If I'm doing all of this work to get people to my website, why on earth would I want to send them somewhere else?
I mean, that's aggravating, is it not?
It probably costs you precious time, money, A/B testing hours, and SO MUCH DATA to get people to click on your website.
Now, you have to do whatever it takes to keep them there, right?
Well, that depends.
You know that buyers today, no matter what they are looking for, are more educated now than ever, and 81% of them are conducting research online before buying.
But if you've ever researched anything for yourself, you're never going to just one source as the end all be all.
You want to see what other people say, so why not have that information ready to go on a silver platter for your potential customers?
We understand sharing curated content on your website and sending people away can be scary, and we didn't like sending people away permanently either!
At UpContent, we not only solved the problems of finding valuable third-party content and streamlined sharing it with your audience but also tackled a big hangup with curated content: getting people back to your website.
We have hundreds of companies from 20+ industries using our platform to share third-party content while keeping their audience engaged, driving revenue with their ideal customers.
In this article, we'll talk about why you shouldn’t be scared to send people away from your site, how to bring those readers back to your website, and how you can set up the Sniply integration within your UpContent dashboard.
Drive Traffic To Your Website By Sending People Away
Ok, ok, I get it. That seems completely bonkers.
But it’s true!
When sharing someone else's content on your website that you haven't paid them to republish on your page, you want to make sure you link to their website/original publication location.
Here at UpContent, we like to view this as your way of "paying" the original author with the click and SEO boost to their site.
But this does mean your reader, who you worked so hard to click on your page, is going to click away.
You get the SEO credit of them clicking on a link on your page (which is a pretty powerful indicator of your domain’s value)! But now what?
Do you have to hope they were interested enough to click "back" on their browser after reading another article?
Relying on hope alone isn't going to cut it in this day and age of the internet. You need to have a strategy.
Some people will use content syndication instead of curation to republish relevant third-party content on their site to keep traffic on their pages, but this can get expensive and limited over the long haul.
Content curation is a proven, effective strategy, but how do you keep people coming back to your site?
3 Ways To Bring Your Readers Back To Your Website When Sharing Third-Party Content
There are actually three ways to easily drive your visitors back to your website.
1. Being a trusted resource for your readers
The first is by living up to your goal of being a trusted resource for your readers - regardless of who authored the information.
Today’s buyers have their own struggles. They want to do their research but don’t have an infinite amount of time to do so. With the massive volume of information out there, it can be difficult to know what to trust and rely upon.
Our most effective customers embrace the concept of taking their site visitors elsewhere (in a new tab) and are confident that their library of curated and original insights will have the visitors coming back repeatedly as they seek answers to their questions in their buying process.
If customers trust you for content on a particular topic, they’ll make coming to you a habit, and building that trust will lead to more sales
Not only that, but becoming this resource also makes you far more likely to be the beneficiary of a referral from that visitor as they share their experience with others.
So, sure. Curation on its own can actually increase the number of visits to your site during the decision phase of your prospect, but what else can be done to make that process even easier in guiding your readers to the best resources during their journey?
You can use Banner CTA’s, and remarketing pixels to do the hard work for you!
2. Using a Banner CTA
One of the most effective ways to bring your customers back to your website while also boosting brand awareness with content curation is to use a banner CTA that links directly back to your website.
While there are a number of technologies that can offer this service, many of which are compatible with UpContent, we forged a unique partnership with the team at Sniply over five years ago to make the process of adding a banner CTA to your curated articles friction-free.
Banner CTAs tie the curated article back to your website while continuing to present the curated piece in its “native habitat” - a critical element for building reader trust and adhering to the fair use guidelines for copyright.
Using a CTA allows you to stay top of mind with your prospect and create an easy path back to their best next step on your website - now that they’ve been stimulated to dig deeper.
Here are our top three categories of CTA recommendations:
- “Come back and read more”
Typically with this approach, we see a 3-5% CTR. While that may not sound like a huge number, let me put that in perspective for you.
On average, a typical display ad sees 0.46% CTR.
Yes, I wrote that correctly.
So using a banner CTA like the one you see above with the language of “See what else our team has been reading!” or something like that is six times more likely to get them back to your site than a display ad on Google.
However, the trouble with this category is that while the benefits are present in terms of traffic, these visitors often remain anonymous to you, and thus moving them further down your buying process is more difficult.
- Schedule a Demo
While this is the ultimate desired result short of the prospect actually making a purchase, asking your reader to book or schedule a demo directly from a curated piece usually results in a <1%-1% CTR.
While the benefit of driving more demos or consultations is apparent, it is a significant leap for the prospect to go from a curated piece to a conversation.
- Micro conversion CTA
This could be asking people to sign up for your newsletter, exchange their email addresses to download an eBook or PDF, or anything where they give you some information about themselves - but not so much as to request a demo, consultation, or make a purchase.
This CTA type is our favorite because it shifts the relationships from one-to-many to one-to-one.
They’ve raised their hands, given you a bit about themselves, and now expect value in return.
Time to deliver.
With a micro conversion, you’re able to learn a little bit more about them, capture their contact info, and begin nurturing them as a lead.
We typically see a steady 2-3% CTR with this method!
3. Remarketing Pixels
If you’re using a platform like Sniply, you can also activate remarketing pixels for advertising campaigns you are already running whenever someone reads your curated article!
So for example, for any article you have our CTA attached to, in addition to displaying the call to action, Sniply will also execute LinkedIn remarketing, Facebook remarketing, and/or Google remarketing pixels.
Your readers don’t have to click on the banner CTA to activate those pixels, those start tracking as soon as they click on the article!
Even though you’re only going to get a 2 to 3% click-through rate on your sign-up for your email newsletter call to action, the sheer fact that they clicked on that article to read is going to bring your ads to them throughout the rest of their browsing experience using the settings you have already applied in these ad platforms.
They will continue seeing YOUR brand because they found an article that resonates with them.
They've already built some level of trust because you gave them an article that was beneficial to them and their experience, and now they will be more curious about how your business will help meet their need.
Your cost to get that person to sign up for a demo is far lower than if you were just trying to target them based upon interests - which is becoming even more valuable as third-party cookies continue to decline in availability and efficacy.
Using Sniply To Bring Them Back
If you're on an Engager, Orchestrator, or Enterprise UpContent plan, you can start adding banner CTA's right now!
If you haven’t received your invitation to Sniply yet, just pop into our support chat within your UpContent account and let us know. We’ll get it to you right away.
Once connected, head to your Sniply account to customize and design your CTAs!
You can use images or GIFs to create your CTA.
Even with Sniply activated, you may experience articles in your collection where the banner isn’t showing.
This is due to variations in how publishers present their content. On average, your banner CTAs will display 80% of the time.
However, we wouldn’t recommend changing your curation strategy to maximize banner appearance.
Simply approve what you find is best for your audience to read and trust in the integration to display the content in the best way possible.
Next Steps To Driving Website Traffic With Curated Content
Sending people away from your website is scary. It just is.
And using curated content does send people to other articles and websites that also have great information.
You wouldn't have shared a piece from them if you didn't think so!
But research shows that positioning yourself as a trusted resource - no matter who the original author was, will create a better initial session with your reader and keep them coming back.
To make your curation efforts even more valuable, applying a banner CTA with a direct link to where you want your prospect to end up is a great way to help them find the bridge back to you.
And using remarketing capabilities increases the likelihood of your ability to convert that reader because you’re executing remarketing versus standard display or search campaigns.
Our long-time partnership with Sniply makes these actions possible in a way that eliminates friction and repetitive tasks.
Here at UpContent, our customers experience an average of six times more clicks on a banner CTA placed on curated content than a display ad!
If you're ready to add content curation as a part of your content marketing strategy, schedule your free demo today, and we can show you more about using banner CTAs to redirect traffic back to your site.
If you're unsure or want to learn more about content curation, check out some of these articles to help you learn more!
