Capture your Readers: 7 Tips to Writing Engaging Blog Posts
“Anyone can write a blog post, but only the fearless bloggers can be great.”
See, a good idea or topic, decent spelling and grammar, and a strong mastery of the essay form are enough for a good blog post. But if you want to write a great blog post or one that makes your audience go “Wow! I’ll share this!” ~ you have to delve deeper than the essentials.
1. Choose a Strong Title
Reader engagement begins here, as an audience will respond well to thought-provoking titles, something that will get them interested in your blog post. Once you have a strong title, the first sentence of your post should be able to reel in the reader, i.e. get your readers to automatically move to the rest of the post to find out what your ideas are or your perspective on that topic. Bear in mind that it is equally important to have every phrase, sentence, and even punctuation mark add value to your piece because you still need to deliver on what your headline says, or else you lose credibility to your audience.
2. Get Them Hooked
Remember, engaging content hooks people in at every step of the way. The first paragraph of your blog post decides whether your readers will stay or leave. Getting them to read your entire post should be your fundamental objective and it must happen right from the first paragraph. Depending on your style and the personality of your blog, you can choose any number of ways to begin your blog post. You may try one of these styles:
• Start with a question. One that will want them to read further for answers. A question that will open up their minds and get them interested in what you are going to talk about.
• Begin with a short story. If you like to personalise your blog post, a funny story or a real-life incident can be very helpful in garnering the attention of your readers.
• Analogies are great when you want to explain something complex. They are especially beneficial for an audience that is largely unaware of the terms that you may be using in the blog post and will give them the chance to ease into the topic.
• If you happen to be at a loss for words, use a quote for a powerful beginning.
3. Choose Your Vocabulary According to Your Target Audience
Every blog post has a specific audience that the post is targeted towards. The problem is that sometimes, the post may sound too generic and it may not make the audience feel engaged enough. An IT solutions company will have a completely different vocabulary than a hotelier’s. Both of them address two different groups of people and while the IT solutions company would favour technical jargon, the hotelier would choose eloquent words.
Understand that your readers find a connection when they feel that you are writing in words that they are familiar with. If through your blog post you can establish yourself as a resource that brings the information, and insights that will help them or enhance their lives, they’ll keep coming back for more.
4. Voice Your Opinions and Stay Inclined Towards Originality
What is the point of writing a blog if you are not free to voice your opinions? People read blogs to know the writer’s viewpoint about a subject. If you think diplomacy has got you covered, and you can write without expressing an opinion, then your blog may not be considered striking enough by your readers.
Your readers want your sincere thoughts. They want you to be original. Remember, you want your audience to value what you have to offer. Take advantage of the buzz of {non-controversial} current events to create your own spark. You can often creatively tweak your story so it winds its way back to your brand or industry.
5. Do Not Compromise the Quality of Your Blog Post for Optimisation
Optimising your blog post is important; I know how important it is for people to be able to find your post and read it. By trying to use keywords, you may often end up reducing the quality of words and sentences so that it is easily searchable on the search engine. But if you want your blog post to be engaging so that people talk about it, share it, and comment on it, then it is important to build up the quality of your content. Write your article by focusing on the topic and the facts around it. Once your article is complete, you can tweak it for optimisation so that the quality of your article remains relatively higher ensuring a better reader experience.
6. Keep it Simple
The majority of your audience will enjoy reading a blog that is crisp and to the point. Are you adding too many adverbs, adjectives, and unambiguous words that add very little value to your sentences? You may want to reduce the use of these words to make your piece more readable. Audiences like to read articles that are easy for their brains to comprehend. Too many flashy words in one blog post may make you sound too pretentious. In a world where minimalism and sensibility are getting popular, give your readers a dose of your good sense by writing a clean piece.
7. Add Punch to Your Conclusion
Just the way you got your target audience hooked with your first paragraph, give them a reason to think about your blog post by concluding by restating your main point or with a thought-provoking question. You can ask them to leave their answers in the comments section of your blog. And, depending on how persuasive your writing is, your readers may even have reason to scroll down to find out what others are saying before responding to your question. This increases user engagement and helps you build a healthy relationship with your readers by finding out what their thoughts are about your post.
To conclude: Remember, the purpose of each line of your content is to get your readers to dive deeper into what you are sharing, and hook them into reading your post. Your blog is a drop in a very big pool, so the more you can do to be engaging, create a buzz, and network with your peers ~ the more exposure your posts will enjoy.
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