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Three Simple Ways For Your Blog Conversion To Achieve Epic Success

written by Guest Blogger on July 7, 2010

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Let me ask you a question. Does it really matter how many visitors your blog receives? You see, when I started blogging online after reading some hyped-up blogging books, I had the internal conversation with my brain like most Probloggers wannabe have when they get started. The conversation sounded something like this:

“Okay, so if I can get 20,000 unique visitors to my blog, that will be so awesome. And in the worst-case, with only one percent conversion rate like most marketers said, they will buy my affiliate products which is 200 sales. Wowsers! If the affiliate product give me a $37 per sale commission, then I will make $7,400! Let’s say I get 20k of visitors each week, I will be so filthy rich!”

I bet many of you talked to yourself this way when you’re starting out but the fact is it’s not always about raw hits and visitors. It’s about targeted traffic and building relationship which converts them from web surfers to buyers and loyal clients. The ugly truth is, if your blog does a lousy job of that, it doesn’t really matter how many hits you get because you will just earn ZERO. As a conclusion, it’s not just numbers, it’s about valuable traffic and how you do with them. For me, there are just three easy peasy ways where you can increase your blog readership and income.

Poke Their Goo-Goo Eyes

The first thing your blog post needs is a killer headline that will stop anyone dead in their steps. Well, you might say, BIG DEAL, what’s so damn important about headlines but here’s what I can tell you, Digg, Reddit and Propeller front page posts are stuffed with enticing headlines. I bet you won’t be able to resist clicking on the post after you flash through them because it’s just about psychology.

Like what Ogilvy said, five times as many people read the headlines as they do to the body and I am just one of them. Let me enlighten you, I am busy as a student, preparing for my O-Levels and also juggling with my web design business and technology blog. Although surfing the internet for technology blogs is fun and relaxing, I just don’t have the time to do it and here’s what, I put John’s, Shoe’s, TechCrunch’s and Engadget’s feed in feed reader and scanning through all the feeds at once. I don’t read all of the posts but only the one with eyeballs sucking headline. Make sense now?

I was never a fan of killer headlines and I even did an experiment on my blog. My blog is a technology blog and I was writing a post on how to access blocked websites content by using Virtual Private Network. To me, no one is ever going to read the lousy and boring post and I tried changing the title to “Are Porn Content Blockable?”. Guess what, by submitting the post to social media sites, the posts views skyrocket and I am now currently a believer of killer headlines.

Don’t Let The Cat Out of The Bag!

As an avid psychology fan, I am always interested in how it can improve blog conversion and guess what? Curiosity! Trust me, nothing works as well as curiosity because people just cannot stand having a secret kept from them. I did an experiment talking nothing concerned about my dad softly in my brother’s ear by just mentioning his name. My dad just shot his vision towards us and asked us what bad stuff we’re talking about him. See how it works? Trust me, this psychological law is one of the most powerful driving forces behind many of the successful copywriting techniques ever.

By implementing and leveraging this technique, you will be able to interest your reader to continue the whole boring story with just a little tiny unimportant secret kept from him. It’s just like zapping his spirit out of his body and he doesn’t even want it back. The master key to this techniques success is to keep something very important from him and not letting it out of your mouth no matter how hard he pleads. Here’s an example, in Jeff Walker’s, Frank Kern’s or John Reese’s pre-launch, no matter how hard their subscribers plead for early access of the video, they won’t allow it!

Electrify Them!

If your teacher tells you that you’re going to relearn the 26 alphabets, what will your response be? You will definitely droop your eyes, slump your chests and shut your eyes. What’s the conclusion then? People are uninterested in learning something they know and some old schools stuffs. What about a professor tells you that he’s going to let you into his gold-creation-out-of-thin-air class? Bet you are going to be super excited no matter how hard it will be.

So here’s the tip, controversy sells and it sells as good as sex. It might sound weird but it’s proven. If your blog is always about the wrong perception of your readers they have always taken for granted was right, you’ll improve your relationship and their interest in you plus indirectly compel them to be your loyal readers. Let some examples show their face. If I have a headline saying, “Shocking New Report! Cancerous Cells Aren’t Dangerous But Your Blood Is!”, are you interested in continuing to read the whole story? I believe everyone will and that’s just a simple controversy in action.

This is a guest post by obnoxious 17 years old blogger iYingHang who is always experimenting with psychological effects in blogging who blogs at his technologies blog Shastera.

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{ 70 comments }

Salesfist July 7, 2010 at 9:04 am

Great point. Controversy does sell. One of my other blogs is based on controversy and the latest scoop. With that blog I am making a full time income. I literally work just 3 hours a week on it.

However, if you are going to post controversy you need to make it interesting and full of quality.

Chris Pontine July 7, 2010 at 9:16 am

Controversy sure does spark some great conversations.

I would have to say as well that articles with controversy should even have open ended questions in certain periods. This way you ask for input on top of the controversy as well.

Salesfist July 7, 2010 at 9:27 am

That is a trick that I use. At some point I would ask a “what do you think” type of question.

Lakhyajyoti July 9, 2010 at 11:42 am

Sometimes I also used this technique.

Expert Marketing Reviews July 7, 2010 at 10:49 am

I agree with this 100%. Controversy gets readers attached and curious. Curiosity is a powerful friend.

Salesfist July 9, 2010 at 5:10 am

A little bit of controversy goes a long way.

ZK @ Web Marketing Blog July 15, 2010 at 5:36 am

Controversy with enough proof under your sleeve can give you instant recognition.

Just play your cards safely.

Bidet July 17, 2010 at 3:01 pm

It sure is, having curious readers and a controversial topic will increase your conversions by a lot.

Insurance Izzy July 7, 2010 at 10:46 am

Controversy does sell… thats why we have tabloids. You need to make sure you’re not crossing that line or your readers might not view you as a respectable blog. There’s an art in balancing controversy with content.

Email List Building July 7, 2010 at 7:47 pm

Controversy just for the sake of it is not what I’d focus on as it does get tiring after a while. Using it sparingly like a spice though can be very effective.

I think that catchy titles do work every time.

Gary David | Build Your List Fast July 8, 2010 at 4:36 am

I agree with you. You don’t create controversy every time, people might lose the interest and probably won’t believe you anymore. Doing it from time to time can be good, but not all the time.

I agree with you as well regarding catchy, attention-grabbing titles. It really works.

Shanker Bakshi July 7, 2010 at 9:20 pm

Electrify Them! ; I am impressed with this one most; You always need to feed them what they had never tested; no matter what a person always like to experiment with new things; a good read;

ZK @ Web Marketing Blog July 11, 2010 at 11:37 pm

So are you going to use this one in your any service ?

d3so July 7, 2010 at 9:12 am

Very well written. I’ve always known about the psychology
of headlines. I can’t believe I haven’t been using it kn my own blog :P shame on me.

Chris Pontine July 7, 2010 at 9:17 am

Sometimes I good swift kick in the butt is what it takes to get you going.

It is amazing though about what you do know and what you actually utilize.

Email List Building July 7, 2010 at 7:51 pm

Just accumulating knowledge without using it is a form of entertainment. Most of us like doing it.

It feels even better to put the knowledge to use.

Who knows why we resist using what we know.

Salesfist July 7, 2010 at 9:28 am

No matter how much you know, you will always learn more. That is how you will improve yourself.

Web Yazilim Tasarim July 8, 2010 at 9:28 am

That is so true! :)

Lakhyajyoti July 9, 2010 at 11:52 am

Cent percent true.

Bidet July 17, 2010 at 3:03 pm

Very true, one can never know everything and there is more to learn every day.

PPC Ian July 7, 2010 at 9:34 am

D3so, you and me both! My headlines have been more SEO optimized than catchy!

Expert Marketing Reviews July 7, 2010 at 10:51 am

There is benefits to SEO headlines… like if you are doing a product review and trying to rank.

If you are just writing for your personal blog, then I highly recommend you throw SEO out the door and let it take care of itself.

You’ll be much more personable.

d3so July 7, 2010 at 3:52 pm

With the All-in-one seo plugin you can create two separate titles. One for SEO and the other to catch readers.

Email List Building July 7, 2010 at 7:55 pm

I guess that we want to do both catchy and optimized titles which doesn’t always work.

Keep on trying.

Email List Building July 7, 2010 at 7:38 pm

I think that a head knowledge is just the preparatory step.

Implementing that knowledge, doing practical things with it is the only thing that really counts.

jtGraphic: James Thompson July 7, 2010 at 9:13 am

Props on being where you are at 17.

Salesfist July 7, 2010 at 9:31 am

You are never too early to start.

Expert Marketing Reviews July 7, 2010 at 10:52 am

Age is just a number… seems like the old timers have a problem learning from the younger generation though!

Email List Building July 7, 2010 at 7:42 pm

Not always. I knew a man who was actively seeking to learn from younger generations and he was a very wise man indeed.

I agree that age can be insignificant.

Salesfist July 8, 2010 at 1:31 pm

Age is just a number these days.

PPC Ian July 7, 2010 at 9:13 am

Great post! One of the challenges of blogging: headlines are also critical for search engine rankings. It’s important to write catchy headlines that are still SEO optimized.

poorblogger July 7, 2010 at 9:53 am

Yup.. headlines is important to catch readers attention and controversy will sell rather than lousy knowledge.. good info

Web Yazilim Tasarim July 8, 2010 at 9:31 am

Indeed headlines are very important!

Nabeel | Create Your First Website July 7, 2010 at 10:33 am

Great tips there.

I am impressed that you are in O levels and doing a very good job!

You are right on about psychology (are you taking psychology in O levels lol).

Headlines should be as interesting and exciting as possible.

You are right about curiosity also. You gave a good example of your dad being curious enough to ask what you guys said. The same can be applied on the web.

Kindest,
Nabeel

iYingHang July 7, 2010 at 12:02 pm

I’m not because it’s not offered in my country which is too bad. =(

Web Yazilim Tasarim July 8, 2010 at 9:29 am

Yeah it’s unfortunately not offered in some countries :(

Lakhyajyoti July 8, 2010 at 9:02 pm

It is available in india.

Expert Marketing Reviews July 7, 2010 at 10:47 am

This is a great article. When I first started out in IM about 2 and a half years ago I had that mentality. “if only i could drive 20,000 visitors to my site every week!”.

Unfortunately there is more to it than that.

I firmly believe that you should focus on one thing and become an expert at that… whether its SEO, blogging, or list building.

Timeshare Reviews July 7, 2010 at 11:51 am

Thanks iYingHang – my new blog is about to get controversial – good luck with the exams! :-)

Ben Adkins July 7, 2010 at 12:10 pm

Great Post John,
Its amazing to me how all these people getting into Internet Marketing don’t understand the basics. Things like scarcity and fear… and even something as simple as having a good headline.

Irish Garden Home July 8, 2010 at 12:02 am

And it is amazing to me how often people not even get the name of the blogger right ;-) SY

Bradley Nordstrom July 7, 2010 at 12:45 pm

Funny titles I should say.HAHAHA

d3so July 7, 2010 at 3:50 pm

Shoemoney did a video on product names and made fun of them. Way more hilarious :)

Marek July 7, 2010 at 1:01 pm

Great post!

You’re 100% right about controversy too. I used to be afraid of controversy, until I posted a rant and it turned into my most popular post ever! Even if people disagree with you, they’ll be interested in a controversial post.

Salesfist July 7, 2010 at 1:43 pm

That’s how I pretty much got started. Go against the grain a bit… but make it quality.

Thomas @ Recent UFO Sighting! July 7, 2010 at 1:03 pm

Some great advice here and I plan on implementing some of these techniques with my blog.

I’m not entirely concerned with selling items to visitors or even how high my viewership is, right now I’m just having fun.

Though I web site covering recent UFO sightings IS a bit controversial…

Thanks again for the great read! The headline bit is no joke, the popularity difference I’ve seen with just a slightly different headline is astounding.

Thomas @ RecentUFOsighting.com

Ryan July 7, 2010 at 1:06 pm

Totally agree with you. Having a capitative headline is very important as many people on the Internet are busy and just trying to find what they are really looking for.

Lakhyajyoti July 9, 2010 at 11:46 am

Me also agree with you.Eye catching headline is very important.

Scott Ford July 7, 2010 at 4:06 pm

Really great points John. Not even going to lie I loaded your page and saw Epic success and idk why, but that really caught my eye

Hairstyles 2010 July 7, 2010 at 4:30 pm

Ha! too true, you have to keep people interested so that they stay on your site and so that they return in the future too!

Dev @ Make Money Blogging July 7, 2010 at 7:26 pm

Hey Yang,

Another great post man. Those are some great ways man.
Thanks for sharing this great Post. Great work dude.

~Dev

d3so July 7, 2010 at 8:34 pm

Great posts like others

Irish Garden Home July 8, 2010 at 12:04 am

Excellent summary on blog titles,iYingHang, I must say I am in the same boat as PPC Ian, I often concentrate too much on the ‘SEO-Optiness’ of a blog title than on then catchiness of it! SY

Febap Liew | Making Money Online Today July 8, 2010 at 2:08 am

captivating and nicely written down john.
i have personally written quite a number of articles + blog post for my own blog and i can really say that having valuable content is just not sufficient enough. You have to have killer headlines.
apparently when i started my article writing endeavor, i went for the typical boring phrase and even thou my content was of quality , no one was interested in reading and so traffic wasn’t as pleasant.

at current, i am trying to keep every matters at balance having great valuable content, strong headlines, comfortable outlook and interface. i believe that have a much more balanced strata is better than emphasizing on just one certain aspect.

well i sure want to poke their goo goo eyes. O_O
hahha..
keep up the good work, man.
cheers

iYingHang July 9, 2010 at 3:25 am

Not to be a show-off but this article is actually by me if you did you read it thoroughly.

Febap Liew | Making Money Online Today July 11, 2010 at 5:05 am

ah yes y.hang. i am sorry that i have mistaken it for john. i apologize,man.
=)

Email List Building July 11, 2010 at 12:41 pm

Yes, Ying, you have to stake claim to your work.

It would be great for people to actually read the post in full and note who the author is.

Vance

Gary David | Build Your List Fast July 8, 2010 at 4:44 am

Hey, Thanks for guest posting and sharing here. That was an awesome article. Keep up the good work.

Kind regards,

Gary

Lakhyajyoti July 9, 2010 at 11:39 am

Definitely this is an awesome post.Really enjoyed.

Sascha July 8, 2010 at 6:42 am

Well…you know it’s always about what you want to achieve with your blog. If you want a huge audience, sell bullshit etc. that’s right. Be controversial, use sex, don’t tell them what they are looking for and whatever and people will come…

But is this really what it’s all about? Actually this is what makes the web the place it is. Millions of people trying to earn some money and become rich without doing something special.

I still prefer the old fashioned way of creating good content. I know that’s kinda outdated, but I still hope that good content makes the world (or at least the web) a better place.

I’m off dreaming..

Irish Garden Home July 9, 2010 at 1:19 am

Sascha, I couldn’t agree with you more. And in the end, I am convinced, good content will always win, because if you don’t deliver after all the sales hype, nobody will ever buy from you again, SY

Web Yazilim Tasarim July 8, 2010 at 9:30 am

Lovely article! :)

Ary July 8, 2010 at 12:49 pm

What great tips, I’ll try something like that in the future, maybe psychological effects is the way to go and success into blogging.

Lakhyajyoti July 8, 2010 at 8:59 pm

Another awesome guest post.

igor Griffiths July 10, 2010 at 12:41 pm

What a great article

As we are pack animals by nature no one wants to be left out of the pack.

Thus teasing them with secrets or controversial headlines will have them jumping through hoops to get to this secret or find out if they are the odd ones out.

It works for squeeze pages after all.

hipokrates July 11, 2010 at 4:13 am

hi john chow, lots of practice to give the impression you are very special. sales strategy I think is very important for the advancement of our blog. I hope you can give further instructions.

ZK @ Web Marketing Blog July 11, 2010 at 11:56 pm

Hey iYingHang, like your post.

But don’t you think that your own blog should need a modification and good and respected template such as thesis.

giulia July 13, 2010 at 5:17 am

sorry if I write here, a great way is also to offer an ebook free for any subscriber, like you do (I read that great ebook).
Can you say to me with wordpress how to do that?
How set aweber or feedburner to offer a free ebook to download when reader subscribe to blog?
thanks in advance

Bidet July 17, 2010 at 2:59 pm

These are great tips to increase blog conversion. Curiosity is a great way to entice your readers. Giving them enough to sign up but not giving away everything is a good way to get readers to subscribe to find out more.

Harshit Singhal July 23, 2010 at 6:24 pm

A peculiar thing I noticed is that more than 50% of the posts this july have been written by guest bloggers !