Create Bonus Content/Content Upgrades for Higher Conversion Rates on Key Landing Pages and Blog Posts

Free white paper or ebook downloads are nothing new, but it’s how you frame them that could make a big difference. Content Marketing Institute recently published an article on what they’re calling a “content upgrade”, which is a piece of gated content or some kind of resource that users can access as an upgrade or bonus that accompanies the content of the page that they’re on.

The idea of offering bonus content is that if you present people with resources on topics they’re actively reading about, you can not only position yourself as a vital resource and knowledge center, but you can also watch conversion rates on key landing pages and blog posts climb!

The Psychology Behind Bonus Content

People love free content, but it seems less valuable when it’s generalized or offered everywhere. When someone is on your website and they’ve seen the same offer for a free template download pop up on three different pages, it starts to become an annoyance rather than something helpful. Offering a bonus or upgrade feels more exclusive and specific to what they’re already interested in, making it more enticing.

Someone who does a great job of pairing valuable resources with specific blog posts or landing pages is HubSpot. If you head to this blog post on responsive emails, you’ll eventually see a popup offer to download an email marketing planning tool.

Types of Content You Can Offer as a Bonus or Upgrade

The type of content you create and decide to offer as a bonus or upgrade to a larger piece of content (whether it’s a landing page or blog post) can be anything from a simple checklist to an extensive case study that details an innovative solution you were able to provide.

If you’re going to “gate” content, or ask users to provide you with information before they can access the content, you have to keep in mind that it needs to be valuable enough. People are hesitant about giving up their personal information, and they’re less likely to do so if it takes time.

• Template
• Checklist

• Guide
• Report

• Case study
• List

• Chart
• Infographic

Process for Creating and Gathering More Conversions from Bonus Content

You’ll need to pull in nearly the whole marketing team to pull off bonus content. Once your strategist figures out what the highest ranking pages are on your site, it’s time for the content team to plan out bonus pieces to create, and then it’s off to the design team to make the vision come alive! Don’t forget about programming to make that special popup happen on the right page!

1. Look at the highest ranking pages on your site.
2. Identify resources that could be created to extend or enrich the content on that page.
3. Create the resources and add them to those pages in a graphic or popup callout.
4. Get more emails!

Improve Your Content Strategy with Sanctuary

If you’re thinking that bonus content would work well for you but you’re not sure where to start, we’d love to dive in and come up with a content strategy that makes sense for your business. Contact us today to learn more.