(This article originally appeared on smallbizblog.com, which has since folded.)
You’ve put all this time into crafting the perfect article or blog post. You’ve got a great headline, your SEO is spot-on, and you’ve nailed every point of your outline with, let’s face it, a certain linguistic genius. Your reader is enthralled, breathlessly gliding through paragraphs, and then… the article just ends. Full stop. The reader scrolls, scrolls, but that’s it. Disappointed, the reader heads off to see what kind of kitten pix are trending.
You have just committed blogging malpractice.
Don’t be that writer who leaves a reader hanging at the end. Instead, keep the conversation going with what are known as calls to action. In days of old, these usually were something like sending in a card (postage paid!) for a free trial subscription. You have a number of more interesting options in the Internet age for keeping readers engaged after they finish your article. But first, a couple of brief notes on…