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📰 What to do with posts that are strong but unknown
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You probably have some blog posts where:
- The content is brilliant
- The bounce rate is low
- The traffic it’s attracting is perfectly targeted
And yet: it’s not getting enough traffic. So the net conversions are low.
At Ercule, we refer to these posts as “shy”. These pages could be superstars – if only they got out into the world a little more.
🦢 Why aren’t these pages more popular?
Since the content itself is already strong, its problems are probably rooted in optimization and distribution. Things like…
- Isolation. If it’s a one-off piece, with no related posts, no internal links, and no clear place in your service offering, then it’s going to be hard for users to find.
- Keyword volume. If the post is discussing common pain points, but does it in heavily branded or niche language, new leads won’t find you in search.
- Meta-tags. If your page doesn’t look appealing in search results, people won’t click through.
- Page experience. UX basics like site speed might not derail bottom-funnel leads, but they will hinder your overall conversion performance.
- Distribution. If you don’t tell the world about this post, and repeat the message strategically across platforms, you can’t expect anyone to know that it exists.
🏄🏼 What you can do
Revisit your optimization and distribution strategies for this post. Some things to look at:
- Update the page title and h-tags to meet Google’s recommendations. Make it easier for the search engines to see, comprehend, and promote you.
- Update the meta description. Each Google result is like a little ad for your content, so make yours descriptive and engaging.
- Assess the page experience. We mentioned this is important for driving conversions. It’s important for driving traffic, too.
- Add relevant internal links for the shy post on other pages of your site. It’s a kindness for readers and a proven method for boosting visibility.
- Confirm the search volume for the post’s target keyword, and explore adjacent keywords. A slight change in terminology can lead to a wider audience.
- Adapt the post for other formats (eg. social posts, video, newsletters 😉). It makes content more accessible and extends the mileage you get from each post.
- Tell the world! Across all of your platforms. Then remind the world. Then do it again.
And keep doing all of these things. Distribution is a cycle and not a one-and-done sprint. (And optimizing old content is crucial to a distribution strategy.)
Feel free to schedule office hours to look at this together!
xoxo, Ercule
