Most bloggers, when they start, make their first aim all about getting traffic.

We all fall into this trap. We think that traffic is the only thing we need to build a successful business.

We start commenting, guest posting and doing as much as we can to get more traffic.

Now what?

What if we get people to come to our site and they leave the blog after a few seconds?

What have we gained in the end?

You won't be able to build the audience that you dreamed of creating in order to build that successful business online.

4_How to Turn New Visitors into LeadsAnd if you continue trying to get traffic– which requires a lot of hard work– you won't get your business going.

But why can't you build your business?

The answer is really simple.

Making The Most Of Your Blog Traffic

To get more from the current traffic that you have, you need to:

  • Capture your readers' attention
  • Turn them into leads and subscribers.

Having subscribers can help you build your engaging community. They gave you permission to email them. You can start engaging with them and turn them into customers and clients.

Turning Visitors into Subscribers

In order to capture their attention and turn them into leads and subscribers you need to:

  • Get them to click, and
  • Convince them to take action and subscribe to your blog.

After you get them to click and then they become your subscribers, you are able to start engaging with them and start building your online business.

It's that simple.

Now, let's dive in to learn how to get the click and make them take action and subscribe to your blog.

First: Get the click.

The first action you want people to take is to click. If you're running a blog site, your most popular page is your single post page, NOT your homepage.

The reason is very simple. It's because people share post pages on your site, and Google ranks those pages higher. That's why they are the most popular pages.

Now, if you want to convert traffic into leads and then into sales, you have to get them to click somewhere or take action of some kind. But how to get the click?

Here are 3 tips that can help you.

#1: Risk Reversal

When you want people to click, they're thinking, “If I click this, what's going to happen to me?”

Everyone focuses on the negative.

So if you want people to subscribe, you need a clear risk reversal very close to the subscribe button. For example, you can add a testimonial nearby.

Check the following example from Derek Halpern of Social Triggers. Risk reversal on social triggers

When people come to subscribe and see someone like Chris Brogan had said that he is loving Social Triggers, they'll subscribe without thinking. This makes it easier to get them to subscribe.

If you want people to click on your button, try to show that it's risk-free. That helps people take action because you're reinforcing the fact that subscribing is very low-risk.

So, you need to do the risk reversal right where you want people to take action.

#2: Active Commands

Whenever I say this to people, they always laugh at me – especially Tech Guys. They can't believe that using active commands can help increase conversion. But the real truth is, active commands always get more clicks.

So instead of saying “I'm on Twitter,” you could say, “Follow me on Twitter HERE,” and make “HERE” the link to the page.

More than once, it's been proven to actually work. You want to tell people EXACTLY what you want them to do. Even if they know it, make it clearer.

As an example, when you want people to subscribe to  your blog, tell them, “Enter your email and press the ‘Sign me up' button.” You want to make it very clear what you want them to do.

Here's an example from Leslie Samuel, right here at Become A Blogger:

Active Commands

#3: Action Colors

danny-action-colorsThis term was introduced by Derek Halpern.

Say you have a great design. You need to implement action colors which will pop out from the rest of the design. People will see these action colors and they will know exactly where they should click.

You need to pick a color that's very different from your current color scheme. Use that color to highlight where you want people to take action.

Here is an example from Danny Iny of Firepole Marketing.

Want to learn more about this great feature? Check out Derek's post answering an important question, where he introduces the Action Colors. Click on Derek's post: “What’s the BEST color for high conversions?

What Happens After They Click?

After you've gotten the click, now you can set up your blog to capture attention and then entice them to take action.

But, where do you want to send them?

The best place is the cornerstone landing page.

Cornerstone Landing Pages

This is what Brian Clark named them.

So what are they?

Action pages are landing pages that consist of 3 parts:

1) introductory content,

2) some links to articles which are the basics of the main topic, and

3) an option form or sales pitch.

A good example can be found at SocialTriggers.com.

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But many will ask: “Why can't I just use category pages?”

Yes, a category page makes people click and check a lot of your content, but they DON'T convert readers. Category pages aren't a good place to convert readers because they overwhelm people with information.

On the other hand, “Landing Pages Turn Traffic into Money,” (as Copyblogger says). It's really a perfect opportunity to give people some information and then ask them to take  action.

That's why you need to remove all distractions, such as the sidebar. Make all the content centered on your topic, and then ask readers to take action. So for every page, have only one goal.

The best part is that if you focus your action pages around a specific keyword, you can rank higher on search engines. You want to give a lot of great content, so that Google will add you at the top.

Also, many people will want to link to those pages and share them on social media. That's why they are great for getting higher rankings. You will get more traffic and better conversions with this tip.

So from now on, start using action pages. Always link to them on your blog or while guest posting. You can also link to them in the navigation bar. They can be the real money makers.

Conclusion

If you follow the 3 tips above, you should be able to captivate people to take the action you want. Combine the above tips with each other and you'll be able to make more money.

Provide Risk Reversal, make an Active Command and make use of Action Colors to get the click. After that, send visitors to cornerstone landing pages to captivate them and make them act.

Having all of these will skyrocket your conversions and make you able to entice your visitors and turn them into leads/sales. Doing all of the above tips correctly will help you start getting more traffic that will have a new impact on your business.

Take action now to see results… I'm sure you're going to thank me for this later.

Have you used these tips before? How has it been successful for your blog? Do you have other suggestions that can help turn visitors into leads? Share your thoughts and questions in the comments below.

 

About the Author Ahmed


Ahmed Safwan is a blogger and marketer that teaches how you can get your posts shared, tweeted, and talked about. If you want more people to read and interact with your content, check out his free Blogger's Handbook for Writing Viral Posts!

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