Tips on Creating Engaging Blog Posts

Anyone who’s blogged or is an aspiring blogger knows that it’s not an easy task. It’s more than just spilling out your ideas in writing… That is, if you’re serious about it. In the blogging world, being a great writer with excellent grammar doesn’t mean you’ve hit a home run when it comes to captivating a reader’s attention. Here are our tips on how to write an engaging blog post:

It’s like meeting someone for the first time, except you don’t have your charming smile and charismatic, witty conversation to make that instant connection that’s easier when you’re face to face. Instead, you have the task of making an exciting first impression via text behind an LED screen.

Make a good start by opening with a quote or an exciting headline that, of course, is relevant to the blog’s topic. There’s nothing more frustrating than clicking a blog with the headline, “Find Out What So-and-So Said Was the Key to Her Success” only to find out that the answer was never included in the article. What’s the point?

Another good way to start your blog is with an anecdote, sharing a moment or a story in your life that relates to your topic of choice.

Make your post intimate and interesting to gain and keep your readers coming back for more. This also goes hand in hand with understanding your general audience. Set the tone of your blog by focusing on the people you want to reach the most.

Don’t focus on trying to be so proper, or else you risk the chance of coming off as textbook material. Do you remember reading any of your textbooks when you went to school? No! Let’s face it, no one ever does. They just skim through it. Don’t let that be the end result of your blog. Getting amiable shows an honest desire to connect to your readers, which will ultimately pull them in.

Who has time for long, precise sentences that take a lot of thinking power to process? Most readers enjoy reading blogs during their leisure time to wind down. The last thing they want to do is read an article full of complex sentences that take work to interpret.

Don’t be the person who writes about what’s trending a month after the fact. Stay on top of things that are current, fresh, and interesting. You want to be the first source of information your readers check out when they’re looking for a certain topic or to see what’s new.

Remember, it’s quality that counts, not quantity. How many times did you stop watching a show because it had too many fillers? Or maybe the plot was being recycled one too many times. There’s a reason why soap operas are dying down.

At least with a show, there are constant motion visuals and background noise to hold you in for a little longer. It’s worse through text. No one wants to read a long blog full of fillers or sentences that repeat the same ideas over and over. As Sweet Brown would say, “Ain’t nobody got time for that!”

Keep It Open

Try ending some of your posts with a question or keep it open-ended with, “What’s your opinion on (enter in your topic)? We’d love to hear it.” This invites readers to interact with you in a welcoming way. With that said, it’s always good to interact with your readers should they comment.

Writing a blog should be fun, but it should also be resourceful, relatable, or evoke some sort of emotion ending with a positive reaction. The hardest part is tailoring your blog to your readers while also working to capture the attention of a new audience.

Are you an avid blogger? What techniques have you found positively responsive? We’d love to hear your advice!