Keep in mind that it’s not enough to have visitors that read your blog, you want them to be fully engaged. You want your posts shared and commented on by readers that follow you on social media and are eager to visit again.
So, what’s the secret to engaged visitors? Follow these insider tips today!
Let’s look at these points together…
Know Your Audience
The first step in creating relevant content is taking the time to get to know your audience. Find out what they’re struggling with and what they hope to accomplish. You are able to provide solutions to their problems when you have a clear understanding of what their needs are. Creating content that connects with your audience is key to keeping them engaged.
The following are ideas that you can use to research your audience:
- Search Google for your audience demographics. Stick with reliable sources such as universities, research firms, and government sites.
- Spend some time getting to know your audience. Interact with them on social media, blog discussions, forums, and any other places you can interact with them. Pay attention to their posts and learn all you can from their comments.
TIP: Whenever possible, do what they do to better understand their struggles and goals by becoming a part of the target market in that niche.
- Survey Your Market. Try using a tool such as Typeform to assist you in creating surveys that will engage your readers and provide insight into their needed solutions.
Creating Engaging Content for Online Visitors
You want to create engaging content that keeps your readers intrigued. Be sure to include titles that will get their attention, offers solutions to their problems, and is relevant to their needs.
The following are examples of how you can engage your readers using your blog posts and social media:
- Ask questions. You can present both sides of a controversial subject and then ask your readers:
- “What do you think?”
- “How would you handle this differently?”
- “What is your favorite tip regarding [subject]?”
- “What is the biggest obstacle you face?”
- “Share your success story.”
- “Do you think that [insert strategy here] is the best approach here?”
Call to Action
Anytime you post content, you should have a pre-determined goal in mind. Your call to action should guide your readers into taking the action that will achieve that goal.
For example, if you want readers to share your content, you could add a call to action such as:
“Click here to share this post – they’ll be grateful you did!”
Make it easy for your readers to take the desired action. It’s important that you be sure there are no confusing steps between your visitors and the action you want them to take. To ensure that the process is simple you could:
- Include links when you are directing readers to a website.
- Keep your forms quick and easy to fill out for readers to take an action such as joining your list.
- Make social media buttons available when asking readers to share your content.
Use Interactive Elements
Using interactive elements is a great strategy to keep your audience engaged. These elements will vary depending on your niche, but can include things like:
- Holding contests based on visitors’ participation such as commenting, liking, sharing, etc.
- Create a member of the month that you will feature on your blog.
- Conduct polls on trending topics. (Asking for feedback shows readers their opinions matter.)
- Offer access to an online app or tool that complements your blog topic. For example, if your blog is on business finance you can offer calculator tools that figure monthly payments.
Use the above methods to connect and grow your audience. Adjust your content and features if needed based on what your audience responds to best. Remember that keeping your audience engaged will keep them coming back.