Content marketing is no secret. In fact, you could call it one of the most traditional marketing philosophies out there. There’s the right reason for this, of course. Content marketing is good for a lot of things. The first being that it will catch the attention of your ideal audience. It also converts your ideal audience into leads, nurtures them through the sales funnel until the first sale, and then turns first-time buyers into lifetime customers or, better yet, brand advocates. Other channels undoubtedly play a role in the process, but compelling content is the underlying thread tying them all together.

When it comes to turning the skeptics on your marketing and leadership teams into believers, though, the above story of content as a significant driver of sales is likely to be met with eye rolls. Why? It sounds unrealistic, and, ultimately, lacks numbers. In the digital age of marketing–where everything that can be measured, will be measured–content needs to step up its game.

Luckily for you, there’s an easy way to do that: tracking and reporting on content assisted conversions. First, though, you have to write content that converts. This isn’t as scary as it sounds, but it certainly isn’t easy.

Keep reading for three fool-proof tips that will help you write killer content that will both convert your audience and make your marketing team look great.

1. Make sure your blog is as compelling and as consumable as possible

• Compelling and consumable. They go together like peanut butter and jelly, and they speak more to blogging best practices than own marketing strategies. You want to pair these tactics together because if you write great, consumable content, but no one is compelled to read it, you’ve wasted your time. The opposite is true as well; if you’ve compelled your audience to click through to your content, but they don’t stick around and consume it, you’ve wasted your time again.
• Writing compelling content–namely, content that drives clicks–is tricky. Content saturation is at an all-time high, and even click bait has begun to lose its effect. Your headline must have pull, and your first few sentences must immediately engage. The best headlines create a sense of urgency, invoke strong emotion (positive emotion performs better, but negatively is better than neutral), and keep the value up front. Scroll up, and you’ll find a headline that does just this.
• Now that you’ve got readers engaged keep their eyes moving down your page. A little-known secret here is to treat your blog like a landing page. This means eliminating distractions, making strategic use of white space, and keeping all elements flowing towards the ultimate goal of the page.
• Do you want readers to download a white paper? Follow you on social? Subscribe to your email newsletter? If you don’t show readers the goal of the page (or, even worse, you don’t know the goal of the page), they likely won’t accomplish it. Everything from bullet points to image usage to clear CTAs–more on this later–will help you accomplish this.

2. Use audience research and segmentation to ensure you’re speaking to needs

• Marketers and writers alike often make the mistake of trying to speak to everyone. The logic goes, it seems, that if you try to appeal to 100 people, you might appeal to one. What research and experience have shown, though, is that if you aim to appeal to one person, there’s a high likelihood you’ll appeal to many. There is no substitute for polished content focused directly on one pain point when it comes to influencing conversions.
• To do this well, you need to know two things. One, who your audience is. Two, what they want.
• Hopefully, your audience consists of more than one person, though. If it does, there are still ways to write precisely to one person. Audience segmentation tools can break your audience down into smaller, more homogeneous groups. With these smaller groups, you can develop a stronger idea of simple wants, needs, and background information that you can translate into hyper-specific, realistic personas.
• Ultimately, when you’re speaking to someone’s needs, getting them to convert isn’t a hard sell. It’s the natural next step.

3. Move your audience down the funnel with compelling and relevant CTAs

• If the other steps were the cornerstones, this one is the steeple. You’ve captured your audience’s attention with a great headline and introductory paragraph. You’ve moved them down the page with easy-to-read content that solves their problems. Now, all you have to do is give your audience more of what they want.
• Most of the time, what they want is more great content, so this is an appropriate time to offer that great whitepaper you just launched or your email newsletter tailored to this audience member’s pain point. Other times it may be a chat with a sales representative or a sample product. Luckily, you’ve done your audience research, and you know how to serve up a well-placed, genuinely valuable offering that will be a win-win for both your audience members and your marketing team.

Closing The Deal With Content

Once you’ve got your audience clicking through to your content and keeping their eyes on the page, getting them to convert is easy–as long as you know their needs and speak to them openly. In fact, keeping content assisted conversions high is as simple as always keeping your audience front and center, following the basic tenets of quality copywriting, and ensuring that readers always have an important next step they can take to engage further with your brand. So are you ready to write killer content delivers better conversions?