HOW TO WRITE ENGAGING BLOG POSTS
Good grammar and a strong command of language will make your blog posts easy to read, but the trick to drawing readers in is to make them engaging.
An engaging blog post is one that your reader connects with and wants to keep reading. Really engaging writing makes readers come back to your blog and share your content. This can make the difference between a small blog with a handful of readers to an immensely successful blog that’s continually attracting more followers. Writing engaging posts, therefore, should be one of your top goals.
Add Some Soul
When you’re writing a lot of blog posts, it can be all too easy to slip into writing bland, emotionless content. But why are you going to waste your time writing posts that you don’t care about, and that your writers inevitably won’t care about either? A great blog post has some soul. When you can, write about something that you really care about, and work in your own unique voice, even if you fear it makes you sound less professional. You want your blog to sound like it’s coming from a real flesh-and-blood person, not a computer.
When you have something to say, don’t shy away from expressing your opinion. If you’re arguing something controversial, you may get some negative responses, but sparking a reaction is proof that you’ve written something engaging. Put yourself into your blog posts, and you can expect your readers to give something of themselves in return.
Use Emotions
Writing engaging posts has a lot to do with engaging readers’ emotions. Emotions, more than facts and statistics, will help a reader to remember a post. When you’re writing, think about what emotions you might play on in relation to your topic: excitement, happiness, hope, ambition, fear? Connect to these emotions and use emotion words to help your content engage with your readers.
Be a Storyteller
When you think about all the things you’ve read, which are the ones you remember? They’re probably stories. One of the easier ways to include emotions and engage with the reader is to tell stories in your blog posts. Everyone loves a good narrative. Stories make your content easy to follow and help your readers to picture themselves in a particular situation. You can tell a story about your own personal experience, relate someone else’s story, or ask your readers to imagine themselves in a particular situation.
If you find you have a dry paragraph, adding in a short story is a great way to quickly make it more engaging. Try working your facts and statistics into stories to make them relatable. Think about it: you’ve probably been more moved by the story of a single cancer victim than you have by the many statistics about cancer. Use the same principle in your writing: use stories to move your readers.
Keep Things Short
Writing a blog isn’t the same as writing a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. Your goal should be to make it as easy to read as possible. This means keeping things short and simple. Your sentences should be short and avoid any overly complex vocabulary. If you have a sentence that goes over two lines, that’s a good sign it’s too long. Short sentences are easier to absorb and are likely to keep your audience reading. The same principle holds true for your paragraphs. Long, chunky paragraphs look intimidating on the page and can turn a visitor away from reading your blog post. Instead, break your writing up into short, easily digestible paragraphs. You can use headings and sub-headings to help break things up. These tricks will make your content easy to read and help to keep readers engaged.
Chapter:
- WHY START A BLOG?
- HOW TO CHOOSE A NICHE FOR YOUR BLOG
- CHOOSING A BLOGGING PLATFORM
- SETTING UP A WORDPRESS BLOG
- HOW TO COME UP WITH IDEAS FOR BLOG CONTENT
- HOW TO WRITE ENGAGING BLOG POSTS
- MONETIZING YOUR BLOG
- FIVE BLOGGING MISTAKES TO AVOID
- GENERATING TRAFFIC TO YOUR BLOG