LeadMagnetGeniusNot every blog post will make a great lead magnet. You want to select a post that is highly relevant, valuable, and ideally already popular with your audience. Here’s what to look for:
Solves a Specific Problem: The best blog posts to repurpose are those that address a clear, specific problem or need. If your post offers a solution (or part of a solution) to a pain point your readers have, it’s a prime candidate. For example, a post like “How to Budget for a Wedding in 7 Steps” solves a focused problem and could be a great lead magnet as a checklist or guide. As one expert notes, “If your blog post solves a problem or teaches a process, it can become a lead magnet”.
Related to Your Offer or Product: Ideally, the blog topic should tie into something you sell or a service you provide. The reason is that you want the people downloading the lead magnet to be potential customers for you down the line. For instance, if you offer social media marketing services, a blog post about “10 Ways to Boost Instagram Engagement” can be a perfect magnet leading to your services. Always connect the dots between your free content and your paid offers.
Proven Engagement: Check your analytics for posts that already get a lot of traffic or shares. High engagement is a sign that readers find that content valuable. If a post got thousands of views or a ton of comments, that topic clearly resonates. Turning it into a lead magnet can leverage that existing interest – people who see the offer will likely want it. Marketing strategist Ross Simmonds shared an example where a guest blog post that had 8,000 social shares was repurposed into a downloadable checklist, which then got over 14,000 downloads. That’s the power of using a hit blog post as your freebie.
Actionable Content: Posts that have a lot of actionable tips, steps, or list of resources tend to convert well into lead magnets. Why? Because they can be easily distilled into a concise, handy format (like a checklist, cheat sheet, or summary). For example, a “Ultimate Guide” post with 3,000 words could be boiled down to a “Top 10 Tips” cheat sheet PDF. People will download the summary to save time and have the key points at their fingertips.
Pro Tip: If you’re torn between a few posts, also consider alignment with audience intent. A blog reader might be in learning mode, but a lead magnet subscriber is someone showing deeper interest. Choose a post that naturally leads to a “next step.” For instance, if someone reads a how-to post, their next step might be wanting a tool or template to implement that how-to (perfect for a content upgrade).