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Ask any blogger, writer or marketer about their secret recipe, they will tell you: “content that connects with people is super important”.Creating content that sells is no rocket science. You need to learn the art of copywriting and few other persuasive techniques to build massive audience with your content. That’s how Copyblogger did it and built a million dollar online business within a decade.If you want to increase your blog traffic, you need lots of great content that people crave for. Observe any successful blog, it’s well received because of just one reason – “posting problem solving contents frequently”.
If you are looking for proven ways to create content that goes viral and increases your sales, you are in the right place. We’ll first talk about what type of content goes popular.
3 types of content that always go viral
#1) Research backed data
Gone are the days where you can write 500 word random articles to increase your blog traffic and sales. No one likes to read or share them unless you have effective data-backed content on your blogs.
If you observe any top marketing (Fitness, Yoga etc) blog, you will notice most of their epic posts are research-driven blog posts. They are not only extremely detailed but they are often contains accurate data.
For instance, “How Tim Lost 15 Kgs in 2 Months Using Paleo Diet” tends to get more social shares, backlinks and sales when compared to the average posts like “How to lose 10 kgs”. Are you getting me?
#2) Case studies
Case studies always perform well. They not only instantly connect with everyone but also go viral if they are well written.
If we again consider the above same example, an effective case study can be written around “How I lost 10 kgs in a month” and sharing everything you did from diet to exercise to help your audience to lose their weight.
#3) List posts
List posts can go viral easily. If you observe any top post on Digg, StumbleUpon or any other blog marketing forum, you will notice most of the top posts contain list posts. They are not only easy to consume by online audience but people love to share them with their network if they find useful.
Now, let’s talk about how to create amazing content that gets more traffic and sales.
How to create compelling content that gets you readers
In order to create powerful content that builds loyal audience, you need to come up with incredible ideas. How do you get ideas that are proven to go viral?
Use Skyscraper technique. This concept was originally coined by Brian Deanfrom Backlinko. This involves in 3 simple steps. One is finding top performing content in your niche, the second step is to write exceptional content around it and the final step is to promote your content with the right people.
To put it simply, you need Buzzsumo (free tool) to start finding the epic content in your niche. Once you enter any keyword on Buzzsumo, it will give you a list of all the top performing posts including the social shares and links.
Pick anyone of them and beat that content by making more detailed, adding more links and resources etc. Then use tools like Topsy to find the top tweets to promote your existing content. Email all the people who are interested in reading or sharing your stuff (use Topsy) to reach a wider audience.
Always aim for quality over quantity.
One quality link from a top blog is equivalent to hundreds of links from small or random blogs. Likewise, one epic post beats 100’s of crappy posts in terms of getting more shares, links, comments and traffic. Most new bloggers make a mistake of churning out more contents to increase their traffic.
But the reality is Google won’t send you massive traffic for updating your blog frequently. It will only reward if your site is well linked, well written and well shared on social media sites. So make sure to spend more time in crafting one amazing post than writing tens of crappy posts.
Controversial topics spread like a wildfire.
If your blog audience are debating on a popular topic, that’s a great blog post idea to spread your blog’s exposure and if done right, controversial topics spread like a wildfire. Make a list of all the trending topics in your niche, then filter all the results that sound controversial.
Use both Google and other blogging forums to see what others are discussing about the topics you filtered out. Form a strong opinion around it, research well and finish your post! It will not only give you a better idea but these controversial topics always perform well in increasing traffic, shares and comments.
For instance, blog posts titled “Why Matt Cutts Is Completely Wrong About Building Links” can attract more eyeballs than with the posts titled “Matt Cutts Talk About Link Building”. Are you getting me? Start writing controversial topics in the beginning to increase your brand and if they are handled well, you will soon see a massive traffic spike and social shares.
How to increase your traffic with your content
Headlines: 9 out of 10 people read your headlines before even clicking on any of your blog posts. Magnetic headlines always create a lot of buzz online. If you want to boost your traffic, the simplest is to write great headlines that make your audience immediately click after reading them.
Here are few simple yet effective ways to write captivating headlines for your blog posts.
- Using specific numbers or data in your headlines always perform well online. For instance, 9 tips to make more money online.
- Use rocking headline formulas. You can write an incredible headline mentioning the problem and offering a solution. For instance, 10 Easy Ways to Reduce Your Headache.
- Data driven case studies can attract your target audience. For instance, “how I increased my social shares by 160% in just 2 hours”
Strategic linking: The fastest way to increase your overall search engine traffic is to get as many links as possible from other sites. Even if you have a new blog, you can get massive organic traffic by getting quality links from other blogs. Before asking someone to link to your blog posts, you need to frequently link out to other blogs and let them know about it. Sooner or later, they will start linking to your stuff if they find your content useful and relevant.
Proper on-page SEO: Proper content marketing starts with the right SEO. SEO is incomplete without on-page SEO. Proper on-page SEO include things like using the primary keywords in h1 tags, meta description, image alt tags, right usage of keyword placement and keyword density. If done right, it can alone boost your overall search rankings without building too many backlinks.
Here are few amazing on-page SEO tips just in case if you want to implement the right on-page metrics on your blog to increase your traffic from search engines.
Blogger outreach: A successful blogger outreach strategy not only increases your traffic and sales but it will also help you explode your online brand. Networking is the main key to succeed online. Without having connections with the influential bloggers in your industry, you won’t see massive results. People see you as an expert if an established expert endorses you or tweets your stuff regularly. It can only happen if you already have a connection with him.
Before asking someone for a link or share, make sure to understand their needs first. Don’t blindly send massive sales pitches, it’s the surefire way to get rejected. Figure out what their blog needs and give suggestions based on it.
You can even pitch great guest posts that may help their blog audience. Once you have the proper connections with the right people, you can ask for a tweet or link whenever you post something epic.
How to create content that sells
Build rapport with your audience: Building a virtual friendship with your audience is the key to increasing your online sales. No one buys from strangers online. They think twice if not thrice before buying anything online. If they like you and trust you, it becomes so easy to turn your blog audience into buyers.
- Always ask questions at the end of your blog posts. This is the simplest way to get your readers opinions. And when they leave their comments on your blog, respond to them passionately. Respond to each and every email you get (even though if it’s not a sales relevant email).
- Link out to your blog audience who leaves more comments, frequently shares your posts or buy stuff from you. This way you cultivate the habit of generosity which is essential to boosting your online sales in the long run.
Selling becomes easy with your email list: Many successful marketers such as Neil Patel, Darren Rowse, Brian Clark, Pat Flynn etc have built their empires just by using an email list. Having a hungry list is what all you need to increase your online sales without sounding like a sales guy.
Having an email list not only helps you increase your sales and revenue but you can leverage your connections whenever you launch something new (be it a new blog, product or software).
Another great way of using email list is to promote the right products at the right time. Use special days such as Black Friday, Cyber Monday etc to your advantage. Most companies offer huge deals during such days and you can quickly increase your overall revenue by promoting the right products to your audience.
Final thoughts on creating captivating content that connects
Creating great content that increases your traffic and sales isn’t hard. If you follow the exact framework I have laid out, you will not only get more traffic but you will actually build raving fans.
Writing no posts is better than writing a bad post. It’s better spend 10 hours on ONE epic post rather than spending the same time on publishing 10 average posts. So take your steps wisely when you are creating content for your blogs. Also make sure to reach out to other bloggers in your niche to build relationships and grow your online brand exposure.
If I had to start building a profitable online business by using a blog, I would use just one tactic: content marketing. It works like a charm no matter what niche you are in. It not only helps you boost your online exposure, expertise and sales but also helps you connect with the right people in your industry.
So, how else can you create captivating content that turn readers into fans into long time customers?
