How to increase blog conversion rates effectively?

[CharlotteK1]

Hi all (: 

We are having a lot of traffic on our blog, which is amazing. The thing we are struggling with, is converting these "Info-customers" into "Money-customers" by guiding them from the blog pages into our shop. I was wondering if anyone has experience/ insights / best practices on these questions:

1. Inserting conversion elements into pages: What are your learnings, are product-specific sections working better, with or without pictures, with a discount code, ...? 

2. Coding these elements: Shopify blogs are (unfortunately) not very flexible. Do you have experience with coding a html section and inserting it into the html code of the blog? We are doing similiar things with Trustpilot sections. I have a section with a picture, H1, short paragraph + CTA in mind. Short and sweet. 

3. In general: Do you have any other input on monetizing blogs? 

Thank you for the help! (:

Best
Charlotte 

[valiermedia]

Hi there!

We have helped a number of companies with this exact need. We implement a custom-coded solution that we can add to your theme that will allow you to insert dynamic elements (like a specific product) into the blog post as a quick call to action using HTML comments. Shoot me a DM if you are interested in learning more about this option!

Our experience has been that the sections need to be simple, and flow well with the existing content so that it doesn't register as an advertisement to the reader. Focusing on minimalism in the design helps...for example, using a simple product image with a title, subtitle and buy now button is about as complicated as you will want to get with the callout. It also helps if your brand has a flagship product that customers become acquainted with while reading the blog post.

I would also implement a solution like CrazyEgg to view scroll heatmaps to see how far most customers scroll down the page before leaving, then installing your Call To Action section in a high-visibility zone.

I hope that helps!

[CharlotteK1]

Nice, thank you for the input! Simple and easy is a good hint for the design that I also noticed in a lot of benchmarks. (:

I have one question about your development - have you been developing those sections in Shopify themes or as an "independent" html section for the blogs? The blogs in Shopify, at least the content that they contain, is not managed from the Shopify Themes. So we don't want to to implement a section into the Template, but flexible in the html blog-code. 

[valiermedia]

So to clarify, I am not referring to actual Shopify Sections, rather, code (usually snippets or assets) that can be pulled into any blog post. So that could be:

1. A snippet that references a meta field from the blog post

2. A snippet that renders the same way on every blog post...for example, a specific product

3. A snippet that renders a dynamic content element...for example, your best selling product or membership signup link

You basically just add an HTML comment and the comment injects one of your prebuilt snippets into the blog post.

Hope that helps!

[MayaDesigns]

The most organic and straightforward way would be to insert product and / or discount relevant to your content to entice your customers. Unfortunately, if you have a lot of blog posts, then this could be a tedious work.

If your budget allows, considering using apps like the Blog CTA app which you can add CTA banner to all blog posts automatically.

Do keep in mind though, blog and other content play more of a trust and authority building role. Content creation from this angle would be a more beneficial move in the longer run.