Part 3 of 3
The people you want to read your content should be delivered the content they want to read. This fundamental principle guides the final steps in creating effective calls to action that actually convert.
8. Is Your Content Well-Written and Engaging?
You may say yes, but you're a bit biased. Ask a couple of trusted friends or beta users to give you honest feedback about your content quality and engagement level.
If they say it's not well-written: Hire an editor to clean it up. You can also hire a freelance writer to rewrite the whole thing. Another option is to start with well-written and engaging private label rights content. All you have to do is tweak this content to make it more original, but those tweaks likely won't harm its ability to engage the audience.
If they say it's not engaging: Start studying the craft of writing. Learn how to create content using a friendly, engaging tone. If you don't have the time or inclination to do this, then outsource this task to an editor for your most important pieces of content.
The worst thing you can do to destroy readership is publish mediocre (or poor) content.
9. Does Your Content Naturally Lead to the Call to Action?
Many business owners make the mistake of writing a pretty good article, and then attaching a semi-related call to action at the end. That's a mistake, because your article should be tightly related to the call to action.
Here's what to do: Start with the end in mind. Know exactly what you want your reader to do, and then craft your entire content around this singular goal.
This strategic approach ensures that learning how to write call to action statements becomes integrated into your entire content creation process, not just an afterthought.
10. Does Your Content Include a Strong Call to Action?
In other words, do you tell your readers exactly what you want them to do next?
For Paid Content
Encourage the customer to take action by completing an assignment. Help them secure a quick win and make progress toward the goal. This builds momentum and demonstrates immediate value.
For Free Content
Encourage the prospect to take action by moving forward toward accessing other resources from you that will help them get the outcome they desire. Create a clear path to the next step in their journey.
Here's what to do: Tell readers what to do, how to do it, and why they should do it now. For example: "Click here now to register for your free membership in the training program while enrollment is still open."
11. Are You Getting Content in Front of a Targeted Audience?
You can do everything perfectly as outlined so far… and yet your content can still flop. This happens if you're not getting your content in front of a targeted audience.
For example, if you put your online business content in front of grandmothers who are looking for gift ideas for the grandkids, what sort of reaction will you get? Not a good one, that's for sure.
This is an exaggerated example, but the point holds: if you want better results, your content needs to land in front of a targeted audience.
How to Improve Your Audience Targeting
Sharpen your ad campaigns to be sure your traffic is targeted. Here are specific strategies:
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Guest blogging: Only pursue opportunities on highly targeted blogs where your ideal audience already engages
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Keyword strategy: Choose highly targeted, longtail keywords for your pay per click and search engine optimization efforts
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Strategic partnerships: Work with partners who cater to the same niche as you
Take a hard look at where your traffic is coming from, and determine if there are ways you can improve these campaigns. Your goal is to get your content out to the people who need it most and are interested in it most.
Your Next Step: Implementing This Content Optimization Checklist
Your assignment for this lesson is to print off the above 11 questions from this complete series, and then use this lesson in two ways:
1. Troubleshoot existing content that's not performing well. Apply these questions systematically to identify weak points.
2. Create a quality checklist to ensure all content you create going forward is as good as can be. Prevention is easier than correction.
As you noticed, many of the items on this list require simple tweaks. As such, it's well worth your time to make these tweaks, as they can greatly improve the response rate.
Ready to transform your content marketing results? Start applying these call to action principles today. Review your existing content, identify improvement opportunities, and implement these strategies systematically for measurable conversion improvements.
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