Marketing bloggers are becoming desperate.
I’m an avid reader of marketing blogs. I often learn heaps, value the writers time in sharing their experiences and I often share great actionable marketing content with 9,000+ readers who have subscribed to my weekly newsletter.
Over the past few months, I’ve noticed a trend I’m really sad to see progressing — marketing blogs becoming really desperate for emails. The user experience on these blogs are becoming worse and worse, to a degree that I no longer share the content with my community any more.
It’s a shame, as these writers often spend hours upon hours crafting great content, but their desperation for email signups and lack of design chops instantly goes on to kill the hard work they have done.
Less is more
Please, please, please resist the urge to have 20 calls to action on any part of your site at once. It’s by far the biggest error I see marketing blogs make, and as marketers, they really should no better.
How many marketing blogs have you visited recently who are screaming at you to:
- Share the content
- Download a guide
- Signup to a newsletter (often multiple times)
- Follow them on Twitter
- Signup to a trial
- Like their page on Facebook
- Visit other content they have written
- Download an app
Sometimes… all at the same time!
By doing this, you are not only confusing your readers, but are probably hurting your desired outcome (whatever they may be).
Instead, limit and focus on one or two things you want your readers to do — your site will look cleaner (and more respectable) for it, and you’ll channel more readers into your desired funnel.
Respect your readers
Stop forcing readers (especially before they have even read your content) to sign up to your email list. This includes the horrible above the fold landing page. They are ugly, offer poor user experience and scream “let me poke you in the eye before you look at my painting”.
Remember, a little empathy goes a long way.
Take user experience seriously
Follow and adapt good UI/UX principles. Take navigation, text size, content width, spacing, images and alignment seriously.
Who are you targeting?
A simple test — make a list of customers you would love to have use your service/product. Visit their sites. Are they busy and full of email pop-ups? Or are they clean and focused?
Be original
Stop copying every other marketing blog out there. Your job as a marketer is to stand out — and you know what, you guys and girls are really good at doing this with content! Why can’t you do this with design and user experience too?
Stop being cheap
Stop using third party branded email sign up tools. You think the HelloBar or the SumoMe pop-up you have installed makes you look cool? It doesn’t — it makes you look cheap. And lazy.
Care
If there’s one thing I hope you’ll take away from this post, it’s to care more about your readers. Care = trust. Trust = sales. It should be a no brainer.
