Does Blog Traffic Convert Well? Why Not?

When you are focusing on drawing traffic, you are probably spending most time and energy on initial visits. This is pulled by SEO, primarily, and maybe some social media sharing through those who are already reading your blog.

Undeniably, this is an important element; you want new people to come across your content and you want to earn money on auto-pilot. Any way of doing that is a plus, and you should consider each surge in traffic a real success. But what happens when you have finished this part, and want to move on to converting that traffic into the long term?

RSS subscribers, email newsletter sign ups, social media likes or follows, regular visits…these are all the next stage. But traffic doesn’t convert very well on its own. You have to pretty much start all over again, this time with these new elements in mind.

Banners

There are many people who will advise you to keep away from banners. While I can understand their belief that it might be ignored as an ad, I think it is short sighted to swear them off entirely. A well placed, properly toned banner image, whether at the header or in the sidebar, can have great results.

When creating a banner image, make sure you are specific and only have one! This is important, as too many looks bad and won’t draw the reader’s attention in a focused way. Invite them to sign up for your email, subscribe or even join groups or membership plans.

Crowdfunding website Solar Mosaic claim that they have seen a 15% increase in signups using this method.

Calls to Action

There is no more effective means of promoting yourself than through a call to action. Many people don’t think about subscribing or how they might be able to keep in touch. Not when they are just there to read a specific piece of content that they may or may not remember. Which is why it is up to you to remind them.

You can use many different means of generating a call to action. Buttons are common, as are banners like the one above. But to make sure the reader sees it, I recommend using a sentence directing them at the end of each post. Just make sure it is short and sweet, maybe a sentence or two.

Traffic generation guru Ana Hoffman does this perfectly. She takes whatever the topic of her post is, and puts a relevant call to action in place. If she is speaking about subscriptions, she will have a quick sentence at the end of the post that invites people to her RSS feed, for example.

Social Media Outreach

You should always be trying to work the social media angle. I have read so many posts over the last few years that scoff at the potential for social media marketing. But they had a rude awakening when the method was adopted so widely. An eventuality it is shocking more so-called experts did not pick up on.

Buttons at the ends of posts for Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and even LinkedIn and Pinterest are necessary. But so are calls to action on your main site that allow people to easily connect to you on these sites.

Conclusion

Do you want to convert your blog traffic, but have seen no luck? The tips above should show you what you should be doing. If you aren’t, you now know why you aren’t seeing results.

Image Credits: 1.