10 Tips To Increase SaaS Blog Post Engagement Immediately
The era of content marketing is in full swing, with every SaaS either fully committed to content marketing and SaaS blog post engagement or has it in the pipeline to act upon (with 65% of top-performing companies have a well-documented content marketing strategy).
But I bet you already knew that, huh?
Which means you’re vying for the attention of every SaaS reader out there, already pushing out your B2B content, trying to attract the right type and increase your engagement at every twist and turn.
Trust me, I know how you feel!
I bet you also know the stats about 47% of buyers reading 3–5 blog posts before reaching out to a sales rep, and how important it is to put out fresh, evergreen, actionable content.
It’s 2019, yes we know people.
But….. keep your readers enveloped in your every word, paragraph and image, savouring every last full stop like a child with their last piece of candy?
If it were easy, wouldn’t we all be doing it?! It doesn’t have to be difficult or involve lots of additional expensive SEO software functionalities.
In this blog post, I will go through basic yet immediately implementable tactics to boost your reader rate, increase your SaaS blog post engagement, improve dwell time, increase click through rate and keep them coming back for more!
10 SaaS Blog Post Engagement Tips to Boost Your Reader Retention
1. Benefits, Not Features
If your blog post is focusing on a product in your range, please do not bleat on about its amazing features.
Sure, it can help your customers stop procrastinating their life away in the office by miraculously injecting viral hormones from their computer screens, but they don’t want to know that!
They want to hear about how these features (the crazy, weird hormones) can always keep them awake and energetic. They want to know how much easier life will be once they buy this product and how all their worries will slip away.
The devil is in the benefit details, not the features.
Instead of boasting about how your company has developed these amazing new features, keep your readers’ interests at heart. Give them what they want to hear — benefits.
2. Always Keep The Reader In Mind
This point goes hand in hand with the previous point; create your blog posts for your readers.
A trick I use so I never forget my reader’s needs is to put their profile at the top of my writing desk. I’m thinking about my reader all the time, hence ensuring SaaS blog post engagement.
I have a list of possible reader traits for every blog post I write, so that I can reference these to stay on point and am targeting the right reader.
Examples of traits might be their marital status, do they have a family, do they drink coffee, what are their hobbies. The better you know your reader, the easier it is to write to them and address their biggest pain points.
3. Use Emotional Power Words
Ahhh power words….. Are you even a content writer if you haven’t downloaded a dozen power-word-PDFs to spruce up your writing?!
Or is that only me?!
Power words are adjectives that can further emphasise the point you are making, and can evoke many emotions in the reader. If you want to up your writing from a dismal 4 to an emotional and riveting 10 then include these words.
Just because you’re developing a piece of software doesn’t mean you have to let the fun or feelings in your writing slip… afterall, you could be developing an amazing app that vastly improves ones’ productivity or daily life. If you want to sell it, you need to hit the right notes with your buyers!
Here is a quick list of power words:
- Fear-provoking: Pummel, Horrific
- Electrifying: Miraculous, Awesome
- Security: Permanent, Verify
Next time you’re rounding off your blog post edits, sprinkle a few power words into your writing. And watch the magic unfold!
4. Lead With Outcomes
Your readers don’t have a lot of time to dredge through blog posts on their coffee break.
You want to make your valuable content as reader-friendly as possible. What better way to do that than opening your blog post with what to expect throughout.
When you tell your reader what’s in the following paragraphs, they will be a lot more likely to engage in your blog post.
There’s nothing worse than clicking into what you thought would be an epic piece of material, only to find it’s not what you expected. At all!!
What a waste of time scrolling through and it’s not what you’d hoped for. If only I’d known sooner… (ahem, in the intro with a lovely list telling me what to expect!)
If you know your audience well, then keep them as engaged as possible and give them the juicy deets before you go deep.
It’s a win-win, your readers are happy with your content so they’ll keep skimming, and you get to fill their brains with your amazing tips — and if your CTA is enthralling enough then a few subs too!
5. Tailor Your CTA
So I’ve thrown in a snazzy tip here. It is sure to boost your blog post engagement even further than reading the whole post.
Dynamic CTAs, people.
What are they?!!
Well, thanks to amazing SaaSs like ConvertFlow, you can track where your readers have come from and then create a dynamic CTA at the end of your blog post.
Has your reader already signed up for your newsletter? Well then there’s not much point in using a “Sign up for our amaaaazing newsletter here!” CTA button at the end of your blog post.
The aim is to move them down the funnel, so perhaps include a line about your available tiers or free software trials.
If they’re a completely new reader, then the newsletter would be more apt. Or show blog posts that are like the one they’ve read.
You get the drift.
Blog post engagement doesn’t stop at the last sentence, the next step you want your readers to take?
6. Avoid Jargon
Do you want to sound like your washing machine instruction manual? (Although Ann Handly, in her book Everybody Writes, claims her manual is the best piece of writing ever. Hmm, questionable!)
Or do you want to keep your reader scrolling, full throttle?
If so, keep your writing to a Grade 11 level (16 year old’s writing level).
Um, what?
Write as if I’m talking to a 16 year old?
Indeed! You’re writing a blog post, not a Stephen King novel.
Keep your writing level simple and concise, or your readers will jump off the page because they can’t make it past the first sentence.
Use the Hemingway App to check your writing grade level.
Thank me later!
7. Make Reading Easy
You know what’s the first thing I think of when I go onto a blog and there’s just endless amounts of sentences and paragraphs and it just goes on and on and on…..
Are you bored yet?
I immediately think of reading my Leaving Certificate novel (Ireland’s big high school pre-college/university exams). I couldn’t wait to finish the thing because it seemed endless.
Well, blog posts don’t have to be like that.
In fact, they’re not meant to be. Blogs are conversational in tone, should be scannable and clearly formatted.
Basically, they go against all those novel and grammar rules.
- Create lists.
- Make your writing scannable (shorter paragraphs, lots of white space, ask brief questions).
- Use conversational words such as Hmm?, I get it, Let’s be honest to break up paragraphs and engage the reader.
If you keep your post clunky-free, you’ll be guaranteed the reader will keep on scrolling through.
8. Strew With Statistics
Almost at the end of these tips folks. How many are you going to use after this blog post for ultimate SaaS blog post engagement gains?!
Everyone, not only SaaS readers, love stats and facts.
They make us feel connected, smart and sane.
Backing up your claims with statistics and also helps your readers overcome any barriers they may have.
Your company might be producing amazing products and services, but if you can’t back up some of these features (benefits, let’s be honest!) then it’ll be difficult to convince customers to buy from you.
Go do your research. Ask your teams and departments about the true value of your product and in your next blog post find ways to add this statistic to your content.
(Another interesting stat? Blog posts with images get 94% more views than posts that don’t have images. Wow.)
Better again, highlight these statistics and add a Click To Tweet button which will further drive engagement and have your customers raving about and referring you in no time!
9. Gamification Techniques
I’ll let Wikipedia do the talking on this one:
If your eyebrows furrowed in confusion, then let me explain.
Gamification means taking elements of games such as points, scoring, competing against others and putting them into other applications that don’t usually involve playing a game.
These techniques are fast becoming more popular in marketing as they are a way to, you guessed it, engage with the customer.
Apps such as ProProfs can allow you to create free online quizzes as a way to engage with your reader.
Why not pop a product quiz, or something related to your industry and blog post into your next post?
People have a natural competitive streak and love distractions, so why not give them a reason to have some fun on your next post?! Using a reward system at the end of the quiz can also heighten their interest in your company and they’ll want to keep reading what other posts you have to offer.
A basic example of a gamification technique is the progress bar at the top of blog posts, which shows how much you’ve read and have left on that post. The idea of getting through something places a high reward on that person as the bar makes its way across the screen.
Progress bars are a great way to move your reader down through the post, and they are super easy to implement.
10. Write Encapsulating Headlines
Congrats on making it this far 🙂
You might be thinking okay, I’ll use these actionable tips, sure. But my blog posts aren’t even getting read in the first place!
Panic not.
Your headline is the deal breaker for your blog post. Type anything that interests you into Google Search and what do you go with? The result with the most encapsulating headline, one that’s most relevant to you and serves your every purpose.
Obviously you can’t know exactly what it is your customer wants, but you can find out their search intent and create headlines based on their needs and the content’s purpose.
It’s a shame that there is so much content out there; full of useful advice and with an entertainment factor. But isn’t getting opened because the headline is awful!
Next time your write a blog post, write a rough headline to keep you focused throughout the post.
Come back to it at the end; look at what your competitors use, search buzzsumo to see what’s ranking in regards to your subject, overcome your reader’s objectives in the headline so they’ll actually click into it in the first place! Use statistics or make it timely.
Don’t leave it to dust because the body of the post is awesome. Every written piece needs to be amazing!
Can You Implement At Least One of These Tips?
It’s not difficult to use all 10 of these tips over time (there are over 500 million blogs on the Internet, which means most of them aren’t read. Make sure yours is!).
If you look at the top-ranking content out there, they tick all these boxes.
Sure they might have bigger marketing teams, but they all have these basics nailed.
Clear formatting, attention-grabbing/relevant headlines, leading with your reader’s desires…
Keep in mind exactly who your audience is, and this should be super easy-peasy for you to crack on with!
What SaaS blog post engagement top tip are you applying in your next blog post?
I’d love to hear from you down below in the comments!
Originally published at https://mariaprendeville.com on September 3, 2019.
