Most bloggers who sit down to write a post, do so in the hopes of having a fair amount of readers enjoy their article.
After all, what is the point of writing something if nobody reads it? Whether your are blogging as a hobby or for a company blog, you need to make sure that your post is full of engaging content. Ultimately, engaging content will draw readers in, and keep them coming back.
Engaging blog content gets shared on social media, get’s liked on Facebook, and generates buzz. Engaging blog content can convince people to think differently, to buy your products, or to support your cause. Engaging content means your blog has a purposes, and your articles will always have a steady readership.
So if you want to spruce up your blog and make it more engaging here are the top five things to keep in mind as you write those posts:
1. Know what you are talking about
There is nothing more off-putting than reading a blog that has been written by someone that has no idea what they are talking about. No matter how brilliant you think you are, if you don’t have any actual knowledge in the area that you are writing about, your readers will be able to see right through you.
Before you start typing, do your research. And if you are a professional in your field, now is the time to let everyone know. By revealing your qualifications and your experience at the beginning of your blog post, you will gain the trust of your readers, and increase their interest in your post. Your expertise will also shine through in your writing. You will have a much easier time at keeping your post engaging if you have all the facts. A brilliant example of a blog that really demonstrates the author’s knowledge base is Grasping Reality with a Sharp Beak. Although not the catchiest title ever, this economics blog is written by J. Bradford DeLong, a UC Berkeley economics professor, who has astounded financial analysts with his insights.
2. Know your audience
One of the most fabulous things about blogs is their ability to attract a wide audience. Your blog post can connect you to a unique audience and even create a dialogue with your readers through the comment section. One blog that has really mastered the art of getting to know the audience is the Jezebel blog. Jezebel covers a variety of topics from fashion, celebrities, health, and sex, but the primary audience is always the same: strong, empowered women. The readers of Jezebel want to see positive progress in the world, and the writers of Jezebel are aware of their readers passion. Jezebel authors use this knowledge to create content that really engages their readers and speaks to their interests.
The comment section of your blog is an easy way to get a good handle of what your audience thinks. Use your audience’s comments to direct your next blog post. You can run polls, or encourage readers to reply to blog posts with their thoughts and opinions. What better way to engage your reader then by having them suggest the titles! By tailoring your blog content to the themes and topics that your current readers are looking for, you will keep them loyal to you and your blog.
3. Be constant and be consistent
It can become irritating when you find a blog that you really enjoy because of its engaging content, and then have to wait several weeks before a new post is uploaded to the website. Once you find something worth reading, you want it to be available regularly.
You need to be constant and consistent with your blog posts. You should constantly publish new blog posts; decide on a frequency, and stick to it. Make sure that you give yourself enough time to deliver really good, high quality, engaging content. That is where the consistency comes in. There is no point in offering two blog posts a week if one of them is amazing, and the other one is a rush job that you yourself don’t even like. That is why you need to be consistent: if it comes to the day that you are meant to publish a blog post and you don’t have anything interesting to say, it may be better to say nothing at all and wait until tomorrow.
Your blog will only be considered engaging and worth reading if there is good content posted often. One of the most popular blogs on the internet is run by Perez Hilton. His gossip site is based on the movements and statements made by celebrities. Perez Hilton’s blog is so popular because such a large number of blog posts are put online every day – sometimes as many as twenty, or more! Obviously, not everyone can keep up to that sort of demand, but Perez Hilton’s readers love it, and that’s why they keep coming back.
4. Keep it meaningful
Very few people will read a blog to the very end unless there is a lot of engaging content and a meaningful point being made. The point of the post can come from a wide variety of places: whether it be expert advice, thoughts on a current event, or photos and descriptions from a life-changing holiday that you took. No matter the topic, there needs to be some meaning and depth to the blog posts that you write. By offering something deep and substantial, readers will recognize the value of reading your blog regularly. What you write will get their attention, and significant information will keep them coming back. After all, what are the things that you really remember: blogs and books that said exactly the same things as everyone else, or the ones that challenged you and had you looking at the world in a different way?
Get Busy Living is an excellent example of a meaningful blog that continues to keep readers coming back for the engaging content that its creator Benny Hsu puts out. The blog challenges its readers to really enjoy life, and live it to the fullest. The blog is jam packed with tips, interviews, and personal experiences which are really uplifting. Benny Hsu has kept it meaningful, which has kept his blog engaging.
So whether it is an exposé on the way that men are suffering from sexual harassment in the workplace, or a series of hilarious comic strips about life as a single mom, make it meaningful. It will get your readers’ attention, and keep them coming back for more. No one bothers to read something that they already know, or holds absolutely nothing of wort. If you are in the business of creating an engaging blog, then you need to offer something exciting, different, and meaningful.
5. Make it worth sharing
The power of social media should not be overlooked when you are trying to master the art of writing engaging blog content. Social media allows your readers to share your posts on Twitter, Facebook, and other social media sites. You should definitely have widgets to make that simple for them, as we are getting lazier and lazier when it comes to our computers. But even if you make it a one click process, no one will share your blog content if they don’t think it’s worth sharing. This means that you need to make your blog posts completely unique. By filling your blog post with something that is worth sharing, it will encourage your readers to spend more time on reading it, time sharing it, and then time discussing it with their friends.
One of the best examples of this is the WTF Bad Romance Covers blog. Its creator brings together images of romance novels that are hilarious, weird, or just plain bad. You may not think a blog like that would take off, but it has become incredibly popular through the shares that it has received through social media sites. With every share, another two hundred people can visit it, and that is the power that you need to harness.
Writing engaging content isn’t as simple as I make it sound, research is key and the writing is time consuming. With all that said, one “thank you” in the comments section is worth all the effort.
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This post was written by Avishai Sam Bitton.