Regardless of your industry and how you use your blog, it is vital to collect emails Internet to build your prospect list of people that you can contact by email. Otherwise, most of the visitors who come to your website will never return and your will have no way to contact them.
In this article I'll present 37 optimizations to make on your blog to increase your conversion rate for the collection of e-mails. You will see that simply displays a form in your sidebar or at the beginning of each of your articles is far from enough to build a targeted prospect list and make it grow.
In this article I'll present 37 optimizations to make on your blog to increase your conversion rate for the collection of e-mails. You will see that simply displays a form in your sidebar or at the beginning of each of your articles is far from enough to build a targeted prospect list and make it grow.
Optimize your marketing content strategy
1. Know your readers
And yes it seems con yet! Much of the bloggers do not know to whom they are addressed. They think they know their target as they take to the target. But often they pass next to their readers. For example, one of my clients is a long time sports coach and all his articles were based on muscle gain. And guess what, its prospect list for which he proposed a series of video on muscle gain not magnified.
In fact, readers of his blog were mostly people looking for ways to do sports at home without dieting, without eating food supplements and without raising the melt. Inevitably, the match between the content and the expectations of the players were not good.
2. Answer your readers
It's one thing to want to give the image of the blogger who spilled a hit and has an assistant as you meet your readers. It's another thing to not answer them because you lose their trust, they speak and what you reap is that they do not give you their email or unsubscribe if they have already registered. From experience I can tell you that simply to answer questions from readers may trigger sales. Because the player confidence and know that you can help in case of problems with your product.
3. Insert influential bloggers testimonials
There is nothing better than social proof on the Internet. As soon as you have the opportunity to include testimonials from influential bloggers who appreciate your content, do it.
4. Create feature articles
Personally I almost do that. A feature article is a fairly long article about 1500 words in which you bring a lot of value and many tips. I often say that a good feature story could be sold € 50. Besides that you will find examples of my depth articles here and there.
5. Write your content for your readers
Of course the need to optimize your articles for SEO but after. In your writing, do not think at all seo. You will come back later to optimize your titles, keywords, and your internal mesh.
6. Create landing pages optimized
To get the emails to your prospects must create optimized landing pages. I advise you to identify the topics you control the better. Then, make a list of content you can create and offer your prospects in exchange for their email. Next, you will create a landing page with a tool like Leadpages. You can read my article on optimizing landing pages to see how.
Finally, we have to attract traffic to the landing page. Of course you can post a banner on the sidebar of your blog but it is not the best way to do it. Instead, put a banner at the top of your blog between the logo and articles. You can also display a banner at the beginning of each of your articles.
7. Create a page dedicated to new blog visitors
This page is a kind of welcome page that is available to new blog visitors and beginners. On this page you need to insert a form that invites visitors to give their email in exchange for some sort of start guide or beginner kit. Then, on the same page, you will do your best links to articles, category by category.
8. Update your links, your products and items
We did not double the chance to make a good first impression. So you must make sure that there are no broken links on your blog, your articles are updated and ditto for your products. I suggest you spend some time creating an Excel spreadsheet in which you list all the urls of your pages. Then you'll look one by one and you will notice whether to change links or update articles or product.
For example, if you created a formation on Twitter there are two years old, you must update it because a lot of new features have emerged and design has changed.
9. Use images that help the conversion
The images play a big role in the conversion rate. I even increase my conversion rate of over 10% by changing a single image in my form for collecting emails. Personally I buy all my images on Fotolia. If you are looking only free images you can watch on Flickr.
Optimize the design of your blog to increase your conversions.
10. Choose an easy-to-read typeface
Even if you have identified a super writing police and tear you like a lot, wait a while before installing knew your blog. Some writings are poorly legible fonts for many people. You can use a little more fun fonts in your h1 or h2 tags but in respect of paragraphs of text, you can concentrate on the simple fonts like Verdana or Times New Roman.
11. Optimize the size of the font
Some blogs use many top small writing font size and other much too big ... Experiment in different web browsers. But in all cases, it is better to have too big a police rather than too small. On the web, the base size for text paragraphs is between 12 and 16 pixels.
12. Optimize the width text
More text is large and the less readable. So be sure to adjust the width of your text blocks so that they do not exceed 75 characters.
13. Optimize Colors Blog
For optimum visibility, choose dark fonts on dark backgrounds. The good old black couple typeface and white is perfect.
14. Space the content
To guide users and facilitate their reading should be spaced your content and put forward the elements with spaces, underscores, or frames.
15. Create a blog responsive
You can no longer afford to ignore traffic from mobile and tablets. You absolutely have to have a blog that fits perfectly with the resolutions of mobile devices. You can start by using WordPress plugins like WPtouch which will create a mobile version of your blog. But ideally, hiring the services of a professional to create a dedicated mobile version of your blog.
Optimize the blog to collect a maximum of targeted emails
16. Create targeted forms
It is not enough to create a general form to put in your sidebar. To collect emails you must create a specific form for each category of your blog so that visitors will be more likely to give you their e-mails. For example, on my blog mhack.fr I forms for seo, social media, email marketing etc. To create this type of form you can use e-mailing software like MailChimp, AWeber or getresponse. Then, you can customize with premium WordPress themes like Optimize Press or generators landing page as Leadpages.
17. Bring out your registration form
You must put your forms for collecting e-mail so that visitors can not miss them. You have to play on the contrast of the colors and locations. Therefore do AB testing. In addition, you can use plugins like pop-up Optinmonster to show the forms pop up on the pages of your blog. A heatmap tool like CrazyEgg will let you know what are the locations of your blog that generate the most conversions.
18. Use the opt-in two-step
I often talk as opt-in 2-step allows for more targeted leads. Rather than directly display a form with a field of email on the blog, you simply display a button with a text that prompts action. It is only when the visitor clicks the button that the form appears. You can do that with the Leadbox solution on Leadpages.
19. Using social stories and evidence
Your landing page you can add testimonials influential bloggers in your industry and logos blogs and newspapers. It gives credibility and it increases the perceived value of what you offer.
20. Focus on your landing pages made profits
To increase your conversion rates, create the content of your landing page highlighting all the benefits that visitors will get by accessing the content you offer them. Simply list the problems of your visitors and write your texts highlighting a solution.
Example: 7 techniques to get 1000 visitors a day without using SEO and advertising.
21. Test the form with a notion of privacy
On your form you can test to include text reassures users saying that their email will not be sold or rented. I go further, saying that I would never send their commercial offers as an affiliate.
22. Create a sequence of automated emails
And yes it still works. Once your visitors will become prospects it will send them emails. To do this I suggest you write a set of content that will be sent to different days apart. Make sure you bring a lot of value and mix the contents of standard texts and videos. Then use an auto-responder email as MailChimp to configure sending automated emails.
23. Create an area of popular items
In this area, which can be in the sidebar of the blog, make links to your articles rated or most viewed.
24. Remove unwanted elements
A blog that converts visitors into prospects is a clean blog without distractions, without blinking banners everywhere. Too many elements kill the conversion. I advise you to remove the buttons that display your RSS feed or replace it with a button that will display a registration form when clicked.
25. Create specific promotional elements for your best articles
Make a list of your best articles and, for each of them, create forms, banners and other elements specific to use your best content to collect emails. To my best articles I will even further. I first created a form with Optinmonster offering readers to receive a plan of action or a series of video related to this article.
Then, at the bottom of the article I integrate a banner that offers to get a complete video training to see how to set up everything that is discussed in the article.
Optimize the blog for social sharing and search engines
26. Optimize the titles of articles (h1)
Feel free to test several titles to find the one that generate the most visits and social sharing. A good article can give you 50% more clicks than an average basis. Mention profits, numbers and shares
27. Use hypnotic words
A good article title quickly attracted the attention of Internet users. Try using words like "unique", "seduce", etc. For example, in a phrase like "17 tips to convince your prospects", replace the word "convince" with the word "seduce" or even "manipulate"
28. Test the titles of your articles on social networks
On Facebook or Twitter, what are the titles of your posts that trigger titles. You can test your titles on social networks
29. Insert the message at the beginning of the sentence
In all your titles, the main argument must be in the first 50 characters. Avoid waffle and rephrase your titles to use this keyword structure at the beginning of the title.
30. Optimize your meta description tags
These tags are important for the SEO of your website but also for your click rate in the search engines. Your descriptions must encourage rapid action since users only see two lines of text in the search engines.
31. Segment blog by category
The categories are important to help visitors navigate the blog but also to help the search engines to index your content. Make sure to keep your internal links to articles that are part of the same class.
32. Optimize the blog of the internal mesh
The internal mesh is vital to improve the SEO of your blog and your page views. When you publish an article, make sure to create two links to additional products in the same category on your blog and have an external link to a complementary quality resource.
33. Make up your articles on the second page of Google
Analyze your articles that are on the second page of Google and improve their SEO to make up in the first page. Make links to these items from your best articles. Remember to add content to these items. You can also do some guest blogging to send links to those articles.
34. Make sure you have a quick blog
Make an analysis of your blog's loading speed with gtmetrix.com. If you see items that slow down your blog as images or plugins, first reduce the image size and where possible, host plugins and large images on another type of server Amazon S3.
35. Optimize the size of images on social networks
Whether for your Facebook page, your Google page more or Twitter account, choose optimized images in size. The goal is that your message is your visual display well without rasterize.
36. Add the good social sharing buttons
It is important to add social sharing buttons on your blog, but limit yourself. My various tests have shown me that only Facebook, Twitter and Google over were clicked. So, needless to overload your blog with social sharing buttons unnecessary.
Social sharing button
37.Do not always the number of social shares
A blog with little or no sharing is less credible, then, by displaying the number of shares, you kill your credibility if you have little or no. You can use tools like http://wordpress.org/plugins/jetpack/ to hide the number of shares as long as you do not have a lot.
1. Know your readers
And yes it seems con yet! Much of the bloggers do not know to whom they are addressed. They think they know their target as they take to the target. But often they pass next to their readers. For example, one of my clients is a long time sports coach and all his articles were based on muscle gain. And guess what, its prospect list for which he proposed a series of video on muscle gain not magnified.
In fact, readers of his blog were mostly people looking for ways to do sports at home without dieting, without eating food supplements and without raising the melt. Inevitably, the match between the content and the expectations of the players were not good.
2. Answer your readers
It's one thing to want to give the image of the blogger who spilled a hit and has an assistant as you meet your readers. It's another thing to not answer them because you lose their trust, they speak and what you reap is that they do not give you their email or unsubscribe if they have already registered. From experience I can tell you that simply to answer questions from readers may trigger sales. Because the player confidence and know that you can help in case of problems with your product.
3. Insert influential bloggers testimonials
There is nothing better than social proof on the Internet. As soon as you have the opportunity to include testimonials from influential bloggers who appreciate your content, do it.
4. Create feature articles
Personally I almost do that. A feature article is a fairly long article about 1500 words in which you bring a lot of value and many tips. I often say that a good feature story could be sold € 50. Besides that you will find examples of my depth articles here and there.
5. Write your content for your readers
Of course the need to optimize your articles for SEO but after. In your writing, do not think at all seo. You will come back later to optimize your titles, keywords, and your internal mesh.
6. Create landing pages optimized
To get the emails to your prospects must create optimized landing pages. I advise you to identify the topics you control the better. Then, make a list of content you can create and offer your prospects in exchange for their email. Next, you will create a landing page with a tool like Leadpages. You can read my article on optimizing landing pages to see how.
Finally, we have to attract traffic to the landing page. Of course you can post a banner on the sidebar of your blog but it is not the best way to do it. Instead, put a banner at the top of your blog between the logo and articles. You can also display a banner at the beginning of each of your articles.
7. Create a page dedicated to new blog visitors
This page is a kind of welcome page that is available to new blog visitors and beginners. On this page you need to insert a form that invites visitors to give their email in exchange for some sort of start guide or beginner kit. Then, on the same page, you will do your best links to articles, category by category.
8. Update your links, your products and items
We did not double the chance to make a good first impression. So you must make sure that there are no broken links on your blog, your articles are updated and ditto for your products. I suggest you spend some time creating an Excel spreadsheet in which you list all the urls of your pages. Then you'll look one by one and you will notice whether to change links or update articles or product.
For example, if you created a formation on Twitter there are two years old, you must update it because a lot of new features have emerged and design has changed.
9. Use images that help the conversion
The images play a big role in the conversion rate. I even increase my conversion rate of over 10% by changing a single image in my form for collecting emails. Personally I buy all my images on Fotolia. If you are looking only free images you can watch on Flickr.
Optimize the design of your blog to increase your conversions.
10. Choose an easy-to-read typeface
Even if you have identified a super writing police and tear you like a lot, wait a while before installing knew your blog. Some writings are poorly legible fonts for many people. You can use a little more fun fonts in your h1 or h2 tags but in respect of paragraphs of text, you can concentrate on the simple fonts like Verdana or Times New Roman.
11. Optimize the size of the font
Some blogs use many top small writing font size and other much too big ... Experiment in different web browsers. But in all cases, it is better to have too big a police rather than too small. On the web, the base size for text paragraphs is between 12 and 16 pixels.
12. Optimize the width text
More text is large and the less readable. So be sure to adjust the width of your text blocks so that they do not exceed 75 characters.
13. Optimize Colors Blog
For optimum visibility, choose dark fonts on dark backgrounds. The good old black couple typeface and white is perfect.
14. Space the content
To guide users and facilitate their reading should be spaced your content and put forward the elements with spaces, underscores, or frames.
15. Create a blog responsive
You can no longer afford to ignore traffic from mobile and tablets. You absolutely have to have a blog that fits perfectly with the resolutions of mobile devices. You can start by using WordPress plugins like WPtouch which will create a mobile version of your blog. But ideally, hiring the services of a professional to create a dedicated mobile version of your blog.
Optimize the blog to collect a maximum of targeted emails
16. Create targeted forms
It is not enough to create a general form to put in your sidebar. To collect emails you must create a specific form for each category of your blog so that visitors will be more likely to give you their e-mails. For example, on my blog mhack.fr I forms for seo, social media, email marketing etc. To create this type of form you can use e-mailing software like MailChimp, AWeber or getresponse. Then, you can customize with premium WordPress themes like Optimize Press or generators landing page as Leadpages.
17. Bring out your registration form
You must put your forms for collecting e-mail so that visitors can not miss them. You have to play on the contrast of the colors and locations. Therefore do AB testing. In addition, you can use plugins like pop-up Optinmonster to show the forms pop up on the pages of your blog. A heatmap tool like CrazyEgg will let you know what are the locations of your blog that generate the most conversions.
18. Use the opt-in two-step
I often talk as opt-in 2-step allows for more targeted leads. Rather than directly display a form with a field of email on the blog, you simply display a button with a text that prompts action. It is only when the visitor clicks the button that the form appears. You can do that with the Leadbox solution on Leadpages.
19. Using social stories and evidence
Your landing page you can add testimonials influential bloggers in your industry and logos blogs and newspapers. It gives credibility and it increases the perceived value of what you offer.
20. Focus on your landing pages made profits
To increase your conversion rates, create the content of your landing page highlighting all the benefits that visitors will get by accessing the content you offer them. Simply list the problems of your visitors and write your texts highlighting a solution.
Example: 7 techniques to get 1000 visitors a day without using SEO and advertising.
21. Test the form with a notion of privacy
On your form you can test to include text reassures users saying that their email will not be sold or rented. I go further, saying that I would never send their commercial offers as an affiliate.
22. Create a sequence of automated emails
And yes it still works. Once your visitors will become prospects it will send them emails. To do this I suggest you write a set of content that will be sent to different days apart. Make sure you bring a lot of value and mix the contents of standard texts and videos. Then use an auto-responder email as MailChimp to configure sending automated emails.
23. Create an area of popular items
In this area, which can be in the sidebar of the blog, make links to your articles rated or most viewed.
24. Remove unwanted elements
A blog that converts visitors into prospects is a clean blog without distractions, without blinking banners everywhere. Too many elements kill the conversion. I advise you to remove the buttons that display your RSS feed or replace it with a button that will display a registration form when clicked.
25. Create specific promotional elements for your best articles
Make a list of your best articles and, for each of them, create forms, banners and other elements specific to use your best content to collect emails. To my best articles I will even further. I first created a form with Optinmonster offering readers to receive a plan of action or a series of video related to this article.
Then, at the bottom of the article I integrate a banner that offers to get a complete video training to see how to set up everything that is discussed in the article.
Optimize the blog for social sharing and search engines
26. Optimize the titles of articles (h1)
Feel free to test several titles to find the one that generate the most visits and social sharing. A good article can give you 50% more clicks than an average basis. Mention profits, numbers and shares
27. Use hypnotic words
A good article title quickly attracted the attention of Internet users. Try using words like "unique", "seduce", etc. For example, in a phrase like "17 tips to convince your prospects", replace the word "convince" with the word "seduce" or even "manipulate"
28. Test the titles of your articles on social networks
On Facebook or Twitter, what are the titles of your posts that trigger titles. You can test your titles on social networks
29. Insert the message at the beginning of the sentence
In all your titles, the main argument must be in the first 50 characters. Avoid waffle and rephrase your titles to use this keyword structure at the beginning of the title.
30. Optimize your meta description tags
These tags are important for the SEO of your website but also for your click rate in the search engines. Your descriptions must encourage rapid action since users only see two lines of text in the search engines.
31. Segment blog by category
The categories are important to help visitors navigate the blog but also to help the search engines to index your content. Make sure to keep your internal links to articles that are part of the same class.
32. Optimize the blog of the internal mesh
The internal mesh is vital to improve the SEO of your blog and your page views. When you publish an article, make sure to create two links to additional products in the same category on your blog and have an external link to a complementary quality resource.
33. Make up your articles on the second page of Google
Analyze your articles that are on the second page of Google and improve their SEO to make up in the first page. Make links to these items from your best articles. Remember to add content to these items. You can also do some guest blogging to send links to those articles.
34. Make sure you have a quick blog
Make an analysis of your blog's loading speed with gtmetrix.com. If you see items that slow down your blog as images or plugins, first reduce the image size and where possible, host plugins and large images on another type of server Amazon S3.
35. Optimize the size of images on social networks
Whether for your Facebook page, your Google page more or Twitter account, choose optimized images in size. The goal is that your message is your visual display well without rasterize.
36. Add the good social sharing buttons
It is important to add social sharing buttons on your blog, but limit yourself. My various tests have shown me that only Facebook, Twitter and Google over were clicked. So, needless to overload your blog with social sharing buttons unnecessary.
Social sharing button
37.Do not always the number of social shares
A blog with little or no sharing is less credible, then, by displaying the number of shares, you kill your credibility if you have little or no. You can use tools like http://wordpress.org/plugins/jetpack/ to hide the number of shares as long as you do not have a lot.