What Does A Successful Blog Look Like?

What Does A Successful Blog Look Like?

CTAs and Exit Pop-Ups – Building Cash through Content for Your Blog

Ever since blogs went up, the emphasis has always focused on content. ‘Content is King!’ is an expression that has been bandied about for almost two decades now. And it makes sense – a well-structured and well-written blog is one that is more likely to captivate the attention of readers than blogs which lack those qualities. There is no doubt that enticing content, actionable content and dynamic content is better suited towards driving traffic and converting readers into customers. If you’re wondering how to monetize your website, never discount the impact of great content. But therein lays another question: Are blogs which focus on quality content better suited to generating cash, or are these mutually exclusive characteristics?

•	What Does A Successful Blog Look Like

There is a great divide between blogs that convert well and mediocre blogs. If you look at blogs which focus on analytics, there is no doubt that quantitative analysis is important. CTAs (calls to action) are the single most important drivers of traffic, data collection and conversion. Placement is but one aspect of how CTAs function. Far too many companies today fail to provide adequate or effective calls to action on their blogs. For the most part, blog visitors are simply there to casually browse for additional tidbits of information, perhaps make a comment here or there. They are unlikely buyers of products or services, but the power of CTAs lies in their ability to build e-mail lists. It is this database of information that provides a rich pool with which to strategize effectively.

Placement of CTAs

Consider for a moment the placement of a call to action on a blog. The first place we look is on the left-hand side of the page since we read from left to right. By placing a CTA on that side of the blog, it naturally gains the reader’s attention from the get go. It has been discovered by quantitative analysis and a substantial body of research that the placement of e-mail boxes on the left half of the blog is effective at converting people on your e-mail list into real-money customers. There is the issue of casual readers who quickly scan through the content and have a high bounce rate and engaged readers.

The engaged readers are the ones who enjoy what they are reading and actively search for additional content to bolster their knowledge. Another great way to gain valuable data from your readers is by having a pop-up when the reader is trying to exit the page. If the pop-up requires the readers to enter an e-mail address in exchange for a discount, coupon, membership or the like, it may be possible to build up a database in this way too. The exit-intent pop-up is so popular today that it is found on a great many blogs and websites and it works tremendously well.

Cash is King

The content that appears on the exit intent pop-up should offer something of value to the reader. Typically subscriptions to the blog, or the company’s products and services, or updates from the company are offered. This information is exchanged for the user’s e-mail address. And this is precisely how monetizing a blog becomes possible. By building up a database of interested users, the likelihood of conversion naturally increases. This is where the axiom, content is king dovetails beautifully with cash is king because the two work with one another to ensure the financial success of the blog.