13 Ways to Make Your Small Business Blog More Interactive


Why do we want our blogs to be more interactive? I googled that question and didn't find any kind of consensus or a clear answer to share. This seems a little odd with everyone talking about engagement (and lead magnets and sales funnels).

As soon as a reader takes some action (often a click), they are much more inclined to take a second action, and a third, and so on. It's exponential, and it's what engagement is.

If we know we want our readers to keep taking actions, we need to give them encouragement to do so... but not all at the same time. Here are a few ways to make your business blog more interactive.

#1. Use a link strategy within your posts to move readers along to more relevant content.

#2. Conduct a one question poll. Link to your poll in an app like SurveyMonkey which allows you to show results after someone answers. This poll could be legitimate research or a fun distraction. You can even publish the results in a future blog post.

#3. Include a special offer for your blog readers. Make it easy for them to take advantage of the offer... make it one simple click to solve their problem.

#4. Link to a video. Depending on the platform you use, you might also be able to embed the video into your blog post.

#5. Link to a free resource or some other type of giveaway. Make sure to gather new email addresses.

#6. Use click-to-tweet and other social media sharing options. Encourage readers to share because, if you make it easy, people will share.

#7. Have a menu on your blog so readers can seamlessly move between your blog and website.

#8. Ask readers to connect with you on Twitter, Facebook and so on. Use icons to draw their attention.

#9. Use a sidebar widget to show a list of popular articles, or other articles on the topic being read about.

#10. Display a blog subscription form prominently!

#11. Run a contest or game. If you have lots of blog posts, a scavenger hunt is a good way to get people to have a deeper look. You might offer a prize or make it just for fun.

#12. Include a search option. There is nothing more frustrating than looking for info on someone else's blog and there's no way to search. Including a tag cloud in your sidebar will also encourage deeper reading.

#13. Encourage comments to get feedback and new ideas.

The caveat? Don't try to do them all in your next blog post. Too many choices can often result in none being made.

(Thanks to my business blogging class for helping to brainstorm this list!)

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