8 Content Marketing Techniques to Steal from Leading Blogs

Content marketing costs 62 percent less than outbound marketing. Not only that, but SEO content marketing generates three times as many leads than both outbound marketing and paid search engine marketing.

If you want to improve your content marketing strategy and increase your business’ sales and ROI, it will help to study and copy or “steal” some of the top tactics used by leading blogs.

Top Tactics to Copy from The Top Blogs

Here are some of the top tactics from top blogs you can copy to achieve the same kind of success they get.

1. Messenger Opt-in Popup - Jeff Bullas

Most blogs use popups as a way to collect email addresses. Some use them as a way to get people to like a Facebook page, share a blog post on social media, or offer a discount coupon.

Jeff Bullas uses a creative way to collect more leads on his blog and increase the effectiveness and conversion rate of his popup so. His popups offer a free ebook guide that users can get via Facebook Messenger.

If users are already logged into Facebook on their browser, all they have to do is click the blue button in order to subscribe. This reduces the steps necessary to sign up and will increase your conversion rates.

Jeff is among the most popular Instagram marketers today which is certainly not possible without a solid reason. So it is not Facebook alone where he does all the trick.

In addition, Facebook Messenger chatbots tend to get much higher open rates than emails. Neil Patel got an 88 percent open rate.

2. Yes Vs No Opt-In Forms - Neil Patel

Most marketers, when using opt-in forms, will include a field for users to enter their email address and an exit button for them to close the form.

The problem with this is that due to banner blindness, users will all too often click the X button out of habit without even looking at what the popup has to say.

Neil Patel’s opt-in bar, which is displayed at the top of the page and scrolls together with the user, has two options: “Yes, I Want More Traffic” and “No, I Have Enough Traffic.”

This can be done on popup forms as well. If the user clicks on the “Yes” option, an email field can appear or they can be taken to a landing page.

If they click on the “No” option, you can either close the form or present them with a totally different offer.

The benefit of this is two-fold. First of all, clicking on “Yes” requires less effort than entering an email; once they have agreed to one thing, however, they are more likely to follow through and agree to type in their email address.

In addition, most people won’t click on a button then says something like “No, I Don’t Want to Make More Money.”

This is especially true if you make the “No” button appear in a dark color and the “Yes” button in a light color.

Even if they do click on it, you can show them another offer they may be interested in.

3. Podcasting - Duct Tape Marketing & Neil Patel

Podcasting is a great form of content marketing. It doesn’t require users to read through text that may be hard on the eyes on bright screens.

Instead, users can listen to short, informative podcasts on the go. It’s a great way to attract repeat visitors and loyal fans.

It can also be helpful for SEO, especially if you optimize the podcast description with keywords, tags, or even transcriptions.

Both Duct Tape Marketing and Neil Patel produce podcasts as blog posts regularly.

4. Comprehensive Guides and URL Structure - Backlinko

Content sells so it all depends on how you put it together. If you’re wondering what kind of content works best, you need to look no further than Brian Dean’s blog, Backlinko. It is full of complete and informative guides that are long-form -- but are still easy to scan through and read.

Here are some more examples of his most recent blog titles:

• The 9-Step SEO Strategy for 2019 [NEW]
• Link Building Strategies: The Complete List
• 17 Ways to Get More Youtube Subscribers

These guides are extremely popular and rank very well. His post “Backlinks: The Definitive Guide” ranks on the first page of Google for the keyword “backlinks.”

These guides are presented in easy-to-read text that is broken up by white spaces and plenty of screenshots and infographics.

It’s important to note his URL structure as well. They are simple and include only one or two core keywords.

Here are some examples:

• https://backlinko.com/backlinks-guide
• https://backlinko.com/link-building-strategies
• https://backlinko.com/keyword-research-tools

You can also adopt his strategy of including some guides as subscriber-only content. This can help you collect more subscribers and earn passive income by charging a small monthly membership fee for premium content.

5. Web Push Notifications - Search Engine Watch

Another way to stay connected with visitors without requiring them to enter their email address is to use web push notifications.

Search Engine Watch does this, and visitors can choose whether to opt in or not by simply clicking a button. Since these notifications appear right on the user’s desktop screen, your view and open rates are going to be much higher than what you will get with email marketing.

On the other hand, you have to be careful not to abuse these notifications. If users get too many notifications from you, it will get annoying and they may opt out. Take a leaf on how to optimize your push notification program. It goes a long way to your success.

6. Commenting and Social Proof - Backlinko

Brian Dean is also an excellent example of how to use comments to your advantage. He takes the time to answer comments personally, which encourages users to comment and sparks a discussion.

Comments are excellent for SEO, as they show Google your content is interesting. It also adds more content and keywords to your page.

In addition, he adds social proof by showing how many shares each post has, and he gives users the option to share the post with their friends.

7. Recommended Content - ShoutMeLoud

ShoutMeLoud is a great example of how to recommend more of your content on your blog under your posts. Doing this will get users to stay on your site longer and lead to more conversions.

8. Website Analyzer Tool - Neil Patel

Neil Patel also includes a website analyzer tool on his website. Users can analyze their site for free.

If you sell SEO services, coaching, keyword tools, or anything else related to SEO, including a free SEO score analyzer tool will allow you to collect more leads that eventually turn into clients.

Wrapping It Up

The top content marketing blogs stay at the top for a reason. Copy some of their proven tactics and you may be able to achieve similar success as well.