engaging (comparative more engaging, superlative most engaging) – Interesting; charming; attractive, especially of a manner or behaviour.Wiktionary
Good posts are those that add value to your blog. Engaging posts are those that charm your readers and create your community. Here is my attempt to put process of writing engaging post in a recipe.
Photo by imagesbykim.
- Before cooking comes preparation. Forget about unread emails, unanswered calls and traffic target for a month. At moment you are only a Writer that wants to write. Clear your head leaving nothing but ideas in it.
- Have a choice of ingredients. Nothing exquisite can be possibly cooked from single apple (pun intended). Research and read. Gather opinions but don’t be slave to them. See what the world has to say and think what can you say to the world.
- Decide on taste. What do you want to achieve with your post? Chilled cynical contradiction to cool the hype? Spicy hot discussion to set it on fire? Write a wholesome post and avoid random ideas, sewn together by roughly common theme.
- Add your personal touch. Compiling chart from product page is easy. Showing that you know what you are writing about, had nice chat with that developer and managed to pitch him good feature is hard (proof helps). Information is abundant, experience is rare so use plenty of it.
- Serve to wow. Work on form, spell-check, get that list right, add killing title and stunning relevant image. Make post more than compilation of letters.
And last but not least – do not stick to recipes if you can surpass them.
This is an entry for Blogsessive’s Group Writing Project & Contest. Supported by U Printing – Business Cards and Blog Design Studio.
(project roundup) And the winner is me! :)
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Hey Rarst, thank you for your entry in the contest. It’s a very nice post, a pleasure to read!
@Alex
Thanks for opportunity. :) I sent you proper submission as required in rules. Looking forward to project roundup.
Very nice entry – I like the idea of charming your readers. I think charm goes a long way to being engaging :-)
@Joanna Young
Some blogs are engaging logically – you evaluate what stuff it provides, is it decently updated, etc. But some have charming attitude – you can wander on single post and instantly feel that blog has attitude and craft poured in it that sets it apart from the rest.
Thanks for your visit and comment. :)
Great post. I have only been visiting here for a while now but this time you have gone way above your normal high standard. This was ‘charming’ indeed.
@Lyndi
Thanks! I am not experienced enough to write good posts daily. But with nice idea, decent mood and some inspiration I can jump above my average. Improving is important, isn’t it? :)
Hey this is a wonderful post. It will surely help and deserves a link back. :) Thanks a lot for taking part in the contest.
@Blog Design Studio
Thanks for sponsoring contest with such an interesting topic. :)
Excellent post (it’s making me hungry!). I especially like the “serve to wow” concept. You have to think outside the recipe box! Congratulations on winning the contest – you are most deserving.
@Brad Shorr
Thanks! :) Serving is important. There is a reason why Internet has graphics and markup. It’s important not to overdo it, but writing blog like boring book is no good for engaging readers in my opinion.