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12 Ways to BOOST Traffic, Social Shares and Sales

Every niche site, small business owner or popular brand is looking for means to get their product or service noticed with attractive content. What makes your content impressive to readers so that it is shared out by the thousands, which in turn brings huge traffic to your site and generates sales? Knowing how to do this the scientific way is the answer to online marketing success, high sales figures and brand awareness. Get the biggest social impact, long-term traffic, and enjoy tremendous sales with these techniques:

#1 Write Compelling Content with the word “Because”

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Most of the time, marketers go about writing promotional content that just talks about their product, its features and benefits. Lots of impressive words are put in to make the product look heavenly. This can draw attention to the subject but it isn’t enough to motivate a visitor to make a purchase. According to Robert Cialdini, when you ask someone for a favor, you will be more successful when you provide a reason than without.

Give a strong reason for the visitor to buy your product and how it will benefit him or her using the word “because”.

I need to go to the supermarket because there’s a party tomorrow evening and I need supplies

rather than when you say

I have to go to the supermarket now”.

The word “because” is so important as it gets people interested in what you have to say. The power of the word “because” cannot be understated and marketers need to understand this when writing content.

#2 Know your audience’s age and gender

Every product is designed for a particular age group or gender. When writing an article, you need to target the emotions of the group that will need your product so that it gets quickly shared in social sites. Look for words that are most appealing to people in groups 18 – 25, 26 – 35 or 36 – 45, etc, and infuse them in your promotional content. This makes it more interesting for the targeted age groups and they respond to it faster by sharing it through social sites. When such words are used readers feel they are understood and that the brand is catering to their specific needs, which results in brand popularity and more visitors arriving at the site.

#3 Have a responsive site

Today people are more likely to buy your products through their smartphone or tablet than through a desktop, so if you don’t have a responsive site, your brand is certainly missing a ton of action. A responsive site is one that changes according to the device on which it is displayed. According to Survey Monkey,

about 70% of searches through mobile devices lead to action within an hour

and this shows the powerful effect that a responsive design has on visitors. With a responsive site, you will find visitors engaging more with your brand as they can comfortably find what they want and proceed to purchase while “on the go”. Furthermore, Google values mobile-friendly sites more and began rewarding them with higher rankings through its major 2015 update Mobilegeddon.

#4 Write detailed content

People today want to make an informed buying decision and this means they want all the facts laid out before them. The truth without a compromise is what they seek and it is a must for content to have this so that it is shared and for people to want to spend money on the product that it is promoting. Blog posts that have research information, statistics, survey information, images and links are more likely to be read, shared and acted upon than those that have just advertising slogans and short content.  Big data is the new trend, lending validity and credibility to your posts.

#5 Make Posts with Lists

Your content should not be just all text as people can get tired reading paragraph after paragraph. Make it interesting by putting in a listing on what you have to say. When discussing benefits or advantages, give a listing with a short subheading at the beginning of each list. Make the subheading catchy so that the reader finds it irresistible and moves on to what’s given inside. Posts that say

Ten ways to….”

or something like

15 Quick DIY Techniques to…”

are more likely to be read and shared. This is because a listing essentially streamlines information, making it easy for readers to imbibe details, share and take action. We are now a “fast-food” society and want the information quick and painless.  Spoon-feed with content that can be scanned and the high points quickly gleaned out.

#6 Make a stunning headline

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Your blog and article post should be highly persuasive as only then will visitors click through to read what’s inside. Make a headline that has six words, infused with “You”, “Your”, “DIY”, “Ways”, “Easy” or “How to” as well as impact words like “effective”, “unbelievable”, “powerful”.

It should have numbers or percentages and should be funny, striking or cheeky to make an immediate impact. An article or blog post with a headline that tells the reader why a product or the information that it’s giving will benefit them is shared quickly and has a lot of reads. Look into Jon Morrow’s “52 Headline Hacks” on how to do this.

#7 Use Animated Emoticons

By including emoticons in your headline, people are most likely to click through to read it because images are processed 60,000 times faster than words. According to Matthew Woodward, he got a 20 percent increase in email openings when he started using emoticons. The use of emoticons is not limited to the heading as you should put them carefully in content too. According to the Courtney Seiter, in her “

The use of emoticons is not limited to the heading as you should put them carefully in content too. According to the Courtney Seiter, in her “ 7 Scientific Reasons for Using Emoticon Post”, emoticons make you look more friendly and competent.

#8 Use Personalized CTA’s

The Call-to-action button should be a personalized one than one with a generalized message. For example, you will find visitors clicking a button that says “Download to get your eBook now”, than one which says just the word “Click”.

Download to get your eBook now”

rather than a generic one which says just the word

Click”.

#9 Put in Floating social media widgets

All the widgets to your pages on various social media sites should be floating, so that readers can quickly click them while reading and share. This is particularity useful when you are writing large content, with lots of listings and images. The reader can lose track of the widget when it is placed right next to the heading or at the bottom of the page. Having a floating one makes it easily accessible. And, you definitely want to enable your social sharing in the easiest and fastest ways possible.

#10 Insert tweetable quotes

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Infuse quotes and a highly informative and catchy statement, just 120 characters, inside your content that can be instantly tweeted, to increase shares and make more people interested in your brand. Such quotes are like the icing on the cake or sauce that gives a twist to a dish. Look into Laura Christianson’s tutorial on “How to add Click to Tweet to a Blog Post” on how to do this.

#11 Post at the right time

We all know that timing is everything and this holds true even for blog posts and articles. In order for your articles or blogs to be shared extensively post them in various social media sites at the right time. For example when you post in Facebook at 1 pm, you can get maximum shares. Look into the time when the social media site where you are posting is getting the maximum traffic and do the posting only at this time as only then your post will get the maximum reach.

#12 Use multiple descriptions

When you are going to post the same article on various social media sites, having a new heading for each post. The heading should be catchy and must include high engagement words. Check out Neil Patel’s post on “Surprising Words that Get content shared on Social Media” to do this.

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