Hmm… Something is not right.
You followed all recommended steps when writing your B2B SaaS blog posts, yet they do not return the expected results.
What is the missing ingredient?
Answers can surprise you – you may have overdone it.
If you take any of the valid advice that your copy should implement and push it to the extreme, it can result in more negatives than positives.
Further down in the article, we will offer a few guidelines to help balance your blog post and elevate the effectiveness of your writing.
Let’s start exploring fine lines of optimized B2B SaaS copy.
Why Should B2B SaaS Pay Attention to Optimization?
As a B2B SaaS company, you are developing solutions that should strike a balance between security, ease of use, and features.
In the same vein, when crafting your blog post, you should find the sweet spot between optimizing for search engines (SEO), catering to your readers’ interests, and promoting your products.
You need all three segments to achieve peak performance.
However, balance is the key.
Let’s say you already have a blog.
Your readability will suffer if you lean heavily on recommendations from search engines.
Sorry to say, but the balancing game does not end there.
If we take a deeper look, each segment has its own delicate balance you are looking for:
🎯 SEO – Algorithms search for particular attributes before ranking your post. Yet they are smart enough to recognize when you are “artificially” boosting them.
🎯 Reader’s interests – People seek quick answers, so if you deliver what they’re searching for right at the beginning, the rest of your content might be overlooked. This could result in missed opportunities to highlight selling points.
🎯 Selling Products – You are writing blog posts to draw attention to your products. Too much of a sales pitch will kill interest and undermine your expertise.
Think of it this way – crafting B2B SaaS blog copy isn’t a precise science but rather an art form.
Unlike other art forms, there are numerous best practices that can help you craft a masterpiece that will draw in more leads and, ultimately, generate higher ROI.
Continue reading to find out how to extract the best things from your articles.
What Are the Characteristics of Well-Optimized B2B SaaS Blog Copy?
The B2B SaaS blogosphere is evolving rapidly, a testament to 92% of companies deeming it vital.
Falling behind or experiencing a brief period of stagnation can make catching up with industry leaders challenging.
Therefore, it’s crucial to avoid any pitfalls in your journey.
Here is some advice on how to optimize your articles for top performance.
1. Understand Your Target Audience
Before writing any blog post, it’s crucial to have a deep understanding of your target audience.
- Who are they?
- What are their pain points and challenges?
- What are their priorities?
These are simple questions to which you have only descriptive answers.
And such answers do not get you too far when looking for the best way to speak to them.
Here are some tactics you can use to paint your perfect customer with what they are looking for:
- Use your current buyers as a baseline – they already selected your product above competitors, so you can identify what triggered them to buy it.
- Define who is not your targeted audience – attempts to sell your product to some people are a waste of resources, and there are other people you do not want as partners.
- Who is buying competitors’ products – helps you determine what demographics you are not targeting in a pool of potential customers.
- Identify activity from Google Analytics – people are not just a sum of their characteristics, but more importantly, their actions. The actions taken on your page are a gold mine of useful information.
Now that you have all the pieces, you can complete the jigsaw with the face of your targeted audience.
Let us play a game, create two similar persons with slight differences, and see how you will target each of them within your blog posts.
Persona 1
🧑 Basic characteristic:
- A veteran in the industry familiar with everyday tasks in the financial sector
- In business, she is looking for efficiency and profits
- With an established routine, every change needs strong, rational reasoning
✍️ Your blog should focus on:
- Backing every claim with facts
- Respect years of experience and cut down on defining basic terms
- Use industry giants’ quotes to bolster your positions
- Focus on the stability of your product and long-term plans
Persona 2
🧑 Basic characteristics:
- Due to her age, there is a high probability that she is a frequent user of social networks.
- When looking for information in the industry, she is looking for specific answers on how to perform specific tasks(state regulations for submitting job expenses, tax reduction permits…).
- Still learning industry jargon.
✍️ Your blog should focus on:
- Examples of completing specific tasks in the correct manner. Preferably accompanied with images or videos.
- Light use of industry jargon. Make sure to define some expressions.
- Keep away from deep analysis of markets or worldwide politics.
- Promoting the social impact of your company.
- Social network shareable sections.
So, if your company provides SaaS for the financial sector, who would you pick as the target person?
Even though you may think the answer is both, think about this:
Persona 1 is likely to make a decision to sign a contract with your company.
This kind of person is at the bottom of your marketing funnel.
Persona 2 is likely to introduce and test new products.
This is a person at the beginning of the transition process.
Keep in mind – someday, person 2 will become person 1.
So it is much better to focus on the person 1 that can bring you more benefits not only at the moment but also in the future.
2. Write an Article That Shows Value in Quick Scan
Most people do not like spending too much time looking for answers.
From their perspective, all parts of the article are irrelevant, with the exception of the direct answer to their question.
The average blog visit lasts for 37 seconds.
And the most common technique to cut time on reading unnecessary text is to make a quick scan.
The reason for results like this is that people click on a link and make a quick scan looking for an answer or looking for something to intrigue them enough to stay and read the rest of the article.
Your goal is to make relevant answers stand out.
The downside is that you can provide the whole answer in bold letters, and the visitor leaves without reading the rest of the article.
One of the most often used scanning patterns is the Layer cake pattern, where the reader scans paragraph titles.
You can use such visitors’ behavior to make them stay and read your article.
There is nothing standing in the way of making your subheading title into BIG RED ARROW pointing to the answer the visitor is looking for.
You can make a point with a few tweaks to your article layout and writing style.
Here’s how to do it:
- Add keyword variation into your subheading – visitor is there to find information related to search engine queries, so do not bury it.
- Write it in an actionable manner – the reader is looking for direct action he can take, so the heading should offer them exactly that.
- Make it pop from the rest of the article – in most instances, writing subtitles in bold letters is not enough. Use heading 2 or 3 to better organize your content so the search engines understand it better too.
3. Make Your Introduction Captivating
Introductions follow immediately after a visitor quickly scans an article, marking the initial transition from visitor to engaged reader.
The very first paragraph of the blog post should contain a combination of:
✅ Problems that the audience is seeking to resolve
✅ Showcase of expertise
✅ Strategic solution
✅ Call to action
Often, writers do not waste any time and jump into introducing a sales pitch.
However, people do not come to read blog posts only for the purpose of purchasing.
Blog posts are an excellent source for information gathering.
Thus, with persuasive intros’ the goal is to set an environment for the reader – to feel intrigued and interested in the information you are about to share.
You can establish such rapport with the story of experiencing the same ails and the steps you took to overcome them.
4. Show Examples That Readers Can Use Right Now
B2B SaaS blog articles should give your audience valuable insights and practical guidance.
These posts should delve into industry trends, share best practices, and offer useful tips on how to tackle their challenges effectively.
In addition, you are demonstrating your expertise.
The actions presented should show how your previous advice looks in practice.
Yet you still want to keep it a bit generalized so readers can see how they can modify it and use it in their specific situation that is not just like the one you described.
In this example, the writer demonstrates how you can showcase particular products or services while offering practical tips and tricks on utilizing them effectively.
Specifically, it explains how to transfer Amex points to multiple airlines with extra choices for resorts and hotels.
Pretty convenient, right?
5. Structure Your Article For Easier Navigation
Arrange your content with a clear and reader-friendly structure.
Utilize subheadings, bullet points, and numbered lists to simplify intricate information into manageable segments.
This facilitates effortless scanning and helps readers locate the specific information they seek.
If you are, for example, describing the pitch creation process, the best option is to use chronological storytelling.
For example:
Alternatively, it can be difficult to follow a system of titling based on importance.
However, be careful with this as it may not align with everyone’s opinions.
6. Incorporate Relevant Keywords Occasionally
Everyone, even remotely involved with copywriting, knows the importance of keywords in the SEO growth of any article.
There are 2 essential tips to incorporate into your content:
✅ Perform thorough keyword research to pinpoint pertinent and high-intent keywords associated with your subject matter.
✅ Seamlessly integrate these keywords into your blog post to enhance search engines optimization(SEO) and enhance your organic visibility.
Intentionally or unintentionally, people often get carried away and use too many keywords in their blog posts.
Such practices are called keyword stuffing, and search engines do not like them.
Make sure to use keywords organically where relevant, which will make your article more natural and appealing to readers.
7. Avoid Technical Jargon
When addressing a B2B audience, remember that your objective is to communicate your message in a way that is understandable to a broader audience.
In many cases, excessive use of technical terminology overwhelms your readers and makes articles hard to read, even if the reader is an expert in the field.
Thus, you can start by:
✅ Prioritizing direct language that effectively conveys your message.
✅ Use straightforward, succinct language and keep away from too much technical jargon.
A simpler terms approach will enable you to craft a copy that is both understandable and engaging.
Let us compare two sentences with the same meaning after minor adjustment of industry jargon:
💡 Within the contingency period, the investor usually has the right to rescind the offer with no penalty and obtain a refund of earnest money deposits.
Vs
💡 Within the contingency period, the investor usually has the right to cancel the offer with no penalty and obtain a refund of deposits.
8. Include Images to Simplify Your Concept
People often say: “The image is worth a thousand words”.
In blog writing, where each word has a significant impact, readers’ ability to visualize and stay engaged becomes even more crucial.
We highly recommend using visuals to:
✅ Drive the point
✅ Make a break for the reader
✅ Show example
✅ Improve user experience and readability
While visuals are one of the most powerful tools in a writer’s arsenal, slapping them on at every opportunity may degrade the reader’s experience.
As with any other task, too many breaks make a person lose concentration and interest.
Placing too many visuals will cut your article into small pieces, and that storytelling will disappear altogether.
Especially if those visuals are stock images.
Now you will ask, “How much is too much?”.
Marketing industry standards say it is between 150-300 words for each visual.
The reason for such a gap is that it depends on the topic you are covering and how large the images are.
Oh boy, now what? Does the size of the image impact the readability of the article?!
Yes, it does.
People will access your blog article on computers, tablets, and phones, and the presentation should look perfect on each platform.
9. Tare Down the Wall of Text
There are a few more instances we wanted to touch upon besides those we discussed related to scanning and visuals.
Large portions of the text are tiresome even for most enthusiastic readers.
Writers seek innovative ways to break them apart without hurting readers’ concentration or interest.
The most commonly used tricks are:
- Visuals
- Paragraphs
- Bullet Points
- Numbering
- Quotations
- Examples
In the last few years, an increased number of readers who use their phones to read articles has placed new challenges in front of writers.
The screen size and the different screen formats require further breaking of text.
Sentences that do not fit on the phone’s screen are off-putting for the reader.
If you keep your paragraphs under 200 characters they should fit on any screen.
10. Include a Specific Call To Action
The call to action is the Sales portion of the text that tells the user to take a specified action.
There, you propose to the reader to continue collaborating with your company.
It can be related to subscriptions, application download, booking a demo, or even a contract for service.
One article can contain more than one CTA.
What you need to pay attention to is where to position it.
The most common location is at the end of the text since readers who stayed till that point have developed some level of trust and interest in your products.
Writers position CTA in other places of blog posts, but it is successful only when it is introduced organically and provided within articles where users are ready to buy.
In other situations, it can make the blog sound too salesy and can annoy readers.
11. Optimize for SEO
Aside from including keywords, SEO carries a few more important aspects of your blog post.
One of them is meta titles and descriptions that accurately explain the content and entice clicks in search engine results.
Meta descriptions should contain up to 150 characters, explain your article, and lure the reader to visit your blog page.
You should aim for title tags consisting of 55 characters in length, which are a bit shorter but still an essential type of search engine presentation for your article.
Another SEO fact is that search engines do not like messy URL structures and broken links.
In essence, you want to keep your links updated and easy to read.
As a Saas company with a developed blog page, the number of articles will go north of 200.
Keeping all internal links in check is a nightmare.
How do you achieve the desired results?
Content marketing agencies agree that the practice of permalinks(permanent links) generates the best results.
A permalink is essentially a URL address that never changes.
They typically have simple, easy-to-type URLs that make it simple for users to remember them and for search engines to index where they are on the website.
As you can see from the example, permalink is simple and has a long shelf life.
What is that important?
Research shows that 60% of blog articles are reused in their lifespan.
So, a clean and reusable permalink keeps internal links relevant even after multiple iterations.
On top of that, both search engines and readers find it easier to recommend your article and visit it whenever they need to refresh their knowledge.
To Conclude
Since you have devoted time to learning about best practices for B2B SaaS blogs, you are just starting, or you feel something is missing from your efforts so far.
This means that you are behind the curve, not that race is lost.
All you need is knowledge and tools to help you improve your articles and make them compelling.
Or you can get a partner like Omnius to help you improve your online presence and grow organically.
Book a 30-minute call to learn how to improve your SEO and make your B2B SaaS blog page a new lead-generation machine.
Nguồn: omnius.so