According to GrowthBadger, there are over 600 million blogs on the internet. This means that your blog has a lot of competition to get noticed, no matter what audience you’re going after. The key to making your blog stand out from the rest is to make it more engaging. Here are a few tips you can use to create a more dynamic blog – one that your audience returns to over and over again.
Easy-to-Use Design
The first thing you should focus on is the design of your blog. Before your visitors read a single word of it, they will make a judgment based on the appearance. Just like with anything else, first impressions are important. They will set the tone and atmosphere for your blog, so you’ll want to get them right.
In addition, you want your blog to be easy to use. In particular, you’ll want to focus on how your blog appears on mobile devices. If your text is too small, or the page doesn’t display correctly, you’ll be turning off a large section of your audience. Make sure your blog is easy to use and read, no matter what device someone is visiting it on.
Catchy Headlines
Next, you’ll want to focus on the title of your blog posts. It’s the headlines that will draw people and encourage them to read more of the post. There are millions of blog posts out there, so if your blog post has a boring headline, your audience may simply choose another.
There are a few things you can do to make your headlines more appealing. For starters, think about what emotions your audience is likely feeling and incorporate that into the headline. As an example, if you run a pest control company, you could create a headline like “Worried About Bedbugs? Here’s What To Do”.
Another thing you can do is be specific about what the reader will get from the article. Writing about 25 Tips for a Cleaner Home is better than Tips for a Cleaner Home. Readers don’t want to waste their time with blog posts that won’t help them, so address their concerns and be specific about what you’re offering from the start.
Valuable Content
Perhaps the most important thing you could do to create an engaging blog is to provide valuable content. Every time someone reads your blog posts, they should be blown away by the amount of helpful information you’re providing. You want to be seen as a reliable source of information so that they keep coming back to you for more.
If your blog post is filled with generic information that the reader already knows, they won’t engage with you. They won’t share your blog post with others, hire you for your services, or explore your other blog posts.
Instead of focusing on creating as much content as possible, produce fewer pieces that are more high-quality. It’s much better to put out 1 amazing blog post per week than it is to put out 5 sub-par posts. You can check out this guide for more information on how to create valuable content.
Different Types of Media
On your blog, you can have more than just written blog posts. In fact, if everything you produce is just written, you’re not reaching your full potential. People like to consume information in different ways, meaning a blog post isn’t the best way to reach everyone.
Instead of just a blog post, consider creating an infographic. You could also have a blog post filled with charts and graphs, then use text sparingly to describe them. Images are a great way to convey a lot of information quickly, which many of your readers will appreciate.
Another option is to produce videos. Many people prefer to watch a video over reading a long piece, and sometimes this medium is better for what you want to talk about. For example, let’s say you are a home contractor. Rather than writing about the latest bathroom you remodeled, you could produce a video. As you’re working, you could record different videos of the progress you’re making. You could then combine video clips into one video and upload this to your blog. Now your audience can watch as you complete the work and get a better sense of how you do your job.
Encourage Discussion
On each of your blog posts, you should encourage discussion from your readers. Something as simple as writing “Leave a comment below” at the end of your blog post can go a long way. However, it’s best to take things one step further. Once you get some comments on your blog article, make sure you respond to them.
Your goal is to have a conversation with your reader, to have them engage further with your blog. You have a lot going on, but spending a few minutes throughout the day responding to comments will bring people back to your website and encourage even more discussion from others.
Update Frequently
Finally, don’t let your blog go too stagnant for too long. While you still want to focus on producing high-quality content, you also don’t want to go too long without any sort of update. If someone visits your website and the latest post is from a year ago, they’ll think the blog is no longer active and will not engage with it.
If you can’t produce high-quality content in a timely manner, find other ways to keep your blog fresh. For example, you could have a series of quick blog posts that you put out in between your longer, more in-depth ones.
Another option is to bring in new writers to your website. Guest blogging is a big way that other blogs gain attention for themselves, so you can likely find people who would like to contribute to your blog in exchange for a link back to their own. By opening your site up to guest bloggers you get a steady stream of content, without having to pay for it, while you work on your own posts. This method also has the additional benefit of bringing new voices to your blog, which will help to engage a wider audience.
Always Look to Engage Your Audience
The last thing you want is to spend a lot of time developing your blog, only for no one to engage with it. You want your blog to be a place where people come to get something valuable to them and engage with you. To do this, you just need to put some more thought into each aspect of the blog, from the layout of the page to the headlines on top, to the value of the content. If you can do this, your blog should quickly become an engaging, dynamic place for your audience.