibility. Include testimonials. State how many customers your have. Show the media companies where your product or service has been covered.

Reduce friction. If you want people to respond to your offer, you need to make it easy. Anything that gets in the way of that is friction. Make your offer easy to understand, easy to take advantage of (limit the number of fields in forms, for instance) and as low pressure as possible.

Catch

In this final step, you get the reader to take the action you want. It requires a strong call to action and, ideally, a bit of urgency.

The best calls to action reiterate the offer and emphasize the benefit of taking action. “Sign up for your streaming music free trial” is not as strong as “Start your free trial and put millions of songs at your fingertips today.”

But you don’t want to just tell the reader why she should respond. You should tell her why she needs to respond now. If she procrastinates, you may lose her forever.

Create urgency with expiration dates, limited quantities or fear of missing out on the full benefits.

Try the Fisherman Framework the next time you need to write high converting copy

Even if you’ve had success with other copywriting frameworks such as AIDA or PAS, the Fisherman Framework is worth testing out. You’ll be glad you did.

Happy fishing!

The post Improve your conversion rate with the Fisherman Framework appeared first on SEAN KIRBY.

And many marketers make it even harder than it has to be. That’s the case with today’s landing page makeover.

BEFORE

AFTER

Let’s break it down section by section.

Hero Section

Which is easier: Convincing someone to buy a product or getting him to take something for free?

The answer seems pretty obvious. Yet many businesses make the offer more of an afterthought than a sales message.

Take a look at the hero section of ZoomInfo’s existing landing page. It’s all about the product except for one line of button copy. And frankly, even the copy about the product could use a bit of work.

Question headlines are overused and often don’t provide enough reason to read on. It’s easy to just answer “yes” and be done. You need to provide more of benefit, differentiator or hook to draw the reader in. Give them some sort of indication that you can give them what they want.

The rest of the hero area is also too generic. Phrases like “…leading sales and marketing intelligence tool” have no meaning or impact without more context. How are you defining leading? What criteria are you using? Is this backed up by anyone else or is it just puffery?

Even the call-to-action, which finally mentions the free offer, lacks excitement. Access to a database isn’t really what the user wants. It’s more of a means to get what he wants: high quality business and sales leads. Always let your prospects know what’s in it for them.

In my makeover, I bring the offer front and center with a headline that gets right to the immediate benefit. The subhead expands on that message with more specifics. And it leads into the call-to-action that says exactly why they should click the button.

Notice how this new hero section conveys the benefits with specifics, not puffery. Instead of telling readers this is the “leading sales and marketing intelligence tool,” the messaging helps visitors come to that conclusion on their own.

Social Proof

The next section of the existing landing page is actually pretty strong. Showing the logos and providing testimonials of well respected customers is a great way to display social proof. The words and actions of others are inherently more credible than anything a company can say about themselves.

That’s why, in my makeover, I only slightly tweaked that section. I added benefit copy to the lead-in sentence to add context and build interest.

I also separated the logos and testimonials from each other. Having social proof in two spots is better than just one, and it calls attention to each individual element a bit more.

Features and Benefits

The current landing page doesn’t start speaking to what the users can do with this solution until the bottom half of the page. A good number of people who go to the page will never even see it.

And those who do make it that far only get a brief callout or two without any further context.

The makeover brings this information higher up to answer the main questions users have with almost any product promotion.

These supporting sections offer more detail and put it into context. It paints a more coherent picture for the user. If you rely on him or her to connect the dots, you’re creating needless friction. Don’t make prospects work.

Statistics

These statistics are good. Numbers are memorable and irrefutable. But the way they are presented in the current page misses an opportunity. It’s self-centered and lacks context. It’s just boasting, “look, we’re big.”

But why should the user care?

A simple edit to the heading completely changes the perspective. Now those numbers are about the prospect’s needs instead of the products attributes.

Call to Action

The call-to-action section is pretty standard. It’s not terrible, but it’s not great either. And since this is your last chance to get someone to act, you need to make the most of it.

The makeover achieves this by reiterating the benefits and providing additional information to reduce remaining friction.

Specifically, the current page doesn’t indicate anywhere how long the trial runs. That’s a pretty important piece of information when deciding whether or not to move forward. (I went with 14 days because I found that on ZoomInfo’s main website.)

And I drove home the idea that there is no risk or obligation to taking advantage of the offer, so the prospect has nothing to lose.

Small copywriting changes make a big difference

One other big improvement that applies to the entire page is the tone of the copy. The current page makes two big mistakes that are all too common.

First, it takes a self-centered tone. Look how many times the words “we” and “our” appear. Prospects don’t care about you. They are about what you can do for them.

That’s why the remake switches the focus from the company to the prospect. Instead of “we” and “our”, the re-imagined page uses “you.”

Second, there is too much corporate-speak in the current page. Take this sentence:

“ZoomInfo’s robust suite of integrations accelerates business outcomes at every step of your workflow and enables a more streamlined approach to achieving go-to-market success.”

Nobody speaks like that. How many people will even understand what it means without re-reading it a few times?

Instead, sound like a person. Use conversational language that your prospects would use. It’s friendlier, easier to read and understand, and more persuasive.

Apply these lessons to improve your conversion rates

While there is no one size fits all for conversion rate optimization, the principles behind the improvements in this makeover are time tested. And they can easily be applied to almost any landing page.

Getting prospects to take action will still be difficult, but at least you won’t be making it harder on yourself.

If you’d like help optimizing your pages for conversions, please contact me.

The post Landing Page Makeover: ZoomInfo appeared first on SEAN KIRBY.

But did you know that these same attributes can help you craft better marketing messages, too? Let’s look at each part of the SMART copywriting approach.

Specific

Too much marketing is generic. How often have you seen lines like these?

“Save time and money.”

“Lose weight.”

“Grow your business.”

These are all good benefits, but they don’t have any real impact without context. If the savings is just one cent, who cares? And how are these claims different from anything your competitors could use?

To be convincing, you need to paint a clear picture for your prospects. One of the best ways to do that is to use specifics. Look how much stronger these benefits become when you add specifics.

Save three hours and $50 a day

Lose 10 pounds your first week

The easiest way to scale from 1,000 to 100,000 customers

And this isn’t limited to just benefits. Go through your copy and get rid of generic fluff words like “high quality,” “best,” and “robust.” Give specifics. What makes your solution quality high? How are you measuring best?

Nobody believes marketers when they say how great their products are. So don’t. Instead, convince the reader with specifics, so he can come to that conclusion on his own.

Measurable

All marketing offers cost something, whether it’s money, time or effort. That’s what people are going to measure the value of your offer against.

Sometimes it’s easy to quantify that value. This Geico tagline is a good example:

The cost of inquiring (15 minutes) and the potential value of the benefit (savings of 15% or more) are clearly spelled out. It’s easy for the consumer to compare those and determine if that value outweighs the cost.

Often, it’s more difficult to quantify cost and value. Results for most products and services vary based on many factors. Fortunately, there are ways to measure it indirectly.

Comparisons are probably the best of these. Comparing yourself to your competition gives readers a point of reference. For example, car companies can call out how they have the best gas mileage or resale value in their class.

You can also compare the benefits of having your product to status quo. Focus on the reader’s pain point and how your offer will make life better. The bigger the pain point, the more value your solution will have.

And you can compare your offering to unrelated products or services. This can be especially useful when it comes to price. That’s why many ads point out that a subscription costs less than a cup of coffee per day.

Attainable

Most people know how important it is to focus on benefits. You naturally want to make your offer sound like the best thing ever. But if readers don’t think your promises are attainable, you aren’t going to persuade anyone to take action.

If you write a headline like “Lose 20 pounds overnight,” most people will assume it’s a scam, even if it’s true. That’s not something most people think is attainable.

But claims don’t have to be that outlandish to seem unattainable. For instance, claiming your product will “keep the weight off for good” may seem unattainable to people who have tried different options and gained the weight back each time.

The key is to know your target audience. Consider their experience, beliefs and pain points. And tailor your copy appeals to that.

Relevant

People don’t buy the best solutions. If they did, every company would have a monopoly on their industry. Instead, people buy the best solutions for them. That’s what you need to convince your prospects you’re offering.

Personalizing your copy is a great way to do this. In direct mail, email campaigns and personalized URLs, you can include information such as the person’s name, purchase history or other specific data points.

But even when you don’t have variable fields, you can still personalize copy for your specific target audience. For instance, you can call out who your offer is for with lines such as:

• Attention homeowners
• Specially formulated for women over 40
• Over 20,000 small businesses choose…

And of course, you need to use the appeals, language and something that fits your target audience, as well. That means you need to go benefit just benefits and figure out what those benefits mean to your specific audience.

For example, saving $500 a month may represent salvation to someone who is drowning in debt. To another person, that same benefit could about providing a nest egg for his family.

The more you write to their motivations and needs, the more relevant your copy will be.

Time Bound

It’s not enough to simply build interest and desire for your product or service. If you want to turn that desire into action, you need to convince your prospect to act now.

Because doing nothing is easier than responding to an offer. There is less risk in not responding. It’s familiar. What’s the harm in waiting?

That’s the question good copy answers. And the easiest way to add that urgency is with limited time offers. Attaching a firm end date or time limit forces the prospect to make a decision. They either respond to the offer or miss out.

For digital components, countdown timers can help call extra attention to the urgency of your offer. For static formats, try to make the expiration stand out through formatting, such as boldface type.

But what if you can’t use a specific expiration date? No problem. You can still add urgency.

Highlighting limited quantity is one way to add urgency without referencing a specific timeframe. Here’s an example from Amazon.

Another way to add urgency is to highlight the consequences of procrastinating. Agitate the pain point that your product or service solves, so that readers feel that frustration now. And stress how your solution will make an impact quickly.

Put SMART copywriting to the test

Use these tips to see for yourself how SMART copywriting converts better. Be sure to let me know how it goes. And if you need help getting started, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

The post Increase conversions with SMART copywriting appeared first on SEAN KIRBY.

Sorry to be blunt, but it’s the truth. That’s likely why your landing page isn’t converting well.

Before you start cursing me out, I’m not criticizing your product. I’m sure it’s great. But people don’t care about products. They care about solutions to their problems.

That’s why product development experts tell you to start with a problem to solve instead of an idea for a product.

Yet when it comes to the landing page, many seem to forget this and make it all about the product and features.

I get it. Your product is your baby. You’ve grown it from a simple idea to something real. You love it. You’re proud of it.

But potential users aren’t in the same mindset. They aren’t emotionally invested in your product. They couldn’t care less about it. But they do care about themselves. That’s what you need to focus on.

Sell the solution, not the product

You may be thinking, “My product is a solution.” And while that may be true, there is a difference when it comes to messaging. A product is just a thing. A solution is a benefit that personally impacts the user in a positive way. Consider this example.

Apple didn’t launch the iPod by stating, “Here’s a digital music player.” They didn’t lead with features such as how much memory it had.

Instead, they introduced it with a simple line of copy that crystallizes what those features mean to people: “1,000 songs in your pocket.”

Remember, before the iPod, portable music was limited to how many CDs you could carry with you. The simple statement above speaks to that pain point in a specific, tangible way.

Notice how the focus of Apple’s message is on the user rather than the product? That’s what you want to do with the copy on your landing pages. Lead with benefits over features.

Broaden your appeal without losing focus

OK, I may have overstated things a bit when I implied people don’t want products. Some people do want products that solve their problem. But that’s only after they have identified what their problem is and what the options are to deal with it.

Say, for instance, someone is frustrated that he never seem sto get as much done during their workday as he wants. At that stage, he is problem aware.

The next step for someone in this stage is to search for solutions. That may include products, but it could also include other solutions.

With the example above, these might include productivity apps, delegating tasks where possible, or learning strategies to better manage his time. When the person explores these, he is solution aware.

If that person decides a productivity app is the best way to solve his problem, then he starts comparing different apps that do this. At the end of this step, he is product aware.

When you focus the page on your product, rather than as the solution to users’ problems, you’ll only appeal to people at this last stage. If your landing page is part of a campaign specifically targeting people actively shopping for products, that’s fine. But if it’s not, you’re ignoring a big portion of your prospects.

Be more original

Sure, having a feature that your competitors don’t can differentiate you … for a little while. But features are easy to copy.

Go ahead. Try to think of a brand you identify with a unique feature. Not easy, is it?

You have to work hard to find a unique value proposition for your landing page that isn’t as easy to copy. It could be specific results your product has delivered. It could be the niche you’re targeting. Or it could be your company mission.

It may take a few tries to find the right appeal. But if your current landing page isn’t converting visitors into prospects or prospects into customers, then it’s a must. If you need help, feel free to reach out.

The post Landing page isn’t converting? Here’s why… appeared first on SEAN KIRBY.

You spend hours or even days pouring your soul into a blog post. And your “readers” move on with hardly a second glance.

Imagine something like that happening in the offline world. How would you feel if you spent all that time putting together a detailed report, and your boss flipped though a few pages before tossing it in the waste basket?

Now imagine that it’s not just your boss doing that, but hundreds of people. That’s what’s happening when your time on page analytics look like this:

It’s not entirely your fault. You’ve been following bad advice. In this article, I’m going to let you know what you’re doing wrong and what you should do instead.

Why you’re practically begging people to leave quickly

You’ve probably been told to make your content scannable. This is about the worst thing you can do if you want people to spend time on your page. Think about it. How long does it take you to scan an article?

Instead you want to give the perception that your content is scannable. Let me explain.

Most readers try to skim marketing content rather than investing the time to read it. They look for the points that stand out, such as subheads, callouts and images to get the gist of your article. If your reader can successfully do this, then there’s no reason to actually read it. You obviously don’t want that.

But if your article is a wall of text, it will look like too much work, and people won’t read that either.

What you need to do is give your content the appearance that it is scannable and use those elements to draw readers in.

Let’s take subheads as an example. Most articles use them to introduce a new point or section of the article. They are informational. Instead, try to treat them like headlines of their own. The goal is to get people reading the copy that follows.

When I wrote this article about ways to get more mileage out of existing content, I could have used subheads like:

                  Syndicate articles on other websites

                  Repurpose content for other formats

Instead, I crafted these messages that tease a benefit:

                  Get published on multiple sites without guest blogging

                  Double your content creation in half the time (or less)

See the difference? The first set of subheads gives the story away. The second set piques your interest and you can’t help but read on.

Take a similar approach with your images, captions and callouts. The job of each is to get people to start reading. Don’t you want to dive into the article to find out how Brian Dean accomplished the results shown in these charts?

The opportunity most blogs miss

Your content can be like a magnet. If it’s compelling and valuable, it attracts readers and makes them stick. But magnets have another side that repels objects with the same magnetic pole. That’s the side most blog posts start with.

How often have you seen an article that begins like this?

Or this one?

These examples push readers away before they even have a chance to get into the article. People’s attention spans are minuscule these days, and you only have a few seconds to grab them.

But when you do, you can suck them in before they realize what’s happening. That’s why I often spend more time on the introduction than any other area, even the headline.

Here are a few ways to make your opening magnetic:

Make an emotional connection. Take a look at the intro to this article you’re reading now. Can’t you just feel the frustration, and perhaps a little bit of anger, build? Didn’t that emotional investment make you want to continue on? You don’t want to walk away feeling like that.

Anger and frustration aren’t the only powerful emotions you can use. Fear, greed, envy, guilt, pride, love and hope can all be used to engage readers from the get-go.

Tell a story. Facts and figures are boring. They are easily forgotten. But stories can bring information to life. We can visualize them in our minds’ eye. We can relate to them. We feel empathy for the people in them.

Tell me you don’t get sucked into Alex Turnbull’s story on how his first business almost failed before it even got started in this article:

Build curiosity. Remember, your objective is keep people reading. Adding a little mystery or suspense is one of the best ways to this. I’ll share some specific tactics and examples for this a little later because it applies to more than just the intro.

Make your first paragraph short. Your introduction is the main entry point to your article. It’s vital to eliminate barriers at this point, including long text.

Which of these would you rather read?

or…

How the world’s best blog writers keep people reading

The intro isn’t the only place you can lose readers. You need to keep their attention throughout the article. Bad advice causes problems here, too.

You see the data that long-form content performs better than shorter content. And it makes sense. More content takes longer to read, so your time on page should go up. But that’s only true if people read the whole thing.

By focusing on length rather than value, you increase your risk of pushing readers away. So what you leave out is as important as what you put in. Take this article for instance.

Many writers would have included a section in the beginning about the benefits of keeping people reading your article. But you already know the benefits. Otherwise you wouldn’t have started reading this article in the first place.

What you want is to learn how to do it. You want strategies and tactics you can put to use. So instead of telling you things you already know, I delve right into the good stuff and don’t let up until you reach the end.

Unfortunately, providing helpful information is not enough to hold attention today. You have to build intrigue. That’s where these tactics come in.

Grease Slide Copy

The end of a paragraph. The conclusion of a thought or message. A definitive statement. There are several natural stopping points throughout every article. These call for grease slide copy.

These phrases go by several names. Brian Dean calls them bucket brigades. Joseph Sugarman refers to them as seeds of curiosity. No matter what you call them, they are a great way to move readers through your content.

They do two things:

First, they build anticipation by delaying the information ever so slightly. In fact, the sentence above is a good example. You want to know what those two things are, so you are compelled to keep reading.

Second, they provide a bridge from one paragraph or message to another. Look at these examples from one of my articles:

Notice how you slide effortlessly to the next paragraph?

Here are a few other words and phrases to try:

• Why?
• Let me guess
• Be honest
• Admit it
• Listen:
• Get this:
• Then it hit me
• Or is it?
• Let me explain
• Here’s why
• Here’s the thing
• Here’s the best part
• You’re probably thinking…

Insert one of these phrases anywhere people may lose interest or feel like pausing.

Open loops

Remember when I introduced the idea of building curiosity in the section about your introduction? That is an example of an open loop, and this is where I’m paying it off. You had to keep reading if you wanted to get these.

And that desire is fueled by more than just the value of the information. We’re wired to seek closure. Open loops actually cause anxiety that is only satisfied by closing the loop.

This is one the tactics TV shows use to get you to binge-watch. You sit down planning to view a single episode. But the cliffhanger at the end is too compelling to wait. So start the next episode. And then the next. And so on.

There’s no reason you can’t do the same thing in your writing.

Here’s an example from Larry Kim.

The phrase “start with the bad news,” signals that there is good news to follow. You have to read on to find it.

Pattern interrupts

Have you ever found yourself driving around without even thinking about where you are going? You turn down a road almost through muscle memory because you’re so used to the route. That’s your subconscious mind following a pattern.

The same thing can happen with your content.

Readers expect paragraphs to follow paragraphs and on. This familiar pattern allows the brain to go on autopilot. You don’t want this. You want readers’ attention.

Break the pattern by adding testimonials, sidebars, callouts and other devices that temporarily interrupt the narrative of your text like these examples.

Pattern interrupts aren’t limited to visual elements, though. Use unexpected messaging to break the patterns that make your content predicable and boring. This could be taking a controversial view, using a tone that doesn’t quite fit the ordinary fare, or suddenly changing pace.

Take a look at how Jon Morrow uses pattern interrupts to engage readers in this popular post.

It starts right with the headline. Being a mediocre blogger is not what you’d expect in a “how to” article. That’s not what people strive for. As a result, it gets your attention and piques your curiosity. Compare that to a more traditional headline like, “How to be a successful blogger.”

Morrow continues to interrupt what you’d expect to read throughout the article. Take the section on storytelling. How many times have you heard that you need to tell stories? So when you read that you shouldn’t, you just have to learn why.

Involvement devices

The more your readers feel like active participants, the more they become engaged. In most articles, you can’t use devices that physically involve readers. But you can involve them mentally. Here are three ways:

1. Ask questions. When someone asks you a question, your brain automatically starts searching for an answer. It’s an involuntary reaction. And you can use that to your advantage.

Pepper questions throughout your articles to get readers to inject themselves into the narrative. Try these for starters:

Which would you rather…

Have you ever…

What would you do if…

2. 2. Get readers to insert themselves in your article. Use phrases such as “imagine” or “picture” to introduce hypothetical scenarios starring the reader. Paint the picture with your words. That’s what I did in the introduction to this article when I asked you to imagine your boss tossing your report in the trash with nary a second glance.

2. 2. 1. 3. Assign a simple task to demonstrate a point. That’s what Brian Clark does in this article on storytelling.

The final ingredient to content that keeps people reading

Last, but not least. Don’t forget or underestimate the importance of writing well. All of the tips and tricks won’t do a lick of good if your writing is convoluted, verbose or just plain boring. Those are all barriers most readers won’t work to overcome.

Make your content easy to read. Use mostly short sentences and paragraphs. They are easier to read, especially on smartphones. That’s more important than ever now that more people access the internet on a mobile device than a desktop or laptop.

Also choose simple words and phrases whenever possible. Our brains can process this information more easily. If someone has to re-read a section, they may just as easily give up.

Short paragraphs are also easier to read on smartphones. That’s vital since more people now access the internet on the phone than desktop.

Tools like Hemingwayapp.com can help you calculate reading level and see where you can simplify your messaging.

Write the way your target audience speaks. Think about it this way:

Would you rather sit through an academic lecture or engage in a conversation with a friend?

You want your article to feel more like the latter. Ditch the formal language. Feel free to bend or even break some grammar rules if it helps you sound more conversational. Compare these sentences:

“Who are you writing your article for?”

“For whom are you writing your article?”

The former is bad grammar. You’re not supposed to end sentences in a preposition. But the proper English sentence sounds too stiff. It’s not how people speak, so it distracts us from the message. In this case, the bad grammar is more effective.

Jargon is a bit tricky. Sometimes these words help your writing. For instance, if you tried to avoid using terms like SERP in an article for SEOs, you wouldn’t sound like a credible source. That jargon is conversational for this audience. But other times, jargon can kill your writing.

A sentence like “This enterprise-wide solution enables you to reconceptualize big data within your blue ocean strategy,” is likely to get only eye rolls.

So how do you decide which jargon to use and which to leave out?

If it’s something your audience would use in conversations when they aren’t trying to impress anyone, go ahead and use it. If not, rewrite your sentence.

Use images and examples. People process images faster than words. Don’t believe me? Look below and tell me which you comprehend more quickly.

It makes sense when you think about it. The brain will translate the text into a visual whenever possible. If I tell you to think about a car, you imagine an image not the letters c-a-r.

Of course you can’t use images to convey everything. That’s why you need to choose wording that helps readers form images in their minds. That’s what examples do.

For instance, the definition of irony is:

(1) :  incongruity between the actual result of a sequence of events and the normal or expected result (2) :  an event or result marked by such incongruity

And here’s an example of irony:

A billboard promoting public school has a spelling error. (This really happened, by the way. Check out the image here.

Which one helps you understand the concept better? Most would agree that it’s the example. Unlike the abstract definition, you can visualize the example.

Conclusion

I’m not fool enough to say that people will read every word of your articles if you follow my advice. But I’m confident they won’t pogostick either.

Getting people to engage with you for even a few minutes more can open the door to a world of possibilities.

And you won’t have to mutter anything about those ungrateful (insert your favorite insulting name here) any more.

The post Why Nobody is Actually Reading Your Content — And What You Can Do About It appeared first on SEAN KIRBY.

That’s just one of the challenges I addressed in this makeover for the home page of Lakebed.io, an early stage startup in the tech space. Keep reading beyond the before and after images for a detailed breakdown.

BEFORE

AFTER

First Impression

First impressions matter online. You only have a few seconds to grab attention and pull visitors in. The current home page doesn’t do that.

There’s just not much visual interest or intrigue in the hero message. It simply says what the product it does, but not why anyone would want it.

What’s more, there’s mo visual hierarchy to draw my attention to as a starting point.

The made over hero area leads with strongest benefit to give the page the best chance of grabbing readers early. The copy that follows then adds more context, which leads to a strong call-to-action. That’s a hierarchy that’s proven to be effective.

I also created a more standard header with a logo, main navigation and a call to action button to improve the user experience. On the current page, the navigation only visible by hovering over the icon.

Note: since this landing page makeover only includes the home page, I kept the links to the current pages.

Simplified Messaging

Data lakes are a pretty complicated subject, especially for people who may be unfamiliar with the term. The current site doesn’t do a bad job of explaining it, but it takes too many words to it. Lengthy explanations work well for blog posts, but not home pages.

The home page makeover solves this in a couple of ways.

The first is by including much of the information in an explainer video. This format is not as intimidating as a big block of text. So you can do more explaining. Plus, the animations help hold visitors’ attention. You can view the video on my revised Lakebed home page.

Since the home page makeover is strictly for illustrative purposes, I didn’t spend money on a professional voiceover or the pro version of the software I used to create it. That would make it even more effective. Even without those touches, though, it’s a big improvement on the current page.

The second way I simplified the page was by scaling back the amount of information provided. This isn’t the type of product that people will purchase after a reading a web page, no matter how much information it has. So there is no need to get into all the technical details right away. You just need to give enough to get visitors to take the first step.

In fact, much of the copy on the current page could actually be preventing people from moving forward. Take the “How does it work” section, for example. A couple of hour-long calls is a time commitment and sounds like a fair amount of work.

I also chose not to include the price on the home page makeover. I know it’s often the first thing people look for, but for a high ticket product like this, it’s better to demonstrate the value first. You want people to view it as an investment rather than a cost.

Improved Design

Normally, I only worry about aesthetics after everything else is nailed down. But in this case, the complexity and length of the copy compounds the issue. To keep people from bouncing, it’s an area that needs to be addressed.

My first thought was to include nice, big product shots, but the product isn’t overly visual, as you can see from the screenshots. I could show a dashboard or other data visualization tool that you can build with the data, but that could misrepresent what the product does and shortchanges the value it provides.

Illustrations were the perfect choice for a couple of reasons. The simplicity of these images counters the complexity of subject. And the conceptual nature of the product is better represented by illustrations than photos.

Refined Offer

The current site has a bit of a mismatch between offer and call-to-action. In one spot, “Give us a try” leads to a generic contact form. In another, visitors are directed to contact the company to discuss their needs and if the solution is right for them. That sounds like having to put up with a sales pitch.

A strong offer has a clear benefit for the prospect and as little friction as possible. That’s why I chose to promote a demo. It’s a nice low commitment offer with a clear expectation and benefit to the reader.

The new call-to-action buttons lead to a form specific to this offer, which let’s visitors what the next steps are.

Feel free to use these same strategies in your landing pages. Or, if you’d like help optimizing your pages for conversions, please contact me.

The post Landing Page Makeover: Lakebed.io appeared first on SEAN KIRBY.

But before diving in, if you haven’t already, read this post. That’s going to help you develop a plan for long-term success that will make all of these tactics more effective.

One other word of advice before moving on: This blog post is massive (over 5,000 words), and not every content promotion tactic covered is going to be worth the time and effort for every blog. Focus on the ones that provide the best results for you and don’t worry about the others.

To make it a little easier to navigate, I’ve included a table of contents.

Content Promotion Tactics

• SEO
• Email your content to subscribers
• Include a link in your email signature
• Post to your social media accounts
• Send direct messages in Twitter
• Include Click to Tweets in your posts
• Use snip.ly to turn curation into promotion
• Guest blogging
• Syndicate your content
• Submit your content to aggregator sites
• Share articles in online communities and forums
• Submit to social bookmarking sites
• Microblog with Tumblr
• Reach out to influencers
• Reach out to people who curate content
• Answer questions on Quora
• Leave comments on other blogs
• Promote on your own site
• Run Facebook ads
• Run Twitter ads
• Use content syndication networks

SEO

Search engines have the potential to deliver massive amounts of targeted traffic on an ongoing basis. Google alone processes over 40,000 search queries every second on average.

The problem is, most of that traffic never gets beyond the first few results on the page. That’s where SEO comes in.

Getting your content to rank high in search engines takes considerable time and effort, but it’s well worth it. Sites like Wordstream and WebMD, just to name a couple, get the majority of their traffic this way.

If you’re not familiar with search engine optimization, check out this beginner’s guide put together by the folks at MOZ. It’s an excellent resource for learning the basics that won’t overwhelm you.

It would be impossible to include everything there is to know about SEO in this post. (There are entire websites dedicated to these topics that continue to regularly publish new content.) But at the risk of oversimplifying, it all boils down to three things:

1. Creating content that meets the needs of your market based on their searches

Keyword stuffing is not a viable strategy in 2020. But it does no good to create content that nobody is searching for. That’s why keyword research remains an important part of SEO.

Finding good keywords can be a tricky balancing act. You’re looking for something that has enough search volume to generate worthwhile traffic, but isn’t so competitive that you’ll never be able to rank.

Here are a few tips that may help:

Search for long tail keywords. These are phrases that include multiple words like the example below.The search volume decreases with the length of the tail, but so does the competition. And because it’s specific, it’s easier to match the searcher’s intent. In the example below, that would be learning beginner SEO strategies.

Use a tool like Google Keyword Planner to find information on how many times per month that term is searched and how competitive it is. Use the suggestion feature to find the specific phrasing that gives you the best mix of volume vs. competition.

Plug your terms into Google Trends to see how much interest there is in that search over time. If you notice any that are trending up, you may want to prioritize those first to take advantage.

For in-depth keyword research instruction, I recommend Brain Dean’s Definitive Guide.

Once you know what people are searching for, it’s time to create content to meets those needs. At a minimum you want it to be:

• Unique in some way. There’s a lot of parroting on the Internet these days, and it feels like you read the same articles over again and again with just different wording. Add something new to the conversation.
• Easy to read and understand. If it feels like work, I’ll just go to the next option.
• Entertaining. I know a lot of people think of content as more educational. And to an extent it is, but the education has to be enjoyable or nobody will bother.
• Satisfying. Great content answers the questions readers have and gives them the information they need to put it to use. There should be no reason to go and search another source after consuming great content.

2. Organizing that content so that it’s easily accessible to search engine spiders

If search engines can’t access or index your content, it will be impossible for you to rank. That’s why it’s important to make sure your site and content is structured properly and that you’re technical SEO is in order.

There are several sites that offer free audits which may help you discover technical SEO issues. Just do a google search to find one. Google Search Console and PageSpeed Insights are also helpful resources to check out.

3. Demonstrating the value of that content through key metrics

Search engines use several factors to determine the value of the content they index, which can improve your rankings.

Many of these factors are related to user behavior, such as time on site and bounce rate. The advice in Why Nobody is Actually Reading Your Content and What to do About it can help with these things.

Backlinks are another big quality signal. It makes sense when you think about it. You’re not going to link to something unless it adds value. It’s like a vote of confidence from the linking site.

But it’s not just about quantity of backlinks. The quality of the referring site is important, too. In fact, too many low quality links will actually hurt your score.

So how do you get sites to link to your content?

This epic guide to link building strategies will give you lots of actionable ideas.

Email your content to subscribers

You know who is likely to be interested in your content?

People who have expressed an interest before. Emailing them when you publish new content is an easy and effective way to drive high quality traffic to your site.

Email is an easy and effective way to drive high quality traffic to your content. Get even more ideas here. #contentmarketing
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The most challenging part is building your email list to the size where this strategy makes an impact. But when you do, it can continually bring people back to your site.

If you need ideas or instruction on how to build an email list, check out this comprehensive guide Sarah Peterson and Sean Bestor created for Sumo.com.

When creating the content promotion email, you have a couple of options.

You can automate the process in email solutions like MailChimp. With this option, the program picks up information such as the title and URL from your site’s RSS feed and drops them into a set template. If you publish new content often, this method can be a real time saver. But it can be limiting, too.

Your second option is to create a specific email for each piece of content you’re promoting. It takes more time and effort, but you have the opportunity to build interest in the particular content you’re promoting.

Include a link in your email signature

Did you know that the biggest driver of Hotmail’s growth was a simple link at the bottom of those emails? Over 100,000 new users signed up within the first month of adding it. And it just kept growing form there.

I’m not suggesting that a similar link in your email will drive anywhere close to that kind of growth in your blog. But it is an easy way to get some extra mileage out of something you are already doing. And it only takes a few minutes.

Ask everyone on your team to do the same to reach even more people.

Post to your social media accounts

This is probably the first thing you do when you publish a post, right? No, I’m not psychic. That’s what just about every blogger does. So why is it that some blogs drive a ton of traffic through social and others barely see a blip?

Part of it has to do with the type of content you’re sharing. Emotional, inspiring or surprising topics are more likely to get noticed and shared on social media than how-to information.

But part of it also has to do with strategy and effort. You won’t realize the potential of these networks for content promotion if you just add a link and call it a day.

First, it’s important to remember that what drives success in social media is different than what works for SEO. You need to adjust for that.

While the images in blog posts are often used to help explain concepts or illustrate points from the text, the main purpose of images in social media is to get attention. Choose your images accordingly.

When it comes to text in social, keywords aren’t nearly as important as intrigue and emotion.
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And the extra effort doesn’t end there. You should also customize your posts for each platform.

Facebook. The text you add to your post will appear above the image and link. Use it to set up the content or add a more personal message. The ideal image size is 1200 x 630 pixels.

Twitter. You only have about 140 characters to play with, so you need to keep the text short and sweet. Pithy calls-to-action like retweet requests can work well. Use a URL shortener such as Bit.ly to save some space on the link text. The ideal image size is 440 x 220 pixels.

Tweets move quickly through timelines, so be sure to include hashtags and @ handles to maximize views.

LinkedIn. This is a professional networking social media site, so your updates should be professional and relevant. Be sure to include unique comments that add context. Asking questions and encouraging feedback is also a good way to get people to interact with your post. A featured image of 1104 x 736 pixels is ideal.

Pinterest. With this one, the image most important thing, so this is perfect for infographics and other visual content. Choose your best images, describe what the pin is about and include link to the full content.

Instagram. Like Pinterest, Instagram is a visual medium, but the lifespan of a post in people’s feeds is much shorter. Think of it like Twitter for images, and communicate main points succinctly in the captions. Shoot for an image size of 1080 x 1080 pixels.

The timing also makes a difference. While many sites recommend the ideal time to post on each platform, I chose not to include recommendations here. Many have more success posting on off-peak times when there is less competing for users’ attention. It will also vary by audience. So you should experiment with different times and roll out whatever gives you the best results.

Send direct messages in Twitter

Sending a direct message to someone on Twitter is easy. Sending that message to a large number of followers can be more challenging. You can only message people who follow you, and the group messaging feature can’t include more than 20 users.

For these reasons, you’ll want to pick and choose when and to whom you message.

One option is to send a message with a link to your blog when someone starts following you.

You can also message your most influential or active followers related to the blog topic. Segmenting these people into lists for each category or topic you blog about can make this task easier.

Include Click to Tweets in your posts

As mentioned above, the lifespan of a tweet is short. That’s why social media gurus like Guy Kawasaki recommend you repeat your tweets multiple times. But that still only reaches people who already follow you. Ideally, you want people to retweet or share your content with their followers.

Enter Click to Tweet. This nifty plug-in lets you create prewritten messages that users can tweet with the click of a button. Place them in your blog posts and be sure to include a link to the post.

Social media gurus like Guy Kawasaki recommend you repeat your tweets multiple times.
Click To Tweet

The best Click to Tweet messages are things that make the reader look good or have a high emotional aspect to them. Here are a few ideas.

• Include an inspiring quote or pick out a line from the article to use as a pull quote.
• Provide a pearl of wisdom. This works especially well for list posts where you can use one of the points and link to the full article for the rest.
• Highlight surprising facts or statistics. Everyone wants to be seen as someone “in the know.”

Use snip.ly to turn curation into promotion

Finding and sharing great content other people have created is great for providing value and building a following. But it doesn’t bring much direct traffic your way. That’s where snip.ly comes in.

This solution adds a custom call to action on top of the content you share, so that you can bring people to your site.

By creating unique snips for each of your articles or videos, you can align your content promotion with the context of the reader’s experience. Say, for instance, you publish an article on how to monetize a blog. You could place a snip on articles around blogging or making money online inviting people to read your article.

That’s the approach I took to promote my CRO copywriting ebook.

Guest blogging

I’ll be honest. Guest blogging doesn’t make sense purely as a content promotion tactic. The impact is low compared to the effort involved. However, guest posting on a popular blog is a great way to establish yourself as a thought leader and build your personal brand. And if you do it for that reason, you might as well get some direct traffic as well.

The best way to do this is by including a link to your content within the post. But you have to do it the right way.

Nobody wants to read a sales pitch in the middle of an article. So you need to make sure that whatever link you include fits within the context of the piece. It should also provide unique value. That could be to provide examples or to offer information on a related subject.

It’s also a good idea to include outbound links to other sites. It shows that you’re trying to provide genuine value to the reader rather than just gaining traffic. That’s what readers want, which makes it what the site you’re posting on wants.

You can also include a link to an article in your bio, but I wouldn’t do it with just any random piece of content. The bio area is not likely to be updated regularly, so it’s best to save it for some sort of lead generator or cornerstone content.

Take a look at this guide for ideas on finding guest blogging opportunities.

Syndicate your content

What if instead of just including a link to your content on someone else’s site (like in guest blogging), you could include your whole article? That’s what content syndication is.

There are three basic types of syndication.

The easiest form of this is self-syndication, where you republish your content on Medium or LinkedIn.

Next, there are services that place your content across networks of syndicated sites. See the section on paid content distribution services.

Finally, you can try to get third party sites to republish your content. This is the blueprint Buffer used to get syndicated on Huffington Post, Fast Company and Inc., among others.

You may be thinking, “Won’t Google penalize me for duplicate content?”

As long as you and your syndication partner have your technical SEO in order, you shouldn’t have anything to worry about.

One thing that you should consider, though, is possible cannibalization of traffic. The site you are republishing on may get take potential traffic away from the original content on your site. The extra visibility is usually worth it, but it is something to keep in mind.

Submit your content to aggregator sites

Aggregator sites like Alltop are 100% curated content collections. They need content. You need places to distribute your content.

However, like most things, it’s not quite that simple. Many aggregator sites are full of spammy content. That won’t reflect well on your content or your brand. So you want to be choosy about where you submit.

It works in reverse, too. The best aggregator sites only want to collect and display the best content. So you need to ensure that your content makes the grade.

You’ll also want to find aggregators specific to your industry. Zest.is is good example of an aggregator specific to the marketing industry.

Share articles in online communities and forums

Communities and forums are great places to find engaged readers. If they leave comments on these sites, there is a good chance they could comment on your content as well. But you need to remember that it’s a two-way street.

Nobody joins communities to be sold to. If you go on there and just start pushing your content, you’re likely to get kicked to the curb.

"Nobody joins communities to be sold to." Here is the right way to promote your content in on these places.
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As a general rule, before you promote any content in these places, spend some time to actually become part of the community. Familiarize yourself with the rules and etiquette. Participate in a few discussions. Demonstrate your value.

When you’re ready to share your content, give a reason aside from just promoting your stuff. For instance, you could ask a question related to the topic or share insights about what you learned while researching and creating the piece.

Here is a short list of the top communities and forums to check out.

Reddit

This popular site is a collection of forums, known as subreddits. Each subreddit is run by its own moderator and has its own set of guidelines. Make sure you know what they are so that you don’t get blacklisted.

But simply following the rules is not enough. Reddit has a built-in voting system to help maintain quality. Users can upvote or downvote any comment, so it’s important to make sure you are adding value with every contribution.

Getting featured on the first page of a subreddit can drive significant traffic to your site.

Industry-specific forums

Many industries or niches have their own forums. With smart content promotion, these can be excellent sources of targeted traffic.

For example, coders frequently visit HackerNews. And GrowthHackers.com is a great place to engage with marketers.

Social media groups

LinkedIn and Facebook groups allow you to reach people beyond just your immediate connections on these platforms. But just like with subreddits, each group has its own set of rules. Before you share any content or links, make sure it’s allowed.

Blogging communities

The concept behind these communities is to bring bloggers together to help promote each other’s content. These are some of the most well-known blogging communities:

BizSugar. This community focuses on topics related to small businesses and entrepreneurs.

BlogEngage. This community has a large membership but there is a fee to join. Actually there are multiple tiers of membership. You’ll want to carefully consider what the different benefits are worth to you before committing to anything.

Social Buzz Club. This community uses gamification to encourage collaboration and reciprocal sharing, assigning points for such activities.

Viral Content Bee. In order to ensure you put in what you get out, Viral Content Bee uses a credit system. You earn credits by sharing others content. You can then use your accrued credit to incentivize others to share your content.

Triberr. The platform organizes members into “tribes” of like-minded bloggers and influencers with the goal of amplifying content. There are both free and paid plans.

Submit to social bookmarking sites

You’ve probably used or at least seen the bookmarking feature in your favorite web browser. Social bookmarking sites are like the public version of that. Not only can you go back to find the links you saved, but you can see what other people save as well. And they can see yours.

Content marketers have been known to see large spikes in traffic by making it on the first page of these social bookmarking sites:

Digg

Digg is a popular site for discovering new and interesting content. And it can provide a significant boost if you get yours featured on the main page. Of course that’s easier said than done.

Lifewire offers some tips on how to use this platform to get more traffic to your blog.

Scoop.it

This is billed more as content curation tool than a bookmarking site, but the premise is similar. You add content where it can be discovered by others. The main difference between Scoop.it and other social bookmarking sites is that the content is organized into collections curated by each user.

That means simply reposting your content here won’t give you the traffic bump you’re looking for. But you can use it to build a following and pull in new traffic to your site over time. This guide from Search Engine Journal explains how. 

Diigo

This site is popular among academics, thanks in part to features like annotation. If you are in the education niche or if your audience includes students or teachers, this could be a good platform to leverage.

Microblog with Tumblr

Microblogging is like blogging, but with bite-sized pieces if content rather than the long form content most regular blogs publish. Many people prefer to consume this type of content, especially when they are scanning their feeds rather than searching for something in particular.

Twitter is probably the most popular and best known microblogging platform, but it’s certainly not the only one. Tumblr is a popular option that offers a bit more flexibility, especially with design.

Here’s a quick guide to help you get started.

As with any type of platform used for content promotion, building a following is key to success on Tumblr. For valuable tips on doing just that, read this post about how Eli Seekins was able to get 8k followers on Tumblr in 5 months without ever logging in.

Reach out to influencers

It’s not hard to understand why influencer outreach is a popular content promotion strategy. You want lots of people to view your content. Influencers have lots of followers to promote your content to.

The first step is finding these influencers. You can probably think of a few well known and respected leaders in your industry off the top of your head.

Popular blogs, podcasts and YouTube channels are great places to find more influencers. You can also use a tool like BuzzSumo which lets you search for influencers by topics.

When evaluating influencers, you want to look at more than just their reach, especially with social media. Look at what types of people are following each influencer to make sure they are in your target market.

Also look at how engaged the influencer and his or her followers are. It’s better to attract a smaller number of highly engaged readers than a large number of apathetic people.

When you have a good list of influencers, you’ll need their contact information. Email is the best way to reach out to these people, but in a pinch, communicating via social media is an option, too. You can find most emails with tools such as VoilaNorbert and Humter.io.

That’s the easy part. The hard part is not getting ignored when you reach out for content promotion.

The most important thing to do is give a good reason for reaching out. I know you want them to share your content on social media and link to it. But that’s a good reason for you, not them. Why should they care? For example, you could:

• Let them know you’ve mentioned or quoted them
• Tell them about how it improves or expands on something they already link to
• Play to their ego and ask them for input before publishing your content

Here are a few more tips:

Personalize your message. Influencers will ignore you if they think you’re sending a mass form email.

Try to establish a relationship before you ask for anything in return. Think about it. Would you be more likely to do something for someone you know and like or for a complete stranger?

Don’t email the same people every time you publish something. That can quickly get annoying and they may stop looking at your emails all together. Instead, select a few key people who are the best fit for that particular topic. Keeping a log of your contact activity in a CRM or spreadsheet can help.

If you think an influencer may be receptive to more frequent updates about your content, ask if you can add them to your list. This works best when you have a good relationship already.

Reach out to people who curate content

Let other people help with your content promotion. Simply do a search for link roundup or newsletters in your industry and suggest your content to the curator. Here are a few search terms to try:

“weekly roundup” + your industry

“monthly roundup” + your industry

“link roundup” + your industry

“inurl:roundup” + your industry

“intitle:roundup” + your industry

“best of” + your industry

You can also find link roundups by exploring your competitors’ backlinks. Simply plug the URL to one of their content pages into your favorite backlink checker and explore the referring sites. There’s a good chance that many of those links are coming from link roundups.

The people who put together these roundups may be the perfect target for your outreach. Not only have they proven that they share other people’s content, it’s actually a promotion strategy.

That doesn’t mean it’s easy, though. These people get emails all the time from content creators, and the standards are high.

Treat your pitch the same way you should when reaching out to influencers for social shares and backlinks. Make sure you give a good reason why they should include your content. How will it benefit their audience? Why is it better than other content on the subject?

See the tips above for more ways to improve your odds of success.

Answer questions on Quora

This works for the same reason SEO works. The internet is usually the first place people turn for answers to their questions. But you have much less competition for your audience’s attention on Quora than on Google.

Capitalizing on this requires more than simply answering questions with links to you blog posts.

Remember, people are smart. They know you want to get traffic to your site, and if content promotion is all there is to your answer, they’ll simply move on the next without a second glance.

The key, just as with many of these strategies, is to build credibility and establish trust by providing value.

Spend time crafting well thought out, detailed answers, even if your blog posts include all the information a reader needs. Including links to your blog as supporting information is good, but your Quara answer should be able to stand alone.

Why? Because people are looking for answers on Quora. Making them go to another site for the answer adds friction.

So how do you drive traffic back to your site, then?

Some will come by placing non-intrusive links towards the end of your answers or mixed into a list post among external links. You can also drive a good portion of traffic from your profile page if you consistently provide great answers and build a following.

For a deep dive, including how to choose which questions to answer, how to optimize your profile and other pro tips, check out this article from the “Top Quora Writer of 2017.”

Leave comments on other blogs

I’m not advocating comment spam. That’s likely to get blocked, and even if it does get through, people are more likely to view you negatively than to click through to your content.

Instead, you want to include your links in a non-promotional way. There are a couple of ways to do this.

1. Look for questions within the comments you can answer. That adds value directly in response to someone’s request. Use Control F to search the page for “?” to save time.
2. Add unique insight that extends the value of the original post. For example, let’s say you wrote a case study on a particular link building technique. You could look for articles that mention that technique and talk about the results while referencing the case study.

But you don’t need to include a link in every comment to make this content promotion strategy work for you.

Many sites use comment systems that include profiles of the commenter. When you leave comments readers find valuable, they have a reason to check out your profile and follow the links you include there.

Consistently leaving messages that contribute to the conversation also helps you get noticed by the articles’ writers. Often these people are influencers who can help amplify your content promotion now and in the future.

Promote on your own site

When you think about promoting your latest blog post, you probably go straight to external sources. But your own site is a great place to start. Who is going to be a more targeted audience than people already reading your content?

Here are two good ways to drive readers to your other content:

1. Internal linking within content

It’s a good idea to include links to other pages on your site whenever you create new content. Not only is it good for getting more page views, it also helps with SEO. But that’s only one side of the coin.

Don’t forget to go back to your existing content and add links to the new posts you publish as well.

1. Related posts listings

It’s easy to add links to related content at the end of your posts, especially if you use a plug-in like Related Posts by AddThis.

Run Facebook ads

The reach and affordability of Facebook advertising makes it an attractive option for paid content promotion. For promoting blog posts in particular, you have a few options:

Boosted posts are the easiest option when you already post your content on your Facebook page. There is nothing new to create. You simply need to specify your audience and Facebook will display your post to those people with the word “sponsored” at the top.

Another option is to create dark posts promoting your content before you post anything on your timeline. This can be helpful if you want to test and optimize your headline, images or copy without cluttering up your page.

Run Twitter ads

Just like with Facebook, the simplest option for advertising on Twitter is to promote something you’ve already created.

When selecting your objective, be sure to choose website clicks or conversions. That way you pay only when people click through to your blog or whatever content you’re promoting.

Don’t rush through the targeting, because this is the most important aspect of the process. Remember, you don’t simply want traffic. You want high quality traffic. Try to target the people who best fit your ideal reader personas.

Use content syndication networks

Most of the time when promoting your content, you’re trying to stand out. But sometimes it makes sense to do the opposite. That’s the idea behind native advertising. Making your content look like part of a site people know and trust can attract people who normally don’t give ads a second glance.

While this type of advertising has been around since long before the internet, it’s risen in popularity recently thanks to content syndication networks like Outbrain and Taboola.

You’ve likely come across sponsored stories like these before:

There are multiple content syndication networks to explore, including:

Outbrain

Quuu

Zemanta

Taboola

For more information on how you can use content syndication networks for content promotion, check out this article from Quicksprout.com.

Conclusion

At this point you may be thinking, how am I ever going to do all this?

You probably won’t. And you shouldn’t. That wouldn’t leave time for much else. Instead, focus on the content promotion methods that deliver the most impact and don’t worry about those ones that don’t give you a return. Remember, your time is worth money, too.

Have I missed anything? Is there a content promotion method you swear by? Let me know in the comments.

The post The definitive guide to content promotion appeared first on SEAN KIRBY.

For this exercise, I made over a page promoting music lessons for a company called Music & Arts that I found through a paid search ad on Google. Here’s what it looks like as I’m writing this post and how I would optimize it for more conversions.

BEFORE

AFTER

One of the first things you’ll notice about the original is that this is a regular page on the site rather than a dedicated landing page created for the PPC campaign. That makes conversion more challenging. Visitors can be coming from just about any source, for a variety reasons. To appeal to them, the page has to be a bit general.

Then there’s the site navigation. It can be helpful when visitors need to find what they are looking for. But it can also take them away from the page before they’ve completed your desired action.

That’s why I recommend creating dedicated landing pages for all conversion-focused campaigns. And that’s just what I did with my makeover. Let’s take a closer look.

Hero area

The top of any landing page is the most valuable area you have to work with. That’s why the top section is often referred to as the hero section. It won’t matter how good the rest of the page is if you don’t convince readers to continue on.

Unfortunately, the current page falls flat. Logos, navigation and irrelevant content, such as the offer at the very top of the page, take up over half of the area visible above the fold. The form and a video are only partially visible.

While the copy that does show tells you what it is you should do as a visitor, it doesn’t provide much of a reason to do it.

Since my makeover page is a dedicated landing page solely focused on conversions, I removed all the links and functions that could distract from the objective. I also made the Lesson Studio logo smaller so that the headline and offer stand out more. As a result, the entire hero section is visible above the fold.

Even more important, it allows me to feature a more targeted offer. If people are coming from an ad with the search term music lessons, it’s safe to assume that they are exploring their options rather than looking to commit to a specific provider.

I found the perfect one in a line at the end of the video, which mentioned touring the facility and meeting the instructors. It’s much easier to get a visitor to do that then sign up for lessons sight unseen.

Social proof callout

The offer wasn’t the only nugget I found buried in Music & Arts’s current material. Amid a long list of bullets was this statistic about providing over 1 million lessons! That’s the sort of social proof that builds credibility and helps you stand out from the competition.

As you can see, it makes an effective callout below the hero section. Not only does it provide a visual separation between sections, it provides the perfect transition to the next section with the line “See why so many people of all ages and skill levels choose the Lesson Studio at Music & Arts.”

Benefits and features

The hero area usually gets most of the focus. While there’s good reason for that, don’t underestimate how important this section on a landing page as well. Intriguing visitors into reading your page is only part of the job. If you want them to convert, you need to convince.

That’s what the features and benefits section is for. It’s you opportunity to back up your claims, demonstrate your value and highlight your differentiators.

The current page doesn’t do this as effectively as it could. There are several reasons for that.

First, the headings lack punch. Does seeing “Your Curriculum” fire you up so you can’t wait to read more? Me neither.

Next, nothing is really fleshed out here. It’s all just bullet points. Those are great for breaking up long text, but when the whole text is bullets, they lose their effect. And with that many, there’s nothing to focus on. What is really important to the reader?

Even worse, they lack context to make them meaningful. You can’t effectively communicate in bullet points alone. Don’t be afraid to use paragraphs, despite what you hear about nobody reading anything any more.

For the makeover, I chose to focus on just the most important selling points and back each up with supporting points that add credibility, context and interest. For example, the text under “Qualified music teachers” reads:

“If you’ve ever felt lost watching a music lesson on YouTube, you know the difference between mere instructing and true teaching. That’s why Music & Arts is chooses teachers carefully.

“All are university trained and provided with continuing education. And background checks ensure that high standards are met, so students have a safe and comfortable learning experience.”

Notice how the comparing it to YouTube lessons gives readers something they can picture and plays on the frustration of not being bale to understand the instructor?

Testimonials

Music & Arts did a good job including testimonials on the page. They are great for building credibility because it’s customers endorsing the company rather than the company making claims about itself.

That’s why I wanted them to stand out more in my makeover. Ideally it would have been great to include a headshot of the people who provided the quotes, but since I don’t have access to the information on these people, I chose to increase the text size and put them in a colored band.

You’ll also notice that I only used half of the testimonials. That’s because the other three are not from students or customers, but from instructors. Since the makeover is a dedicated landing page, I can make it more targeted.

Calls to action and form

The most obvious difference between the current page form and the makeover page form is the positioning. It’s toward the top of the page on the original and at the bottom of the makeover page.

There’s no right or wrong way to handle this. Many successful pages have the form visible above the fold. It does immediately let people know about the purpose of the page.

Ultimately, I decided to move it to the bottom because I wanted to keep the “what happens when you complete the form” copy in close proximity to the form itself. There simply wasn’t enough real estate for all that and the other elements I wanted to lead with.

It provides a nice close to the page as well., which the original doesn’t have. Even if I had left the form at the top, I would have included some call to action at the end.

Without the form at the top to let visitors know up front what they should do, I make sure to include a button which links to the form. In fact, I also included a button at the end of the features and benefits section. This reinforces the offer and makes it easy for visitors to take action.

I made this button blue rather that red to stand out. Since the color contrasts with everything else on the page, your eye is naturally drawn to it. The e-commerce part of the Music & Arts site uses this same color for buttons, so it still fits within the overall brand scheme.

I also wanted the form itself to stand out more, so I encapsulated it with a red boarder. The original blends into the page at first glance.

BEFORE

AFTER

The other thing I wanted to do with the form was reduce the number of fields. The more information you ask for, the more friction you create. Test after test has shown that as the number of fields goes up, conversion rates go down.

Instead of asking for both first and last names, I included a single name field. For this first step, that’s probably all you need. “Are these lessons for you?” is probably not needed either, since Music & Arts can easily ask that when they respond to the prospect. So that isn’t in the makeover form.

Assuming that their funnel includes both phone and email follow-ups, I left those fields. The ZIP code and area of study are also probably needed to match the prospect with the right Music & Arts location, so those fields stayed.

That left the reCaptcha field. The technology is at a point now where reCaptcha can detect suspected robots without requiring a field, so I got rid of that too.

We’re left with a more streamlined form that’s quicker and easier to complete.

My final change was to replace “submit now” with more descriptive button text. Submitting a form isn’t exciting, and it doesn’t give any clues about what will happen next. “Get started” fits the bill nicely.

A couple other notes

You may have noticed that I used a different video than the original page. I did this because the one in the makeover fits the messaging of that page a bit more closely. I didn’t produce this video, so I won’t write too much about it, but you can view them both and see for yourself.

On a desktop or laptop, there was an empty space after the copy next to the form. I added the arrow to fill that space as well as visually connect the copy to the form and draw added attention to it.

If you’d like help optimizing your pages for conversions, please contact me.

The post Landing Page Makeover: Music & Arts Lesson Studio appeared first on SEAN KIRBY.

So why aren’t I doing that?

Because it wouldn’t be as helpful to you. At least not yet. In fact, it would probably do you more harm than good. You could spend hours every day completing a list like that with very little to show for it. That’s one reason “How do I get more traffic to my blog?” is one of the questions I hear most.

It’s not that those promotional tactics are bad. In fact, you’ll need to use many of them to build your audience. But you need to know how and when to use them.

The first thing you need to do is change your mindset away from “I have a new blog post, now how do I drive traffic to it?” Really, you need to start way before you write your post, especially in the beginning. Blog promotion is the epitome of flywheel marketing.

If you’re not familiar with the concept, read this excerpt from Jim Collins’ book Good to Great:

Picture a huge, heavy flywheel—a massive metal disk mounted horizontally on an axle, about 30 feet in diameter, 2 feet thick, and weighing about 5,000 pounds. Now imagine that your task is to get the flywheel rotating on the axle as fast and long as possible. Pushing with great effort, you get the flywheel to inch forward, moving almost imperceptibly at first. You keep pushing and, after two or three hours of persistent effort, you get the flywheel to complete one entire turn. You keep pushing, and the flywheel begins to move a bit faster, and with continued great effort, you move it around a second rotation. You keep pushing in a consistent direction. Three turns … four … five … six … the flywheel builds up speed … seven … eight … you keep pushing … nine … ten … it builds momentum … eleven … twelve … moving faster with each turn … twenty … thirty … fifty … a hundred.

Then, at some point—breakthrough! The momentum of the thing kicks in in your favor, hurling the flywheel forward, turn after turn … whoosh! … its own heavy weight working for you. You’re pushing no harder than during the first rotation, but the flywheel goes faster and faster. Each turn of the flywheel builds upon work done earlier, compounding your investment of effort. A thousand times faster, then ten thousand, then a hundred thousand. The huge heavy disk flies forward, with almost unstoppable momentum.

Getting traffic to your blog is just like pushing that flywheel. It takes a tremendous amount of effort to get it going, and you just can’t afford to spend time and effort on a spray and pry approach. You need to exert your energy on the things that are going to get the wheel moving.

But when you do build momentum, everything becomes much easier. For instance, when you get more subscribers, there are more people likely to share your posts, which brings in new readers who may subscribe. That’s one turn of the wheel. And you can see how it builds each time around.

And that’s just one simple example. The ideal blog promotion plan for you may include a combination of compounding tactics and factors. But you have a little work to do first.

Start here for best results

Before you jump into promotional tactics, you need to develop a strategy. And I’m not just talking about a marketing strategy. I’m talking about a business strategy. Here’s why.

Your potential readers don’t need another blog. They already have dozens to choose from in just about every niche. What they need is something better. They need something more actionable, more insightful or more relevant. They need something they can’t get elsewhere.

You need to determine how you are going to differentiate and provide this unique value.

For example, when Peep Laja decided to start ConversionXL, he studied the competition first. He noticed that most posted short articles that were a little thin on the content. So he decided to go in-depth. The results speak for themselves.

Groove is another example of a blog that found success through differentiation. Instead of writing the standard “how to” articles most start up blogs post, Groove’s founder offered a transparent look at Groove’s successes and failures in their Startup Journey blog. He has stated that this is their biggest driver of new customers.

If you want blogging to work for you, it’s essential to figure out what’s going to make you different than the sea of other options.

Study the other blogs in your niche. What are their strengths? What are the weaknesses? Are there any content gaps you can exploit? Can you niche down? Can you establish a unique voice or angle that stands out?

But don’t just think about the topics of your blog. Your audience is even more important to your strategy. Determine who your ideal reader is and formulate a promotion strategy around that.

If you know that your target readers are active on reddit, for instance, it makes sense to spend effort establishing and leveraging a presence on relevant subreddits. If they aren’t, then don’t waste time there.

When researching your audience, consider questions such as:

• Where do your target readers hang out online?
• How do they discover new content?
• How do they prefer to consume that content?

The simplest and most effective way to research your audience is to talk to them directly. Identify people who might benefit from your blog, let them know what you’re doing and ask them if you can set up a quick chat. Here’s a few places you can find potential readers.

Similar blogs

The comments section is a great place to find potential readers. These people have shown that they not only read this content, but also actively engage with it. And many comment apps include the commenter’s profile.

Look, this handsome fellow commented on this blog.

With that name, image and profile, it shouldn’t be hard to find a way to reach out. Here are just two options:

Look, his site is listed. I can use the contact page to reach out.

Here he is on LinkedIn. Maybe send an InMail?

Forums and communities related to your niche

The idea here is the same as with the comments section. To increase your chances of building relationships that can drive blog traffic, be sure to participate in the community before asking for favors.

BuzzSumo

Social shares are another action that may indicate a reader is a good fit for your content. For that, there is no better tool than BuzzSumo.

The app shows you the most shared content for your search term, and even breaks it down by social channel. Simply click the View Sharers link, and you can see people who shared that content in the first 2-3 days after it was published.

And here’s one last consideration as you plan your strategy:

Your content will dictate a large part of your strategy. SEO won’t be as important for a blog of your poetry as it would for a “how to” blog, because people don’t typically search for random poems. Instead, finding ways to generate social shares and word of mouth would be critical for driving traffic. Ask yourself: how and why would a reader likely come across my content?

Consider the difference between these two sites:

Most of the traffic to Upworthy comes from social media, while most Forbes gets the majority of its traffic from search engines.

That being said, you’ll most likely want to focus one or more of these things.

Build an email list.

Email gives you direct access to your readers. So every time you publish new content, you can let them know about it. And it’s not just effective at bringing traffic to your site. It also converts readers into paying customers. According to the DMA, email has an average ROI of 3800 percent and one in five companies report an ROI of over 70:1!

One of the most popular ways to collect email addresses is to offer a resource such as an ebook, special report or email course. Just make sure that what you’re offering gives enough value for readers to justify giving you their email address.

Get backlinks.

You may be wondering why I listed backlinks specifically rather than the more complete SEO. It’s because generating backlinks give you a single SMART goal to focus on. And like all good flywheel marketing tactics, the results compound.

This resource offers some good information on link building campaigns and offers practical ideas on generating backlinks.

Develop your brand.

It’s easier to get backlinks, social share views and other benefits when you are known as an established expert in your field. Think about it, which would you be more likely to link to and share: an article by someone you’ve never heard of or someone generally known and respected in your industry?

Guest blogging is a great way to do this. So don’t save your best articles just for your site. The value goes beyond direct referral traffic.

You can also invest in strategies outside of blogging to build your reputation. For instance, you can leave well thought out, helpful answers and comments on sites like Quora and Hacker News. Or you could try to get featured on podcasts or in news stories.

When you’re ready to implement your strategy, follow this framework.

The 3 Step Content Marketing Process to Drive Blog Traffic

Step 1: Lay the groundwork

It’s tempting to want to jump right into the creation part of content marketing. After all, that’s the fun part. But you shouldn’t. This old ad explains why:

Make no mistake. You’re trying to sell your content, even if you aren’t charging money. If you want people to link to or promote your content, you’re asking people to spend their time and effort. And you’re more likely to have success if they know a little bit about you first.

The easiest thing you can do to get on influencers’ radars is start sharing their content. You probably shouldn’t share everything they’ve ever written. That would be disingenuous. But if you share enough over a period of time, those influencers should start to recognize your name.

Make sure to tag them when you share on your social media accounts. This way, they’ll get notified and start to recognize your name.

Another option is to comment on their blog posts. I’m not talking about generic comments like, “Great post!” Nobody is going to remember you for that. I mean thoughtful comments that add to the conversation.

Similarly, you can participate in forums and online communities these influential people belong to. This can be a great way to start a dialog directly.

If you really want to stand out and get on an influencer’s good side, use your unique expertise or skills to him or her out. Let’s say, for instance, that you are great with technical web development. You could offer some suggestions on ways to speed up the influencer’s site.

No matter how you choose to get noticed and connect, the key is to add value without an expectation of anything in return. Give multiple times before you ask for help promoting your content.

Step 2: Create something worth promoting

Think about all the big promotional tactics you hear about. Getting influencers to share your content. Building high authority backlinks. Syndication. None of those will be effective if the content doesn’t warrant it. Nobody wants to share or link to crappy content.

At a minimum, you want to make sure your content is:

Unique in some way. There’s a lot of parroting on the Internet these days, and it feels like you read the same articles over again and again with just different wording. Add something new to the conversation.

Easy to read and understand. If it feels like work, I’ll just go to the next option.

Entertaining. I know a lot of people think of content as more educational, and to an extent it is, but the education has to be enjoyable or nobody will bother.

Satisfying. Great content answers the questions readers have and gives them the information they need to put it to use. There should be no reason to go and search another source after consuming great content.

For more specific, in-depth advice on crafting compelling content, check out these articles:

Why No One is Reading Your Content – And What You Can Do About It

How to Write Engaging Content in a Boring Industry

But this step is about more than just creating content that’s good for readers. You should also optimize your posts for your promotion strategy while you are still creating it.

Does your strategy focus on influencer outreach? Find ways to make the influencer look good. Mention them in your article, quote them, or validate something they wrote about. That’s what Brian Dean did with is infographic on the shrinking dollar.

He saw that a lot of popular financial bloggers were writing about the topic. So he knew that backing up those rants with visually interesting hard data would be appealing to these influencers.

How about building links? Make sure to turn your content into link bait. Here are a few ways:

• Be controversial. Many sites will link to information they agree with. But sites also link to content they disagree with. Being a little controversial is a great way to invite debate.
• Include an infographic or interactive tool. These types of resources get a ton of backlinks.
• Make it epic. Super in-depth content takes a lot of work and time to create. It’s much easier for most influencers to link to this information rather than do all the work to create it on their own.

What if your strategy centers around generating shares among readers? Then craft your post with that goal in mind. Be surprising. Be funny. Make the sharer look smart. Appeal to their sense of identity (or challenge it).

Consider this article on Wait But Why, which checks a couple of those boxes. It has racked up 1.2 million shares so far.

Step 3: Promote smart

It’s finally time to start promoting your content. But you have to be smart about it, otherwise you’ll waste time on things that don’t give you enough of a return on your investment.

Start by going for the low hanging fruit first.

Share your content to your owned media. This includes things like emailing your subscriber or customer list, posting a link on your social media accounts, and republishing on LinkedIn and Medium.

Reaching out to everyone you mentioned or featured in your content is another easy tactic that usually produces good results. After all, who doesn’t like to be featured in stories that help increase their exposure? People will often help spread this content without you even asking.

If you can find these people’s email addresses, shoot them a short note letting them know that you included them and provide a link so that they can read t for themselves. If you can’t find their email, you can send a tweet tagging them.

Finally, ask people in your close circle to share your content. This is a great place to start, especially if you are just getting started and don’t have a big social media following or email list.

Next focus your promotional efforts on your priorities from the strategy phase. If your focus is on SEO, concentrate on link building. If it’s social, do outreach to get shares.

Conclusion

I’ll be honest. This isn’t an easy process. In fact, it can be downright agonizing. You’ll wonder if it is worth it all. But stick with it.

After building momentum, you can then add more tactics to keep growing your traffic. But that’s a post for another time. Stay tuned.

The post How to drive blog traffic, even if nothing has worked before appeared first on SEAN KIRBY.