Bridget Willard | SaaS Marketing Agency

Category: Content Marketing

  • What if Your CTAs Are a Turn Off

    Every once in a while I come across an article on content marketing that makes me cringe. It seems that even the experts don’t understand the concept.

    After a decade plus of generating revenue through content marketing, I can tell you the points mentioned, which included adding CTAs, making the reader take an action, getting subscribers, are absolutely unnecessary. Some are helpful, though they were about getting your content seen. Most are flat out compensation for crap content or ineffective marketing.

    The need to keep them clicking or give them an action to take or relying on a CTA are indications the author did a poor job with their content (either the subject itself or how it was written) and getting it in front of the right audience. If your content hit the mark, the reader will choose to take an action without prompting.

    The negative effect of CTAs

    Calls to Action (CTAs) in content has a drawback as well. It can limit social sharing and backlinks. I will generally advise clients against linking to content that includes CTAs, especially if they are obvious. Unless my client has a high degree of authority and experience, that link could result in a lost sale (the last click wins).

    While it may be seen as a positive if you received a backlink to an article with a CTA, you’ll still likely have lost more links than earned. While I don’t have a concern about losing clients through links to content with strong CTAs, my content is designed to be educational and informative.  For me, to link to an article that includes a strong CTA (making it promotional) is a huge no. I will only link to (or share via social media) content aimed at educating and informing.

    Think about the real-world comparison.

    Would you ever refer someone to a possible competitor if you knew they used hard-sell tactics? That you could lose your customer. Hell no! You wouldn’t expect referrals if you did the same either. So why include a hard sell in the form of a CTA within your content? Good content doesn’t need it. Authoritative brands don’t need it.

    If you feel a CTA is necessary, add one in a non-promotional way.  Try “we’d love to chat” or “if you have questions” used with “drop us a line” or “contact us” linked to your contact form. More than being less promotional, this softer approach is more inviting, more relationship-based, and you’ll likely see an increase in conversions.

    “Keep them clicking?”

    Internal links shouldn’t exist to “keep them clicking.” They are designed to provide an opportunity for the reader to dig deeper if they want to learn more. Good content can stand on its own. Internal links designed to keep your reader clicking will have them clicking off your site. Your reader wants answers.

    If they cannot find what they need in the content you provided, they’ll bounce. Period. And Google will take notice of POGO bounces (If you follow this link, you’ll see it perfectly addressed what I was after and it doesn’t try to convert me. It still earned a backlink and I bookmarked the site for future reference – Those are conversions. Additional links on the page gave me an option to read more and the subscribe box is unobtrusive to a point that I failed to even notice it on the first read — damn good content marketing.)

    The Bottom Line

    Well-written (hire a professional content editor if necessary), valuable content which shows authority in addressing a subject matter does not need a hard CTA.

    Rather than talking to experts adding gimmicks, let’s get back to basics and talk about what makes for good content. Let’s focus on quality writing (hire an editor if necessary). Learn how to use social media marketing and building the right audience to get your good content seen.

    If your content isn’t hitting its mark and you feel the points addressed in the above-referenced article are advisable, let’s chat. (See what I did there? A soft, friendly CTA!)

    Robert Nissenbaum is a brand, content, and social media marketing consultant at Tactical Social Media with more than a decade of experience.  He is a national speaker and is the Lead Marketing Wrangler for WordCamp Seattle.  An avid sea kayaker, when not online, you can find him on the water.  You can find him on X at @rnissenbaum.

  • If you want to be seen, go expose yourself!

    I caught this article on outbound links and SEO in my Facebook feed. It instantly hit a nerve.

    Can we just stop writing for SEO?

    We have been so brainwashed about content – when we need to post, how often we should post, how we need to create it to show in searches that we have forgotten WHY we need to publish content.

    Honest answer, please?

    Why do you publish content on your blog? On Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, whatever your flavor of social media is today?

    Too often the first answer is something to the effect of the “I need to be on the first page of Google” reason. The second is usually about showing up in feeds. Both are essentially the same reason – to be seen.  The problem with this approach?  The point of your content is to provide answers, information, something of value to the reader, not to get you noticed.

    If you want to be seen, go expose yourself!

    Back in the day that meant cold calling, networking meetings, and after-hours business events. Today it means the same, only doing it via social platforms.

    Get involved in groups, interact with the content of others. Make yourself visible. Give others a reason to WANT to read your content. Write it to provide value, show authority, to connect.  This way when they do seek out your content, they’ll read it, engage with it, and potentially share it. This game of creating and publishing content and focusing on getting it to show up is ineffective (Facebook’s whole reach thing).

    As a salesperson with more than 30 years experience, I can tell you the best sales are when the customer buys, not when they are sold. From a content perspective, if you continue to try to shove content down your audience’s throats, they likely won’t read it, let alone convert. Drive them to WANT to read it and they will! They are also more likely to share it and to consume more of your content.

    To be clear, I am not saying a piece of content showing at the top of page 1 in a Google search or a social feed will not convert. I’m pointing out that it’s not why we should be creating content or optimizing for as a priority.

    All of my content is designed to provide value. Probably 90% of the content I publish has ‘SEO’ as an afterthought, if at all.

    • I write to provide value.
    • I write with the goal of keeping content moving and easy to read.

    WHEN I get you to my content, you will read it.

    Everything else is secondary. I know you chose to read my content and I know I provided value, you are more likely to comment on it, share it, link back to it or otherwise send signals, direct and indirect, to Google, that it should be ranked.

    Search ranking is the indirect result of good content and social networking.

    Write to answer questions, inform, educate, provide value. Network to drive views. The rest takes care of itself if you do these effectively. (FYI – this is the method I use for myself and clients to drive 20%+ reach and engagement levels on Facebook.)

    Yes, you can optimize for SEO to your heart’s content and will likely show in SERPs. At that point, I need to ask, for all of your work, what is your CTR? Do people actually ‘click’ when you show in a search? Do you even know?

    The same applies to social feeds. If you optimize for ‘reach’, is your content seeing engagement? Is it generating web traffic? Converting? Likely no…because the reader didn’t choose to see it, it was shown to them (simple human behavior – and yes, I know, there are ways to show it to them and get them to convert.

    So about what started this little rant – outbound links and if they are good for SEO.

    Here’s the thing. Many of the bits which are recommended for SEO optimization – all come down to good writing and presentation.

    1. Heading tags and small paragraphs – all about making it readable.
    2. Internal links – all about providing the reader with more related content.
    3. External links – all about citing sources, supporting claims, providing related content.

    Remember those term papers we needed to write in high school and college? The elements above? They were required. Why? The reasons I listed. The teacher/professor needed to be able to read (and want to keep reading) what you wrote. They needed to know you understood the concept (authority). Outbound links provide you credibility. That credibility makes someone more inclined to share and link back.

    Stop thinking in terms of SEO and start thinking in terms of your audience.

    • What does my audience want to read?
    • How will  I keep them reading until the end?
    • What will provide them the information they need?
    • How will I show my authority and understanding of the concept?]

    Then go network. MAKE people want to learn more about you or your brand. Make them WANT to learn more and seek out your content.

    SERPs and social feed ‘reach’ for your content is an indirect result of writing for your audience, which is a direct result of you creating its initial visibility through social interaction.

    [bctt tweet=”Next time you sit down to write, think in terms of your reader, not Google. Then go be social.”  username=”rnissenbaum”]

    Robert Nissenbaum is a speaker and you can find out more here.

  • Is your headline as disappointing as a toy in a box of cereal?

    Big promises on the box. Small on delivery. “Toy inside!” False promises in cereal boxes and in headlines only disappoint your audience. That’s no way to build yourself up as a blogger or a small business.

    Do you find that you have a lot of clicks but low time on site? Or maybe your headlines aren’t getting any clicks at all. Maybe you’re not writing for your audience.

    Clickbait Headlines are Cheap Tricks

    Clickbait. We’ve all seen it. Most of us have clicked.

    The mad-lib formula headline gets the most publicity but is it the most disappointing?

    “[Personal Noun] [past tense verb] into a [location] and you’ll never believe what happened next.”

    Now, we joke about them because they’re often formatted like a joke. But how many times are you disappointed in that type of a headline? (more…)

  • Why Should Your Business Publish on Your Blog?

    A blog is part of your website. We say you should “blog” as a verb but really, you write and publish on your blog. You don’t technically “blog.” Regardless, you should be creating content and publishing it on your own website as regularly as possible.

    Should Your Business Have a Blog?

    Your business should have a website. You publish on your blog to elevate your brand. We write to have a voice, educate our audience, and position ourselves as thought leaders. We publish articles on our blog to have a voice, educate our audience, and position ourselves as thought leaders. It’s true that you can publish on Medium, LinkedIn, or Facebook. I do that sometimes as an experiment to test audiences.

    The important thing to understand is that those free platforms don’t belong to you. You are at the mercy of their own funding. Anytime Medium decides to quit, everything is gone. Remember how everyone loved Katch.me for Periscope? It’s gone. Blab.im is gone.

    This is why it is important to publish on your own website.

    Here are the slides on Slideshare.

    This presentation covers the following points.

    What is blogging?

    Blogging is writing that is published on a website.

    Reasons to blog:

    • Personal
    • Professional

    Personal Blogging:

    • Writing is cathartic.
    • Writing develops critical thinking.
    • Personal blogging is professional practice.

    Writing is Cathartic:

    Sometimes you just need to express yourself. Writing helps process emotions.

    Critical Thinking:

    Even if no one reads your blog, you’ve organized your thoughts and deeply considered the material.

    Practice:

    Writing is an art.
    Writing takes practice as well.
    Writing is a skill.

    * Haiku by Iris Messina

    Professional Blogging:

    • Position yourself as a thought leader.
    • Educate audience on products and services.
    • Exposure.

    Thought Leadership:

    People believe the written word. Publishing your opinions and advice positions yourself as an expert.

    Education:

    Content marketing is a fancy term for education. Describing your product is education and can lead to conversion.

    Exposure:

    The more you publish, the more people can find you through search, other blogs, and social media.

    A Word About Audience:

    When it comes to audience you have two options:

    • Write and your audience will find you.
    • Find your audience and write for them.

    Just Write:

    It takes time to find your voice.
    As you publish and share, people will find you organically.

    Personas:

    If you’ve been in business for some time, you likely know your audience. Write to meet their needs.

    My friends at Blue Steele Solutions have a Persona Worksheet to help you out.

    Audience Size:

    It doesn’t matter how many hits your posts get.
    It matters who reads your posts.

    Summary:

    • The more you write, the better you’ll get, so publish regularly.
    • Add value, answer questions, educate.
    • Find your voice and your audience will find you.

    to help get your blog and social coordinated.

  • How do you capture your ideas?

    Ideas are my nemesis.

    Sherlock and Moriarty. Batman and the Joker. Superman and Lex Luthor.

    Every hero has a nemesis that taunts them and generally tries to hinder their good work.

    Ideas come to me in the dark, subconscious hours of the night, teasing me with the promise of genius only to leave me when I’m fully awake.

    Instead of relying upon my memory, when I’m inspired at 4:00 a.m., I need to become more disciplined about writing them down.

    I had this great idea for a video about not tweeting in the third person. But I didn’t write it down. Not one to waste an opportunity, I turned my own mistake into a lesson.

    How do you conquer and capture your ideas? Once written down, that’s just the beginning. (more…)