Conversion Magic: Turning Readers into Buyers

If you have an audience, you have permission. Permission is a valuable resource, and one that it is easy to squander. And the easiest way to do that is to mistake permission to talk for permission to sell.

Your blog readers have given you permission to talk to them. After all, you’re giving them valuable information. Blatantly trying to sell them something creates a disconnect. Do it too often, and your blog starts feeling like a catalog.

The best thing you can do is take the sales message off-site. Or at least off of the main stream of your blog. Here are 5 ways to do this:

1. Create an online store attached to your blog.
There are many shopping-cart plug-ins out there that make this simple. Or you can do it yourself with pay-pal or by paying someone to set one up for you.

Then, if the moment presents itself, you can create a link in a post that takes them to a particular product in your store. But the product MUST be relevant to the conversation going on in that post.

2. Create a Newsletter.
You can use your blog as a way to build your sales list, by offering a newsletter (weekly, monthly…whatever) related to the use of your product or service. If you’re a landscaper, it could be a newsletter of monthly maintenance tips. If you’re a dry cleaner, it could be a seasonal style guide.

People are used to getting marketing messages between the articles in a newsletter, so it won’t come across as nearly incongruous as it would in your blog.

3. Announce a Special Offer.
Thank your readers by offering them a special deal. Inclusion, exclusivity and a time-limit will both boost sales AND help build a stronger bond with your audience.

4. Address an Issue
Talk about your product. Not BRAG about it. Not SELL it. Simply talk about it. If there’s a problem that you’ve fixed…let people know. If you’ve upgraded it (especially due to feedback from readers), let people know.

If you’re planning, building, launching, discontinuing, recalling, changing, bringing back or otherwise messing with an existing or new product, talk about the process and why you’re so passionate about it.

5. Feature an employee, team or department.
You CAN brag about your people. No, you SHOULD brag about your people. And talking about your people will by default allow you to talk about the products that they are responsible for.

And THAT gives you the opportunity to link to an online spec sheet, or a product in your online store.

These are just 5 ways to work your product or service into your blog without overtly selling it. Without interrupting the conversation to beg them to buy from you.

PHOTO CREDIT: Source sxc.hu