Mastering Engagement: 7 Expert Tips You Can't Miss
Boost your readership and community feedback with proven strategies
Hello everyone, are you ready to Engage? I invite you to join our writing tribe on Medium. This story was first published on Medium. You can read it here on Engage.
So you’ve poured your heart and soul into crafting the perfect story. The words flow effortlessly, and your insights are pure gold.
But when you hit that ‘Publish’ button, it feels like sending your thoughts into a void, doesn’t it?
Well, writing online is more than just words on a screen. It’s about setting up a vibrant community waiting to be nurtured.
So, if you’ve ever wondered how to break through the silence and create a thriving, buzzing hub of readers, you’re in the right place.
Today, I want to invite you to walk with me on this rocky road beyond words.
Then, as we walk together, I’ll try to briefly help you supercharge your audience interaction powers.
This feeling of companionship. The notion that you’re not alone in the writer’s labyrinth helps explain why I came up with a publication called Engage.
Writing doesn't have to be a solo act.
Writing is about us, the community, coming together. So, to avoid any pitfalls, it will help us all to keep in mind that writing isn't a one-way street.
Writing can be a lot of solo work, I get it.
It takes time and effort to come up with a good story, craft an engaging title and subtitle, find images, format, edit, revise, add alt-text to images, and a myriad of other aspects you have to keep in mind while publishing online.
So it’s easy to get discouraged when you’re just starting out or if your writing isn’t generating the type of audience response you were expecting.
That’s why nowadays you need to flip the switch from the old saying:
Content is King! — Bill Gates
I love high-quality content. Everyone does. But in the age of the algorithm, quality content doesn’t get you anywhere if you don’t manage to get eyes on your story.
So in the new creator economy:
Engagement is the the Fresh Prince
A brief history of blogs
Internet highbrows seem to agree that Justin Hall was the blogosphere’s founding father. In 1994, he founded Links.net as a platform for publishing his writing.
The site was entirely comprised of brief posts in which he shared a link and some of his thoughts on the content.
Hall’s trailblazing vision was quickly followed by the pioneers of online blogging. These pathfinders would forever change the face of the Web and set the tone for millions of bloggers to come.
Jorn Barger coined the term “weblog” in 1997 when he began posting daily entries to his Robot Wisdom Weblog.
Peter Morholz shortened “weblog” to “blog” in 1999.
Evan Williams and Meg Hourihan founded Blogger in 1999.
Because the internet was still relatively new to most people at the time, the first blogs were not as popular as they are now, and early blog posts did not go viral.
It wasn’t until 1999, with the release of Blogger, that blogging truly took off. Blogger made it simple for people to start their own blogs by allowing them to do so without any knowledge of HTML or programming languages.
How to Improve engagement with your blog post
A blog is an online journal that allows you to share your thoughts, ideas, and expertise with the world.
Blogging is a great way to connect with people who have similar interests or goals. If you are into email marketing, it also helps you build a subscriber list.
Blogging can be a lot of work! It takes time and effort to come up with content, find images, format posts, write SEO-friendly titles and tags, etc.
So it’s easy to get discouraged when you’re just starting out or if your blog isn’t generating the kind of traffic you want.
What about engagement?
Engagement refers to the number of interactions that a blog post receives from its readers. This can include any form of response like comments, highlights, likes, and even time spent on the page.
As a blogger, it’s essential to make sure your content is engaging in order to get more traffic and promote your blog posts.
But all is not lost! You can use simple techniques to increase readership and thus improve engagement on your blog post.
There are numerous ways to optimize engagement (even for old blog posts). here are seven expert tips to help you increase engagement by improving readership while making the most of your relational skills:
Be relatable.
Lean on originality
Optimize your call to action
Go for high-quality content
Grab attention with visual elements
Engage with other blogs
Respond to the engagement
How to get more comments on blog posts
In this section, I’d like to emphasize the significance of a powerful call to action to drive comments as a way to get reader feedback.
Comments can also be used as a tool to increase engagement with your blog post, which is essential for increasing traffic and conversions.
Furthermore, these responses can also help the author understand what the reader was thinking in terms of their point of view, misunderstanding, or confusion.
So how do you get more comments on your blog posts?
The answer is simple:
Ask for them!
Make it clear that you want feedback by asking questions in your posts, asking for opinions, and even offering incentives.
You can also entice readers by hosting challenges, giveaways, or contests that require people to leave comments in order to enter.
Thus, comments are a great way to get feedback on your blog post. They also help you build a community of readers who engage with your content and each other.
Concluding remarks and an experiment
This article emphasized how to create engaging content that can be used to increase readership.
Aside from the tips mentioned above, the most crucial piece of advice has to be to focus on the reader and find ways to entice and keep your audience enticed along the way by using a variety of attention grabbers.
Catchy title and subtitle.
Powerful hook
Enticing intro
Effective sub-headings
Golden key finale
As you may have noticed, there are numerous methods for increasing blog post engagement, but one of the most effective is to ask for it and then reciprocate the love.
So, let’s give it a shot.
Hello there, fellow bloggers!
I’m putting this blog engagement theory to the test; could you please help me draw a conclusion by responding to this post? You can:
Share your thoughts on the subject.
Include a link to one of your most engaging stories for me to read and add to my “highlights list.”
Just say hello.
Don’t be afraid to reach for the stars!
Thanks for reading this newsletter and supporting our creators’ community here on Substack. Please consider joining my journey across the blogosphere by picking up a thread from my Medium or Vocal portfolio. Your support is highly appreciated. Till next time, cheers. - Rui
Crafting an effective CTA is it's own skill.
"Now, this is the story, all about how, my life got flipped and turned upside down.."
I'm assuming content lives in Bel-Air.