16+ Tips To Boost Blog Engagement (With Examples)

Do you spend hours writing your blog posts, only to hear crickets after you hit publish? You’re not alone. Low blog engagement rates are a common problem.

Most bloggers I know struggle to get people to comment, like, or share their content. 

Some, on the other hand, have no issues getting people engaged. 

I wanted to learn what makes them different. So, I spent months analyzing their blogs. Why do some bloggers have great blog engagement while others are as quiet as a library?

Finally, I uncovered their “hidden” engagement strategies. I’ll share the most successful ones with you in this guide.

Now, let’s dive into the best tricks to increase blog engagement.

What Is Blog Engagement, And Why Should You Care?

Blog engagement describes how people can engage with your blog posts, such as by leaving comments, sharing your posts on social media, clicking the links within your posts, or reading your content.

So, any time visitors to your blog interact with your posts counts towards your engagement. That’s why some also refer to it as user engagement or reader engagement.

But the big question is — why should you care?

Well, high user engagement can help you:

To put it bluntly, user engagement can help you get meaningful traffic to your website faster. Not bad, huh? 

Now, let’s see how you can measure it.

How Do You Measure Engagement?

You can measure user engagement by monitoring your Google Analytics (GA4) metrics. 

Here are the most important metrics you should track:

Take a screenshot or make a quick report on your current stats for these metrics. 

Then implement some of the strategies I’ll mention below and track your improvement. I promise you’ll see positive results.

1. Catchy Headlines.

People aren’t likely to engage with your content if they don’t read it first. And they aren’t likely to read it if the headline doesn’t entice them to.

So, writing catchy headlines is the first step to increasing user engagement. 

When you write your headline, run it through CoSchedule’s Headline Analyzer.

This nifty tool will score your headline from 0 to 100.

You’ll be able to see your scores and some suggestions to improve it using the free version —, but you’re welcome to invest in the paid version if you want:

Come up with 10-20 different headlines for each blog post and run them through the headline analyzer. Then use the headline with the highest score.

2. Get Personal.

Your readers will be more eager to engage with you if they feel like they know you. So, give them a chance to learn more about you. You’ll increase your reader engagement in return.

Here are a few actionable tips that will help you do just that:

✔️ Share personal experiences and anecdotes. You can do so right in the intro so that your readers connect with you from the get-go. Here’s a great example of how you can do that:

As you can see, this post attracted 250+ shares on social media. I’m not saying that’s entirely due to the author sharing his personal experience. But I bet it probably helped.

✔️ Write in the first person. Don’t hide behind a third-person perspective. The only way to appear authentic is to write from your own viewpoint.

✔️ Share your mistakes, problems, and challenges. You’ll show your readers that you’re human and understand their struggles. 

For inspiration, consider this Medium post that attracted over 500 likes.

✔️ Develop your own style. Lastly, don’t blindly follow what everyone else does. Develop your unique style of writing blog posts instead.

That may mean you need to inject some humor in your posts or write longer paragraphs than most writers in your industry. It’s your call, just be yourself.

3. Write Engaging Content.

If your content is boring and dry, your readers won’t engage with it. They’re more likely to exit, return to the SERPs, and click on another result.

So, if you want readers to engage with your content, make sure it’s actually worth reading and engaging.

Here’s how to do that in a few easy steps:

4. Add Visual Interest.

Imagine if this 4500-word blog post was just a big wall of text. No emojis, no screenshots, no nothing. Would you still be reading? 

Probably not. It would seem like too much work. 

So, visuals make this post easier to digest and more interesting.

That’s why I recommend adding visual elements to your posts, especially long-form ones.

Here’s what type of visuals work the best:

• Infographics. Users spend more time looking at the images than reading text on a page if the images are relevant. That’s why information-carrying images, like infographics, grab people’s attention more than fluffy, irrelevant photos. 

• Screenshots. Screenshots work for the same reason as infographics — because they carry meaning. They work especially well in how-to types of articles. 

• Emojis. Emojis in Instagram and Twitter posts increase engagement rates by 48% and 25%, respectively. They have a similar effect when used in blog posts. Just be careful not to go overboard, or your posts may look juvenile.

• Videos. Videos can increase your audience’s time on your page by a whopping 105%. They can also help you rank higher in search engines and attract more traffic to your website. With that in mind, try to embed videos in your blog posts whenever it makes sense.

That brings me to my last point: avoid visuals that aren’t relevant to your post.  

Stock footage and other generic images won’t help you increase user engagement. They may actually have the opposite effect.

5. Ask Questions.

Asking questions is one of the easiest tricks to increase your blog post engagement. It instantly shows your audience that they’re welcome to leave comments and engage with you.

When used correctly, questions can help you further connect with your audience.

For example, asking your readers to share their opinions is a great way to forge relationships. 

Neil Patel regularly does this at the end of his posts. He often uses questions instead of CTAs to finish off his posts — and is getting great user engagement as a result:

But don’t be afraid to experiment. 

Asking the same question over and over again gets really boring really fast. 

That’s why you should find other ways to include questions in your content. 

I often use them to introduce new topics or tools I want to discuss — like in this post on website traffic checker plugins:

As you can see, the question addresses my readers’ pain points. That helps me introduce a solution afterward.

That’s just one more way to use questions in your content. But, as I’ve said, don’t be afraid to get creative with this strategy. 

Even the simplest questions can help you break the monotony:

6. Use Social Media.

Sharing your posts on social networks like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram can help you achieve three major wins: increase blog traffic, improve your search engine optimization (SEO), and boost engagement.

Here’s how to make the most out of this strategy:

✔️ Write intriguing captions. Your captions must entice your audience to click and open your blog posts. Show them the benefit of reading your post or share the most interesting details. But don’t give everything away. Your goal is to get your audience curious enough to click.

Here’s an example of a tweet that does a great job of sparking curiosity. Notice how it describes “what’s inside” without giving too much away:

✔️ Add social share buttons to your blog posts. If you want your audience to share your posts on social media, you need to make it easy for them to do so. That’s where social share buttons come in. They let your readers share your content in just one click. 

I use this strategy in my own blog posts, like this one on affiliate marketing:

The tool I use to add the buttons is called Kadence Simple Share. 

I like it because it automatically creates captions that people can share on social media:

You can use this simple share plugin if you use Kadence Themes for your WordPress site. But you can always add similar social share plugins to your website, regardless of which theme you use. 

✔️ Ask for feedback. Encourage your followers to share their thoughts after reading your posts. Use their suggestions to improve your writing, develop new content ideas, and boost reader engagement in the long run.

7. Research Your Market.

Readers don’t engage with content that doesn’t answer their questions or solve their problems. That’s why you should tailor your posts to their needs and preferences.

Here’s how you can learn what your target audience wants and needs:

✔️ Analyze your competitors. Find other websites in your niche, analyze who they’re targeting with their content, and how. For example, if they’re targeting CEOs, are they using conversational or more formal language? What types of topics do they discuss? Take note of all these factors and decide if you should mimic them in your own content marketing strategy.

✔️ Conduct keyword research. Keyword research will tell you what topics your audience is interested in and what questions they have. Brainstorm a few keywords related to your niche and run them through keyword research tools.

You’ll be able to see how many people search for your target keywords. That will tell you if your topic is worth writing about. 

Additionally, you may also get ideas on what to mention in your content.

For example, before writing this post, I ran “blog engagement” through Ahrefs’ Keyword Generator.

I discovered that people also search for “blog engagement groups,” “blog engagement strategies,” and “blog engagement KPIs:”

That gave me a good idea of what my audience is interested in and what I should include in this blog post.

Do your own keyword research before writing to gain similar insights.

✔️ Monitor what your audience talks about online. Join Facebook groups, forums, and similar places where your audience hangs out. Then track what they’re talking about. You’ll learn a lot about your audience and the types of topics they’d be interested in.

Refer to the data you collect every time you write a new post. You’ll improve your relationship with your audience and get more engagement on your blog as a result.

8. Web Push Notifications.

Want to ensure your readers never miss a new blog post? Try adding web push notifications to your website.

Web push notifications are messages sent from a website to a visitor’s desktop or mobile device. They help notify visitors or customers of new arrivals, promos, blog posts, etc.

But let me show you what I mean. Here’s a push notification I received today:

You can send similar notifications to your audience whenever you publish a new post. According to some sources, this strategy can increase your engagement by over 80%.

Here are a few tools that will allow you to add notifications to your website:

• GetResponse

• PushAlert

• WonderPush

• OneSignal

• Catapush

The rest of the process will depend on the tool you use. 

But in most cases, you’ll only have to add a simple code or a plugin to your website, and you’ll be good to go:

Most tools will also let you customize your opt-in message:

I suggest you take that opportunity to make your message more unique. That way, you’ll stand out from competitor websites.

Here are a few tips that will help you do that:

• Tell your audience exactly what to expect. What type of notifications will they receive? Will you only promote your blog posts, or will you also notify them about new products or discounts?

• Show your audience how your notifications will benefit them. Will your notifications help your audience save money, learn new skills, or improve relationships? Make sure to communicate that.

• Add urgency or scarcity. Will your notifications ensure your audience gets crucial information? Let them know, and you’ll entice them to click “Allow.”

Here’s an example of an opt-in message that checks all the boxes — although the benefits could be clearer:

9. Create A Content Calendar (Stick To It).

Returning visitors are more likely to engage with your content than first-time visitors. 

But getting people to visit your blog regularly can be challenging. You need to give them a reason to come back. 

That’s where having a content calendar comes in.

A content calendar is a schedule for when you plan to publish your future blog posts. For example, you may decide to publish a new post every Tuesday.

If you stick to that plan, your audience will catch on. They’ll realize that they should visit your website on Tuesdays for new content. 

You can also emphasize this in your social posts or other places on your website:

(Source: paulvanderlaken.com)

The added benefit is that having a plan will ensure you can consistently connect with your audience. That will help you forge stronger relationships and increase user engagement.

To sum up, having a calendar (and sticking to it) can help you turn more irregular visitors into dedicated readers — especially if you consistently publish high-quality content.

You can create your content calendars using free project management tools, such as:

• Asana

• ClickUp

• Trello

• monday.com

But a simple Excel worksheet can work, too. Don’t get hung up on tools. Focus on planning your content instead.

You can even ask your audience when they prefer you publish new content. Perhaps weekends work better for them than workdays. The only way to know is to ask them directly.

Once you create your calendar, all you have to do is stick to it. Try following your plan for 2-3 months before making any changes. Your audience will need at least that long to get used to your schedule.

So, don’t despair if you don’t see immediate results from your efforts. Stay patient, and you’ll surely see results.

10. Display Related Content.

Need an easy way to make people stay on your blog longer? Try linking to other posts from every post you publish. 

That way, your visitors can continue reading instead of exiting your website after they finish the original post.

When done correctly, this strategy can help you increase blog traffic and improve user engagement.

Think about it: reading multiple posts will make your visitors feel more connected with you. And that’s when they’re more likely to share, like, or comment on your content — and become regular visitors.

To make this strategy work, display blog posts related to the original topic. 

Let me show you what I mean.

I use a plugin to suggest similar posts to the reader automatically. This way, the reader might find more useful information and stay on my site longer.

I use the Kadence Pro, Similar Posts plugin, but there are many good alternatives. Plugins like YARPP, JetPack, or Related Posts by Taxonomy are all good choices.

They’ll scan and analyze your blog posts to find the best matches for your original post. After that, related content will be automatically added to every post you publish.

11. Add Internal Links.

Do you need an alternative method to send your audience from one post to another? Internal linking is it. 

Internal links link from one page on your website to another page on your website. In this case, I’m referring to links that point from one blog post to another post on the same site.

For example, this link is an internal link because it leads to another blog post on my website. 

Internal linking will help you keep readers on your site longer and make them more likely to engage with your content.

On top of that, it can also help you better optimize your site for search engines. It will make it easier for search engines to understand your website and content.

Still, not all internal links are equally valuable. Here’s how to optimize yours so that you reap the most benefits:

✔️ Write descriptive anchor texts. Anchor text is the visible text of a link. Its purpose is to tell the reader (and search engines) where a link points to. That’s why you should avoid anchor texts like “click here” or “read more.” Make them descriptive instead, e.g., “get a free Lasso trial” or “side hustle apps.” 

✔️Link to relevant content. Don’t link to content that isn’t related to your topic. Your links should feel natural, not forced. 

✔️Keep your links do-follow. No-follow links have less link juice than do-follow links, which means they’re not as beneficial to your SEO. Luckily, all links are marked as do-follow by default. Simply avoid adding a no-follow tag to your internal links, and you’ll be good to go.

So, your goal should be to add as many links to your posts as possible — but only if it makes sense for the readers.

12. Use A Call To Action (CTA).

This may sound like a no-brainer, but it’s worth mentioning. 

If you want to increase reader engagement, tell your readers to engage with your content. Simple as that.

You can include a CTA (call to action) at the end of each blog post. 

CTAs are prompts that tell your readers what to do after reading your blog post. Here are a few examples of CTAs: 

• What do you think? Let me know in the comments. 

• Did you enjoy this post? Share it with your followers on social media!

• Learn more about [link to another blog post on your website]

They can help encourage your readers to take an action you want them to. 

Here’s how you can make your CTAs extra enticing:

✔️Make it make sense. Explain to your readers why they should take an action. Should they share your post because they liked it? Or leave a comment because they have something to add? Make the reason clear.

As a side note, you can couple this strategy with asking questions for maximum reader engagement:

(Source: Backlinko)

✔️Ask for one thing only. Don’t ask people to like and comment and share your post. Tell them to do only one thing instead.

✔️Separate your CTAs from the rest of your text. CTAs surrounded by more white space and less clutter can increase your conversions by 232%. So, add white space between your CTA and the rest of your post.

In a nutshell, try to include a clear, direct, and obvious CTA at the end of all your posts. 

13. Respond To Comments.

Responding to comments is a surefire way to increase user engagement. It will make your readers feel appreciated and more likely to engage with your future content.

Keep in mind that you shouldn’t leave shallow comments just for the sake of upping your engagement. Your visitors will see right through that. 

Instead, write meaningful comments that add value to the conversation. 

See how Brian Dean does this:

Here are a few more tips that will help you make the most out of this strategy:

✔️ Give prompt responses. Your readers may lose interest in your topic and what you have to say as time passes. So, respond to comments as soon as possible- preferably within three days. 

✔️Keep the conversation going. You can ask your commenters questions to encourage them to keep responding. Be careful not to overdo it, though. Asking questions in every comment will seem forced.

✔️Mark the links in your comments as nofollow. That way, you’ll show Google that you don’t vouch for links that people add to their comments. Otherwise, you may associate your site with spammy websites, hurting your SEO in the long run. 

Make an effort to respond to at least most of the comments you receive. If nothing else, it will show your readers that you appreciate them. 

14. Host A Contest Or A Giveaway.

Hosting a contest or a giveaway is an easy way to boost user engagement. You let people know they need to comment on or share your blog post to apply.

Here’s how one blogger did it:

She got 143 comments as a result:

So, obviously, this strategy works. It’s just that it’s a bit more complicated than others. 

When you host a contest or a giveaway, you need to:

You can ensure that your giveaway runs smoothly — and that everything is 100% transparent — using giveaway tools like ShortStack.

ShortStack is an easy, drag-and-drop giveaway builder that you can customize based on your needs and brand:

But the real benefit is that ShortStack will help you ensure you don’t miss any entries and keep your giveaway legal. You’ll be able to see all entries in one place:

That makes keeping tabs on a ton of entries easier. 

So, give this strategy a go when you’re ready, and let me know how it went in the comments.

15. Write Guest Posts.

Writing guest posts can help you increase blog traffic and engagement with almost no effort. 

Find another blog you could write for and start publishing your content there. 

But how do you find blogs that accept guest posts? 

Try entering the following query strings into Google: 

• “write for us” + [niche-related keyword]

• “guest posts” + [niche-related keyword]

• “guest bloggers” + [niche-related keyword]
  

Simply replace [niche-related keyword] with… well, a keyword related to your niche. Hit enter and see what results you’ll get.

For example, I found several websites that accept guest posts from fashion bloggers by searching for “write for us” + “guest posts”:

When you find a few websites that seem like a good fit, determine how you can apply as a guest blogger:

Also, check if you’ll be able to include links to your website in the guest post. Otherwise, this strategy won’t make much sense. 

Let me explain.

Your goal with writing guest posts is to get more blog traffic and engagement. Right? 

Well, that won’t happen if people cannot get to your website. So, ensure the websites you write for allow you to add backlinks.

If so, move on to the next step: conducting keyword research. Again, keyword research is vital if you want to determine the most popular topics you could write about.

All that’s left to do from there is to contact the site owners and submit your guest posts. And you’re done! 

16. Improve Your Blog Based On Data.

We’ve already discussed the metrics you could track to determine user engagement. So, I’ll keep it brief here. 

Track your analytics if you want to know why people engage or don’t engage with your content. That is especially important when you start implementing new strategies. 

If you see an improvement in your analytics, they’re working. 

If you don’t, you may need to consider implementing another strategy. Simple as that. 

Wrap Up.

Now you have a host of strategies to improve your blog engagement. 

I suggest you implement some of them right away and see what happens. 

Track your KPIs — metrics like bounce rate, engagement rate, views per session, and other factors we’ve discussed. 

That’s the only way to know if what you’re doing works. 

But I’m sure you’ll see great success with any one of these tactics. Make sure to let me know in the comments. I’d love to hear more about your progress and what worked for you.