Turn Your Low-Traffic Blog Posts into Your Strongest Sales Assets

4 minute read

Upland Admin

One of the challenges with blogging is that content can have a short shelf-life.

Let’s say that you’ve published 100 articles. Out of that 100, there may be 10 or 20 that continues to generate traffic over time through SEO and referral traffic channels.

But what about the rest of that pieces that you’ve produced? If you’re part of a B2B organization, for instance, you could be spending upwards of $500-$1,000 (or more) per blog post. If you invest $100,000 in content, you need to make sure that every asset fits into your marketing stack to generate a return on investment. And at that level of spending, that return on investment needs to be at least seven figures.

But how do you make that happen?

The value of content is that it has legs, meaning that it’s not confined to live on your blog forever.

One way to extend the life of your content is to team up with your sales, demand generation, and paid advertising leaders. After all, these teams are always looking for ways to build more impactful campaigns. Instead of spending money on new assets and programs, make the most out of the resources that you already have.

“What we should be doing is creating a value exchange, giving our audiences something they genuinely want and need, and then they take that, add a layer of themselves around it, and take that piece of content on a very personal journey,” says David Shing, chief prophet and digital ad strategist at AOL in an interview. “They make it their own.”

With a slight shift in perspective, your low-traffic blog posts can become your strongest sales assets. Here’s how:

Build an Email Drip Campaign

Drip campaigns are valuable at all stages of a company’s marketing lifecycle. Whether you’re looking to introduce prospects to your product or facilitate engagement during onboarding, these marketing initiatives can help keep your brand top of mind.

One example to reference is “30 Days of Lean Startup,” a collection of blog posts and other assets that teach enrollees how to build products faster over the course of the month.

In this case, the drip campaign takes the form of an email course, with the goal of helping audiences learn a little bit every day. People can passively sit back, with information—all repurposed from existing content—delivered to them. A portion of those who enroll will go on to sign up for paid education and training.

These campaigns are valuable for relationship building, fostering trust, encouraging audiences to learn, and growing awareness about the capabilities of a company.

Rather than creating new content, repurpose what’s already on your blog.

Combine Blog Content into an eBook

A blog post can also be a chapter in an eBook. If you’ve written a collection of assets for your blog, consider combining them into a more in-depth piece of content.

Pick a theme and then build your content around this theme. Write a brief introduction and insert transitions between each section of your eBook. You’ll have a comprehensive body of work that you can use as a lead magnet.

As an example, take a look at this eBook on personal brand building for EveryoneSocial. It’s a compilation of several blog posts that teach individuals how to build their public-facing reputations online. After extensive distribution, the eBook eventually became the foundation for an in-person workshop, designed for Fortune 500 companies.

Blogging enabled the EveryoneSocial team to surface these stories. The eBook concept extended the lifespan of each of these blog posts.

Refresh, Re-Publish, and Re-Distribute

Over time, your blog audience will grow with new readers. If some time has elapsed since you’ve published and distributed one of your blog posts, you can always run it again.

Update the piece with details that you know now and may not have known before. Infuse your content with SEO keywords you see driving content to your website. Keep investing and building upon already-strong blog posts—in addition to content that may not be reaching its highest potential.

Think of your content as timeless and everlasting. If you don’t want to republish it on your blog, ask your sales team to share it as a part of everyday conversations. Even something as simple as an email signature can help you create more delightful, engaging audience experiences.

Keep getting feedback. Keep your content relevant.

Treat your blog posts as assets that you continue to cultivate. Eliminate the potential for waste down the road.

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