The first-ever blog on the internet is believed to have appeared in 1994, and as of 2020, the Growth Badger reported that there were over 600 million blogs globally. Over 60% of internet users engage with some of the other kinds of blogs daily and an average person spends up to 37 seconds reading a blog.
Yes, every figure mentioned here is true and shows how important it is to publish blogs regularly to draw traffic to a website. And when the website in question is an ecommerce platform, there are surefire ways to convert this blog traffic into sales. And 86% of companies produce blog content compared to other formats.
Flora Fountain, an ecommerce website development and design company in Ahmedabad, India has compiled a list of to-dos and tips on how to convert the website traffic from the blogs into leads and paying customers.
Plan the sales funnel
A sales funnel the path a visitor on the website takes, from reading the blog to eventually purchasing the product. If there is not sales funnel planned out for every blog being published on the website, then it is nothing but just some reading material for the website visitor.
Ideally, this is how a Sales Funnel Looks like:
Visitors – Blog Post – Call to Action – Landing Page – Thank You page or pop-up
Now, these visitors can be people who directly clicked and reached the blog, or got drawn to it through other means like social media. From these blog posts, the visitors are prompted to engage with the website through strategically placed Call to Action (CTA) links and buttons. These CTAs can be either a data collection module or a link that leads to a product page. Once the customer makes the purchase or provides his/her data, they are greeted with a Thank You page or a pop-up. This link of sales funnel helps the blogs to be utilised to its full potential.
Create valuable content that the customers want
One of the best ways to convert visitors into a regular readers and eventually, paying customers of the business, is by providing them with content that addresses their pain-points, solves their problems and gives something worth the 5 minutes spent reading the blog.
Ahmedabad-based ethnic fashion brand Ray Ethnic writes blogs which provide their readers with tips and styling tricks for various seasons and occasions, and smartly plugs their products within their content.
This way, the chances of their regular blog readers clicking on the call to action links smartly embedded in the images and on the names of their outfits are increased. These links lead to their product pages with an option to buy online. Check out their blogs here.
Ensure that the blog is readable and accessible on all types of devices
According to a Statista report, in the year 2020, close to 4.28 billion people were accessing the internet using their mobile phones. And it will take hardly 2 seconds for any of this user to abandon a website or a link if it doesn’t open properly on their handheld devices.
Hence, it is necessary to have a responsive ecommerce website in the first place, one which opens seamlessly and runs smoothly on all kinds of mobile devices and browsers too. Secondly, the blogs shouldn’t be too long, otherwise the reader will abandon the blog halfway and leave the sales funnel.
Ideally, a blog should be of minimum 800 words. Because it contains enough word-space plus at least 5 products in it, it takes hardly 3 minutes to read a blog of this size, and that it can be optimized for SEO with the right keywords too.
Make them an offer they can’t refuse
Nobody parts ways with their data without getting something in return. Offering the website visitor something valuable in return for his/her contact information like their email address or contact number is an ideal way to capture leads.
Activecare, a UK-based beauty and lifestyle products website offers a flat 5% off on orders to visitors who subscribe for their mailing list. They do this with an attractive popup that becomes visible within 10 seconds of scrolling through their website blogs.
Another way to prompt the readers to provide their information, is by having a static subscription column on the right or left side of the blog. It stays right there, in the visibility of the reader as he/she scrolls along.
Make the most out of the leads
Here’s an interesting fact, 78% of marketers have seen an increase in email engagement over the last 12 months. Which means the chances of people opening and engaging with a well written and mobile-optimized email is higher than them clicking on a social media ad.
When readers provide their contact information to the business, they may not be interested in purchasing something immediately but do wish to come back when they see the right opportunity or deal.
Keep them updated through regular newsletters and messages, informing them about the newest offers, discounts, product launches, or services. This is called a drip campaign, where a business keeps their current and prospective customers engaged for a long period of time. Upon finding the right deal or product, the customers will reach out and eventually make the purchase.
Still wondering how to execute this process? Let the experts do the job. Various local, national and international brands have improved their business online with the ecommerce website design services and content writing services for business blogs from Flora Fountain. Reach out to us, and let us guide you towards the path of success on digital.
Amazon.in cross selling multiple shirts on their product pageFor instance, if a customer is looking to purchase a mobile phone online and as they scroll down, it will show a combined price window with a pair of earphones and power bank. It lures the customers into thinking he/she is getting a great deal in purchasing all of three products together.
Rayethnic.com creating a sense of urgency by highlighting high demand of their productsAnother way to create a sense of urgency is to offer a limited period discount or benefit. For instance, Amazon displays a pop-up under many of its products which offers either an attractive price deduction or a free overnight shipping if the customer places an order within X number of hours.
A variety of blogs on rayethnic.com that talks about fashion tips using their productsBut these aren’t just blogs, they’re smartly written content pieces peppered with relevant keywords that help their website rank higher on the search engine page. This means their visibility increases further when people search for ethnic wear.
Brizfeel research showcasing various aspects that influence shoppers to purchase moreBy regularly having offers like “The End of Season Sale” for lifestyle brands, or a “Buy One Get One Free” offer for FMCG products and food items, the quantitative sales among regular shoppers see a sharp rise. Further, when these regular customers talk to their friends and family about the great discount they availed on the sale, it attracts new visitors to the site, and chances of getting new sales go up.