How to Convert with Content

To convert users, content should accomplish two things:

1. It should solve the reader’s problem.

It should comprehensively answer their Google search query if they arrived organically, and regardless, inform them with the material that they expect (after reading the article title, for example). We call this finality: your page is the final search result that people should click, and they shouldn’t have to go back to Google.

This increases organic traffic. Google boosts pages that completed a user's search for an answer.

2. It should move your reader further down the funnel.

The best content has real ROI. In other words, your content should move readers further down the funnel—or closer to buying your product—as they engage with your content.

This may not be right away. It may be over numerous steps and many months.

But it should ultimately be driving readers towards something. You want them to subscribe to the newsletter, share the post, come back for future posts, read on to other posts, and to learn about and purchase your product.

Choose relevant topics, include CTAs, and mention your product without being too salesy. Over time, readers should be excited to convert because they've learned that your product can solve their problem.

Conversion suggestions

Improve finality by linking to few external sites within the text itself

Articles should generally not link out to external sites. These are all places readers can bounce and never come back.

But sometimes you may want to reference outside sources like research results. It’s best to do that with quotes or screenshots. Put the links to those sites in a “Footnotes” or “Bibliography” section instead to keep the integrity of the reference.

Structure articles to funnel folks towards one conclusion—they must use your product

The majority of articles should be structured so the reader says, “Oh wait, #{your product} would let me do [this]? That’s cool.”

The basic formula for posts would be:

• What problems do our readers have that we can solve?
• Let’s show them how to solve these problems in a general way, while carefully emphasizing why your product is clearly the best solution for them and their lifestyle or business.

For example, HubSpot wrote a famous blog post on how to get a HubSpot experience by using WordPress. The crux of the article is: “It's possible—but it’s a pain to do, not as secure, and will cost you more than if you just use HubSpot.”

But they don’t frame the article like that. It’s framed in a way that’s a real guide for folks who want to know how to get a HubSpot experience without using HubSpot (a search term with some traffic, thus HubSpot is grabbing ownership of that term). An article like this is worth pursuing.

Ask yourself:

• Where in the post can we embed GIFs and videos that show the product in use, related to the topic being discussed?
• How can we add an appropriate CTA at the end that readers will be more inclined to click?

Include mentions of your business

Since every piece of content you write should be at least tangentially related to your product, it’s OK to drop a link to it in the middle of an article—as long as it’s natural.

Add this link in the blog post where you’re actually discussing the problem that your product solves; don’t drop it in at random. Otherwise, you’ll annoy your reader.

For example: Fomo is a widget you stick on your landing page to show visitors a live feed of the people who just bought your product:

Here’s a snippet from a blog post they wrote about a fine art client of theirs:

The link is natural. It fits in with the surrounding paragraphs. And it solves a problem: many business owners don’t have social proof on their website.