One of the most important aspects of a good blog post is its ending. Just like movies, books, and other stories, the ending needs to nail it. Perfecting how to end a blog post is part art and part science, and we’ve got some ideas that will prolong engagement and drive action.
Tie a Bow on the Topic or Point in Your Ending
The last section of your blog post is all about summarizing, reiterating, and driving home the message. However, it’s not the same as the conclusion of a research paper. In fact, it’s a good practice never to put “conclusion” as your sub-header. This is a common practice, but it’s not the impactful ending your blog should have because this isn’t English Lit.
Rather, you are reasserting your key takeaways from the post. This isn’t a time for fluff or packing in more keywords or word count. It’s a chance to remind the reader what you’ve reviewed in the post so that they walk away with knowledge around the subject that should stick.
Pose a Question to Provide a Conversational Feel
Most company blogs have a conversational tone. They aren’t stuffy or formal. Instead, they are interesting, introspective, and helpful. You can use questions as the subheader for your ending it two ways.
First, they make a great call to action (CTA), such as:
- Are you ready to XYZ?
- Do you want to learn about XYZ?
You’re asking the question of your buyer that can move them to the next phase in the buyer’s journey.
Second, the question could be specific to the topic, like:
- Does XYZ impact your business?
- Is your XYZ ready for an upgrade?
These question types describe queries that a prospect should be or could be asking themselves about their challenge.
Question endings create a conversational space and can be much more effective than directives.
Always End with a CTA
If your blog just ends with a summary or a few wrap-up sentences, your audience will not take further action. They won’t click to more content or a landing page. It doesn’t move the relationship further.
That’s why every blog needs a CTA! That should be part of your content strategy — defining CTAs, how you’ll use them, and what you want buyers to do.
That doesn’t mean that every CTA should be promotional or jump right to purchasing or requesting a quote. There are many shades of CTAs, and they align with where the blog sits in the funnel:
- Top of Funnel (ToFU): Awareness
- Middle of Funnel (MoFU): Consideration
- Bottom of Funnel (BoFU): Decision
So, what are the types of CTAs you can use for each?
ToFU
These blog posts are typically purely educational, and the CTAs should be, too.
- Direct them to more related content, which could be another blog or a gated resource like an ebook or whitepaper.
- Encourage them to subscribe to your blog, which provides you with an opt-in to email marketing so you can nurture the relationship.
- Ask readers to follow you on social media for more great content.
MoFU
These blogs are beyond the awareness stage, and your buyer is considering specific solutions.
- Offer them case studies specific to that blog’s topic to demonstrate your company’s credibility.
- Provide them with comparisons between your product or service and the competition.
- Guide them to checklists that can help them prepare to implement the new service or product they seek.
BoFU
At this point, you are seeking the conversion, and the prospect is ready to buy.
- Drive them to landing pages to buy, start a free trial, request a meeting, or get a quote.
- Send them to pre-onboarding content so they can experience what it’s like to be your customer.
Use Your Ending to Drive Buzz for an Event
In determining how to end a blog post, another option is to generate buzz about an event. That could be an in-person event hosted by your company or an industry trade show, a webinar, or a podcast.
In the last year-plus, with most in-person meetings and events canceled, online webinars and other streaming happenings have become valuable in connecting with new audiences and customers.
If you’re writing content around the topics or industries featured in the event, it makes sense for this to be the ending. Give a quick synopsis of the event and a place and time if applicable (if on-demand, not necessary), then end with the invite.
One note is that if these are live events, you’ll need to go back to those blogs after the event and update them. If it’s still available on-demand, then change the language a bit to reflect this.
Promote Future Content
If you’re using a content calendar, you likely plan out 30 or more days ahead. If you’re working on something really appealing that your audience will want to consume — original research, product launches, or a data-driven whitepaper — then you can tease that at the end of relevant blogs.
When those things get published, update the ending to include a link to them.
Foster Discussion
You can use this in conjunction with asking a question. This type of blog ending only works if you allow for comments. It will work best for blogs on emerging trends or upcoming changes within an industry. It could enable customers and prospects to crowdsource ideas and supports a thought leadership approach to content marketing.
How to End a Blog Post — Lots of Opportunities to Engage and Convert
There are many ways to end a blog post, and you can use many of these together. Every blog needs a CTA that aligns with the funnel. It’s always good to summarize the points and ideas explored. Starting conversations or promoting upcoming events are also great ways to keep things going and your audience engaged. You’ll know which strategies work best for you by checking your content analytics.
So, how do you end your blogs? Let us know what works for your content team in the comments below.