You want to Engage your Blog Readers and encourage them to subscribe to your blog and become regular visitors. Ideally, you want to attract a large number of hungry customers who are interested in partaking of this written food for the soul, but how can you rise above the constant online buzz to attract attention to your blog post?
The Internet may be constantly chirping with activity, but that doesn’t mean that all content is worthy of users’ attention in the same manner. According to Neilson.com, there were 181 million blogs around the world at the end of 2011. (In 2006, there were 36 million in existence.)
Don’t let these numbers put you off; it doesn’t mean that all of these blogs are in your niche or that they are producing the same quality content that you are putting out in the blogosphere. If you’re in business, you already know you have competition and that you need to focus on what you offer that is better or different if you are going to attract a customer’s attention or find the best talent.
Your first priority should be to write a high-quality blog content that will help your readers in some way.
First, capture a reader’s interest with a compelling headline. One technique is to appeal to the reader’s fear that they may miss out on something important by failing to read your post. Use compelling words to effectively to draw in your audience by giving them a taste of what your post will be about, and make sure that you deliver the content as promised.
Nothing disappoints a reader more than reading a “teaser” headline and clicking through to the post only to discover that it doesn’t deliver as promised. If you are going to tell someone how to do or not do something, make sure that you cover the topic fully in your content.
Next, offer something new to your readers. Offer a unique solution that your reader may not have considered before. If you have a product or a service that can help your customer solve a particular problem, share this information with your readers.
Engage and connect with your readers through the post. Depending on the size of your business and your level of comfort at sharing personal information, you may want to reveal how you solved a similar problem with your readers. If this is not appropriate for your business, personalize the post with a quotation or a testimonial from a customer.
Also, make it easy for readers to share your content. If your goal is to get your blog post shared with many readers, make it easy for your readers to get it out into Social Media by adding share buttons to your blog.
Tell your readers that you would like them to share your post on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Give them the option of instantly pinning it on Pinterest or e-mailing your post to a friend. If you allow your reader to leave your blog without taking action, he or she won’t remember where your great content was a few minutes from now.
There are many “share this post” plugins available for free. Make it easy, make it obvious, make it automatic.
Invite your readers to bookmark your blog or sign up for your RSS feeds as well. You want to attract loyal readers who will visit often and share their views about your posts.
Don’t forget to share your content on social media yourself! There is no reason why you can’t connect with your audience yourself by doing some self-promotion, and you should be doing this as part of your regular routine if you are blogging. Anything you are putting on your own blog should be worth sharing with the online community, so do go ahead and toot your own (virtual) horn by sharing it on your Facebook page, Google+, LinkedIn, and on Twitter.
When you share your own content, don’t just post a link. Include something about your content which will compel a reader to click through to read it. Ask a question or say something that will get the person’s attention. Make sure that it’s relevant to your content, and invite Internet users to comment about what they have read on your blog.
About our guest writer: Melissa Hathaway graduated in International Business and Journalism and has written about everything from global economics to local news, transport, sustainability issues and a lot in between.
(Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net)
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