As I type this, it is 2:13 pm on a Wednesday, and over 4 million blog posts have already been published today.
Among those posts are the usual unoriginal, rehashed, generic and disappointing B2B and marketing blog posts written by well-meaning freelance writers who only want to meet a word count.
You know what I mean. Let’s say you search the term –
“how to get more leads from my B2B blog posts.”
You’ll be happy to find promising headlines like –
“10 Foolproof ways to Optimize your B2B blog posts for more leads – Updated for 2020”
The leading paragraph will say something like
“Blog posts are still a great way to get traffic in 2020… That’s why Hubspot says that marketers who prioritize blogging were 1300 percent more likely to yield a positive ROI than those who don’t…”
And among their “10 foolproof tips” will be points like
1. Write for your ideal audience
3. Share your content on social media
5. Don’t make your blog all about you
7. Don’t stuff your posts with keywords to rank higher
This type of content will:
- Get you some likes and retweets on social media
- Bring some pageviews & traffic on the day your blog post is published or shared.
- Never convert any qualified leads
Traffic is essential, but that’s not where it stops. You want to see all the money you are investing into content marketing reflected in the quantity and quality of leads and subscribers your B2B blog converts daily.
In my experience analyzing hundreds of B2B and Marketing blogs in the past year, I have found that the two places where B2B bloggers miss it with lead generation are:
- The quality of content
- The CTA strategy
Today you’re going to learn the exact blog content and CTA strategy we use at BlogPosts For Funnels to turn our clients’ blog traffic into thousands of qualified leads and recurring monthly income.
Let’s start with what’s wrong with your blog content and how you can fix it.
1. The quality of your content
a. Are you writing “high-level fluff” that no one wants to read?
Fluff consists of details, information, and general language that adds no value to your reader.
Fluff content is easy to spot and is usually as a result of inexperienced writers trying desperately to meet a word count.
High-level fluff is harder to spot. It consists of content that looks fine on the surface but is just every day, elementary advice on a topic. It will make your reader think – “Ugh, that’s obvious,” “No shit, thanks for the advice,” or “I already knew that.”
A high-value prospect that visits your site in search of a solution to their problem and sees this kind of content will not look forward to doing business with you. They will close that browser tab to find another blog with helpful, specific, and actionable expert advice.
Imagine you run a blog, you’re a Content manager or Marketing director, and you have a budget to generate more leads from your company’s blog. You conduct a google search for “how to get more leads with blog posts,” hoping to find some helpful advice. But instead, you see this:
The introduction:
“If you’re looking for how to generate leads for your organization, look no further than content marketing.”
The writer goes on to fit in some stats that your reader doesn’t care about or already knows.
Not only is an introduction like this wasting your reader’s time, but also sending them away – with a sour taste – to your competitor’s blog.
Here is how readers make decisions when they’re looking at your B2B content – they read your introduction to get a feel of your expertise, then skim through your subheadings to see if you mentioned anything helpful.
You need to make sure that you start to connect with them at the very beginning of the article by showing niche expertise.
Here are two other examples for the same search term “how to get more leads with blog posts.”
The Introduction:
“You’re writing stuff, and people are reading it. They’re clicking your links and arriving at your blog. Your efforts are finally paying off with a steady stream of traffic.”
You can already see a huge difference here.
The writer knows whom they’re speaking to and lets you know that they do.
Here’s an even better example:
This introduction has:
- A real example
- Real-life metrics
- A promise that you’ll learn something actionable
B2B content like this will have your prospects itching to get more information from you.
So, how do you avoid “high-level fluff?”
There are two ways that I’ve found to solve this problem:
- Hire a subject-matter expert with enough experience in your niche to create relevant and specific content for your target audience.
- Hire a writer who can interview your in-house team. Your employees have real expertise in the industry, and they’re the best people to write content for your company.
If your writers don’t have enough experience, they will keep producing blog posts with high school essay intros, speaking in high-level fluff, and losing the trust and interest of your readers.
Your content marketing efforts will continue to be a wasted investment.
b. Who are you writing for?
To write B2B articles that convert, you need to shift your focus from a broad pool of people to specific people or organizations that are a precise fit for your product. This is called account-based content marketing.
Stop creating generic blog posts that would appeal to anyone and start writing posts that will get the attention of a handful of people or companies.
To do this, you must first gain an in-depth understanding of your target market by asking questions like:
- Who buys from you, and why?
- What are your customers’ most common pain points?
- How does your buying cycle look? I.e., how many touchpoints typically take place between the first point of contact and making a sale? And what questions do the readers who convert ask along the way?
- Do they like to research their options in-depth and respond well to long-form content? Or are they always on the go, reading short-form blog posts when they have a few minutes to spare?
You can brainstorm these questions with your marketing and sales team to get the most accurate answers.
c. Is your content actionable?
Actionable content is content that your users can readily implement. It not only explains what to do but how to do it.
While editing the first draft of your blog posts, it is essential to put yourself into the mind of your ideal reader. Go through each paragraph and try to spot places where you think your reader would ask – “what does this mean” or “How can I do this.”
After identifying those parts of your draft, you can make your content more actionable by doing any of these three things:
- Explain further with real-life examples.
- Include permalinks to helpful resources.
- Add images, charts, graphics, or videos that will help them understand better.
Actionable blog posts will leave your readers feeling confident and armed with all the knowledge that they need to solve their pressing problem. And because of its high quality, it will fetch you some backlinks for SEO.
This means more traffic to your blog and a higher percentage of that traffic converted to leads. Now, Let’s take a look at your CTA strategy.
2. Your CTA Strategy
a. Is your lead magnet relevant to the blog topic?
Imagine reading a blog post about SEO and lead gen, and all of a sudden, a pop-up appears asking you to sign up to get an ebook about Instagram growth.
Funny right? But don’t be so quick to laugh.
Take a look at your blog and see if your blog topics tie in with your lead magnet. If they don’t, I challenge you to create relevant lead magnets that offer your readers more extensive insight into the problem they’re trying to solve.
Elise Dopson, a previous B2B writer for HubSpot, does this with her blog.
In her article titled “Content Outlines: How to Research the Perfect Blog Post,” she offered a free content outline template.
And in another one titled ” Growing an Affiliate Site to 7k+ Monthly Organic Visits (with <25 Posts),” she offered a free swipe file of her best content + writing tips.
b. Are your CTAs Persuasive enough?
Your Call-to-action (CTA) buttons are the buttons you use on your blog to guide readers towards your goal conversion – which can be a subscription or a sale. A great CTA is:
- Action-oriented
- Simple and precise
- Creates a sense of urgency
Let us take each of these three qualities – one after the other.
Action-oriented
Use striking Action-Packed Text. You can start by Substituting boring words like submit and enter for more action-packed words like get, reserve, and try.
Your action words should go along with specific text relating to your offer like:
- Try our free trial
- Reserve your seat (Using “your” instead of “a” works better. For example, “reserve your seat” is better than “reserve a seat”.)
- Download whitepaper
For example, Neil Patel’s Get More Traffic button text gives an impressive offer-related action.
And it doesn’t always have to be 1-3 words. You can use a short sentence or phrase as long as it remains relevant.
Simple and Precise
Your CTA text should be simple and straight to the point. It should emphasize your value proposition, give your users a reason to take action, and remove all excuses for why they wouldn’t. Take a look at ProBlogger’s CTAs.
They are both specific. Both examples also communicate the benefits of signing up as a member of their community in clear and simple terms.
Create Urgency
Your CTAs should make your readers feel like they need to become leads now, or they will be losing out on something great. In fact, 68% of millennials will make a purchase in an effort not to be left behind by their peers.
You can use any of the following terms to add a sense of urgency to your CTAs.
- Limited-time only
- Book now
- Register Today
- Start Your X Day Free Trial Now!
c. Where are your Opt-in Forms?
- Is your call-to-action within reach?
- Do readers have to the end of the page to find it?
- If your reader skims through your blog, will they miss it?
These are some questions to ask yourself when creating blog posts.
Because the average blog reader only consumes about 60% of any given article, it’s crucial to ensure that they never miss a chance to become leads.
So, if your blog content is top-notch, but you don’t have any call to action or the call to action is hidden somewhere, you need to fix this now – so you don’t lose any more qualified leads.
Here are some suggestions for where you can put your Opt-in Forms:
- Top of the page
- End of the post
- Middle of the Post
- In the sidebar
- A floating/scrolling popup
- A full-screen overlay
Ready to reap the rewards of a stellar B2B blog?
Your B2B blog posts will convert more readers to leads when you:
- Focus on providing actionable content for your specific audience.
- Stay away from fluff
- Have a foolproof CTA strategy designed to convert just about anyone that reads your blog post.
- Hire a writer with enough B2B SaaS marketing experience… And I’m one of them.
I’m a freelance B2B writer for SaaS and marketing companies.
Let’s have a chat and see if we can work together to drive targeted traffic to your site, increase conversions, and generate a return on your investment (in me).