Originally, WordPress was created as a blogging platform, and a bunch of unique features, themes and plugins still make it one of the best. So it will make sense to try make your blog content as good as possible?
Thus, we will talk about how to increase readership, engagement, and improve your blog content.
Specific WP Methods
Social Sharing Buttons
Quite basic, but effective advice. It is better if they also have share counts, so your visitors will have the extra piece of social proof and you will see if it is doing well. For e.g. Twitter and Facebook plugins are the easiest solution to add social sharing buttong on your website.
Related Posts
This kind of plugins show your visitors a list of related posts, as you may have already guessed. It is best used on blogs that cover the same topics frequently as well as on how-to blogs. This works great for getting new visitors, especially those who use Google searches.
WordPress provides almost unlimited customization, so put that to experiment and work. Try to go beyond standard templates and system fonts, if you are not already.
Gallery
It is excellent for posts that have a lot of images, but few text. And there are a lot of plugins to do this. However, be careful, since some gallery plugins may not be compatible with mobile devices.
If you think that cartoons or comics on your blog are good enough to be shareable, then you should use embed codes.
Google Analytics Plugin
Google Analytics plugin is crucial for a format that involves engaging with people. So it is essential for any blog. Google Analytics will help you get a much better sense for your audience.
There are a lot of plugins to built this form of content display, from just boxes on your homepage to slideshow and carousels. But they all serve to encourage repeat reading and draw readers to your best work.
Akismet
That is if you are not using it already. No one will want to read your comments if they are infested with spam!
Linking to tags and categories within your own posts is a wise decision. If you cover multiple niche topics or post a lot of interesting, educational content, it will be a great idea to create a category to help people interested in one can find it easily.
Some Polls
There are a lot of readers who have some opinion on your content, but don’t want to spend the time to write a comment, especially when they need to sign in first. Polls are a perfect way to give them a voice.
Rating Widget
As it was said, comments are a very important part of your blog. Make sure that users have the opportunity to condemn the bad ones and praise the good ones without having the directly confrontation with anyone.
It is a great feature to pull in readers and add a sense of urgency to your posts, especially if you are offering some unique information. However, this is an optional feature and rather tangential to creating good content.
General Methods
Design and Typography
The way how good your content actually is has nothing to do with how it looks. However, it has everything to do with how well it is perceived by your visitors. But adding some immersive visuals will serve to turn your blog into a solid website as opposed to just some content.
They are the unsung heroes of any e-commerce blogs. About pages do the most towards establishing who you are in the least amount of time, and they have the longest shelf-life of any page on your site. So it is highly recommended to have a perfect About page.
Blog Ideas
If a topic, related to your industry is in trend or one of your followers asks you a question, congratulations! You have just been handed a blog idea! Some bloggers don’t realize this, however, it is true.
The evergreen content will keep people coming back for the useful info and retain them. The topical content will be interesting for people who want to know the news of the day.
Connect With Bloggers
Utilize your community! Other bloggers can give you some great ideas for new posts, keep you up to speed on your neck of the blogosphere and cross-promote your work. Remember that you’re not shouting to a silent audience.
Call to Action
You will be waiting a long time if you will wait for the idea to occur to your readers on its own. Ask them directly whatever you want them to do!
Use formatting to highlight the thing that your visitors need to do, if you want them to check out a product or trying to get them to sign up for an email list. This can be as complicated as putting the email submission box in a fancily-designed popup or as simple as coloring it the text or making it bigger. Whatever you want, make it outstanding!
Ask Open Questions
Ask Open Questions
Remember, people love to share their knowledge and give their opinions and certain topics. Thus, let them do it by offering some additional suggestions on the subject or asking what they are thinking about.
It is the most important thing and it just had to be said. Good luck!
