Bloggers talk a lot about how to start a blog post – how to craft the perfect title, how to hook the reader in from the first sentence – but equally important is how you end it.
How you leave the reader at the end of your post can have a huge effect on whether they will engage with you or not, how they feel about what they just read, what they will do next, or even if they will return. It’s a great time to deepen the relationship with your audience, be useful, and provide a lasting impression.
In today’s episode of the ProBlogger podcast, I talk about eight ways you can create this kind of environment for readers who stop by your blog, but recommend you only pick one per post! It’s easy to get carried away but less is more, in this case.
You can listen here below, over with the shownotes of episode 56 or on iTunes.
Listen out for:
- how to effectively sum up your main points
- tips to get more comments on each post
- the one thing you can do that really works for shares
- the value of related links
- what to do after you’ve written a particularly helpful post
- examples of incentives you can provide for people to subscribe
I’m still getting clearer and clearer on happy endings Darren. I open with a bang, with dramatic fare usually, but sometimes I weaken out a bit at the end. Maybe that’s just me. Maybe I’m ending fine. But I could use the nudge so this podcast comes at the perfect time. I usually do a little wrap up or a simple 4 or 5 question lead in than a call to action directing readers to download my latest eBook or to join my list or to hire me for my coaching, or something like that.
I formerly asked folks to share posts on social networks but my social sharing juice seems to be OK these days so I am running with a different approach. Sometimes in the past I was in such a rush to get the darn post done and published that I ended from a really hurried, impatient space but I have since learned better. Now at least I give a strong sendoff here or there, or I nudge my readers in th direction of 1 specific call to action. That is doing A-OK for me but I intend to end posts with the same clarity and confidence with which I open posts.
Listening now. Thanks Darren.
Signing off from Nicaragua.
Ryan
That is right you need to end it with style. It should create a long lasting effect on your reader so that he should come back again and again to your website.
Thanks Darren again for this beautiful post again.
Thanks Darren! This is an area I’ve struggled with as well. Even with a good title and hook I feel I lose a lot of opportunity by not employing stronger endings. Any momentum we’ve built is lost if we don’t encourage the readers to take an action. Going to try the manual “related posts” bit in particular.