You know what my favorite stage of the buyer's journey is?

The consideration stage.

🍸This is where buyers really start to ask the questions that will ultimately decide what th✱ey purchase.

It's also the stage most businesses ignore, dismiss, or don't really consider cꩲreating content for.

Why? Because they're too busy fine-tuning t𒅌heir offerings at the decision stage or cranking out tons of fluffy content at the awareness stage hoping to bring new people into the 🦋funnel.

They focus on the two ends of the funnel, where people come in as strangers and where they🧸 exit as customers, but it's the middle of the funnel where most of the buying decision really happens.

Iওt's here where consumers will do the majority of their selꦍf-driven research into all the possible solutions to their problems.

And it's here where I teach my clients to focus a lot of their content creation effortsꦛ.

You've probably hea♓rd us talk about content strategies like and “The Big 5” to identify some of the most important blog 🥃article topics you can write.

Both of these approaches involve addressing questions about costs, problems, reviews, “best of” lists, and comparisons as they eliminate♏ many of the objections someone might have when buying.

While I've written articles on how you can address cost on your website and how you caꦦn write about your competitors in a "best of" list in the past, I'd like to turn my attention to one ♉of my favorite topics: comparing productꦉs and services.

How to Compare Products and Services in a Blog Article

As I've said, this is one of the most important pieces of content you can create: how your product or servi🅺ce stacks up against other similar product𝓡s or services.

Making the right choice between two like options can be really important to consumersꦿ, and many are willing to do aಌ lot of research on this topic.

Why?

It all boils down to buyer's remorse.

Nobody wants to make the wrong decisions -- Es▨pecially if it's a costly one. So, helping people avoid this with a thoughtful and detailed article, will definitely build trust and get you on their good sid♈e.

So, how can y𓂃ou write an article addressing comparable products that connect with your audience and help them make the best decision for them?

Here’s my advice:

1. Be Honest About Your Position Early On

One of the most important things you can do in your compar🎉ison art🐟icle is to include why you're writing the article in the first place.

In your intro paragraphs, maꦜke sure you let the reader knowꦗ that you sell one, both, or all of the things you're discussing.

If yo💝u're not forthright about this and your readers find out on their own, you will lose all credibility with them, and they'll probably 𓂃leave your site.

For an easy example, let's say you sell apple🔜s and your competitor sells🦹 oranges.

If you wrote an article comparing apples to oranges without telling the audience that you sell apples and at the v🔜ery end of the ꦬarticle you have a CTA to buy your apples, your audience's BS detector will light up the night.

They will start to question eve๊ry♑thing they just read.

Any negat🔯ives you listed about oranges will be scrutinized heavier.

Any positives you ment🌼ioned about apples will carry less weight.

In short, you'll l𒁏꧒ose all credibility, and, more importantly, a potential customer.

On th🐈e other hand, when you're upfront about your stake in the apple💟 game, people will be disarmed by the honesty and willing to give you a chance to explain your position.

Here's of ho﷽w to be earnest about the comparison you're writing about.

Right off the bat, they let readers know that while the subject of the article is comparing vinyl liner🧸 pools to fiberglass pools, their company specializes in fiberglass pools.

Not only do people appreciate the candor, but as someone in the business, they now know River Pools & Spas knows what they’re 🐽talking about.

You probably also noticed they took things🎀 a st🦋ep further to disarm the readers.

That brings me to my next point:

2. Address Everything The Reader Wants to Know

Remember, blog aꦜrticles are about being as helpful as possible.

They're about giving consumers as much information as needed so they can make a well-informed purchase decis𒀰ion.

Of course, you want themಌ to buy the things you sell♊, but if you're truly about educating prospects, then you'll put aside your own desires and think about things from their point of view.

What do they want to know? Why are they asking these questions to begin with? What do they hope ♊to gain from this? What is really the best choic𒊎e for them?

In the example above, 𒈔the writer explicitly states this and one of the goals of the article.

She writes, "our goal is for you to walk away satisfied, and part of how we achieve that is by providing in𓄧f💧ormation on all types of pools, not just the ones we sell."

I don't know about you, but a 🔯statement like that makes me feel like the company is being honest with me, and honesty fosters trust.

I may be a little on guard as I read the content, making sure they're not trying too hard to push me on fiberg𝔉lass if it's not right for m✱e, but my defenses are definitely down a little.

When you're making the content about the reader, you've got to remain as objective as possible. O🌜ne of the most important (and hardest) things to admit is when your product service is not a good fit for the reader.

Doing so may lose you a lead, but if the product or servi🐷ce wasn't right for them anyway, why try and push them into a bad 𝔍decision?

The las🦩t thing you want is unsatisfied customers coming back with a 🌠vengeance to call you out for misleading them into making the wrong purchase.

3. Organize Your Info with Easy to Follow Structure

Through 🐲writing seve🌄ral of these article types myself and helping dozens of others do the same, I've found there are two really good ways to structure them.

Proper structure i༒s important for a number of reasons:

• People don't land o🐻n 🍎an article and immediately start reading the first paragraph. They quickly scroll the content to see if it's worthy of their attention.
• They💖're lookin🔥g to see how the argument is laid out.
• They want to kno꧅w how in-depth and/or long it's going to be.

So, what are the two methods I🐻 teach for structuring a comparison article?

1. Category Head to Head
2. Pros and Cons
   

Take a look at the fiberglass vღs. viny♈l liner pool article again:

In the introducti✤on, she lays out exactly the categories ൩these two options will go head-to-head in.

She lists out things like customizable features, time to install, costs (both initial and over time), durability, maintanence, and so many more.

This arti🧸cle structure is one of the most popular because it's the most comprehensive and easy-to-follow.

Readers can quickly see a reflection of the concerns they might have and find the information they need. For instance, if cost is the most important aspect of buying a pool, pool buyers🍰 can quickly jump to the section on cost without having to look for it buried deep within the content.

Each of these category sections also has subsections where we can clearly see when she's discussing fiberglass pools a🍬nd when she's discussing vinyl liner pools. There's even a "conclusion" section for each category.

Another method is to list the pros and cons of each option.

Check out tꦡhis example, from one of our clients, on choosin🌠g between a (because we all have to make this decis🌳ion at some point in our life).

With this method, you give each competitor equal time and attent🐻ion.

The intro here first describes what a single-g💎irder overhead crane is and gives a brief overview of situations it might be the best option. Then, it lists all the advantages of this type of overhead crane followed by the disadvantages.

The next section then does the same for double-girder overhead cꦜranes.

If you notice, nearly equal time was given to both o﷽🍃ptions (between 400-500 words each).

If you don't give each of your options a fair share of💝 thꦰe spotlight, it may hint at your bias and set off the reader's BS barometer.

4. Use Rich Media

If you've go🐲t a lengthy article on a topic and don't want to lose your reader's interest or get them word drunk, add in some rich media.

Video, pictures, infographics, and even podcast links help break up long sections of plain text and ad✃d context to the conversation.

Plus, each of your visitors has their own preferred method o♏f learning.

Avid readers appreciate lots of copy, but visual learners will enjoy watching videos, looking at images, and checking out infographics, while audible learners would appreciateဣ listening to a podcast.

If you look at the tℱwo examples given, River Pools uses a video at tꦫhe top of the article.

They even include two different infographics to give some visual comparisons of the different types of🀅 pools.

Mazzella, the overhead crane team, discovered that many folks in their audience enjoy listening to podcasts. So, to meet their cওustomers in the middle, they do podcast episodes on all of the to𒁃pics their blog covers.

5. Have a Strong Outro

So ♊you've written a detailed comparis😼on article while staying as objective as possible.

Fantastic.

Now you just need a strong wrap-up section.

Here you can finally drop the objectivity and let the readers know how you really feel ab꧑out the options and encourage them to connect with you if the options you sell m♐atch up with their needs.

As I mentioned earlier, th💜e❀ consideration stage is my favorite stage of the buyer's journey.

Why?

Because when you create high-quality content here, your articles might just be among the la♔st they read before they're ready to talk to 👍potential vendors.

And if you've done a good job of educating them thoroughly onౠ this topic, they may be ready to reach out sooner than l🐓ater --possibly as soon as they get to the end of the article.

This is your best shot at being amon🔯g the top of the vendors they contact for quotes, demos, or consultations.

Always end an article with a next action. Whether there's other content they should read first or even a CTA to s🗹tart ওa conversation, you just might be their last stop in the consideration stage and their first stop in the decision stage.

More Examples

꧃I don't want to leave you hanging with only the two examples to help you create your own comparison articles.

Below you'll find links to 𝓰more ama⛄zing comparisons.

And remember, whether you're com🐽paring apples to oranges, apples to apples, or Apple to Android, put yourself in the reader's shoes and help them decide what's best for them.

They'll thank you f📖or it and may even reward you for it with their business.