To blog or not to blog? I get this question from our eCommerce customers all the time. Many of them have tried to blog, but are discouraged because "it did not work for them". They publish several articles a week or a month and give up when they do not see the sales happen properly.
One of the many reasons why they do not see the results is because of the low website traffic. Unfortunately, if a website has low traffic, blogs will not increase this traffic overnight. To have articles or blogs organically classified, it takes months and requires the execution of several search engine optimization practices.
However, many of these customers have website traffic but still do not have eCommerce conversions … so what happens in these cases? I've found that most people have poor results because they do not optimize their articles for conversions and do not make other efforts to stay in front of their readers. As you will see in the tips below, the key is to consider the content as the initial point of contact or introduction. Once you have attracted the attention of your readers, you can feed them until they become paying customers.
How to turn blog visitors into customers
1. Create Relevant Content
No matter how much content you produce, if it does not speak to your ideal target customer, you will lose your time engaging the wrong kind of readers. So, take the time to develop a content schedule that speaks to your audience and responds to their specific interests or concerns.
Consider your content as a guide for your ideal customers at different stages of the buying cycle: awareness, consideration and purchase. For example, say you have an ecommerce store that sells running shoes and you try to attract new customers at two different stages of the buying process: awareness and consideration.
As you can imagine, the content produced for the ideal customers in the awareness phase will be totally different from the content generated for the ideal customers in the consideration phase. Those who are in the awareness phase are not familiar with your brand, so they will need a "softer" introduction to your products.
For example, you can create a fashion guide on how to pair boating shoes with clothes. In this guide, you can introduce your brand of shoes to users who simply wanted to learn online fashion tips and who were not specifically looking for your brand of shoes.
On the other hand, content targeting the ideal customers at the stage of consideration can be more focused on your brand and your benefits because this target already knows your brand. For example, this may be the case of a user who has already joined your newsletter but has not yet made a purchase. If so, this user can get an article like this:
In such articles, you will want to focus on things like your unique value proposition, your company history and / or your testimonials. In other words, convince users that your store is better than your competitor's.
2. Capture the e-mail address of your readers
This trick is essential for other key efforts to work properly. The idea is to capture the information of your readers while they read your blogs, so that you can build your email list, retarget those contacts on other platforms, and have them. send by email to convert them into paying customers.
One of the best ways to do this is to use email light boxes. These are pop-up windows that capture information via email, usually providing an incentive, such as a discount offer. See below how Banana Republic encourages visitors to join its newsletter using pop-ups: <img class="aligncenter wp-image-485909" src="https://businessdigit.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/1519072449_784_apply-these-4-secret-techniques-to-turn-your-blog-visitors-into-customers.png" alt=" 4 tips to help blog visitors become customers "width =" 850 "height =" 406 "/ >
They may seem like a small addition to your website, but I've seen a big increase in email subscriptions thanks to this little tool. And the more you can target the user, the better. You can customize them with many tools or online applications that will allow you to support the entire design and customization process.
Sumo is one of those tools, and it will allow you to be super targeted with your pop-ups. For example, you can use this tool to customize your contextual copy based on specific URLs. This way, you will be able to show different messages depending on the website on which your player is activated.
Let's say your visitor reads on how to choose the perfect engagement ring. Then you can show a message that says something like: "Looking for the perfect ring? We will help you decide. Add your email below." This message would be very different from the one that the other visitor can read on the necklaces. Targeted messages like these will increase your conversion rate.
3. Retarget your readers on social media
All visitors to your blog will not be ready to make a purchase when they read one of your articles, and it's good. As long as you remind them of your brand and your products, they will come back to your store if they are interested. Low conversions occur when you do not stay in front of these blog readers, and they end up forgetting your brand in the long run.
In other words, you have to remarket. There are many platforms that can be used for remarketing, but in this tip we will talk about social media.
There are two ways to retarget your old blog readers using social media:
- Using their email addresses
- Based on the tracking pixel of your website
The first option, using an email list, will help you retarget users subscribing to your newsletters while reading one of your blogs. This segment will be "hotter" than the "all visitors" segment as they have decided to engage with your brand.
To retarget a mailing list, you need to create a custom audience on Facebook. Go to "Audiences" located in the drop down menu of your Ad Manager and select the first option: Client File.
<img class="aligncenter wp-image-485910 size-full" src="https://businessdigit.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/1519072449_147_apply-these-4-secret-techniques-to-turn-your-blog-visitors-into-customers.png" alt=" 4 tips to help blog visitors become customers "width =" 480 "height =" 502 "/>
Then you will have the option of importing your contacts directly from Mailchimp or downloading a CSV file. Choose the option that suits you best.
<img class="aligncenter wp-image-485911 size-full" src="https://businessdigit.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/1519072450_431_apply-these-4-secret-techniques-to-turn-your-blog-visitors-into-customers.png" alt=" 4 tips to help blog visitors become customers "width =" 534 "height =" 394 "/>
If you choose the CSV option, you will see a popup like the one below:
<img class="aligncenter wp-image-485912 size-full" src="https://businessdigit.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/1519072450_728_apply-these-4-secret-techniques-to-turn-your-blog-visitors-into-customers.png" alt=" 4 tips to help blog visitors become customers "width =" 588 "height =" 500 "/>
Simply upload your file, follow the instructions, and you can create a new custom audience for your remarketing ads.
Another option available is to target previous blog readers based on your Facebook pixel. To do this, simply return to the Audiences tab, but this time, select the second option: Website Traffic.
<img class="aligncenter wp-image-485913 size-full" src="https://businessdigit.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/1519072450_234_apply-these-4-secret-techniques-to-turn-your-blog-visitors-into-customers.png" alt=" 4 tips to help blog visitors become customers "width =" 575 "height =" 604 "/>
On the next screen, select "People who visited specific web pages" to target only those who visited your blog. Then to "URL contains" add "blog". This will work if you use the word "blog" for all your article URLs. If you want to target specific blogs, add the content.
<img class="aligncenter wp-image-485914 size-full" src="https://businessdigit.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/1519072450_120_apply-these-4-secret-techniques-to-turn-your-blog-visitors-into-customers.png" alt=" 4 Tips for Turning Blog Visitors into Customers "width =" 658 "height =" 380 "/>
Once your personalized audience is populated by Facebook, you will be able to use it in your campaigns.
4. Set up an e-mail campaign
At this point you have a strategy for capturing and retargeting e-mails. now it's time to feed your prospects. You can do it with a drip email campaign. Do not be afraid of this term. These are just email campaigns configured with automatic rules, optimized for conversions.
For example, you can set up an email retrieval campaign for anyone who signs up for your newsletters so that they automatically receive a welcome email. Depending on the behavior of the recipient (opens it as opposed to not opening it), you will then need to configure another email accordingly. So, if a user opens it, you can send another content to continue feeding that track, and so on.
Email recovery campaigns increase conversions because they are automatic (you do not have to perform manual tracking), which reduces human errors and they are sent in a timely manner. Users will receive e-mails that you have configured as soon as they comply with the rules of the Drip campaign.
Conclusion
Armed with these tips, it's time to start turning visitors to this blog into lifetime customers of your brand. What other tips or tactics have you used in the past that worked in this case? I would like to discuss new ideas in the comments below.
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