Ending a blog post can be daunting sometimes. It can be difficult to find the words to sum up the subject you’ve been writing on for the last several hundred words. The truth is, you’ve already done the hard work with your introduction, hooking them, and the body of your post for keeping them. In your conclusion, you want to keep your audience engaged, and leave them with a positive taste in their mouth toward your work. For your everyday readers, you’ll want to make sure your conclusions aren’t repetitive.
Short and Sweet
Everyone has heard the saying keep it short and sweet, and less is more. Both of those classic lines are true when it comes to ending a blog post. You know your post is ending, and your reader knows your post is ending. There’s no need to drag it out. One or two sentences, maybe even a third if it’s warranted, is plenty to end your piece on a positive note for your readers and they will happily come back for more.
What Not to Do
Avoid repeating what the reader already knows. If it’s clear that you’re concluding your post, there’s no need to write “in conclusion…” or “in summary…”. There are much better ways to wrap up a post and the English language is vast enough to have more options. This isn’t to be confused with simplifying everything for the reader and putting everything cut and dry in front of them at the end of the post. Still give them the bare bones of why they read your blog and the key takeaways they should now possess.
True Summary
There’s nothing wrong with giving a full summary of the post to leave your reader with all the key takeaways fresh on their mind. You’ll be able to have the final say in what should have been taken from the post. You spent hours working on the post, so you should be happy with the key points the reader takes with them. They obviously came for a reason, so running back over the key points will be helpful for the reader, and also will keep you accountable during the writing process.
Circle Back
Make your reader remember why they came to your post in the first place by circling back to the beginning. They obviously typed something in to direct them to your article. So show them that they came to the right spot and that they can continue coming back to your posts. This can be very similar to a true summary and can give the reader all they need in one sentence. Remind them of the importance of the topic they just spent their time reading about, and give them a reason to continue reading what you have to say.
Call to Action
Leave your readers with something to think about, and a solution to the problem they came to your blog to solve. Include a Call to Action (CTA for short) to answer your reader’s question of “why did I end up on this blog?”. Provide them with a reason to return to your blog later. Additionally, give them some direction on where they should go next. This is where you can link related content from your peers, or even your own relatable work. Use your platform to grow your blog. Linking similar blogs or articles answering the same types of questions you are with your topic.
Cliffhanger
Not every conclusion needs to be clean-cut and simple. You can leave your readers hanging with the perfect mix of summary and curiosity to know what your next thoughts will be. This approach is especially successful when you are posting a series of blog entries all with related topics. Or even the same topic drug out over several different sub-topics. Keeping the interest of your readers will be a marketing technique all its own by using a cliffhanger.
Wrap Up
Conclusions don’t have to be the same every time, and sometimes you may not even need one. The beauty of writing is that you can play around with new conclusion styles and edit until you’re happy. You now have all the tools to end a blog post with a piece you’re happy with. Keep your readers in mind and leave them with a reason to come back.
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