7 Ways to Make Your Blog Posts Interesting and Engaging

As a brand, you’re making an extra effort in creating great content for your website’s blog. You’re adding relevant and interesting posts, and maybe you’ve even hired a professional writer. However, your great new content seems to go unnoticed. There are always little improvements you can make for a better read!

For well over a decade, we’ve turned into an on-the-go society. People consume content voraciously, but they’re also moving around while doing it. Everyone is continuously reading on their phones and tablets, everywhere - and that can be hard on the eyes.

As a brand, you only have a few seconds to grab a reader’s attention before they leave your site. Because of this, it’s vital to do whatever you can to keep your readers. That’s why we’ve prepared this list on how to improve your readability!

Before we delve into which details make posts more comfortable to read, it’s important to remember:

Each Audience is Different

You have to cater your content to your target audience. If you’re writing about activities for children, your language should be fun and straightforward. If you’re writing about something technical, like heavy machinery, you will need to use big words. Know your readers and what they’re looking for when going to your blog for info.

Because it’s possible to blog about literally anything, you should keep the following tips as suggestions. Still, you should always strive for exciting and highly readable content!

1. Write concise and clear paragraphs

Here's a guide on how to write sections on your copy:

• Each paragraph should be clear and to-the-point. Lead each section with the most important sentence, and then dedicate the rest of to elaborate. This way, your readers have a clear notion of what you’ll be talking about each paragraph.
• Make sure your paragraphs have a good length, as it makes them easier to read. Your readers are behind a screen, and they want something that’s easily digestible. A 10-line paragraph gives everyone pause, so make sure you separate your ideas properly.

2. Go for short sentences

For easier reading, at Bright Vessel we recommend:

• Keep your sentences short and sharp. We consider sentences too long when they’re over 20 words. Sentence length depends on the language, as they all have different structures. Still, we advise our clients to keep their sentences short and exciting.
• Keep longer sentences far from each other. You can make up your paragraphs of one long sentence and a few smaller ones.

3. Separate relevant sections

You want your copy to look as clean as possible, so:

• Add subheadings. They make the content look more fluid and less intimidating to your reader.
• Separate each post in appropriate sections. This way, your audience knows what’s ahead. It makes the content look much cleaner and easier to get through.

4. Don’t get too Technical

A few ways to avoid alienating your readers with professional slang:

• Avoid long and complicated words. If there are two words with similar meanings, go for the shorter one that’s easier to understand. Reading from a screen is unpleasant, and you don’t want to make it tougher. Words with four syllables or more are considered “difficult” by most standards, including our platform.
• When technical terms are necessary, combine them with other good readability practices. When using longer technical terms, make sure your sentences and paragraphs are short and well structured!
• Remember that long and “difficult” words don’t necessarily make great SEO keywords. Make sure the focus keyword of each post is in tune with the content. A good focus keyword is the first step towards a great blog post.

5. Transition words are your friends

Transition or signal words make your sentences much easier to read, as they connect different ideas. Think of them as the cement that glues your sentences together, helping you build a paragraph. Some of the most used transition words include “also,” “similarly,” “however,” and “unless.”

You can use signal words to agree (“in the first place”), opposition (“in contrast”), or exemplify (“notably”). If your grammar is a little rusty, the Internet is full of helpful websites. Proper use of transition words will make your content much easier to read, leading to more engagement.

6. Make your posts look fun

Your blog might be a reader’s only entertainment during a long commute, so make it count!

• Mix things up. Have longer and shorter paragraphs, add relevant subheadings, use synonyms. Remember you’re writing for people, not search engine bots, so you want your content to be visually enticing.
• Pamper your readers with material that isn’t only informative but also fun to read. Add a few jokes, without breaking your tone entirely. It could make all the difference!

7. Use the Bright Vessel SEO tool

The Bright Vessel SEO tool for WordPress will guide you through each of the best practices above. Its features include:

• Checking the lengths of your sentences and paragraphs.
• Seeing if you use subheadings.
• Looking at the percentage of transition words in your copy.
• Reviewing the percentage of passive voice sentences present in your copy.
• Calculating your Flesch Reading Ease score. It’s a formula to see how your post scores on readability.

This is how your readability score will look when using Bright Vessel SEO!

Summarizing

It all comes down to this:

• Write good content that’s easy to understand.
• Get your point across by using shorter words.
• Don’t go overboard with crazy long sentences and paragraphs.
• Separate large chunks of text with subheadings.
• Add tools like free Grammar-checking and Hemingway to your writing process.
• Make sure you check that readability and SEO are green on your Bright Vessel tool!

Bright Vessel specializes in creating dynamic and Search Engine Optimization solutions for all kinds of brands. We can work together for a grand strategy that works for your needs. Contact us today to find out more about our plans and prices!