A good content marketing strategy has a lot of moving parts. Marketers use these strategies to bring together various forms of content and use them to help reach marketing KPIs as well as larger growth marketing goals.
SEO and content marketing can answer a variety of digital marketing needs. These span the gamut from building brand awareness to educating consumers to lead generation and so on.
Regardless of the specific form it takes or the purpose it serves, in most cases, for content to be effective, it must convince a consumer to take action. When content aims to do that, it becomes conversion content.
In marketing, a “conversion” takes place when you convince a consumer to take a desired action. A good content conversion example is clicking through an email link. This is a form of traffic conversion meaning it leads to traffic for your site.
Other forms of conversion could be clicking on a link in the SERPS or sharing a social media post. Often, conversions on your website take place in relation to things like signing up for a newsletter, asking for a demo, or even making a purchase.
Creating content that converts — i.e., conversion content — is a powerful way to use your content strategy. As you create content like a blog post or podcast episode, you always want to provide value for the reader.
However, as you help answer reader needs and address their pain points, you can also naturally encourage them to take certain actions (like those listed above). When you can create effective content that resonates with your target audience and convinces them to take action, it becomes high-converting content.
So, how do you create high-converting content for your site or marketing strategy? The simple answer is that it depends on each situation. The current needs, resources, audience, and many other factors will dictate the kind of CTAs you want to include in your content.
That said, there are questions that can help you narrow your options and ensure that you optimize each piece of content to convert. Here are some questions you can use as a conversion content filter:
This is ground zero for content in 2024 and beyond. Google’s latest updates (including their Helpful Content Updates and E-E-A-T content guidelines) have put the bulk of the focus on how content helps its users.
What is the value proposition of each piece of content that you create? How does it help its intended audience?
Along with educating and providing information, you need your content to demonstrate your authority. A good brand aims to be a thought leader and a pioneer in their industry.
If your ambition is to be at the forefront of thought in your niche, how is your content fulfilling that promise?
Your content doesn’t help you if it prompts the wrong people to take action. To avoid that from happening, always stay up to date on your market research.
What does your target audience care about? What are their pain points, issues, and the search terms that they’re using to address them? Use these to direct the content that you create and the CTAs that it contains.
Creating content should never be an activity that happens in a vacuum. It should be part of a larger conversion funnel.
Always ask where in the funnel a piece of great content belongs. How does it help guide a user through the buyer journey, encouraging them with the right kind of top, middle, and low-funnel information needed to take the next step?
Converting content shouldn’t be cloaked in mystery. You aren’t playing games with your audience. You’re helping them.
The best way to do this and incorporate a CTA is to reveal most of your hand early. Provide enough information to satisfy the user’s initial inquiry. Then elaborate on that and demonstrate your deeper knowledge. Use this process to guide them to a greater revelation (and a correlating call to action) further down the page.
You usually want to be specific, especially with CTA copy. Don’t be vague or use confusing, unexplained jargon. Instead, utilize simple words, clear phrases, and images and visual content when possible.
It’s a good idea to write for younger audiences. You can use a tool like Hemingway to see what grade level you’re writing for. Aim for 8th grade or lower — that will allow 85% of adults to read your text without trouble.
The Socratic method (teachers asking questions to students to help them learn) is a powerful way to educate. This prompts responses and primes a reader for action.
Use questions throughout your content, and don’t forget to use “you” language. Speak to the reader. Show them that you understand.
If you want your content to perform, you need to show up in the SERPs, encourage the clicks, and otherwise get consumers to act.
To understand that this is happening, you need to see the data. Use analytics tools like Google Analytics that track each lead and conversion to ensure that your content is performing. If it isn’t over a period of several months, make tweaks to improve it.
Learning how to create content that converts takes time. Start by mastering the process of creating high-quality content that targets readers first and ranking in a search engine second.
From there, use the questions above to consider how your content fits into your larger content strategy. What CTAs should it have? What actions do you want to encourage your readers to take? If you need help answering these questions, consider partnering with a content marketing agency.
Those are the questions that will turn good content into valuable content that doesn’t just perform well. It converts.
