Creating content is hard work. Take it from someone who’s been creating for almost a decade now. While it’s true that the blank page invites anyone to have a go when it comes to creating content for your business, you’re not just creating as a form of expression, but you have a purpose to fulfill, more often than not, to convert your readers.
This is especially true for small business owners because they’re already having to compete with larger businesses in their industries. So, the only effective way to stand above everyone else in the competition is to create content that brings people in – this is called content marketing!
Why content marketing?
Small businesses must be able to stand on their own, since they’re not only competing with others like them, but also with already-established brands and businesses much larger than them.
That’s why it’s important to do content marketing right. How? By understanding how we got here.
Let’s look back at the first wave of content marketing. Back then, it was simple for bloggers, content writers, and even marketers to target a particular keyword by peppering it into their content.
By doing so, they were certain that search engines like Google would index and rank their content pages, thus giving them the advantage against their competitors, because if you’re high in the search results, then users online will find you easily. Being on other pages other than Page 1 of the search results was considered unacceptable to marketers.
However, content marketing has already entered the second wave, which has made the marketing part more challenging than before. Rather than just peppering keywords to your content to rank high in the search engine results, you must now make your content viable and relevant.
However, this change shouldn’t be difficult for marketers who are willing to put in the hours and change how they create their content.
This is something that all small business owners (especially solopreneurs) must take note of.
With marketing trends coming and going all the time, small businesses must be one step ahead, and put out fresh content. Remember: It’s not about how many blog posts you put out; it’s how much heart and soul you put into it. Quality over quantity, essentially.
6 tips on effective content marketing
As you can see, creating content that converts is no easy feat, but today we’re going to take a trip into some of the most important need-to-know tips out there that will truly enable you to revolutionize your content and turn it into something special.
By following these tips (including a little bonus tip near the end), your small business will thrive with fresh and relevant content that will have you seeing sales left and right!
I’m ready to get started when you are!
1. Create a sense of urgency
This is a common content tip to start us off, but one that’s so powerful, it needs reaffirming. When you read ‘limited time sale,’ this makes you want to invest right here, right now, because you believe if the opportunity passes you by, then you’ll have missed out.
Even if the urgency isn’t real (and most aren’t because there’s always going to be another event or sale in the future), your language can evoke those feelings, ultimately creating a great way to increase your conversion rates.
One of the best ways to do this is by leveraging clever headlines that people can see and read right away. Headlines can grab readers’ attention, enticing them to click on them and read more. If they like what they see, they will either subscribe to your newsletter, shop, or both. Thus, this strategy can potentially increase conversions for your business.
With that said, here’s how to create headlines that grab people’s attention and convert them:
2. Minimize distractions
Have you ever been on a landing page where it’s felt so overloaded and as though there’s so much going on that you don’t know where to begin? Perhaps you feel your attention being pulled all over the place? These are poorly designed pages because you’re being distracted from the content that matters.
Think of it as people trying to pull you from your left and right – it’s nerve-racking!
This applies to all content, not just landing pages, but using them as an example, if you’re trying to convert someone and get them to click on your sales button, why distract them with a load of other information? Be direct and to the point. Someone clicked your landing page because they’re ready to make a decision, so make it easy for them to follow through.
In short, rather than scare off potential customers with congested pages, make it fresh AND simple.
3. Use listicles
Listicles – also known as list posts – are a type of content which are massively successful on the internet and basically refer to content that creates a list to answer any question, just like this article!
Nowadays, people don’t want to read posts that are long and wordy. Instead, people want their content straight up, especially if they’re in a hurry to find solutions to a problem that they might be having. So, if you think your product or service may solve their problem, then give it to them straight.
Listicles are so effective because they create scannable content that displays information in an easy-to-read format that cuts straight to the point without wasting time. They’re easy-to-read, because they’re essentially lists – bullet points, rather than long paragraphs; numbered points, instead of wordiness.
So, if you want to draw in readers and grab their attention, then you definitely need to be producing and posting regular listicles that relate to your niche.
4. Drop-in social proof
Have you ever purchased a one-star Amazon product? Ever watched a one-star movie on Netflix? No!
Ever found yourself gravitating towards products with 5-star reviews? Or how about eyeing movies with positive reviews and high scores?
That’s the power of social proof!
Nowadays, reviews and testimonials are everything for businesses, and people are much more likely to trust the opinions of strangers when trying something new. Plus, more and more people are looking to social media to find what they need, and be more confident about a purchase. You name it – Instagram, Twitter, Facebook … Social proof will always be there; and so should your business be!
While perhaps a little scary, you can use this to your advantage by dropping some positive social proof into your content to show people that other shoppers love what you do and that they’re missing out by not trying you out for themselves.
5. Forget selling points. Educate
If I try and sell you a television set and say it has 100,000 pixels, Dolby surround sound, and 4xTR processing chip, smart remote, and more does this make you want to buy the television? Probably not. I doubt you could care less.
On the other hand, if I say it has 100,000 pixels using the world’s leading screen technology to display everything in incredibly stunning, crystal-clear 4K resolution, far more than any other screen out there on the market right now, see how much of a difference it makes?
When you’re selling something and want someone to convert, it’s important that you sell features and not just bombard people with facts. Paint a picture as to why someone will want something, not why they should have something.
6. Including emotion is key
There’s a top content tip out there that reads ‘use emotion to motivate,’ and this is so important in your own work. As mentioned earlier, power words can entice readers to feel a certain way about something and react.
For example, with words like “danger” and “killer,” they evoke feelings of urgency and seriousness in readers.
Look at the following titles and see if you can spot the emotional pull to each of them:
By dabbling with various emotions, you can tweak them as you create content. By knowing what makes people tick, you can reach out to them easier and, eventually, make conversions out of them.
BONUS: Have a good call-to-action (CTA)
Why stop at the tip on emotion? Speaking of, emotion can help you create a solid CTA, which is what tells your audience what they should do, now that they’ve read your content.
As you create your CTA, keep the following questions in mind:
In order to answer questions like these, you’ll need to make your CTAs persuasive. When persuading your audience, be clear about what you want them to do. For example, if you’re having a sale, let them know about it. To sweeten the deal, talk about case studies, or show some social proof.
Remember: People want to be persuaded into buying something – they want to be assured that they’re making the right choice in buying your product.
Also, make your CTAs visible with a dedicated button that users can click on. Just create a button that says “Buy Now” or “Subscribe.”
Conclusion
As you can see, these are titles that play on a certain emotion that make you – a small business – want to be more confident, make you feel as though you’re missing out on something, or inspire you to want to become educated in a certain topic.
Using emotion in your content in this way is what’s going to help readers connect with what you have to say.
While creating conversion-friendly content can be challenging at first, it definitely beats creating boring and generic content for your small business. If you want higher conversions and more customers, then your content must be able to do all that.
And, as always, you can go into your site’s analytics to see what type of content is holding up the most, and bringing you the conversions that your business needs.
As you review these 6 tips, and use them to your advantage, your small business will soon thrive with plenty of conversions and happy customers coming your way! Good luck!
