By Jessica Davis

We have all heard of obscure bloggers who attained instant fame after their blogs went viral. But those days are gone and now there are so many blogs that even the best writers and bloggers are finding it hard to get noticed. Similarly, even readers don’t know where to go as they are being deluged with information with so many blogs.

You also need to be able to keep users on your website so that they can discover more. This also keeps the bounce rate low because Google search does not appreciate high bounce rates. High user engagement also means that more readers will respond to the ads on your blog, which means more ad revenues for you. This is essential if you are depending on your blog for an income. Here are some ways that you can increase user engagement on your blog without having to beg for it.

Use widgets

With the help of widgets, you can encourage readers to read other posts on your blog and can also make it easier for them to find relevant content on your blog. Most blogging platforms provide these widgets or you can install them for free from various websites. These widgets will also help increase the page-views per person on your blog. Here are some widgets you must install on your blog:

Recent posts – This widget lets readers know about the latest posts that you have published.

Related posts – There will be times when you write about similar topics or you have divided one long article into many smaller posts. Help readers find these related posts with this widget.

Popular posts – This widget lets users know which blog posts have got the most visitors or comments.

You should also add social media widgets for Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest on your website so that users can share content easily.

Add eye-catching images

Images are always more attractive than a long article. A beautiful image will instantly capture the interest of a casual visitor and will encourage that person to read the blog post that the image is attached to. A blog post with no image also looks boring and uninviting. Make sure that the image loads easily and that thumbnails of the image appear without ruining the quality of the image.

Don’t get too carried away by trying to insert many images in one blog post as this will slow down the load time.

Place a subscription form

Calls-to-action are always helpful because readers want to know what to do next. This is why you need to put a subscription form at the bottom of every blog post so that users can choose to receive updates from you via email if they like your content. Often, readers happen upon a blog post that they really like and consequently, they may share it on various social media pages and make a mental note to return to the blog, but this happens very rarely. Even if they bookmark your blog, there is a high chance that they will forget about it. Have a gentle call to action at the bottom of blog posts asking readers to subscribe if they want more content from your blog and would like to be updated via email.

If readers like your blog posts, they will want to come back – so make it easier for them by sending them email updates. This is also an excellent way to get back readers to your blog the moment a new post is published. With a subscription form, you will also be able to expend your email lists in an organic manner.

About the author
Jessica Davis is a Content Marketing expert at Godot Media, a leading content services company. She works with other web content writers to create effective content for various businesses and individuals. She also writes on topics related to social media and technology.