Blogging for Engagement
I’ve spent a lot of hours over the last decade writing and publishing blog posts. In the beginning, I probably made a lot of the same mistakes newbie bloggers make, and though I’m still not in the thousands of hits per post range, I’ve learned a thing or three along the way.
For the most part, bloggers who have a business they’re trying to promote aren’t writing for their own reading enjoyment. They’re looking for engagement. Like speakers who stand on a stage or in front of a podium and talk to people, we want and need an audience. The bigger the audience, the better our opportunity to reach the people we want and need to reach.
Probably the biggest lesson I learned was consistency. You have to publish a lot of posts and do it on the same days and around the same times every week. People come to expect things at certain times and will lose interest and go elsewhere if their expectations aren’t met. Frequency, I believe, depends a lot on what you’re trying to accomplish or convey. For me, I’m working on visibility as a writer, so of course, more is better. For other types of businesses or causes, once a week is probably a good place to start.
Contrary to popular opinion these days, grammar and spelling do count. As a business person, you undermine your credibility with a rash of misspellings and crappy grammar. Granted, not everyone is as picky as me. I will stop reading a post, no matter how interesting, if there are too many misspelled words. Still, the person who stops reading might be the person you really want and need to reach.
Using SEO to Your Advantage
As a blogger, we want people to be able to find the fruits of our labor. There are a few ways to make 
that happen, but SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is at the top of the list. SEO has many components and the easiest way to learn them is to utilize a plugin such as Yoast SEO. It updates frequently to keep up with changing trends. The only downside for we WordPress users is it’s only available for free (at least as far as I’ve been able to determine) with the .org version (websites as opposed to just blogs). However, nothing says you can’t write a post on your website and transfer it to your blog site (if like me you have one of each). If you don’t, here are a few of the things they look for:
- Focus Keyword: This is the word you want search engines to look at and while bringing your post up as high as possible in the results. Learn more about Focus Keywords in the linked article. You can also find information about the best keywords from Google.
- Word count: I’ve learned word count is a moving target. I’ve seen the recommended length at over 1,000 words, but at the moment, the plugin is happy with anything over 300. Here, you want to make sure you consider both your topic and your audience. Don’t shortchange either just for the sake of a shorter post. Conversely, don’t ramble on if you know your audience has a shorter attention span. If you have a lot to say, try breaking it up into a series of shorter posts.
- Page Title: As the first thing people see when a search engine shows your article, it needs to be an attention-grabber so they’ll click on yours rather than theirs. It’s important you include your Focus Keyword in the Page Title as it tells the potential reader you’ve written about what they’re looking for. Yoast offers some guidance on Page Titles. You should also have at least one headline analyzer at your fingertips to help improve make your headlines as searchable as possible. My go-to analyzer is Co-schedule but there are others out there, so find the one that works best for you.
Writing So Readers Come Back for More
Once you have your SEO boxes checked, you need to look at readability. Why? Because readers won’t come back or look at other posts on your site if your writing is hard to read. Here are a few things to look for:
- Sentence and Paragraph length: Keep it interesting by varying the length of your sentences and paragraphs. A good mix of short, medium and long holds the reader’s interest better than uniformity. Think about listening to a speaker who talks in a monotone. Without variation, that’s how your writing comes across.
- Reading ease: This is based on something called a Flesch analysis which determines the education level needed to read your writing. The Flesch analysis is based on a 100 point scale with 100 being easiest. Ideally, web copy should fall in the 60-70 percent range. An SEO plugin will do this analysis for you. Otherwise, you can write or paste your post into Word and do an analysis there.
- Headings and Sub-Headings: Like sentence and paragraph length, headings and sub-headings help break up your copy, making it easier to read, and more likely to hold the reader’s attention. Try to vary the sizes of your headings and sub-headings too.
- Graphics: Face it. People love pictures. Sprinkle them throughout your copy to create visual variation. You can use photographs and drawings you created yourself, free sites like Flickr, or a graphics program like Canva. I even use Paint to crop or resize pictures I’ve found on another source.
Getting the Word Out
Finally, you have to publicize your posts. I used to think setting posts to publish a link to my social media 
accounts was enough. Trust me, it’s not. You need to be your own advocate, re-posting from the automatic links, using sites like Medium to upload and re-publish what you’ve written, and share in groups you frequent on Facebook and LinkedIn wherever you have the opportunity.
Though this is merely the tip of the iceberg, these tools alone will help increase your visibility and help you reach more of your tribe. But don’t take my word for it. Test them out yourself and let me know how it’s working for you!
About the Author
Sheri Conaway is a writer, blogger, ghostwriter, and advocate for cats. Sheri believes in the Laws of Attraction, 
but only if you are a participant rather than just an observer. Her mission is to Make Vulnerable Beautiful and help entrepreneurs touch the souls of their readers and clients so they can increase their impact and their income. If you’d like to have her write for you, please visit her Hire Me page for more information. You can also find her on Facebook Sheri Levenstein-Conaway Author. And check out her new group, Putting Your Whole Heart Forward.
Be sure to watch this space for news of the upcoming release of “Life Torn Asunder: Rebuilding After Suicide”.
