7 Steps to Write a Blog Post for               Maximum Engagement

Blog posts are a great way to increase traffic to your site, but engagement is how to build a true audience. So, if you’ve got your blog up and running but aren’t quite getting the results you were looking for, read on to learn how you can increase engagement on your posts.

1. Write an Engaging Headline

The headline is probably the most important element for getting the most engagement with your blog post. After all, it’s what is going to get people to click on your post. But, what makes a headline good?

There are a few headline types that just seem to naturally lend themselves to getting the clicks.

• Secrets: Everyone loves a secret and if you see a headline with the word secret in it, it’s going to drive you to click on the link. If you see a headline that says The Three Secrets to a Successful Side Hustle and you’re trying to start a side hustle, you’re going to click on the article to see if there’s some information there you can use, right?
• Fears & Mistakes: Pointing out someone’s flaws may seem a bit mean, but if you use it in a way that will help your reader, isn’t that a good thing? You can see this in a post that says 5 Mistakes New Bloggers Make. Anyone who reads it will want to be sure they aren’t guilty.
• CTA in the Title: Every blog post should have a CTA. You need to tell your readers what you want them to do next. Using it in your title is a great way to increase engagement. Try something like Want to Increase Traffic? Try This. Everyone wants to increase traffic – right? This is a winner.
• Personalize: In copywriting, it’s frequently better to use second person pronouns to make the reader feel like they are the subject of the article but sometimes, using the first person in your title will grab more traffic. If you have a title like How I Earn a Full-Time Income Part Time From Home – people are going to be likely to engage with that title because they want to know what you’re doing.

2. Use Proper Blog Formatting

Blog posts have their own set of rules when it comes to formatting. You have to consider that a huge number of readers are going to access your content through their smartphones. On top of that, a large number are also going to skim the article for the information they’re interested in.

This means that your blog post has to be easy to read and easy to scan or skim. People are busy. Many won’t take the time to read an entire post. Or, they will skim first, and if the information they read strikes their fancy, they will go back and read the entire article.

Use these tips to make your blog posts readable and skimmable:

• Use short paragraphs. Even if the paragraph is only one line – that’s okay. Try to keep them to 2-3 lines at most. This way, the text doesn’t look like it’s going to take a long time to read. Big blocks of text are a quick way to lose the interest of your reader.
• Use bulleted and numbered lists. Just like the one you’re reading.
• Use subheadings. Subheadings really break up the post and make it easy for the reader to skim for the information they want to focus on.
• Bold important words and phrases. This really helps your skimmers to find the information you want them to see and they want to know.

Just breaking up the text into short paragraphs makes your post a thousand times easier to read.

3. Find Your Blogging Voice

Finding your blog voice can be hard, especially if you lean towards having a more introverted personality. You might try to steal another voice that you think is better or more relatable. But this will likely come across in your posts as insincere.

It takes time, but you will start to figure out your own writing style and ways of connecting with your followers.

Your blogging voice should match your brand and be attractive to your target audience. So make it fun and flirty or serious and factual. Whichever works for you.

4. Inform Your Readers

Probably one of the hardest lessons new bloggers have to learn is that their blog posts need to be for the reader and not for themselves. Sure, people love you, but they aren’t going to spend their time reading about you.

Great blog posts help and inform your readers. They show them how to do something, or at least how to do it in a better way.

5. Promote Your Posts

One of the main reasons people aren’t reading your posts when you’re first getting started is that they don’t even know you exist.

If you’re getting a ton of traffic from social media or organically you don’t need to promote as much, but if you’re a new blogger, kick it up a notch by sharing your content in social media groups and scheduling it on Pinterest.

6. Always Add a CTA

CTA stands for “call to action” and as discussed earlier, it’s how you tell your reader what you want them to do next. Maybe subscribe to your email list, follow you on social media, or read another piece of content.

CTAs are also a great way to start a conversation with your readers in the comments section. Ask a question at the end of your post so that they want to respond in the comments. Then you can engage with them by replying.

7. Make it Simple to Leave a Comment

Avoid using frustrating plug-ins on your site for commenting. Make it easy so the comments start flowing right away.

That’s It!

By following these tips, you’ll have the comment sections filling up in no time. Don’t forget to respond to comments as this builds even more trust with your reader.

Speaking of comments, please leave a comment with your ideas on getting more engagement when you write a blog post. Do you do something else?