Disclaimer:
While this post discusses key aspects of content marketing, please note that War Room does not offer content marketing services. However, we believe in a holistic digital approach, where various tactics like paid, social, SEO work together to complement your overall marketing strategy. Our focus is on programmatic advertising, using data-driven strategies to optimize paid media campaigns. If you’re looking to boost your ad performance, we’re here to help!
So, you have created wonderful and high-value content, huzzah! But what good is it if the visitors merely glimpse it and leave? Your website is a digital destination that gives your immense opportunities to educate, inspire and captivate your audience.
You don’t want your visitors to fly by your content in a rush, do you? You need your visitors to immerse themselves in your brand. Statistics show that almost 43% of people admit to skimming headlines.
But how do you achieve that without being too annoying or without using irritating pop-ups?
The answer lies in mastering the art of engagement.
This guide highlights the five best strategies that will help you transform your fleeting visitors into engaged audiences.
1. Come up with Engaging Headlines
When your target audience visits the content page, the first thing they do is check out the headlines. Through these headlines, you give them enough reasons to stay longer and explore your high-quality content further.
Here are some basic tips for creating engaging headlines:
Use Action Words
Action words can capture a visitor’s attention who quickly scans the content without delving into the details. Just like you create an appealing subject line in your email marketing campaign using action words, you need to attract readers through your content headlines.
The action words must be chosen carefully and should convey a sense of motion, progression, or immediate benefit. In addition to this, you need to prioritize email security and implement SPF record checker to ensure that email content successfully reaches to email recipient’s inboxes.
Evoke Curiosity
Your headlines must generate curiosity by hinting at valuable information without giving everything away. When creating such headlines, you must focus on creating a knowledge gap that can only be filled by thoroughly perusing your content. If you find it challenging to create such a headline alone, you can use hiring software to find the right copywriter to help you with this! ju
You may also look for subject matter experts using the existing CRM.
Be the Solution
When your headline clearly addresses a common pain point, it immediately grabs the reader’s attention. Such headlines commonly promise solutions or offer valuable insights for the visitor.
Emotional Appeal
To create an immediate connection with your visitor through content, tap into their emotions through your headlines. You can use words that evoke joy, excitement, relief, or empowerment in your ideal customers.
Add a Dash of Humor
Another sure-shot way to entice your reader through the headline is by using humor. It will help you connect with them and make the headline stand out. However, it is important to be relevant as the content should be in sync with search intent.
2. Add Visual Appeal to Your Content
As per a report, 91% of consumers prefer visual content to written content. Adding visuals, such as images, infographics, videos, etc., can help you engage your audience and make them stay longer. Here are some ways to add visual appeal to your content:
Images
The images you choose must be relevant to the section of your content. Whether you create images on your own or extract them from social media platforms, make sure that they resonate with the message you are trying to convey with your narrative. Eye-catching images help to draw visitors deeper into your content’s realm.
Videos
Different types of videos, such as tutorials, interviews, narratives, etc., can be used in the content. You must choose the type of video based on your content. Make sure to mind the length of the video.
Explore the use of an audio merger during the editing process for your videos. This tool will help you seamlessly combine and refine audio elements, ensuring a cohesive and professional soundtrack that aligns with your video content.
According to statistics, if a business-related video is under 60 seconds, 66% of viewers watch it completely. However, only 22% will finish a video over 20 minutes long.
Check out some ways to improve your video marketing ROI.
Infographics
Infographics are artful images that contain elements of information and design. They can be used to simplify intricate concepts by presenting them in visually appealing layouts. Their scannable nature encourages visitors to delve further into your content and stay longer on the page.
For inspiration, we definitely recommend taking a look at:
- Pinterest for relevant topics for your brand
- Canva infographic templates for premade layouts you can use
Other Visual Content
You can also use other visual content such as charts, audio snippets, embedded social media feeds, video conferencing platforms, etc. Depending on your content, you may select the type of visual content. Such visual content not only builds the authority of your content but also keeps the visitors engaged and makes them stay longer.
Furthermore, you should consider following business coaches whose content is relevant to your business in order to watch and learn from what they produce.
For additional creative best practices, download our resource:
3. Proper Formatting of Content
Nobody likes to delve into content that is poorly formatted. Your visitors are only likely to spend more time on the content if they find it easier to peruse. Proper formatting ensures visitors can easily check out the sections of their interest.
Quality content formatting ensures that different parts of the text are highlighted, making it easier to read. Here are some tips for proper formatting:
Create Short Sentences & Paragraphs
Shorter paragraphs and sentences are easier to read. The ideal text length for a line of copy on the desktop is approximately 50-75 characters per line. You present information in easily digestible bites by sculpting short and effective paragraphs.
Use Bullet Points
Bullet points are an excellent way to keep your content neat and precise. They also ensure that users find it easier to peruse the content. The visitors find their key takeaways easily through these bullet points.
You can also use Artificial Intelligence tools to help create such bullet points, such as:
This can help engage the reader’s attention, hence making the content visitors stay longer.
Therefore, investing in these tools is a wise investment. You should even prepare for dynamic pricing for software that is charged on a per-user basis, in addition to your incentive expenditure.
Use Subheadings
Subheadings help to divide the content into understandable pieces properly. They introduce a sense of anticipation, provide a structure while also hinting at the information ahead. It invites visitors to explore segments that resonate with their interests.
Use Bold and Italics
The bold and italic text draws visitors’ attention to crucial phrases and ideas. You can use bold to emphasize key points and ensure they resonate, while italics add a touch of emphasis and nuance.
For content producers that need to regularly and precisely express their processes and procedures, a runbook template is a priceless tool. Runbook templates can help content providers improve the efficiency and correctness of their work by giving a standard format for documenting material. They may also help in the production of compliant and unified content.
If you are a content creator looking to improve the effectiveness, precision, and communication of your work, think about adopting a runbook template.
4. Internal Linking
Internal linking is one of the best on-page SEO techniques to make your content visitors stay longer by exploring more of your content! You can link to the relevant internal pages in your content so that your visitors can click on them for better insight. This way, they tend to spend longer time on your website. Here are some tips to follow for internal linking:
Relevance is Key
Link to relevant content that genuinely adds value to the reader’s understanding. The linked content should provide additional context, insights, or relevant information about the current topic. For instance, if you want to create a poll for a particular discussion, link it to the correct survey page.
Use Descriptive Anchor Text
Your internal link’s anchor text (the clickable text) should provide a clear idea of the linked content. Try to expand outside of generic phrases like “click here” or “read more”. This will also benefit your SEO efforts!
Natural Integration
Integrate internal links within the flow of your content naturally. Avoid forcing links where they don’t fit contextually.
Balanced Distribution
Don’t overload a single page with internal links. Instead, distribute them across your content to create a balanced, user-friendly experience.
5. Improve Loading Speed
Your visitors will abandon the website if the content takes too long to load. Swift loading time isn’t just a convenience; it’s a decisive factor influencing the visitor’s perception of business, experience, and, ultimately, their decision to stay or depart.
A value proposition is one of the building blocks of the business model. Speed and customer experience are a part of it.
Partnering up with a web developer can be helpful in ensuring you have an optimized site. Whether it’s a contractor or agency, having someone in your country or timezone means more reliability. For example, if you’re in the Oceania area, hiring someone to assist with website development in Australia would be best!
Here are some tips to improve loading speed:
Optimize the Weight of Images
Images can be heavy anchors that drag downloading speeds. Optimize your images for the web by compressing them without compromising quality.
Choose the right file format (JPEG for photos, PNG for graphics), and consider using responsive images that adapt to different screen sizes. If you need help with how to do it yourself, you can use recruitment software to find an expert in image optimization.
Use Caching
Caching acts as a digital memory, storing frequently accessed elements of your website to reduce loading time. Browser caching allows returning visitors to load your site faster, while content delivery network (CDN) caching ensures your content is distributed efficiently across various servers.
Compress Code
Minify your HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code. This reduces whitespace and unnecessary characters, streamlining the code’s execution and enhancing loading speed.
Mobile Optimization
Given the prevalence of mobile browsing, ensure your website is fully optimized for mobile devices. Responsive design and mobile-specific optimizations are crucial for delivering a smooth experience for business, educational domains, and B2B mobile apps. Your talent acquisition team can help you find the right candidate for this task.
In Conclusion
When visitors stay longer on your website, you can expect to achieve your content goals faster, like drive traffic, increase engagement, or make money (purchases on your site, affiliate marketing, YouTube Studio Monetization, running ads on your website, link building service etc).
Also, companies that intend to expand their operations abroad might employ content localization to reach out to clients in their native languages. Localization of content may make or break a firm’s success in a new market and is critical to how overseas customers perceive your organization.
As content curators and creators, we hold the keys to unlocking a realm where visitors linger, explore, and connect deeply.
By using these tips in your strategy, you can ensure that your visitors are offered the best experience, eventually making them stay longer on the website.
If you’re looking for a strategic agency partner to support with paid ad campaigns, War Room is here for you. We’ll audit and ensure your landing page is optimized to its full potential prior to launching your campaign.
Reach out today to learn how we can support your goals!
