- Depending on what your goal is, a conversion can mean anything from an email sign-up, a vote, or a purchase.
- Once you define your conversion, it’s best to figure out how to boost those conversions based on your company’s needs.
- When making these adjustments, it’s also important to set measurable goals so that you can track your progress.
After hours of writing and rewriting the content, scheduling the ideal publishing time, and promoting it on social media, your content is bringing in traffic but not converting…now what?
Cross your fingers and hope that eventually, enough people see it, and it begins to convert? Spam your mailing list? Or maybe add a pop-up?
Hubspot research found that over 60% of marketers measure the success of their content marketing strategy through sales.
The most successful marketers understand that an effective content strategy is the foundation of any successful marketing campaign. That’s why we’ll show you five content tips to boost conversion rates on your content, ranging from refocused topic strategies to CTA tweaks. And the best part is that all these tips are things your content team could start doing immediately.
So get ready to take notes.
First, what are conversions?
Before you can increase conversions, you must define one. Conversion is when a user completes a step. Conversions for your business depend on your goals.
If you are running for office, a conversion could get you a vote. If a group wants to spread a message, they may want more people to download a free ebook. On an e-commerce site, a conversion could be clicking on a product link, adding an item to the virtual shopping cart, or signing up for an email list.
Now that you have your targeted actions, you can begin optimizing content pages to increase conversions.
Five content tips to increase conversions
- Make seamless and mobile-friendly content pages.
- Write strong CTAs
- Shorten your forms.
- Skimmable Content
- Testimonials and Reviews
1. Make seamless and mobile-friendly content pages.
Even though mobile commerce now has a sizable user base, the industry’s growth shows no signs of slowing. According to BigCommerce, by 2022, mobile e-commerce sales are expected to account for 6.9% of all US retail sales, double the sales percentage in 2018. Additionally, in 2021, 63% of Google’s visits in the US were via a mobile device. However, more than 50% of mobile users will navigate away from a site if it takes more than three seconds to load.
With mobile-commerce (m-commerce) on the rise and a total shift to mobile-first indexing, a brand’s ability to win over buyers can boil down to creating a seamless experience. Think about how users navigate Instagram and other social media, swipeable and scrollable with large, bright buttons as they move from Point A to Point B. Your content pages should follow similar principles – easy to navigate with minimal interruption, aiming to make it seamless for users to navigate to conversion pages.
If you aren’t sure if your landing pages are up to par, you can use Google’s mobile test to find out.
2. Write strong, sharp CTAs.
A direct, targeted call-to-action (CTA) is a critical component of conversion. For instance, your CTA could entice users to download an offer, share a social media post, or subscribe to your email newsletter. Whatever it is, you must incorporate CTAs into your website and landing pages.
Typically, each landing page will contain one call to action, but it will appear numerous times on the page. A blog post, for example, may have three CTAs that lead to a single offer; one near the bottom of the page, one in the introduction’s text, and one that appears after scrolling down the page.
The sooner a CTA appears on a website, the better; otherwise, visitors may not scroll down far enough to notice the conversion point.
The crucial thing to remember is that users can access the CTA from anywhere on the page. Following some CTA best practices can properly deliver that message and inspire potential customers to take the next step with your business.
3. Make sign-up forms short.
Long forms can frustrate customers and make them less likely to convert. For instance, if you have a lengthy form, people may not want to fill it out. It’s your job to get rid of doubt.
Get rid of any fields that aren’t needed or might seem annoying. Making your forms short and painless to fill out eliminates any doubts your target audience might have and takes less time to fill, making people more likely to do it.
4. Make content skimmable
Unfortunately, our website visitors won’t read every carefully produced word we leave on a webpage. Having a lot of content on your website is beneficial for SEO, but you don’t want to overwhelm your visitors. Ensure your content is formatted to highlight the essential parts of your article, products, or services pages.
Format your material specifically to incorporate the following:
- Eye-catching headlines
- Short paragraphs
- Images/Videos
- Bulleted/numbered lists
Using images or videos to break up long paragraphs of text might make your material easier to read. As a result, the user isn’t overwhelmed by the information available. For the record, posts with photos get 94% more views than blogs without. Additionally, videos, infographics, and images help users understand and recall information more quickly, which keeps them engaged and more inclined to buy from your business.
Take this blog as an example of optimized content:
- feature image
- short snappy headers
- a numbered list of tips
- bullets within sections
Everything is down to make the content easy to consume and get users the info they seek.
5. Testimonials, reviews, and social proof
According to BigCommerce, 92% of shoppers read internet reviews before making a purchase. Therefore, including customer testimonials and reviews on your website might demonstrate your professionalism and industry expertise. The more positive reviews you collect, the more credible your firm will appear.
Case studies are an additional appealing method for showcasing reviews. Case studies can help you present relevant data on how your clients’ businesses have grown as a result of utilizing your services or the benefits they have experienced. You can use reviews throughout your digital marketing campaigns to enhance your online reputation.
Use user-generated material as social proof.
According to our guide to user-generated content, customer images are a conversion goldmine. Making user-generated content a pillar of your marketing plan is an easy method to increase social media conversions. Photos of customers provide shoppers with a sense of credibility and social proof. This level of authenticity cannot be purchased.
How are you improving your content conversion rate?
“Sales don’t happen by accident” is a statement that should not have to be said but is frequently heard.
Instead of treating social selling as a guessing game, the tips and tools above can help you do it by the numbers. Any brand that wants to generate customers from its content channels must have a well-optimized conversion strategy. Understanding your audience and implementing best practices is essential for creating conversion-driven content. Of course, you can’t make people click on your posts or CTAs, but you can entice them to do so by incorporating these tips into regular use.
Reach out to us if you have any questions. Or let us know what steps are you taking to track your content conversions? Have you noticed a significant difference between blog customers and buyers from other channels such as social media? Please reach out and let us know!
