OK. Firstly, let me clarify! The term I’m talking about is of course from the 1951 animated film Alice in Wonderland. So when I say, “rabbit hole”, I’m referring to the deep and colorful scenarios that Alice, our protagonist encounters as she gets lost in Wonderland. The movie pulls you in with a unique and original story line, and before you know it, you’re taken from one fantastical scenario to the next with nothing less than amazement and awe.
If you haven’t watched this Disney classic, I highly suggest you do, it’s just too bad you’re not an 8 year old, as that would have truly blown your mind – either way I digress…
By applying the same approach to any blog and organizing the writing to follow a similar concept is key to keeping readers engaged and hungry for more. Below I will cover three key elements that can turn a blog into an effective rabbit hole.
Plug Your Previous Posts:
Cross linking your content with your older posts is incredibly important, because it creates those little wins every time someone reads them! The more links that naturally lead to other relevant posts the better chance you will have at offering something the reader finds interesting and thought provoking. Find ways that you can “plug” other posts, strategize scenarios within each blog post that naturally leads the reader into your previous content. Curiosity is a natural human instinct, so use it to your advantage, and remember, it will get much easier once you have built up a library of great content.
Constantly Reiterating is Baaaad:
Original content is huge, not only in regards to social media, but also SEO. Your topics don’t need to be especially unique, but make sure your writing is as unique and original as possible when it comes to your points, arguments and general observations. Absolutely avoid trying to reiterate known subjects or current events, you will very quickly lose the reader if they feel they have already read the post you have written. The best way to know your content is unique is to google some of your written post and see how much of the content you have matches with what already exists on the interwebs.
Offer an Engaging Environment:
Simply sharing your blog posts on social media, or linking them on forums is great if you want to get a few clicks. However those clicks don’t mean diddly shit if you cant for the life of you engage the reader. Being able to mention, link or embed to show that your blog has more to offer apart from the odd post or two per week (I’m being generous here) is a big motivator for readers to return on a regular basis. Even if there isn’t new content to read! Referring your readers to an online community where they can go to share and engage in discussions about content relevant to your blog is a massive benefit. You’re essentially turning passive readers into members of your own community. For example, if you haven’t already clicked on the link above, the BES Community is something I started for the purpose of creating better engagement between our blog and bloggers. If you haven’t already, I highly suggest you signup and join us, it’s a fantastic resource for ALL THINGS blogging related.
See what I did there? I shamelessly plugged my community because that’s what I want bloggers to experience when they aren’t reading a new post. Now, I’m sure you noticed by now that even in this post I was able to use all three key elements to contribute to my rabbit hole (links included), and hopefully your curiosity lead you to at least one of them.
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Thanks so much for sharing, most bloggers post then start waiting for comments, for people to engage with their post but soon realize its not happening or not happening fast enough. I think its important to remind readers it`s ok to ask questions than just to leave them hanging.
You’re absolutely right! It’s all in the ability and effort you put into your posts when it comes to taking the time to engage your audience. I guess we can think of this as the 4th point.
Great read and well done, thanks for the tips!
Thank you! I’m glad you found it useful.
Engagement is so big. I find you have to dish it out if you want to get it as well. Awesome post!
Yes, and the big thing is overcoming your fear to actually go out there and “dish out” your content. That fear of angering the 1% is bullshit, there will always be the negative people that will try and put you down.
Interesting article. Lots of good information Thanks.
Glad you enjoyed it! Thank you.
That’s a good point. I have not ever asked people to leave a question. Thanks for the suggestion.
No problem, glad you found it useful.
Thank you! Because I am learning it all from scratch, I appreciate you sharing this information!
You’re welcome! We’ve all been there, so I understand how scary it can be just jump in and start doing, but I’m positive you will get this sorted out very quickly.
Rhanka for the suggestions. I’m going to take some time to be sure I add links between relevant posts. I often follow links on their pages so this seems like an effect strategy to use.
No problem Jenna! I’m excited that you found this useful. Best of luck with your strategy.
All really good tips. We see so many bloggers not linking to previous or relevant posts!