I hope you’re all using Analytics on your site, and if so bounce rate is an important metric to be aware of, as is time on site. Both of these are key indicators of how engaged people are in the content on your site. A high bounce rate can be indicative that the content is hard to digest or not as the user was expecting. In contrast if you see that the average time people are spending on your site is high you can assume that content is relevant, interesting and useful.
Whether you’re new to blogging and looking for tips on how to structure your posts or are a seasoned blogger looking to shake things up, these pointers should help you to create more engaging posts.
1. Keep it short – In order to keep readers switched on try to limit blog posts to around 500 words. People are often digesting information on-the-go, and in the world of the multi-screen are increasingly easily distracted. Remember less is more…
2. Include pictures – Adding a visual element will enhance the look of your blog and break up any large chunks of text. For certain blogs images are essential, for fashion and food bloggers photo’s can tell a thousand words. Don’t overload with pictures if not necessary though and ensure images are of high quality, but not too large in file size that they make page load slow. Everything in moderation!
3. Ask a question – Including a question at the end of your post opens up the forum for your audience to get involved, and can provide further insight, stimulating debating. Try it!
4. Use bullet points, lists or sub headers to break up posts – A long section of text will intimidate the reader and cause them to switch off. Using sub headers, bullet points and bolding key phrases will break the text down into manageable pieces ensuring that you hold the users attention and can direct them to parts of the article which are most useful to them. Remember what I said about people being easily distracted…
5. Use analytics data – As well as providing vital info on bounce rate and time on site, you can use analytics data to identify those posts which users are engaging with most. This will help you to understand which structure and topics readers are identifying most with and you can create further content with this in mind.
Still reading? See it works! Any additional tips for engaging readers? Let us know!
This post was written by Natalie De Luca, experienced blogger and editor of The South London Blog
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