Let me guess: you have a blog that’s pretty much your pride and joy, but you only get a handful of readers every day. You look at the big guns in the blogging world and wonder how they made it big or how they easily turn blog readers into clients.

You see all these posts out there about building your traffic to thousands and thousands of readers a day, but it all feels overwhelming for you.

Guess what? Big numbers don’t necessarily mean big revenue. In fact, the smaller your audience, the more you can focus on THEM and THEIR needs, not the collective needs of thousands or millions of faceless readers.

And even better? You don’t have to have a huge following to start landing clients through your blog. In fact, you only need a handful of relevant peeps visiting your site every day to start selling your services.

Because the aim of getting clients through your blog isn’t to lure them in and sell, sell, sell, it’s about building a loyal community of fans and potential ambassadors.

THIS is where the gold lies when it comes to turning readers into clients. THIS is the pinnacle you should be aiming for.

But how can you start doing this? Don’t you need loads of tools and a sleek blog design and streamlined social media channels and a face that just looks good on camera at every single angle?

No, no, no.

This is how you do it:

1. Offer Value Upfront

Now is not the time to be secretive about your skills and talents.

You want to show readers that you KNOW what you’re talking about and that you’re knowledgeable on the topic you’re writing about. If they’re going to hire you, they need to know that you’re good at what you do and that you can come good on your promises.

There are several ways you can do this:

Value force #1: Blog content that’s awesome

Urgh, I know everyone and his wife flaunts the term “awesome content” around, but it really is the most important foundation of a blog that WORKS, and a blog that GROWS.

I noticed a huge increase in traffic, subscribers, and client leads when I started streamlining my content strategy and offering epic posts that were filled with 2,000+ words of juicy, valuable information.

Nailing what to write and who to write it for is the first step in the epic content journey, and you can find out exactly how to do that in this step-by-step guide.

To summarise, your content needs to:

• Answer a question or pain point your ideal audience has
• Offer something new (a.k.a. no regurgitated content)
• Back up your claims with examples, case studies, etc

Value force #2: Free epic content

I’ve gone and used another one of those annoying buzzwords again.

That’s because free epic content is pretty much the bread and butter of creating a loyal community of readers which, eventually, turn into clients.

Most people do this by offering a free download in exchange for an email address. These little things are known as lead magnets, and they’re blowing up the internet at the moment (I have two – the Find Freelance Clients Fast free email course and a free starter pack for freelancers).

This can be anything from a list of tools your audience might need to carry out their job, a workbook, or a free email course, but it might also be regular webinars you hold for your readers, or a Facebook group you’ve put together for likeminded people.

Just make sure your free content is:

• Fully aligned to your ideal audience – make it something they can’t resist
• Full of value. Please, for the love of everything, don’t ask for peoples’ email addresses and send them fluffy nonsense that doesn’t help them at all
• Something that can lead into your services further down the line (we’ll discuss this more in a moment), so if your services include copywriting, don’t offer a free e-book about parenting or web development

2. Make Sure Readers KNOW About Your Services

You’d be amazed at the amount of times my students and readers have dropped into my inbox to ask how they can get more clients from their blogs, only for me to discover they don’t have a “Work With Me” or a “Hire Me” page.

Big faux pas, people.

How are readers supposed to know about the services they can sign up for if they aren’t laid out neatly for them in a package with a virtual bow on?

Answer: they won’t.

Adding a simple “Services” page to your site (it doesn’t have to be anything fancy – you can see mine here) immediately lets readers know that you have something more to offer them; that this is your JOB and you’re actually here to help them.

It doesn’t just have to be a services page, though, you could consider:

• Sending out a list of your offerings in an email when a reader subscribes to your mailing list
• Including your job title on social media and on your “About Page”
• Including a call-to-action at the end of blog posts that directs readers to your services

3. Now, Let’s Talk About Funnels

I don’t know about you, but the word “funnels” kind of puts the fear of everything in me.

It sounds so corporate and sales-y, and that’s just not what I’m about. If you’re the same, you’re in luck!

Because, actually, funnels don’t have to be sleazy tunnels of marketing spiel. In fact, they can be a great way to build connections with your readers and make sure they’re taking a journey through your content that best fits them (and a happy reader is more likely to become a client).

So, let’s quickly look at the process that moulds readers into clients.

Step 1: Reader

All readers start out at the same level: reader. They’re directed to your blog via whatever method, and they’re essentially a “cold” lead – a.k.a. they know nothing about you or your services. There’s no trust there, and they’re probably slightly sceptical about what you have to say.

This is where your awesome content comes into play. With every blog post, you have to persuade the reader that you know what you’re talking about and that you’re the person to help them.

How do you do this?

• Be personable – people make connections with other people, not robots or boring content
• Ensure every blog post is the best blog post you’ve ever written – you never know who might land on it
• Speak directly to your ideal client. There’s nothing better than landing on a post and thinking “this person GETS me, they know EXACTLY what I need”, right?!

Step 2: Subscriber

Next, it’s time for your epic free content to come into play. Once a reader has devoured your awesome content and likes what you have to say, they’ll be inclined to sign up for more – especially if there’s a little freebie that tickles their fancy.

To land more subscribers make sure:

• A sign-up form is visible on every page
• Your freebie is something that your ideal client can’t wait to get their hands on

Step 3: Fan

To get to the next step, you have to repeat steps 1 and 2 until the cows come home. It’s an endless cycle of awesome content and epic freebies.

Now you’ve got the reader’s email address, you can start sending them valuable emails straight to their inbox as well. This is a more intimate method of connecting with clients, and another way you can build trust and showcase your expertise and value.

Step 4: Client

By now, your reader should trust everything you have to say. They’re well aware that you’re amazing at what you do and have tonnes of value to offer.

Maybe they’ve been devouring your emails for a couple of weeks and they’re waiting for the right moment to take the plunge and hire you.

All it takes is one blog post that tips them over the edge (for example, if they’re looking for a copywriter to re-write their website and you publish a post about re-writing a website, they’re going to take a focused interest).

Once a reader is on your list and a loyal fan, you can start suggesting your services to them by:

• Offering a discount in an email
• Linking to your services at the end of each email you send out
• Reminding them every now and again of new services you have coming out

Remember: It Takes Time

The problem most people have is they want things to happen immediately. They want to hit publish on their blog and get clients straight away without putting in the hard work of nurturing a reader base.

The thing is, building trust takes time (and so does producing consistent value). It doesn’t happen overnight, no matter how much of a wizard you are.

So while you’re building up your content to epic proportions and growing a loyal fan base (a.k.a. future clients), you’ll want to be adding to your portfolio and landing clients elsewhere.

I’ve recently added a payment plan option to the Launch Your Life as a Freelancer course, which takes you through the steps to getting your business off the ground. It covers:

• The legal aspects of becoming a freelancer
• How to land your first client
• What you should be charging
• How you can use social media, content marketing, and a range of other fail-proof tactics to land a steady stream of work
• How to create a pitch that works again and again
• Workbooks for every lesson that help you put what you’ve learnt into practice immediately

Now you can grab the course for two monthly payments of $75.

Your Turn!

Are you looking to turn your blog into a client-landing machine? Which of these steps are you at already?