How to End a Blog Post Effectively and Keep Readers Engaged

An impressive blog post begins with a compelling hook that piques readers’ interest, then transitions into an information-packed body that keeps them reading. But, your work as a content creator doesn’t end there. Without a good summary, call to action (CTA), thought-provoking question, or challenge to keep readers intrigued, they’ll be more likely to leave for another site. Here’s how to end a blog post in a way that keeps your audience engaged.

Craft a smart summary

You’ll want to create a summary that either recaps the main ideas in the piece or draws a conclusion for the reader. Not only does a summary help your audience confirm they’ve understood your post, but it’s also a great opportunity to reinforce the key points you’ve made and why they’re important.

Also, consider the tone you want to strike and what your audience is looking for. For example, if you’re blogging about what you’ve learned on your journey to accomplishing a goal, you may want to take a motivational approach. You can tell your readers that they can achieve the same success if they take the steps you’ve shared in your post.

It’s always a good idea to put yourself in your audience’s shoes when preparing your summary. How do you want them to feel after reading your post? What will they want to know as they are reading your summary? If you consider their point of view, they’ll likely be interested in learning more about your site and what you offer.

Add an effective CTA

Keep your audience engaged by featuring a CTA at the end of your blog post. Your CTA can be anything from a link to sign up for a newsletter to an invitation to join an online community. What action would you like your audience to take? Give that question some thought, and then create the right CTA.

The CTA you choose will depend on the purpose of your site and the outcome you want to achieve. The main thing to remember is that your CTA should be tailored to the specific post on which it appears; otherwise it may seem out of place and jar the reader. You may choose to highlight your CTA with a button, which is a popular method for designing a CTA on a WordPress.com site.

Close with a question or a challenge

Wrapping up your post with a question or a challenge can be a particularly effective way of sparking discussion on your site. You can ask your audience if they agree or disagree with the points you made in your post or simply ask them what they think about a particular issue you raised.

Alternatively, you can pose a challenge that aligns with the themes of your site. A personal finance blogger might challenge their readers to cook from home a certain number of days per week, whereas a social anxiety blogger could challenge their audience to start a conversation with a certain number of people they don’t know in the coming week.

So, if you’ve been wondering how to end a blog post in a way that engages your readers, you have several options for doing so. By creating a helpful summary, featuring a CTA, or concluding with a question or a challenge, you can captivate your audience and keep them coming back for more.

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The WordPress.com Team

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