How to maximise traffic & conversion rate on published blog articles

Once you have been publishing blog articles for a while, it’s time to review the result! If you’re like most hard-working marketers, you don’t have a whole bunch of time for researching best practices, analyse your data and decide the best actions. Luckily for you, I have put together an easy-to-use quick-guide which will save you time and help you get going.

Why should you spend time with your previous blog articles in the first place, you might ask at this point? 

According to Paul Hewerdine of B2B marketing agency Earnest (via Forrester’s 2014 report on building the case for content marketing), the problem is that ‘the supply of content is growing, but demand is static’. In the same report, they’ve found that an estimated 50% of content from enterprises is going unused.

But the content is out there, and people are going to continue finding your older articles through search engines. Hence, keeping the content fresh and optimised becomes more and more vital. Put differently; in a sea of mediocracy, quality stands out like a lighthouse beacon.

The process of fine-tuning your previous articles consists of three steps. You should repeat those steps continuously and make it an ongoing part of your content strategy. It will be worth the effort. 

Let’s get going!

Export your blog analytics

Begin with exporting your numbers and put them in an Excel sheet. If you use HubSpot, you’ll do that by navigating to your blog (or blogs) and scroll down to the Top Posts by Click-throughs-module in the Analyse tab. Click See all articles by click-throughs, chose time span All time and chose to Export that the view. Simple as that!

If you don’t use HubSpot, you would want to find the numbers showing (at least): Total numbers of views, Number of views from Organic search and Number of CTA clicks.

Sort your blog articles

Now, let’s sort the articles and identify the most important ones by mapping them against the following four scenarios:

• High traffic and high conversion rate
• High traffic and low conversion rate
• Low traffic and high conversion rate
• Low traffic and low conversion rate

Tag the articles you want to focus on by adding a Status column including the different scenarios (see example below). Begin with 2–3 artciles per scenario.

Note: There are no exact numbers to apply when identifying the scenarios. The number of a High traffic and low conversion rate articles can look different depending on which industry it represents. Review your performance and identify your best performing content.

Take action based on the four scenarios

Each scenario poses questions and suggests steps to take. For instance, a articles with a high amount of traffic but low conversion rate, have two possible explanations you should investigate:

• Reason #1 
  The visitors might not find the path to conversion or see any reasons to convert. Your content could be just fine, but if you don’t tell them what to do (and WHY), they won’t do it.
  
  Action 
  Look at where your CTA is located. Ensure that your CTA copy and what you’re offering is being relevant to what the article is about.

• Reason #2
  The second reason is a bit trickier. It is about not getting any qualified visitors to the blog. Then it doesn’t matter if you replace your CTA’s.
  
  Action
  Start by reviewing your content strategy and make sure it aligns with your targeted audience.
  
  Look at the way you decide what to write about. Change the process if needed.
  
  The heading and the keywords you use could play a part in this as well. Optimise around keywords which are relevant to your business and your Buyer’s Personas, and use headings that entice click-through.
  
  Analyse conversion rate by channel. Shift your promoted content to channels with higher conversion rate

Conclusion

‘If you find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere.’ 

It’s usually tough to get going and easy to be overwhelmed by all the data you have. However, by using this guide, you’ll have a better chance to set a standardised way of thinking and create routines. Hopefully, it will help you lower the barriers a bit.

One last thing to keep in mind; historical optimisation never stops. Once you have started to optimise, you would want to know the outcome of your efforts. Repeat the above steps over and over again and remember to be patient. 

If you want more handy tips, read Common mistakes to avoid for resolving underperforming content.

Good luck... and do remember to download the guide!