Properly optimized a blog can attract website traffic, expand your reach, and gain conversions.
Conversion rate optimization or CRO
Your conversion rate is a good indicator of how effectively your website is performing. If you have a hundred visitors to a page and you get 1 sale, your conversion rate is 1%. Conversions can be driven by links on your page or a direct call to action that encourages a user to click and complete a task. This could be submitting information or completing a form.
Optimizing your page can help you to drive higher conversion rates and that is where blog content can be very helpful. Targeting blogs to a specific keyword or phrase attracts users who are looking for information or answers. This can frequently result in a sale.
Conversion rate optimization or CRO
Your conversion rate is a good indicator of how effectively your website is performing. If you have a hundred visitors to a page and you get 1 sale, your conversion rate is 1%. Conversions can be driven by links on your page or a direct call to action that encourages a user to click and complete a task. This could be submitting information or completing a form.
Optimizing your page can help you to drive higher conversion rates and that is where blog content can be very helpful. Targeting blogs to a specific keyword or phrase attracts users who are looking for information or answers. This can frequently result in a sale.
Keyword research
To make sure that the content your write contains the things people are searching for is good marketing practice. There are numerous tools online, some free, some paid that can give you insights like:
- Search volume
- Keyword difficulty
- Number of results
- Competitor information
- PPC cost
Using this information its is entirely possible to build a content strategy around keywords that are easy to rank for and are not overly competitive. This low hanging fruit is the method that many bloggers and affiliate marketers use to get their pages high in search results.
On page SEO
Even with the recent ‘helpful content’ update from Google, web pages will still require some level of SEO. Written content must be optimized to reflect keywords, have strong meta-description and take advantage of things like alt text on images.
On page SEO will help search engines to crawl content and understand what your blog is about. This means that search engines can rank your blog in response to specific search queries.
Page load speed
Page speed is a huge factor in search engine optimzation, so it may be worth testing your content’s load time to see if there are any tweaks which can be made. Slow loading times can result in users bouncing off your page in frustration and looking elsewhere for information. For website owners high bounce rates translate to lost sales and conversions, so it is worth paying attention to load times. Current data shows that users leave a page if it doesn’t load in less than 3 seconds, so every millisecond gained is crucial.
CTA – call to action
For content to help with conversion rates it will need to supply the information that users are looking for, answer any questions, and have a clear call to action. There are thousands of blogs written that don’t include a CTA, meaning that website owners are missing out on a big opportunity to drive conversions. A CTA is a line of text or a link at the end on an article that inspires a reader to take further action. Statements like ‘find out more’ or ‘sign up now’ with a link to a form or a landing page are all examples of a CTA. Make sure you are included these in your blogs to not miss out on golden opportunities to drive better conversions.
Article length
Several years ago the SEO experts and website builders determined that the ideal article length was around 800 words. Fast forward that to the last couple of years and it is now believed that the optimum length for an article or blog is 1200-1500 words, with some people insisting that as much as 2000 words it the perfect length.
The truth is that there is no ideal length, especially in light of recent updates. While its true that you may be able to beat the length of competitors content, your content will still need to be well written, relevant, and SEO optimized to outrank other pages. Content optimization takes many different factors into account and article length is just a small piece of the puzzle.
URLs and Meta descriptions
To drive effective conversions and close more deals, every opportunity to make your page rank higher should be used. While a page URL may not seem that important, it is another way to tell search engines what your content is about. Meta descriptions offer the same opportunity as well as providing enough space to reflect a keyword or two in the few lines of text. Optimizing URLs and meta descriptions should be part of SEO practice for all your website pages.
Can CRO be used for any product?
CRO is primarily to drive higher conversion rates, but there are some other benefits too. A good page design will provide a better user experience (UX), helping readers to find information faster and more easily, and an easy to naviage site that’s simple to use is likely to gain more conversions than a clunky site that is poorly laid out.
No matter the purpose of your website, whether you are driving conversions for a real estate business or selling affiliate products, optimizing conversions rates can be beneficial. Articles can be designed for product information, product reviews to help push readers to an online storefront or marketplace, or it can help marketing consultants acquire leads by using a compelling call to action. Either way the opportunities to optimize conversions rates and almost unlimited and can create high returns.
CRO and content writing
CRO can be used on websites, landing pages, and blogs, really anywhere there is the chance of gaining a lead or driving a sale. Content writers who understand the principles of CRO will incorporate the principles included in this article into their writing, and will almost always drive readers towards a call to action.
If you are writing your content and blogs yourself it would be wise to check for CRO opportunities, each one missed could be costing you business and hurting your revenue. If you plan on outsourcing content to an outside agency, then check work before posting. Make sure that the URL and meta description is optimized and check for a call to action.
It is also worth consider the following elements:
Headlines
This is the first thing seen by potential readers and will determine whether they click on your page or not. First impressions count so your headline needs to be catchy and interesting to gain clicks.
Format
The format of your article creates a UX all of its own. Easy readability and page strufture matters so consider things like the font used, font size, and don’t use type colors or backgrounds that make your content hard to read.
Writing
Readers should find that reading your article is easy and leads them from point to point smoothly. Ask questions, use statistics and graphics and keep things engaging. Use things like number, percentages, statistics and quote to give credibility to your statements.
Conclusion
Even if you want to include a call to action at the end of your article, you should still write a conclusion where you summarize, wrap up, or tie important points together. Without a definite conclusion articles can feel unfinished and leave readers wondering if there should be more to the article that thay have missed.
Final words
CRO for ecommerce businesses, affiliate websites and other web sites has the power to increase conversions by a substantial percentage and maximise the efficacy of your website pages.
For help with business content writing visit Smarcomms today.
