USP – Unique Selling Proposition a.k.a. “unique selling point”

Here’s the simple definition of USP.

Why should I buy from you instead of others?

Or Why should I read your blog instead of others?

Question seems to be very simple.. but the answer is definitely not.

Your blogging success depends on how you define your USP, how you stand out from the remaining crowd.

Interested in finding and selling your USP?

Lets jump into the details then..

Provide benefits

Not features.

For example,

You can make more sells when you’re providing your readers/customers with attractive benefits. They’ll love to buy the stuff from you if they’ve something value in it or when you’re giving at least ONE extra feature from other competitors, they’ll buy your products.

First step is to finding your own USP.

But how can you do that?

Here’s a simple strategy you can use.. find the holes in your competitors blogs. This step will be hard especially when you’re new to online business. Even if you’re a pro online marketer, finding holes is not an easy task.

Don’t give up. Analyze what other sites in your niche are missing? Finding and filling the holes in your niche is the FIRST step to your online success.

Great example is: When Darren Rowse launched problogger.net in 2002, blogosphere is not so much crowded as it is now. His blog was the ONLY best resource to learn blogging for all the bloggers.

In 2005, when Brian Clark launched Copyblogger with the unique concept called ‘copywriting’, he absolutely stunned everyone. Darren Rowse was only talking about ‘how to blog’ till then, Brian Clark focused on ‘how to write’ instead of rehashing the contents like ‘how to blog’. His USP was to attract everyone with ‘copywriting skills’.

Now… copyblogger is one of the biggest resources for bloggers, writers and online marketers. That’s the POWER of having a USP.

So first find out the holes in your niche, fill them on your blog. Very soon you’ll attract more people

to read your blog. Once you’ve the potential readers, it’ll be a breeze for you to sell your products

Use compelling words to attract

Shorter sentences deliver clear messages.

Attract your readers or buyers with compelling words. You need to write effectively to grab their attention.

More importantly you must grab others attention within seconds. Because most online readers/surfers have less attention spans. So you need to convey your USP within seconds with your words. That’s how you can convert readers into buyers or visitors into email subscribers.

Pro tip: Use a landing page to sell your products on collect email leads. Why?

Landing pages are the best way to quickly grab someone’s attention. They’ve ONLY a single purpose. Give only two options to them in your landing pages. Buy or leave.

Your copy should be as tight as possible. Edit the unwanted words ruthlessly. It should be concise and compelling so that no one can easily leave your USP without taking some action.

Now optimize it for the search engines

You’ve done the two parts. One is you’ve provided the benefits including finding & filling the holes in your niche and the other is you’ve attracted others with compelling words.

The final step is to optimize your contents for the search engines.

Why?

You need to have more online visibility to get more leads, subscribers or money.

So the best way to do that is to drive quality traffic from search engines. So you must focus on optimizing your copy for the search engines to get long lasting search results for the desired keywords.

The best tip I can give you here is: don’t keyword stuff your contents by using the tools like SEOPressor, EasyWPSEO etc.

Instead, focus on finding your ‘best keyword phrase’ and use it only ONCE in your copy.

Then..

Use the relevant keyword phrases, get the links from other sites by doing guest blogging or other methods.

Search engines will give you BEST results when others are linking to you for the specific keywords. This is the KEY to bring long lasting search traffic, not keyword stuffing.

In a nutshell:

• Find and fill the holes in your niche (unique selling proposition is very essential for you to stand out)
• Write engaging content and
• Optimize your content for better online visibility

Share your views on unique selling proposition.. I’d be glad to respond to everyone in the comments.