Blogging is an important online marketing tactic for most businesses. Blogs create a stream of fresh content that people crave and that search engines love. As with all online marketing, just pushing content out is not enough. You have to be intentional to connect with your reader.

Getting People to Engage with Your Blog

There are several ways people can interact with posts on your blog. They can leave a comment directly on the blog if you have that feature enabled. Or, they can comment when you share blog posts on social media and other channels.

Other options include:

• Sharing your post on social media

• Mentioning your post in their content

• Subscribing to your blog or following your social media to get more content

Keep these signs of engagement in mind. Make sure your blog and social media set up makes it easy for people to engage. Make sure each post is compelling enough for your target audience to care and want to share your content.

Gaining Search Engine Love

Blog engagement helps you connect with your audience. It also helps your visibility in search engines. Comments and shares are a signal to search engines that your content is valuable. Valuable content appears at the top of search results.

How to Connect with Readers

Posting a steady stream of new content is great. Writing each post with the goal of engagement in mind is even better.
Here are elements to keep in mind as you compose your posts:

• Speak to the needs of your audience. Connect with their problems and questions and provide insightful answers and solutions.

• Says something valuable. Your content should be informative, relevant, and worthwhile.

• Have a schedule. Publish new posts on a regular basis. You don’t have to blog every day to create engagement, but make sure the intervals are predictable.

• Be authentic. Post content that you care about. Infuse it with your unique point of view and expertise.

• Stand out. Don;t shy away from saying something that’s controversial or unpopular. People tend to respond to something when they disagree. To get people to share their point of view, start an interesting discussion.

• Invite engagement. Ask people for their thoughts and comments and respond when they take time to do that.

Next Steps

As you write content for your blog, make sure you follow these tips to better connect with your readers. Post awesome and original content and share your unique expertise and point of view. Ask for ideas and thoughts and respond to them.