What makes a compelling blog post?

[JorieMunroe]

Blog posts enable you and your business to publish insights, thoughts, and stories on your website about any topic. They can help you boost brand awareness, credibility, conversions, and revenue. Most importantly, they can help you drive traffic to your website.

But take a moment and think about the last blog post you read. What made you want to read it? How did you feel after you finished? Did you make it to the end? What makes a blog post compelling and engaging?

Bonus points: Got a blog or blog post you keep returning to? Share it for the group in the comments below!

*To learn more about this, check out the Understanding Blogging in HubSpot lesson via HubSpot Academy. 

[NS-Zoe]

A compelling or engagaing blog solves a common pain point for a specific audience in an informative, fun and unique way. A little humor is also always a well added bonus if it is appropriate to the content/ topic discuss and the author can get away with it. 

[MDowling]

A good blog post should provide value to the reader, information that might be hard to find in other places, or that is written in a different way than other content they've been exposed to. 

[SHussain1]

Amazing

[AndreaBeckStout]

I like blog posts that give me a new perspective on how to examine problems or approach designing a solution. Sure, an occasional blog post that gives me step-by-step instructions in exhaustive detail can be something that I acutely need, but generally, I enjoy blog posts that give me a fresh way of looking at things.  Too many blog posts today are just "mailed-in" garbage content obviously ghostwritten by people who have no subject matter expertise in the topic. I also appreciate blog posts that establish empathy with the reader and uses an approachable tone.  There's nothing more tediously excruciating to read than dry academic-sounding prose in a blog post. 

[DWahl7]

A great blog post has value to the reader, include images or graphics and be concise. I also enjoy blogs that break up the blog with headings or sections to make it readable. 

Sometimes, when I am researching a new trend and I only see positive blogs about that product or trend, I get nervous if it is actually real results.

[Lorrie]

A good blog should answer questions being asked ... use a tool like SEMRush to find out what questions people are asking. Agree with others regarding not being wordy - good quality writing, etc.

[JamesC100]

Relevancy and topicality.

[NGantzhorn]

I keep going back to blog posts about marketing, or other topics that I want to learn about, or things that pertain to my life at this time.  I usually feel accomplished after reading the full article, and take notes or bookmark to return to the articles.  A blog post is engaging when it is not read like a text book, but it has facts to back up the keywords and knowledge.

[sfarshgar]

first of all, rich and useful content for the users should be in priority, moreover voting and asking questions have considerable results.

[HAnand7]

Interesting checklist

[SashaSalamandra]

A proper blog post addresses target consumers' needs and wants in a concise but personalized way. 

[MLemke]

Humor.  Humor and an unorthodox viewpoint that illustrates the message from an unexpected angle.

[MPoynton]

A good blog post must be written in engaging language and must answer questions your visitors and following are likely to ask. 

Plan content prior to writing it: Consider keywords, consider the purpose of the copy from a reader's point of view. 

Write content in clear sections so a quick overview is possible. Write enticing headlines for each section. 

Once written, leave for a day or more, then read it again with fresh eyes and consider whether the initial objectives have been met.   

[KHernandez]

What makes me read a blog post and finish it to the end is its something that is intresting to me. This is key for any blog you want to be helping the reader with whatever the blog is about and adding value to them and their thinking. I persoanlly prefer reading blog about fashion or how to jump start your career. Usually when I finish them I feel inspired. They are compelling because it is something I actually want to learn and read about blog wont be geared towards just anybody they first have to have the intrest in that subject.

[JCaragher]

The best blog posts are those that tell a story. A need is identified and a solution provided, all in a neat package.

[SMcArthur]

TLDR; gets scrolled immediately, but concise, topical content holds more value for me.

[YAdmin]

A blog post should offer an insight to something the user might not find on another website page. It's really about relevancy as well as a good strategy behind keywording the post that's easy to read.

[Trentster]

Easy to read, simple vocabulary, bulleted lists, and a bottom line are what I like in blog posts.

[SAli4]

Blogs have evolved from personal notes and experiences to contribution in society through power of content. Have emerged from content typos to images and video combinations.

[BDillon]

Great blog posts teach me something new or provide deeper insight into a topic that I'm interested in.

[MGlenn]

A blog post should intrigue your audience enough to keep them reading. It should be informative, yet engaging, and also unique enough that they cannot gather the exact same information off of a quick Google search - thus making your blog post and product unique.