What is unique about a lead generation blog? A lead generation blog contains keyword-rich content, compelling calls-to-action and uses premium content to capture key intelligence from the prospective clients who are visiting their website. Together, these key components use compelling content to drive measurable action and help companies to fill their pipelines with qualified leads. Now, let’s dig into the anatomy of a great lead generation blog post.
What’s in a headline?
You want people to read your blog post in its entirety, right? First, you have to come up with a headline that piques the reader’s interest and flags that the content within your post is valuable to them. The key here is to be both strategic and creative when crafting the headlines for your blog posts. You want to include one of your target keywords in the headline to make sure the right people are finding your content while also giving it a creative flair that makes it more appealing.
High-quality content: the heart of the matter
With a compelling, keyword-rich headline defined, it’s time to tackle the body of your blog post. Starting with a handful of key messages or a content outline may be helpful depending on your writing style. From a lead generation perspective, your blog post should focus on one or two keywords so that it is targeted yet readable and doesn’t read like a confusing string of jargon. While optimization is important, making sure your content is easy for readers to understand is critical.
Defining the call-to-action
What do you want people to do after consuming your content? Do you want them to download a whitepaper, e-book or toolkit? Schedule a consultation? Register for a webinar? Attend an event? Your content should lay the foundation for driving the intended action. And, your call-to-action should be relevant to the content that precedes it. For optimal ROI, your call-to-action should link to a landing page that contains a short data capture form so that you can capture some basic lead intelligence to start the lead nurturing process – often done through marketing email automation.
Incorporating multimedia components
Compelling blog posts are more than text. They incorporate key visuals, such as photos or videos, and are laid out in an easy-to-read format. In some instances, authentic photography is the best bet while, custom graphics may work best in others. Depending on the nature of the post, a stock photo may suffice.
If you’re going to embed videos in your blog posts, be sure they aren’t too long and that the content ties directly to the blog post in which it is housed.
What is premium content?
Premium content is often the “200-level” edition of your blog content. For example, your blog post may discuss “5 Tips for Preparing Your 2016 Tax Filing” while your toolkit download may be the “Ultimate Tax Filing Preparation Guide.” Lead generation blogs often include call-to-action “buttons” at the end of each post to drive content downloads, accessed through a dedicated landing page for the offer. Your premium content should be audience-centric and the value of providing some basic information (name, email, company, etc.) to get the content should be clear.
How can I create blog posts that motivate people to download premium content?
Every industry is unique, as are the key drivers that motivate a company’s target audiences to take action. While driving action sometimes requires prospects to be at the right point in the sales cycle, in other instances it is about how the information is packaged. Great blog posts are educational, engaging and leave the reader with an actionable takeaway or two. They also build trust between the reader and the company and lay the foundation for an ongoing relationship. No pressure, right?
Lead generation blogs can help companies increase their marketing ROI.
