How to End a Blog Post: 15 Ways to Increase Engagement

Many marketers and writers get stuck on ending a blog post successfully. Sometimes, it’s hard enough coming up with a plan to write a blog post outline, but having writer’s block when you’re so close to the end can be really frustrating. Blogging helps SEO, so it’s imperative you write a killer conclusion to ensure your site visitors keep engaging with your content.

Here’s a pro tip for coming up with the right conclusion for every blog post: Simply ensure how you end your post relates to your goal for writing that blog post in the first place.

For example, if your goal is selling a product or service, you would end with a call to action (CTA).

If your goal is getting more engagement in your blog post, then you’d promote a discussion among your readers.

If your goal is getting signups for your newsletter, then you’d end with a link to your newsletter.

In most cases, you want your target audience to take some form of action by the time they’ve finished your article.

How to End a Blog Post Like a Pro

There are numerous ideas for concluding your article. How you approach it will be based on your goals, what content and marketing channels you have at your disposal, and how creative you are.

A man buttoning up his suit and thinking about how to end a blog post.

Here are 15 powerful ways you can end your blog post.

Example 1: Use a Call-to-Action (CTA)

A CTA prompts readers to take a desired action after reading your content, ensuring your blog post doesn't end as a mere collection of words, but a catalyst for engagement and action.

Create a sense of urgency by encouraging readers to act immediately.

For example, in a blog post about creating a grocery list, you might conclude with a CTA like "Don't wait! Download our free, printable grocery list template now and never forget an item again."

Example 2: Recap Your Main Points

One of the most popular ways to wrap up your blog post is by simply writing a summary of all your major points. The conclusion is the perfect place to do this since it’s the last time you can imprint all your main takeaways in your readers’ minds.

An illustration of a woman checking off a checklist. — Credit: Image by Freepik

If you’re summing up a blog post about content marketing, for instance, you might wrap up like this:

“Content marketing educates your prospects along all stages of the buyer’s journey. Blog posts, case studies, and ebooks work together to address their pain points and position your solution as their answer. By building relationships with your prospects through content, you are top of mind during decision time.”

Example 3: Encourage Your Readers to Leave Comments

When ending a blog post, encourage reader engagement to foster a sense of community. One effective way to achieve this is by prompting readers to leave comments. By doing so, you invite them to share their thoughts, opinions, and experiences related to the content. Here are a few strategies to encourage comments:

Ask open-ended questions — End your blog post with discussion questions that provoke thought and encourage readers to share their views. If you look at how we end each blog post, we always ask our audience if they have any questions and to keep the conversation going.
Offer an actionable solution — Provide your readers with an actionable solution or a next step they can take based on the blog's content. Encourage them to share their experiences when implementing these actions.
Seek feedback — Invite your readers to provide feedback on the blog post itself. Ask if they found the article helpful or beneficial.

Example 4: Make It Succinct

There’s something to be said about brevity. Never take longer than you have to as you finish making your point. When your article is already close to 1500 words—what studies show is the mean word count of results on the 1st SERP of Google—people want to leave with the main takeaway instead of having to carefully parse through a long conclusion.

That’s why it pays to make your conclusion short and to the point. This makes it easy for your audience to remember the most important message.

Example 5: Link to Other Blog Posts

To prompt your site visitors to read and consume more content on your blog and website, linking to other articles you’ve produced is key. The conclusion of your blog posts gives you the chance to point your readers to related articles that supplement their understanding of the topic that they’ve just read about.

When our blog posts here end, we always link to three other blog posts at the bottom that we’ve already published. These are always closely related to the information of the article our audience has just consumed and will flesh out their understanding of a related subject.

Example 6: Solve Your Readers’ Problems

Why are readers in the form of organic traffic flooding your blog in the first place? Yes, they’ve found you from organic search and they were searching for keywords you’ve optimized, but they also stick around to read your blog post because they had a problem they thought you could solve.

An illustration of a man fitting a puzzle piece into a bigger puzzle. — Credit: Image by storyset on Freepik

Make it clear in the conclusion of your blog post that readers should do x, y, and z to find the solution they believed your content delivered.

For example, if readers came to your blog post because they found you by searching for “blog templates,” then provide those downloadable templates as you end your blog post.

Example 7: Answer Your Readers' Questions

Similarly, your target audience is reading your article because they believe that it’ll answer their questions. Again, they may’ve found your blog post from an organic search result that was based on a question and clicked through, so stress that your just answered their burning questions as you conclude.

Quickly recap the who, what, where, when, why and how of their queries. Briefly go over the topic you covered, how readers now know something they didn’t before they started reading, and how they can take action with these answers and apply them to their lives.

Example 8: Don't Use a Conclusion at All

Here’s a twist to ending your blog post: Don’t conclude anything at all. Simply finish on your last section, subsection, or point and leave it at that. While this may seem a bit abrupt, this unconventional approach can be a strongly effective tactic that prompts your site visitors to focus on the strength of your final takeaway in the article.

Further, it can seem contrived if you force a conclusion just for the sake of it at the end of your article. After all, when you’ve written and said all there is about a specific topic, then you have nothing left. Better to leave it at that instead of padding your article with fluff.

Example 9: Ask Your Readers a Question

You can also wrap up by throwing the ball back in your readers’ court, which they wouldn’t expect. Asking them a question as you finish increases their level of engagement, as it gets them to think deeper about your content that they’ve just consumed.

Make sure that your question is pertinent to the topic they just finished reading about.

For example, if you’ve written a blog post about SEO acronyms, ask your readers what specific term or abbreviation they found the most challenging to understand. Such an approach also encourages a discussion, which builds community on your blog.

Example 10: Link to Your Related Content

The end of a blog post is a perfect opportunity for you to also advertise content that’s related to your article. For instance, if you have blog posts that you’ve published that are in the same category as your article, you could link to them at the conclusion. This allows your readers to explore similar topics that will supplement what they just absorbed in your blog post. This lets them also spend more time on your website, which is always helpful for metrics like time on page and conversions.

A chain link extending across the water.

On our blog, we always link to three related pieces of content at the very bottom of our blog posts. Doing this allows our audience to further interact with our content and sets up opportunities for extra engagement.

Example 11: End by Inspiring Your Audience

One powerful technique is to inspire your readers as you close out your blog post. Wrap up by igniting a spark within them.

Offer a practical piece of advice that readers can apply to their own lives. This empowers them to take action and see tangible results.

You can also mention future content that you have planned for your blog. Mention upcoming categories of topics or areas you plan to explore in future posts. This creates anticipation and encourages readers to stay connected.

Another twist is you could indicate that you’ve used your own advice in your article and that it’s improved your own life or operations by a certain, quantifiable amount.

By ending your blog post on an inspiring note, you can leave your readers feeling motivated, empowered, and eager for more.

Example 12: Tell Your Readers to Share Your Blog Post

The shareability of your content is a strong factor in growing your website or blog organic traffic. The more people share your content—whether on social, email, or other channels—the more traffic comes to you. Social media helps SEO by boosting the performance of your content.

That’s why a simple request to your readers for them to share the blog post they’ve just read is an effortless way to boost your content performance. You could get additional backlinks as well, if people who see your shared article feel it’s worthy of a link.

On our blog, we have the usual social-sharing buttons on the sidebar to the left of the content, but you could also directly ask readers to share your post.

For example, you could phrase it like this:

“If you found this blog post helpful, share it with your friends and colleagues!”

Example 13: Tease Something

Let’s say you have a new course coming out or a new ebook that you’re going to make available for download on your blog. These upcoming events are perfect opportunities for you to incorporate as part of your article’s close.

Don’t give away the entirety of your announcement. Merely give a small preview or hint that something big is about to drop. This way of teasing an upcoming release creates just the right amount of suspense for your audience to keep wondering and guessing. It also has the practical benefit of motivating them to stick around and keep visiting your blog to see just exactly what you have planned for them…

Example 14: Direct Your Readers to Take Action

Wrap up your blog post in a compelling and action-oriented way, by pointing your readers to a clear next step.

You likely have other ways and channels that your audience can engage with you. Encourage your readers to stay connected by inviting them to subscribe to your newsletter, follow your social media accounts, or join your online community. This will help you build a loyal audience and foster long-term relationships, as well.

For example, if you’re building an email newsletter, close by telling your readers:

“Sign up to our insightful newsletter to get even more jam-packed tips and takeaways!”

Example 15: Offer Readers Additional Content

To end your blog post on a high note, try to offer readers additional content. By providing further resources, you establish your brand as a knowledgeable and reliable source of information.

If your blog post covers a broad topic, consider breaking it down into a series of posts. This not only allows you to delve deeper into the subject but also keeps your readers coming back for more. Tell your audience that part 2, part 3, etc, will be published soon.

A pair of hands giving a gift to another pair of hands.

Another tactic would be to offer your target audience free templates that relate to the topic of your post. For example, if you were writing about project management, you could end your article by offering your readers a free content calendar template, so they can better manage their blog creation schedule.

End a Blog Post Powerfully

Just because you’re writing a conclusion to your article doesn’t mean that it has to be forgettable. Your readers, who have spent the past few minutes taking in the information in your content, are likely very engaged by the time they read the end. That’s why it makes so much sense to spend extra time and thought to craft your conclusion in a persuasive way.

We hope our 15 examples have given you strong material for experimentation with your blog post conclusions, as well as creative fire to come up with your own.

For powerful content that gets to the 1st Google SERP and raises your revenue, partner with us at The Glorious Company. Our content marketing agency professionalizes the blogging process, ensuring that your blog post, from start to finish, makes your target audience take the action you want. Contact us today to grow your blog fast!

Have any questions? Keep the conversation going by leaving a comment below.

Related blog posts you don’t want to miss:

How to Write a Blog Post Outline the Right Way

Does Blogging Help SEO? 20 Powerful Reasons Why It Does

Content Marketing vs Digital Marketing: What’s the Difference

Featured Image Credit: Image by storyset on Freepik

Marc Schenker https://thegloriouscompanyltd.com