16 Tips on How to Improve Blog Conversion Rate

Keeping your audience interested in your blogs and getting them to convert is not an easy task. You may create the most helpful, SEO-friendly blog and wait for the magic to happen, but your blog conversion rate may still remain low. 

Surely, there’s something amiss! 

Many websites get high blog conversion rates and what they do is not rocket science. Small changes can have a significant impact, for example, the placement of a button or the size of the CTA text. Even the speed at which your page loads can decrease your conversion rate by 7% for every second delay in loading?

So, let’s discuss some significant considerations, tips, and tactics to improve your blog conversion rate. Shall we?

1. Know Your Audience

First things first, you must understand your audience to produce content they need and like. Unrelated topics are a sure-shot recipe for low click-through rate (CTR) and high bounce. 

When you know your audience, you are in a better position to provide them with the information they seek. On-point content builds trust, and when your audience has faith that you’ll solve their problem, they’ll click on your links and buy from you. In other words, they’ll convert.

Here are a few ways you can understand your audience. 

• Analyze Comments: Interact with your audience and read their comments to find out what they like and dislike about your content and what else they’d like to read about. 
• Conduct Surveys: Carefully choose the questions in the survey to get insights into what your audience wants the most, or call some of your dedicated followers to get specific feedback about a topic. 
• Google Analytics: Google analytics holds immense information about your audience. From demographics to your audience’s likes and dislikes, who converts and who doesn’t, and why—GA has the key to many of these mysteries.  

2. Create Content to Match User Intent

One of the sure-shot ways to improve your blog conversion rate is to understand the user intent for a search query and create content that fulfills that intent. Fulfilling user intent is Google’s top priority, and your content will rank faster and convert better if you make user intent your priority too. Naturally, if your blog offers what the user is looking for, your blog conversion rate is bound to increase. 

Marketers recognize four primary search intents; make sure you know which category your topic belongs to and use the right tactics to fulfill users’ end goals. 

• Informational User Intent: The user is searching for particular information or solution to a problem. Most blogs are informational.
• Navigational Intent: The user is only looking for a brand website or its products. For example, if someone looks for “urban outfitters,” they’re hoping to find Urban Outfitters’ website. 
• Transactional Intent: With money in their hands, these users are ready to buy. Give them a good deal or a discount code or make the buying process easy for them, and they’ll convert in no time. 
• Commercial Intent: These people are looking for product reviews, in-depth analysis, or comparisons to understand their options. Answer all their questions and alleviate their concerns, and you will have no problem converting them. 

3. Provide a Ton of Value

Bloggers need a paradigm shift here. Whether it’s actually buying a product or as simple as subscribing to your blog, people typically convert based on their perception of the value they’re getting out of the money or contact information they provide to you. 

Bottom line? People are not interested in you and they’re not too concerned about the price either. They’re only interested whether they’re getting enough value out of the deal or not!

The greatest testament to the value before selling is the success of the PWYW strategy. PWYW stands for Pay-What-You-Want and many blogs have successfully applied this scheme to create buzz and increase sales and profits. 

Wikipedia is one of the biggest examples of the success of this strategy as it raised more than $120 million in funds through this strategy.

Guardian also has this strategy working for it.

4. Link to More Relevant Content

You need your audience to think of your blog as a valuable resource for all the information they need. Only then can you motivate them to share their contact details with you, download your content or buy your product. 

Linking to relevant internal content ensures that your readers can find all the information you have on the topic of their interest. If you anticipate a question your readers might have, and you don’t have a resource on it yet, or it doesn’t fall under your domain, it’s best to link to a credible resource so that your readers can still get the answer they’re looking for even if it’s not on your website. 

For example, if your blog is about “How to rent a car in Hawaii” and you add links to some of the “Best cheap car rentals in Hawaii,” you will be doing your readers a favor by saving them from the research. 

Now, if your content is helpful and answers all their confusions and concerns, your readers won’t have any problem converting and booking one of the rentals suggested by you. 

A word of caution though‒it’s best to choose links carefully as irrelevant links will have no value and may even annoy your readers. 

5. Direct Readers to Relevant Products 

CTAs are crucial for moving the audience along the sales funnel. But, even if your blog is informative and aimed at the readers at the awareness stage only, you can and should add CTAs to relevant products and landing pages. The keyword here is relevancy.

If your product or offer will add a ton of value to the readers and linking to it makes sense naturally, you shouldn’t hold back for fear of coming off as salesy. 

Remember‒people are looking for solutions, and if your offer can solve their problem, there’s no harm in directing them to your products or landing pages. However, make sure that your blog offers enough value to the readers even if they choose not to buy your product. 

For instance, at the end of my blog on link-building tactics, I offer my services, but if someone wants to try their hand at link building, they still have a ton of actionable advice that can get them great results. 

6. Offer Previews and Trial Versions

It’s often easier for readers to convert when they can have a sneak peek into what they will get. It helps them judge the value and establish trust that they will get what they signed up for. 

Many websites like Medium and Forbes, etc., have gated content, but they allow readers access to a few blogs before prompting them to subscribe. Similarly, many blogs allow the readers to read a portion of the blog before the pop-up for subscription comes up and blocks further browsing. 

Similarly, conversions that require a major commitment, such as pricey software, often come with a trial version that the customers can download and test. Some tools come with limited premium-service trials, while others offer free versions that can be upgraded to premium services. 

The Internet is full of scams; previews and trial versions help build trust to facilitate conversions. Moreover, there are so many fantastic blogs and helpful tools in each domain. Trials and previews allow users to decide which service or tool suits them the best. 

7. Invest in Remarketing and Retargeting

It’s always easy to get your regular audience back to your website and convert rather than attract new subscribers. Existing customers spend 67% more than new customers and are 50% more likely to try new products. 

Through retargeting, you can bring your audience blog readers back to your products, blogs, and landing pages. Have you ever noticed that after you visit an e-commerce store, suddenly you start seeing their ads everywhere? That’s because they’re running a retargeting campaign to remarket their offers to you, i.e., those who visited their page previously or did business with them in the past. 

In this case study, you can find out how retargeting increased Criteo’s conversion rate by 43%.

Here’s a Nike retargeting ad you’ll start seeing after you’ve visited their shop online.  

8. Capture Email with Targeted Lead Magnets

It’s an old trick in the book, but not many blogs prioritize it. That’s because it’s time-consuming and laborious but one that can help you capture leads and build your email list forever. 

The best way to capture emails is through lead magnets. For example, Siege Media has these in-depth resources available for download with their blogs. Since their blogs are extremely valuable, readers are tempted to trade their email to download the resources.

If you can collect a good number of emails, you can increase your blog conversion rate significantly and engage and remarket your customers through email marketing. 

9. Make Your Blog Appealing to Read

Even if you write the most helpful, most actionable blog, most people won’t be tempted to read it if it’s bland and dry. Here are a few tips to make your blog attractive and easier for your audience to read.

• Catchy Headlines: Follow AIDA—Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action. Make sure all headers and headlines are descriptive, relevant, and enticing. When a person lands on your website, you have less than 8 seconds to catch their attention.
• Short Paragraphs: Paragraphs shouldn’t be more than 2-3 sentences long. 
• Adding Facts and Statistical Data: Prove your point by adding facts from research and data from reputable surveys and studies for credibility. 

• Add Examples: The best way to put any advice into perspective is to elaborate it with examples. Otherwise, your blog can come off as a snooze-inducing lecture. 

• Keep it Fun: Include fun analogies to motivate your audience to act as positive emotions open them to broader possibilities, and remove negativities that may hinder conversion. 

10. Use Engaging Design Elements

Visually appealing blogs engage and convert better. There are several ways you can make your blog design inviting for your audience. Here are a few tips:

• Uniform Font: Make sure the font style and size are uniform and easier to read. 
• Bigger Font Size: Typically, 18px and above is the correct font size for improving readability.
• Include Text Breaks: Text breaks such as images, bullet points, tables, and charts prevent reading fatigue. 
• Scannable Content: Use relevant and descriptive headers to improve readability and scannability.
• Mobile Optimization: Make sure the user experience is optimized for mobile.

11. Incentivize Loyal Readers

Just a 5% increase in customer retention can increase profits by 25% to 95% because they’re the ones who are most receptive to your prompts. Therefore, it makes sense to take care of your existing customers and reward them for their loyalty.

Many well-known brands have easy-to-understand yet lucrative loyalty programs that offer readers discounts or redemption points. Blogs can also follow suit and offer their loyal customers personalized service. Following are some of the ways to pamper your longstanding supporters.

• Respond to their emails and comments quickly.
• Create video content or organize live sessions to hang out with them.
• Provide them exclusive or early access to products and offers.
• Offer redemption points that can be redeemed for branded products.
• Offer membership-only content for loyal followers.

Each blog is different, so the key is to understand the needs and wishes of your audience and create a loyalty program customized for them.  

12. Limit Forms to Three Fields

Most marketers recommend using a one-field form to make conversions super easy for the audience. Typically such forms only require you to input your email address to download the resource or sign up for the newsletter. 

However, sometimes you need more information about the user. In those cases, it’s recommended to limit the forms to a maximum of three fields. If you ask too many questions, you may lose the reader. Maybe they don’t want to share that much information, or they may not have that much time or patience. 

Ultimately, it’s the readers’ perception of the value they’re going to get that determines the number of fields they’re willing to fill for it. 

Here are examples of two forms that you can see in the footer of the Additude website. Their newsletter subscription has two fields, while the hard copy subscription has more fields, which also correlates with the offered value. 

13. Create a Low-Barrier-To-Entry Conversion

Low-Barrier-To-Entry allows you to build a relationship with the audience before asking them for a bigger commitment. These small offers like free trials are crucial for building trust and taking the connection to the next level. 

Conversion isn’t only about selling products or memberships. Conversion occurs every time your readers perform the desired actions as a result of your marketing campaign. 

A series of small conversions, i.e., the next logical steps your audience should take, are all it takes to keep the customers moving through the sales funnel till they become your loyal followers and fierce advocates. Each of these steps shouldn’t require more than a few clicks or seconds.

Some of the low-barrier-to-entry conversions are as follows.

• Email subscriptions
• Downloadable resources
• Social media shares and likes
• Youtube subscription

14. Be Honest and Persuasive

Users like it when you try to help them, and it benefits you as well. You do not have to lie or hide your efforts to convert your audience. If you’re offering them valuable information and making a genuine difference in their lives, they’ll be happy to support you in your journey.

Ask them what you want them to do, and they’ll oblige. You want a bunch of likes or shares, email subscriptions, or donations; add the respective CTAs or prompt them to do so, and you’ll see your conversion rates soar. 

Share with them your journey and the difference their contributions make and reward them for their actions. The reward can be as little as sending welcome emails or featuring them on social media, or sending them free merch.

15. Add Compelling CTAs at Appropriate Places

As we mentioned above in the article, CTAs can help you improve your blog conversion rate, but finding the right place for them is the next big thing. If you hide the CTAs in your blog, it won’t be that much of a help. 

You need to place the CTAs at strategic places in your blog to capture the user’s eye. Some of the best places to add compelling CTAs are:

• Bottom of the page
• Top banner 
• Within the post
• In the side panel
• Pop-ups

Optimize the CTA location according to your audience habits. You can use heatmaps to find the best places where your audience spends the most time or do A/B testing to find the best locations for your CTAs.

16. Include Social Proof

We already know how testimonials and reviews on shopping sites can help develop the trust required for conversion. But they can be really beneficial for your blog conversion rate as well. 

If you want to turn your readers into subscribers, include social proof such as Facebook or Twitter shares, reviews, testimonials, or the number of subscribers in the pop-ups and around CTAs to benefit from herd mentality. 

After everything is said and done, the blog conversion rate is the fundamental metric that defines the success of your digital marketing strategies. No matter how much traffic your blog gets, if it’s not converting, then it’s of no good to you. That’s why your blog should have a solid blog conversion optimization strategy so that your content marketing efforts can bear fruit. 

Summing up

Creating and regularly updating a blog with relevant, quality content is essential for today’s successful digital marketing activities. An optimized blog can help you educate your audience, build your brand, boost your SEO, and increase sales. 

This article provides an excellent basis for optimizing your blog conversion rate, whether you are a beginner or an advanced blogger. If you want more information, visit a content marketing and SEO collective like Wild Idea, but if you’re ready to optimize your entire website, start now.

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