In this post, we will talk about how to create engaging content and why you may need it in the first place.

Engaging content puts people longer on the content, helps you establish your authority, and gets you leads and conversions.

Why do you need engaging content?

In this section, we’ll explain why you need engaging content in the first place.

Engaging content is when you combine textual content with other elements to interest and attract readers and improve their odds of reading through the entire article. It’s how you structure content to make it more appealing to readers.

More times than I can count I have found myself choosing one particular article over the other despite them covering the same topic. The reason is subconsciously I chose articles that are well-designed, have plenty of images in them, or carry a superior writing style. All of these factors influence readers when they are deciding which article to read. Ultimately, this decides how many conversions you get.

Such details, despite being tiny are noticeable and make a huge difference. It can be said that engaging content produces double the conversions than otherwise.

It generates more page views. Marketers routinely say that engaging content is what helps them stand out from the crowd.

There’s already a lot of content online, some of it good, most of it bad. Nobody wants to go through all of this content to understand what can help them. It’s your job as a content creator to create something really helpful and offer it in a manner that’s genuinely interesting such as with interactive presentations, gifs or videos.

How to create engaging content

1. Use visuals
2. Use an appealing layout
3. Break text down into short parts
4. Speak in an informal tone
5. Add a call to action

Use visuals

If you create and publish lots of short articles, you don’t need visuals to guide the eye. But it’s a different story with long-form content that regularly has more than 1500 words. You should keep the reader’s attention by adding visuals every 200 to 300 words.

Talking about visuals, you can add images, GIFs, charts or graphics, videos, infographics, tables, emojis, etc. You can add anything that presents your information visually.

Engaging visuals are not just applicable to fashion websites. They’re good across a vast range of categories.

Add content in an interesting layout

Once your textual content is done, that doesn’t mean you can publish it immediately. Use creativity to publish your content, just so your message is easier to grasp. The layout should work with different variants that fit the content you’re going to publish.

As a layout strategy, you can play with many variants of presentations until you find one that fits your type of content.

As an alternative, you use different backgrounds, borders, call-to-action buttons, dividers to separate sections, unique fonts and typefaces, words, text blocks, images, and more.

Don’t simply end with a plain-text post. 

Break down the blog post into bite-sized paragraphs

Readers on the web feel naturally disoriented when they see huge articles with large blocks of text. They may feel dispirited to continue reading further. Some would prefer another article with a friendlier narrative, images, and fonts that makes it super-easy for them to grasp what’s being said.

When you access an article that has headings, shorter paragraphs, dividers, and highlights content with different colors, that’s easy to read compared to one with gigantic blocks of text.

This is despite that the number of words in both articles is similar. However, shorter paragraphs and images make it feel doable and easy to read.

This is how we are wired.

The same is true for books. When you read a box that presents itself as a dialogue between two people the structure gives you the sense that the latter is more doable.

Use a friendly voice

When you write online, the reader wants to be the hero of the story—that’s why you must identify with your audience first. Address readers the same way you talk to friends.

Don’t be impersonal. Use plenty of words like we and you. Build a narrative that speaks to the reader, and use your chance to tell your story. Add a personal touch to everything you want to say to gain the user’s empathy.

Specialized terms or industry jargon isn’t helpful. Use simple words, paint a whole world through examples, and be informative.

Use original studies, statistics, and other relevant media to back things up.

Add a call to action

A call to action informs people what you want them to do.

It’s a great example of copywriting that encourages people to share the post, subscribe to your list, download eBooks, or buy your product.

Add social sharing buttons, widgets, and other elements so that people start noticing.

Make them interact and engage with your content.

Summary

Creating engaging content can be extremely helpful to inform all your efforts with your content strategy.

To sum up:

• Use visuals
• Use appealing layouts
• Structure the article with headings and paragraphs
• Use a friendly tone
• End with a call to action button