Marketing and sales professionals are always looking for new ways to generate leads for their brand. If you have a small business, you may even have to handle your own marketing and sales as an entrepreneur. The good news is that you might already have avenues for lead generation that you can utilize. For instance, if your website has an active blog, you can use that blog to generate leads.
Here are a few ways to generate leads from your blog.
#1 – Create Targeted Content
The first step to generating leads from your blog is to create high quality content that is actually targeted towards the type of leads you want to generate. For this, you’ll need to do some research beforehand. Figure out what kind of content your target audience enjoys, whether long-form informational blogs or short listicles. More importantly, look for the questions that your target audience is asking or problems they’re struggling with. Center your content on that to offer truly useful, relevant information.
#2 – Include CTAs on Every Blog
Every blog should end with a clear call-to-action, generally leading the reader to your contact page, your shop, or your newsletter. That does not mean that every blog should be overtly selling something. In fact, that can actually be obnoxious to your audience. Instead, write informative and engaging blogs and simply add a CTA at the end of the blog to let your audience know how to follow up. That way, even if you aren’t actively selling something, you have the potential to gain new leads.
#3 – Promote Your Blog On Social Media
Coming out with a new blog post? Share it on social media to help get the word out. This will help to put it in front of the eyes of your ideal audience and increase your chances of generating leads. The more clicks your blog post gets, the more visible it will be both on the algorithm for the social media platform you use and on Google itself. You can add a short line or two of description on social media, letting your audience know what the blog is about so that the right audiences will find it.
#4 – Add Lead Magnets
A lead magnet is a valuable piece of downloadable content that your audience can access upon signing up for your newsletter or taking some other prerequisite step to follow up with your brand. This makes lead generation a win-win. For your lead, they get more content that is relevant to them and their particular questions. You gain another lead. These lead magnets are often used on landing pages, but you can link them within your blogs, as well. In fact, if you recently set up a landing page with a lead magnet, consider adding the link to that lead magnet in your blog, as well, to keep it front of mind.
#5 – Work Your Blogs Into Your Content Pillar
On that note, consider writing blogs to work into your content pillar. A content pillar involves one long-form piece of written content — such as a landing page or a long blog post — that serves as the central hub for other relevant pieces of content. The main hub will often hold the lead magnet and an invitation to join the mailing list. Then you can write shorter blogs that all link back to your main content piece. If you want to use your blog to boost lead generation, consider writing something relevant to your content pillar.
#6 – Cover Unique Topics
If you want truly meaningful lead generation on your blog, don’t just copy the same tired blogs that litter Google’s first page. Those blogs might be on Google’s first page for a reason, but if you don’t have any new insights to add, you’re simply adding to the noise. Instead, cover topics that you haven’t seen frequently written about. This will go back to your target audience research. Look into what is most relevant to your target audience. Then look for gaps in the current content that you see available and write about what isn’t being written.
#7 – Target Different Stages of the Sales Funnel
Take a look at your sales funnel. It’s important to create blogs that can raise awareness of your brand and your offerings, but it’s also important to target those in the middle levels of your sales funnel or those who are considering making a purchase. You should also create blogs that are designed for those who have already made a purchase, as, when done right, these blogs could help push them into return purchases and customer loyalty.
