eBooks

Blogging in the Age of Content Marketing 20 21 Blogging in the Age of Content Marketing You've done your research and (efficiently) created a well-writ- ten and informative blog piece for your audience. Through your buyer persona analysis, you know exactly who you're writing for and how to best engage them. Your content market- ing mission statement has ensured that your piece adds value to your au- dience and delivers on the content promise you're making to them. You've driven your target audience to your blog and they're reading your content...but now what? This is your chance to contin- ue building a relationship with your audience but before that can happen, you've got to initiate the next step. This is where a 'Call to Action' (CTA) comes into play. Or perhaps it's a banner at the end of your blog piece compelling readers towards a lead-generation content piece, such as an eBook Every CTA you create should always reflect one of your content marketing goals. Perhaps you'd like to increase eBook readership or blog subscriptions. Maybe you want to drive signups to a product demo or upcoming conference. Whatever the case may be, make sure you're creating CTAs for strategic reasons. Second, your CTA must be actionable. It's important that you clearly tell your audience what you'd like them to do. A good CTA should be no longer than two sen- tences and should clearly state what action you want your reader to take. Remember not to overwhelm your audience with too many CTAs – depending on the length of your piece and the design of your site, aim to have between 1 to 3 CTAs on any given page. But don't forget... DON'T LEAVE THEM HANGING THE IMPORTANCE OF CTAS 5 CTAs come in many forms – it could be a button on the side of your blog pro- voking readers to subscribe for updates:

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