Engaging Readers and Encouraging Shares

Hi there and welcome to the ProBlogger Podcast. My name is Darren Rowse and this is episode 56 where today, we’re talking about how to end your blog post. It’s something that has an incredible opportunity that I think a lot of bloggers are missing. The way you end your blog post can potentially deepen the relationships that you have with your readers, make your post useful to those readers, and create a lasting impression that can have ongoing benefits for you and your blog.

You can find today’s show notes at problogger.com/podcast/56. 

Today, we’re talking about how to end your blog posts. This is a really important topic. It’s something that really I am a bit surprised that there hasn’t been more written about. If you look around all the blogs about blogging, you will find the never-ending supply of articles about how to start your blog posts. There are all kinds of templates, formulas, articles, with heaps of advice on how to title your blog posts. That’s for good reason because the way you title a blog post will hook people in. It can be the difference between people reading it or not. 

But there’s very little written about how to end your blog post. I actually think the way you end your blog post is just as important. In the same way that a title hooks people into reading, the way you end your blog post hooks people into how they’re going to do something with what you’ve written and whether they’ll take action upon what you’ve written. This has benefits for both readers when people go away and do something as a result of reading something you’ve written, that can benefit them. Also, it has an impact on your blog. If people go away and do something as a result of reading your article, their life (hopefully) is going to be changed for the better. They’ll have a lasting impression of you and the advice you’ve given them. 

It’s also going to have other impacts upon your blog because some of the things you might do at the end of your blog post will get people to become more sticky to your blog—to subscribe to your newsletter, to follow you on Facebook, to leave a comment, to or not buy a product. There’s a whole heap of things that you can do at the end of the blog post that not only helps your reader but also you.

During this podcast, I want to give you eight things that you can potentially do at the end of a blog post. I will say upfront, you probably don’t want to do all eight for every particular post that you write, rather see this as a bit of a toolbox of things that you could do at the end of blog posts. Let’s get into it.

The first thing that I think you probably would want to do in some way, in almost every blog post that you write, is to sum it up and to get succinct with the message that you’re trying to run home for your reader. I’m amazed at how many people don’t do this. I’m amazed because most of us are thought to do this in English classes and writing classes that we do at high school. To write a conclusion is something that we are taught to do when we write an essay and end an article. 

I think it’s important, in that last paragraph or so, to really think about, “What is the message that I’ve been trying to convey here? How could I sum that up and really emphasize it in some way?” This is really important to do if you’ve written a long article and an article with lots of points. To come up with the summary statement or maybe even a short bullet point list of the things that you want people to remember as a result of the article you’ve written would be important.

Sometimes, it’s also useful at this point in summing up, to try and find a new way to present it. If you can find a new way to say what you already said, then that actually might just help a reader who hasn’t quite understood what you said to get it in a new way. 

Another thing that you can do at the end of an article is to create a tweetable statement. This is good not only because it creates a memory, something succinct that people can remember, and hopefully apply. It also gives your readers an opportunity to share something. If you come up with a summary statement, it sums up what you’ve been trying to say, and put a “Click here to tweet this,” button or a link. That becomes a shareable moment as well. You might also turn it into a social graphic that you could put there and say, “Here’s something that you can tweet out,” or, “Something that you can pin to Pinterest.” Sum it up is the first thing I’m talking about today.

The second thing that you might want to do at the end of an article is to ask a question and to try and get a comment from your readers. You’re looking for engagement either as a comment on a blog post or you may actually want them to answer it somewhere else. You might want to call them to answer the question by tweeting your or by sharing their thoughts on your Facebook page if you get more engagement in social media and you want to encourage that.

Most of us will probably be looking for comments on our blog. There are a variety of ways that you can get that comment. I’ll share a link in today’s show notes on how to get more comments on their blogs because it is something that I know a lot of bloggers struggle with. A couple of really quick tips, firstly, ask a specific question. Get them a specific way that you want them to respond rather than just saying, “Leave a comment.” Ask them a question that you want them to respond to. That shapes the discussion that will happen.

You can also tell them or ask them for a specific type of response. Rather than just saying your question, you might say, “Tell us a story about a time where you had this experience.” Or, “What’s your experience with this particular area?” Actually shaping that question a little bit rather than just answering a random question can be useful. You will find that you can shape the discussion that you have.

The other thing that I would say is you really want to make it as easy as possible for people to respond. A simple question rather than a complicated one is important or even something like, as a response, you might want to just ask your readers to share one word or three words that describe their experience with what you’re writing about. I actually find that that works really well as a technique. If you actually say, “I’m not looking for a long comment here, I’m just looking for one sentence or one word that describes how you’re feeling at this point.” Those types of questions could work quite well.

The other thing you might want to do, instead of asking a question, and trying to get a comment, is to put a poll. There’s a lot of WordPress templates plugins out there that are available, that will enable you to put a poll in at the end of your blog post. Again, that’s about getting people to engage. 

Firstly, sum it up. Secondly, ask a question. Try and get a comment. Thirdly, ask for a share. I know for a fact that when I ask my readers to share, they’re much more likely than if I just leave it to them to think to share, I actually see this all the time when I’m on Periscope. I don’t know if you’ve been following me on Periscope. I’m at @problogger on Periscope. The start and at the end of almost every Periscope that I do, I ask people to share what the Periscope is if they think it’s relevant for their particular audience. I know for a fact, every time I ask for a share, at least someone shares it if not 5, 10, or 20 people. 

If I do a Periscope where I’m not asking for a share, people rarely do it. It’s just this reminder. I see the same thing on Facebook. I see the same thing in comments on blogs. When you ask people to share something, they’re much more likely to do it. Many of your readers are finding your content useful, but they just won’t think to share. Just a simple request to share can work quite well. Now, you might want to encourage them to share on different networks if you have a priority where you’re trying to build up your presence on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, or you just want to ask for a general share. 

The other thing that you can do here to help them to share is to have some sort of a social graphic. You might want to have a graphic at the end of your blog post and then suggest that they share it on Pinterest. Or, to have a “click here to share” type feature. There are certainly tools around that will enable you to do that.

Tip number four that you might want to use to sum up or to finish your blog post is to give your readers something else to read. If they’re reading your blog, probably, quite likely, they’re interested to read something else on a related topic. This is the key here. You want to give them something to read that is relevant both in terms of the topic, something that extends the ideas that you’ve been writing about your blog post. Also, you might want to consider the medium of what you want them to go away and do next. 

If you’ve just written a long blog post, you might want to give them another long blog post. If you’ve just shared with them a video, you might want to share with them another video. If you’ve just shared a podcast, then the type of person who’s interested in seeing another podcast. Think about relevance not only in the topic but also in the medium and type of post that you’ve written.

You will find on most blogs that there are related reading links underneath every blog post. Most of us have some sort of plugin that produces that list. They do work but don’t just rely upon that. I’ve actually tested it with tracking code on my blog which creates a heatmap of where people are clicking. I find that when you give people related reading in the blog post itself, sometimes halfway through or sometimes just a line at the end, that people are much more likely to click that because they know you have tailored that further reading. They’re much more likely to click that than just the automated ones that a plugin might pull in.

Go to the extra effort of finding the next piece of reading that they should do. Do consider also pointing them to other sites as well. It may seem a little counterintuitive to be sending people to another blog at this point, but if it’s another blog and it’s really useful content, then they’re going to thank you for that. It actually creates a moment of connection with you and your reader. They’ll hopefully be thankful for the fact that you sent them to that particular blog. So, point number four was to give them something to read. 

Number five is to tell them about your next post. This is where you’re trying to build some anticipation. This is really all about trying to get a subscription. Getting them to follow you, getting them to subscribe to your newsletter. The best time to get someone to subscribe is just after you’ve helped them. When you signal to them that something else is coming that is going to be helpful for them as well, they don’t want to miss that.

In some ways, this is about trying to tease them a little or leave them on the edge of a cliff. You don’t want to actually manipulate them too much. You don’t want to leave them on too much of a cliffhanger where you haven’t delivered any value previously. You’re going to deliver all the value in the future, but you do want to signal to them that something else is coming that they would want to get. It’s about building anticipation. 

At the end of the blog post, you might want to say, “I’m going to continue this particular series of blog posts tomorrow or next week. To get the next installment, click here to subscribe to my newsletter,” or, “Click here to follow me on Facebook and you’ll begin to see the new content that’s coming.” Tell them about what’s coming next is number five.

Number six is to offer them something specific as an opt-in for your blog. I’ve seen this used quite effectively over the last few months particularly on blogs where they actually offer their readers something specific to that post if they subscribe to their newsletter. I’ve seen this recently where someone wrote a post on a how-to article. They said, “If you would like to get this article as a PDF with some bonus information, click here to download.” When they click that link, they’re asked for their email address, and they’re emailed the PDF version of that particular blog post.

You might want to turn your blog post into a PDF or you might want to create something different—a cheat sheet or some extra bonus material—that relates to the particular blog post. You probably wouldn’t want to do this with every single blog post that you do because it would take a lot of work. If you’ve got a blog post that’s doing particularly well or that you think might go viral, then it might be something that you would want to add to that post. It certainly has worked for a number of bloggers that I’ve talked to in growing their email list.

Number eight is to sell something. This is something I would not encourage you to do on every single blog post that you write. You don’t want to use every post to sell something. Your readers are going to see that pattern. They’re going to feel like you’re just trying to sell, sell, sell, all the time. If you’ve got something that’s particularly relevant to the post that you’ve just written, by all means, promote it at that point. 

I know that when we do an article for portrait photography on my photography blog, at the end of the article, that’s a great place for us to mention, “If you want to learn more about portrait photography, check out this ebook that we’ve produced.” To give them a coupon code increases the chances of them buying that at that particular point. Again, it’s got to be relevant to the content that you’ve written. You don’t want to do this all the time. It works best if you do it in moderation.

The last thing that I encourage you to do at the end of the blog post is to really think about the call to action. We’ve already given you some calls to action that you could include at the end of the blog post. Asking for the share, getting them to comment, getting them to subscribe, all of these things are calls to action. Here, I want to particularly get you to think about, what could you call your readers to do that is for their benefit? Not just for your benefit. Something that they could go away and do as homework to practice what you’ve just taught them or to do something that’s going to enhance their life in some way. Again, it has to relate to the content you’ve just written. 

I find that this works brilliantly when you give them something to go away and do. I used to call this homework on ProBlogger. It’s your piece of homework today. Go away and implement what I’ve just taught you by doing this. 

To give you an example of this, at the end of this podcast, what I want you to do is to go away, and look at the last blog post that you’ve written. Particularly look at the last paragraph, the last two paragraphs of the last blog post that you’ve written and just see how you ended it. The homework I want you to do today is to tweak how you’ve ended your last blog post and to improve it in some way. Use one of the techniques that I’ve talked about in this particular podcast.

I’ve just given you a call to action to illustrate what you could do at the end of the blog post to actually give your readers something to go away and do. We do this all the time in Digital Photography School. We actually would say, “Here’s a technique that we’ve just taught you. We want to see you further than you’ve taken and used this technique. Go away, get your camera out, take a photo, and come back and share the photo you’ve taken.” That’s a call to action that we know not only gets engagement for our site (which is good for us) but actually gets our readers to implement the technique that we’ve just talked about which is the best way that they can learn to improve their photography if we get them to go away and get photos.

It won’t really relate to every kind of blog but if you’re teaching people something, then this is a great way to finish a blog post. Give them a piece of homework then get them to come back and report on how they went.

I hope you found these eight techniques for ending blog posts useful. I really would love to hear what technique you were going to use on your last blog post or on the blog post that you’re about to publish. Give us an example. Share a link with us at today’s show notes on what you have done that has worked well for you. You can find today’s show notes at problogger.com/podcast/56. 

Again, I really would encourage you not just to listen to this podcast but to go back to that last post that you’ve written. Ask yourself, “How did I end it? How could I’ve done it better?” and to make some changes to that post if you need to.

I hope you found today’s podcast useful. I look forward to chatting with you later this week in episode 57.