Writing Reader Engaging Posts
From where I stand, the greatest advantage of blog writing is, without doubt, the instant feedback. Unlike classic media, like newspapers or magazines, our blogs give us the possibility of getting valuable opinions on every post that we publish. Of course, not all feedback should be considered valid, but this is a matter of personal choice and analytic skills.
Writing reader engaging posts is definitely one of the biggest challenges of every blogger, since these posts are usually excellent ways to create and grow a community around your blog. At a short glance, among the advantages of writing reader engaging posts we find:
- Community growth – Obviously, writing quality posts has the power to turn casual visitors into loyal readers, as long as you maintain a good flow;
- Social media exposure – The more interesting and better written the post, the more people will want to share and recommend it across services like Reddit, Digg, StumbleUpon, Mixx and so on;
- Conversations – A good post is more likely to entice readers to engage in commenting. This is a great way to further develop the topic or even generate new content ideas;
- Networking - Engaging posts are great ways to network with other bloggers in your niche. Write something appealing and you’ll surely make their link-round-ups;
- Quality traffic – Of course, all of the above are great ways to generate either a great deal of traffic or quality traffic.
Tips for writing reader engaging posts
With such important advantages and assuming that the topic you have chosen for your post is interesting enough, you should concentrate on making it more conversational and giving it that personal touch. To do so, here are some of the most important things you need to consider when writing.
Write opinion posts
Even if your post is simply a news item, you should always try and take some time to express your own views on that particular topic. Some will agree, others won’t, but it definitely should a boost for the discussion.
Use the 2nd person, singular or plural
“You”, “your”, “yours” are very powerful words, mostly when used to address a single person. They establish a direct connection between you, the writer (see, I’ve just used it), and them, your readers. By using them you’re more likely to make your readers feel like what you wrote is there especially for them, thus feel the need to leave feedback and answers.
Ask questions
No, asking questions does not make you look stupid. It’s all about asking the right questions, in the right place and form. Let’s take a product review for example. Do you think that asking your readers about their personal experience with that particular product would make you look bad? Absolutely not; it will only show your readers that their opinion matters to you.
Leave path for readers to explore
Writing insightful and in depth post is important. The better the quality, the better your reputation as an expert in the field gets. Still, it’s also important to leave “unexplored” paths for readers to develop in the comments section, and why not, on their own blogs as follow-ups (this will probably get you some backlinks too). Also, if you’re trying to sell services that relate to you posts, it would be a good idea to keep some “business secrets” to yourself, or simply for future blog posts.
Focus on delivering to your target audience
It’s very important that you write with your target audience in mind. The people visiting and reading your blog have niche-specific needs. Focus on covering those needs and solving their problems. This will encourage feedback and contribute to your reputation.
Be concise and effective
Don’t strive to write a 1000 words blog post just because a famous blogger does so. Write it because that’s the amount of words required to present the topic without any useless additions. Keep your post long enough to incorporate all your ideas and short enough to encourage visitors to read it in full. Also, use enough spacings and elements that break the natural paragraph flow, like lists, subheadings, images, quotes and so on.
Writings are for readers. Sounds basic, but focus on it!
Indeed, whenever you write, keep the human factor in mind. I’m not saying to ignore search engines or social media potential. Just to write for your readers and spice up the post seamlessly with elements for SEO and social media.
Now, what was your most reader engaging and comments generating post about?
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Glad to see you back, Alex.
Your points about writing for readers and catering to a target audience are well taken. It’s been too easy to slip into a constant editorial mode, when readers seem to enjoy a healthy balance of opinion, bread-and-butter how-tos, and personal posts.
In short, it pays to step back and take the ego out of it and consider what others find useful. Thanks for the reminder!
Hi Alex,
Concentration on who you’re writing for is a great way of keeping your posts relevant. What I’d add here is that if you want to expand your audience you need to decide if you want to do it by also including new areas of interest or by getting more of the same type of readers. Staying on a narrow niche is not always effective.
As for not saying it all, that’s a really good conversation starter. I’d like to point out a caveat here: don’t be cryptic enough that your advice, tips, arguments end up not making sense, or worse, being completely wrong
Nice to see you back in the game
Alina
This is a nice little post, but I recently came across a post which discouraged use of you directly in the posts. But guess that depends on the style of writing.
Also, I think we do a way better job then a newspaper being the sole editor, writer, photographer and publisher and everything else!
@TheAnand – In formal professional writing, “you” is frowned upon. But it’s not like blogs are essays or business journals. I even see magazines use it.
having an opinion is definitely an important part of blogging. Too many bloggers out there are so content with rehashing the mainstream opinion over and over. If you have your own voice, readers will appreciate it, and they will reward you with their loyalty.
I like your thoughts regarding reader engaging posts.
The tips that you’ve shared are simply wonderful.
Very useful Information.Highlight OR show Popular comments & numbers of comments for the particular post.People attract people
and a site that is obviously being read by others will draw others into it.This also helps engaging Reader.
Thanks everyone for your comments!
@Jayapritha: You’re 100% right.
Always incitement and interesting. I try to voice my opinion alot on my blogs, and it does seem to work pretty well with my readers.