As a blogger consistently witting content and keeping your readers engaged with fresh, new content can be very difficult at times.
Coming up with new blog post ideas and writing styles isn’t always easy.
The good news is, you don’t always have to write your content the same way.
You don’t even have to write a lot in order to keep them interested.
You can us a variety of techniques to keep both you and your readers entertained and invested in your blog.
You can break down your content into a blog post series, post videos and transcribe content you’ve already created on other formats among other things.
Below I have provided a list of 8 different ways you can keep your readers engaged and keep your sanity as a blogging genius.
Video blog posts
Video blog posts are great for keeping your audience engaged while also giving yourself a break from writing content.
You can create your own videos or embed a video that you found useful in your content.
Adding videos to your blog gives your site a whole new dimension and level of engagement with your readers.
The better you can engage all your readers senses (audio, video, images and interactive content) the more you and your content stands out.
One thing I’d like to make clear is that you don’t need to own any video software or video equipment.
If you find a highly valuable video by an authority you know, like and trust, and you are allowed to embed that video into your own blog post its a great way to give additional insights from experts on a topic they know or a topic that translates better on video than text and can even make your site look more authoritative, informative and connected as a result.
Discussion blog posts
Discussion blog posts tend to be posts that aren’t particularly long and focus primarily on creating a discussion with the readers.
You can ask your readers a question or tell them about an action you have or are planning to take and ask them to share their thoughts and opinions in the comments or discussion board.
This is a great way to let the community know that their insights are important to you and valuable.
This will also appeal to your readers on an emotional level. The more you can engage your audience the more they will like and trust you, especially if you take the time to really listen and possibly even implement something they’ve said into your blog.
You could even create a follow-up post explaining how their opinions and discussions have helped you improve whatever topic it is you asked them about.
Readers love to give back to those that have helped them improve their lives and this gives them the opportunity to thank you and help you in return.
It’s relationship building plain and simple.
Chart and diagram blog posts
Using chart and diagram images is a great way to make sense of a topic that is hard to explain by text alone.
Charts and diagrams explain very clearly to your readers why something does or does not work.
For example, by posting a colorful and detailed chart or diagram that shows how Twitter or Facebook has evolved over time, where the individuals who use that platform focus their attention and how many of those people focus on a particular topic you give your readers a clearer sense of how they can impact that particular group of individuals better than if it were simply explained in text.
It’s a great way to complement your writing and gives your readers a visual roadmap as to how they can improve their blogs, business and lives.
Comprehensive blog post
Comprehensive blog posts are very long and detailed posts that can be anywhere from 1500 words (just an estimate) to 3000 words or more.
Detailed posts are great for explaining a topic in-depth and making sure that you have covered all the angles of the topic you are discussing.
These posts are great when used from time to time or for blogs that only produce content once a week or so.
If your readers are very serious about learning something that you don’t plan on writing about often then writing a comprehensive blog post is a great way to keep both you and your readers happy.
One down side to these types of blog posts is that when you write and post content on a frequent basis not all readers have the ability to focus on such long posts and can lose focus or become confused when so many topics are being discussed in a single post, especially if they follow your blog on a daily basis.
As life gets busier for people they often find only a few minutes available to engage with you, so try not to use comprehensive blog posts too frequently if you produce posts on a frequent basis.
If you are concerned that you may be writing too much content for a single post you can also write a blog post series.
Blog post series
Writing a blog post series is a great way to break down a big topic into a series of smaller posts.
This allows each post to be broken down by their sub topic or theme so that they can be discussed in greater detail while allowing your readers to focus directly on the key elements of that individual post.
This assures that your readers can focus on your topic without getting confused or lost by a post that is too large for them to concentrate on and/or is too time-consuming.
A blog post series can be very useful for making sure you’ve explained your topic in detail without overloading your readers brains, but try not to create a blog post series too often or for too long because you don’t want your series to drag on beyond your readers level of interest.
Variety is the spice of life.
Blog post tips list
These types of posts are often alphabetical or numerical and are created as a list of tips, tricks and ideas that your readers can use to improve their blogs and/or themselves.
Heres an example: Blogging from A to Z
People love list posts because each tip is usually only a few sentences long, actionable and lets your readers skim through your list to a tip that may help them increase their own success.
You could write a post on “25 ways to improve your search engine traffic” where you give a list of 25 tips on how to boost their search engine rankings on Google.
Or “How to build a better blog from A to Z” where you alphabetically list tips on improving their blog where each tip represents the letter of the alphabet.
Transcribed blog post
Transcribed blog posts are great for those who enjoy reading content that was originally produced on audio or video such as a Podcast or YouTube.
If you’ve created content in another format that your readers would like to read, or if they are in an environment that prohibits watching or listening to your content this might be a good alternative for them.
It’s also great for readers who have Internet connections too slow to listen to your audio or watch your videos.
Engaging your audience in different formats allows them to decide how they want to engage in your content and gives them each a way to learn from you in a method that fits them best.
Interview blog posts
Well that title pretty much explains it all, but interview blog posts can be a great way to get insights from others bloggers and individuals who have knowledge on your topic.
Since most interviews are about learning from the person being interviewed it can also be considered a kind of Q & A session between the interviewer and interviewees.
It allows you to get answers to questions that you didn’t have knowledge about and share it with your readers.
You can create an interview blog post from a series of discussions you’ve had, emails you’ve sent, and interviews you’ve done.
The important thing is that your readers learn something new that they are able to take action on.
Interview blog posts are also a great way to increase your authority and let your readers know that you are connected with others who can help them become better.
I hope this list has helped provide you with a few new ways to help you keep your readers engaged and entertained.