When it comes to leveraging your time, automation is the sharpest tool in your toolbox. It allows you to get more done in less time, and to thoughtfully move people through your funnel in a way that meets them at their point of need. For many small business owners, though, the one area that’s often overlooked is the website.
Use Your Blog to Build Your Mailing List
Like any smart business owner, you likely have opt-in forms on your website. They’re in the sidebar or maybe the footer, and you might have a pop-up to capture attention as visitors are about to leave.
But do you have a solid call to action at the end of every blog post?
When visitors are done consuming your posts, they are primed to learn more. Give them the opportunity to do so by offering an opt-in at the end of each post. Even better, make it a logical next step by creating a related offer for each post.
In fact, I explain the importance of offering content upgrades and post-related resources (alongside your blogs and strategically positioned throughout your website) as part of your content marketing strategy in a recent post — click here. This essentially ensures that you provide even more information about a topic your visitors are already interested in.
Keep Them Reading With Related Links
How often do you revisit old blog posts to link to newer content?
This is an important maintenance job that will help provide visitors with the information they’re looking for by linking related posts together.
Not only is this strategy good for keeping visitors on your site, but Google approves as well.
Posts that link to each other encourage search engine bots to crawl your site more thoroughly and help boost the rankings of your most relevant posts.
Make the Best of Your Download Pages
Whether you’re giving away a free report or paid product, your download pages can pull double-duty by offering visitors a “what’s next” option.
For free download pages, a related, low-cost product is best. It gives readers the chance to learn more about you with a small investment.
For paid products, consider offering a complementary upsell based on what they already own.
And if you’re using a double-opt-in mailing list, make use of that confirmation page, too! That’s the perfect place for a quick upsell or an invitation to join you in your Facebook group.
As a general rule — Whenever a reader lands on a page, he or she should be offered the next logical step.
When you write your blog posts or create your download pages, keep that in mind, and your funnel will start to fill itself.
For other website optimization tips and ideas, here are a few related posts I wrote with you in mind. I hope they help!
How to Take Your Business Website from Alright to Dynamite
The Best Search Engine Optimization Strategies for Startups
The 5 Website Metrics to Track (and Why)