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Confused? Posting and posting but no interaction?

Reader interaction can help you accomplish various goals for your website. Including adding user generated content.

It also helps to pull in more readers. Folks often want to join in and see what others are talking about.

But getting reader interaction isn’t always easy. It can be fairly challenging, especially in the beginning.

Ask

One of the most effective ways to get more interaction is to ask for it. It really doesn’t matter if you’re writing an article or a blog post. It’s about content writing.

Here are some questions or calls to action you can include at the end of your piece of content:

– What has been your experience?

– Do you have any advice on…?

– Give us your thoughts.

– Have you ever…?

– What’s your favorite…?

– Do you remember when…?

Of course some topics lend themselves better to this approach than others. A blog post on a cooking site about your favorite cookie recipe is likely to get a lot of reader content. Folks love to share their favorite recipes.

But a blog post about how to soak beans isn’t likely to get much feedback unless you ask for advice or information about different soaking methods.

Respond

When you respond to comments you start a discussion and then other folks may feel the desire to add their thoughts. If you don’t respond to the comments left on your blog, then there’s a good change the conversation will not go much further.

If you want to encourage more readers to chime in and offer their opinion, insight and comments, then always make time to respond to their comments.

Controversy

Spark a controversy or discussion by presenting a potentially heated topic. Controversy tends to motivate folks to share their personal opinion.

But do be careful.

If controversy doesn’t fit your brand or personality, then it may be best to stick with safe, newsworthy topics. Folks often feel motivated to share their opinion on both controversial and newsworthy topics.

We’re visual folks so share a picture or video. When we see a picture that makes us laugh, smile, cry or get angry, we are often motivated to comment on it.

I’ve read somewhere that sharing a photo showing a selfless act is a very common theme among viral posts. Which makes sense.

Sometimes a picture or a video is all you need to get interaction. It can say more than the words of an article or blog post can. But sometimes it’s nice to include it alongside relevant content.

Share some more

Within the body of your article or blog post, share a personal story. Take time to share something personal that relates to the content of your article or post.

It doesn’t have to be elaborate, long winded or extremely personal. When you share a story, you help to build rapport and trust. This in turn can motivate others to share their story.

You can end up learning a lot about your readers and potential customers when you share openly.

If you have a blog, reader activity and comments add credibility to your brand. This also tends to motivate more reader interaction, links and increased traffic.

So which tip will you try first?

Frustrated and feel like giving up?

Even if you are just starting out with a website and a blog you may have seemed to run out of things to write about. There are various ways to deal with this content writing.

You can hire someone to come up with ideas for you or to write the content for you.

Either of these would probably work. But there is a way for you to write the content yourself.

You just need a little inspiration.

Magazines

Pick up a copy of a magazine. And it doesn’t have to be in your niche either. Almost any magazine will do.

Take a look at the cover.

Write down the headlines.

They’ll probably look something like this:

The __ secrets to ____
Learn how to _____ today
___ tips to ____

Now replace the keywords with your own keywords.

Fill in the blanks.

If there are ten headlines on the cover of your magazine, you now have ten posts you can write.

Social networking site

Go to a social networking site of your choice and read posts in your niche. Visit the pages of your industry gurus. Read their latest posts. It’s very likely you’re going to find quite a few content ideas.

You may take issue or disagree with something said. That’s a great blog post.

You may think a topic needs more elaboration. You may read a comment to a social networking post that could be the start of an article. Social networking sites really are packed with content ideas. You just have to search for them.

Read your own blog

Read some of you own posts and review the comments. Look for the comments that have some meat to them or that asks a question. Skip past the ones that say “Thanks for the information.” Those don’t offer any value to you right now.

Make a list

Lists are generally well received online. And they are easy to make. If you’re struggling to come up with content ideas, write down three to five list ideas and tackle them one by one.

Blog post ideas are out there just waiting for you to find them. Use some creativity and inspiration and you will turn an unmotivated writing session into a productive afternoon or evening.

So tell me, which technique will you try first?

Feeling defeated because you aren’t a professional writer?

As a solopreneur you have a lot of roles to play. For example, some days you’re mainly CEO, some days CFO. And each role has a variety of tasks assigned to it.

One of the most important tasks is content writing.

Creating content can be intimidating and overwhelming. Since so many of us have a fear of writing, actually a fear of sharing what we write, we often procrastinate.

We usually think we aren’t very good writers.

But you know what? You don’t have to be a professional writer to write good content for your website.

There’s a difference between content published in newspapers and various magazines and content published on most websites.

Who is your content for?

Your web content doesn’t need to appeal to a broad audience. Nor does it need to be on a broad topic. Actually, it’s quite the opposite. Your content will be quite specific.

Let’s look at this example: “Ten tips to bake better peanut butter cookies.”

It provides value to a very specific target audience. And if you have a website about peanut butter or baking, then you can write this article without thinking much about it. You know how to make the cookies. The information is already in your head.

What is the style of content writing for the web?

And as you visit various websites, you notice that web content is also more conversational. It’s written to feel personal – as if you’re speaking to your audience directly.

You’ll use words like:

– You

– Your

– You’ll

– You’re

– And sometimes you’ll use “I”, “Me” and “We”

You don’t generally find these words in pieces of journalism unless they’re in quotes. For the most part, newspapers and magazines are generally more formal. They communicate from the third person perspective.

How is content formatted on your site?

Web content is also formatted for easy reading. You’ll most likely use bullet points, numbers and headings and subheadings to break up your content into bite-sized pieces.

So how can you use all of this if you’re not a “writer”?

You can recall this when you start to write content. This mindset can help you remember that writing content for your website is fairly straightforward.

You:

– Write what you know and what provides value to your audience

– Write with a conversational tone

– Write and format so it’s easy to read online

One of the simplest methods to use when you’re writing your online content is to spend a few minutes creating the structure for your post.

Start with a rough headline and subheadings.

Next, fill in the content.

Try writing as if you’re writing a letter to a friend. A trick is to use a salutation…but don’t forget to remove it before publishing.

Don’t worry about grammar and spelling errors initially. You will go back and edit later.

Once you have your thoughts down on paper, edit until you think it’s ready to be published.

Experiment and track your posts and content to evaluate what your readers respond to.

With some confidence, a plan, and tracking, you can write content to build and grow your business.

So tell me, who are you writing for?

Use Mind Mapping to Generate Ideas

There was a time when I would not know what to blog about. Each time I went to write a blog post,Continue Reading

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