37 Elements of Effective User Engagement #24 – Related Content

Welcome to Part 24 of my user engagement series and we are nearing the end. Over the next several parts, I’ll be discussing how small tweaks to your website can dramatically increase user engagement. For example, I’ve previously discussed adding social share buttons, side bars, decreasing the size of your paragraphs, and others. Today, I’ll be focusing on the importance of adding relevant content links to the bottom of your content.

This strategy is NOT only great for building internal links within your content, but also increasing engagement on your blog. However, it’s not as easy as adding links to your content because they need to be attractive enough so people want to click-through. If you are using WordPress, then you can install some cool plug-ins to streamline the entire process.

Let’s get started.

What are Relevant Links?

This strategy is very easy to understand because you’ve probably seen it on almost every blog you visit. For example, let’s take a quick look at ZacJohnson.com.

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You’ll notice from the illustration above that the reader has many more options available to them when they are done reading the content on the current page. The real value is provided because you are linking to additional resources that will help them gain more insight into the topic. Many people have different levels of experience and understanding, which is why it’s important you keep reiterating the point you’re trying to get across.

Several years back, this would be an implementation you would have to make manually, which meant going back and adding them underneath your blog. However, now you have a simple plug-in that can do the trick for you. Before continuing, here are a few more things to keep in mind:

First, adding these links is a great way to increase engagement on your blog. You are keeping them on your blog longer, increasing every time on page. Secondly, this system helps lower bounce rate because people will visit other pages on your blog. Third, it can help increase social shares and conversions on different types of content spread out all over your blog.

Implementation

If you have built your blog from scratch, then you might have a problem implementing this strategy going forward. Imagine having 500 pages and having to go back, connecting content together. However, I personally think if you are building websites from scratch using HTMP, then you’re setting yourself up for a battle going forward. HTML coding is great to make tweaks that you’ll implement into CMS platforms like WordPress, Drupal and Joomla, but your foundation should be a solid CMS platform.

For those of you using WordPress, let’s look at plug-ins that are perfect for implementing related content.

  • nRelate – one click install and little configuration needed from the backend.
  • Contextual posts – great to add related posts without having to include images. Perfect for those who don’t want to show posts with images. Works right out of the box.
  • Related Links – Very simple to use and the choice for many bloggers. Simply click and it’ll configure on its own unless you have some custom requirements.

Wrapping It Up…

This post was short and right to the point simply because you can implement this with the click of a button. In the end, if you have been blogging for many years, then you know the importance of interlinking and making sure your readers get the value they deserve. In the end, if you can keep providing your readers with value, you won’t have a problem creating and increasing engagement over time. Test the different plug-ins and settle on the one you find easy to use and customize.

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