We are all after content that converts readers into customers, gets shared, builds backlinks, and ranks high in search results.
Those are goals worth seeking, but there's one problem: Focusing on the ends can make you neglect the means.
The simple truth is, you cannot achieve any of those results unless your content manages to engage your target audience.
Engagement is the first milestone on the road to more sales, backlinks, or shares. Nothing beats the satisfaction of getting a flurry of comments on your post.
Source: Giphy
Besides, more than 83 million posts are produced every month on WordPress alone. That's more than 230 posts in a minute. Your content must tick many boxes to stand out from the crowd.
This article will discuss nine ways to make your content more engaging.
1. Don't Tick Them Off Even Before They Read a Word
What good is a performance that takes off after the audience has left?
For a delay of a single second, the bounce rate increases 56%. That's more than half of your visitors. So, before you learn the art of writing engaging content, you must get your site in order.
Here's how:
- Speed: When a visitor lands on your website, the first 2-3 seconds are crucial. You can have content of the highest quality, but it will fail if your page takes ages to load. Even if visitors stay through the delays, the wait will leave a poor impression and lower your chances of conversion.
- Responsiveness: Mobile friendliness (or the lack of it) is another factor that affects the bounce rate. More than 56% of site visits are from mobile devices. If your website is not optimized for the mobile experience, the content will fail to engage.
- Ads: Many blogs fill the above-the-fold space with ads, which is a surefire way to annoy your visitors. Google has started to target ad heavy websites with its recent algorithm update, so avoid using extensive ads. Mobile sites need to ensure that they are following the guidelines and not using interstitial ads or popups.
2. It's All in the Packaging
Science suggests that we "see" the flavor of food before we "taste" it.
The same goes for the content. We see the quality of content before actually reading it.
Look at these two screenshots:
Source: Benjamin Hardy
Now compare that one with this one:
Source: The Genius Conspiracy
Those are two posts on pretty much the same topic. As you can see, the presentation is all over the place in the second one.
The first one looks a lot more convincing even before we start to read.
High-quality typography can induce a positive mood in readers. Still, very few websites pay enough attention to the presentation and typography.
The font type, size, and color you use can make your content a lot more trustworthy. The background color and white space can make it easy to digest.
Readers will not engage with your content if it's difficult to read.
3. Hook Them From Start
Many times, I have put down novels or stopped watching a movie because the opening failed to intrigue.
Middles and endings are important, but it's the beginning that sets the tone. Both your headline and your introduction should make it hard for them to stop reading.
The following are some examples of a catchy title or introduction:
- Ask questions that they can relate with.
Source: Sleeknote - Take advantage of the surprise and curiosity factor.
Source: Kissmetrics - Use powerful statistics or numbers to make it more convincing.
Source: Backlinko
But even better is to forget all such formulas and try to start in the most novel and most unexpected ways.
4. Use Visual Aids
According to a benchmark study by MarketingProfs and Content Marketing Institute, creating engaging content (73%) and creating visual content (55%) were two of the biggest priorities for B2C businesses.
Luckily, those two are interlinked.
Your content will automatically engage more people if you are using visual aids, such as images, illustrations, screenshots, and charts.
Buzzsumo conducted a study of more than 1 million articles and found that those with an image after 75-100 words will get double the shares.
Infographics or maps can work better. In fact, maps turned out to be the most effective format for link-building, according to a study.
For example, see this map of every country's most googled car brand:
Source: MSN.com