If your goal is to engage readers on your blog and get them to comment/share, it’s time to start creating content that will have consequences in the real world. People are now more likely to take action by responding with comments or sharing on social media after reading a blog post–so make sure you’re enticing them with quality content that can be taken up and put into practice.
Once you know how to do that, then you can focus on other strategies in your blog so as to increase the engagement of readers. In this post, I’m going to explain what blog engagement is, why it’s important for SEO and provide 9 tips on how you can increase the level of audience participation in your blog!
What is Blog Engagement?
We define blog engagement with the different ways people can interact with your content. You can actually help to promote your blog post by leaving a comment, sharing it on your Facebook timeline or mentioning it in a tweet, newsletter or blog post. In addition to that, it’s a form of engagement to come back to your site every time you’ve published a new post or subscribe to updates
You want your readers to be engaged. That is, to read, interact with, and buy things from you. Active users are the people that do this. Your most loyal customers are also your brand ambassadors. They will help you reach new people and expand your customer base.
Read more: Why Blogging Is Important for Businesses and Marketing
Why Blog Engagement Important for SEO?
Blog engagement can help with SEO because Google takes note of whether or not your audience is engaging with your content. If you respond to their thoughts, Google will notice that your blog is active and in touch with its readers. One thing social media is helpful with is increasing your blog’s rankings. If your post is talked about or shared on social media, you’re likely to get more traffic.
One of the best ways to keep your audience engaged is to provide a wide selection of engaging content. What strategies can you employ to ensure that your blog post gets shared and commented on by your target audience?
Read on: Why Start a Blog? Why a Blog is Important for SEO?
Sounds great! Let’s find out how to create more engagement on your blog.
Tips to Increase Blog Engagement
1. Don’t obscure your content
Do you ever wonder if blog engagement is your true goal? If you are finding that your visitors are having a hard time finding and consuming the content on your blog, it may not matter to you if engagement rates keep going down. If it is, you should either remove them or make them present in a way that does not disrupt your content
It’s the same story with the mobile site, if not worse. Some pages won’t load at all because of connecting to so many ad servers. The fact that they are obscuring their content is only half the problem- they are also negatively impacting the page load time, which means that people abandon the page instead of engaging with it.
Keep reading: Questions to Ask Yourself before you start a blog
2. Create high-quality content
Your content should be engaging and of high quality. It should bring value to your site visitors and make them enthusiastic about coming back for more. You’ll have a big challenge on your hands, but if you get prepared beforehand with the right tools and time management habits, you’ll be able to churn out quality content that’s optimized to please readers and Google alike.
Read more: How to Start a Blog: the Beginner’s Guide
3. Be relatable
Always think about what problems your readers are facing and address them accordingly. Keep in mind what questions they may be asking online, and make sure to take those points into account too. Your audience will appreciate this, because you’re showing them that you’re understanding their needs and search queries.
It’s worth remembering that customers don’t always want to read about your products or services. They want to read content that helps them, offers advice and inspiration, or is easy and enjoyable to consume. So, no matter what you write about, always think about the reader and their needs first.
Read on: Want More Traffic? Learn the Art of Blogging
4. Be original
Write content worth sharing. The best way to make sure that people want to share your content with others is to come up with original stuff. If your story is one of a kind, people will share it more often than not. Being confident and sharing your ideas should never be a problem!
How to make people want to share your content with others? So, you’ve written a blog post or a paper and now you’re thinking how can I make people want to share it with others? Your story is one of a kind, but so are other stories in the world. There is always something happening that someone else has written about and they need an audience.
5. Be consistent
To get people engaged with your content, blog on a routine basis. Set a schedule and make sure the intervals are predictable so that your audience knows what to expect. You don’t have to blog every day, but create an amount of content that’s enough for people to stay interested.
If people know that your content is published on a certain day of the week, they’ll be more likely to visit your site. Try setting up a content calendar so it’s easier for you- or other members of your team- to figure out what needs to be done.
6. Be controversial
When people disagree with you, it’s always a great idea to give them something to react to. It can either prompt discussions about new issues or challenge the perspectives of others. Just don’t make your content so controversial that nobody is willing to say anything anymore!
If you want people to share your content, one thing you can do is make your statements a bit more bold and less nuanced. While it’s important not to go too overboard with this strategy, doing so will help make more people listen to what you have to say.
7. Back it up with data
Unless you want to lose the attention of your readers and make them skeptical, be sure that you’re backing up what each claim with some data. For example, don’t simply say that WordPress is the most popular CMS used on the web. Post a bit of information from BuiltWith to show your readers how they reached that conclusion.
You’ll make your readers believe that the advice you offer is credible, which means they’ll be more likely to share it on social media and link to it. Use your fantastic research skills to find more information and become a site everyone links to when discussing sources. Leverage your talents, as you are an expert in this field of study and it will show.
8. Ask for engagement
The best way to get people to comment on your post is simply by asking them to do so. This approach usually guarantees a higher response rate from visitors.
It is important to ask your followers or audience to share their thoughts with you and then promote these views on social media. Doing so will help build a sense of community and will also provide insight into matters that your followers find important.
Keep reading : The Importance of Social Media Marketing in Business
9. Respond to the engagement
When inviting people to comment on your blog, be courteous and reply. Your readers will be more inclined to go back and visit if they know they can count on a response. People enjoy personal responses, so refuse to ignore your comment section. You want your readers to feel welcomed and valued.
Don’t let negative and off-topic comments affect you. They actually give you an opportunity to open up discussion and get to know your readers better.
10. Engage on other blogs
Don’t limit your social media presence to just your blog–be visible on and comment on other blogs in the same area of expertise as you. This helps improve your visibility and gives you an opportunity to interact with people who may be interested in what you have to say.
When people see you engage on other blogs, they might be curious to read what you thought about the issue raised there. Avoid using comments to only promote your own products or services. This may lead to your website being considered annoying by visitors.
Read more: 45+ Blogging Ideas for Bloggers to Make Money
Blog Engagement In Conclusion…
Creating an engaged audience for your blog starts with creating an appealing content and posting it on a regular basis. This way you’ll get traffic coming to your site, people will want to share your posts and they’ll actively engage. But what’s more important is clear, original language that is relevant to the subject of your blog post. You should also invite people to comment on your blog.
I’ve given you some great tips, but if you have any of your own, please share and I’m sure it would be greatly appreciated. I’d love to hear more about your experience as well!
Read on: Blogging vs Vlogging: The Battle of the Century!
