Aug 12, 2014 / General Advice & Pro Tips

Five Ways to End Your Post

You’ve crafted a stellar opening sentence — but how do you end your post? Here are some ideas to consider.

<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/followtheseinstructions/5693524143">Image</a> by <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/followtheseinstructions/">followtheinstructions</a> (<a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/">CC BY-SA 2.0</a>)

Many of you devote a lot of time and attention to your opening sentences — and rightfully so. Considering how important it is to hook your readers from the get-go, you want to get that part right.

In writing just as in music, though, our lingering impression of the piece we’ve just consumed depends just as much — if not more so — on the finale. Yet so often, by the time we reach the end of our post, we’re too tired, too unfocused, or too eager to hit the Publish button to care too much about how we bid farewell to our audience.

If that sounds like you, it might be time to rethink how you approach your post endings. Here are five ideas to make the tail end of your post just as engaging as its first note.

Throw a teaser

Why not use the very end of one post to pique your reader’s interest in your next one? Keep your visitors in the loop by letting them know, towards the end of your post, what upcoming attractions they can expect on your blog. This works especially well if you write multi-part stories or recurring features, though it can be useful for any type of post.

Ask a question

Note: You can use typography to set the question apart from the body of your post — here at The Daily Post, we often end pieces with a question in italics.

Thought-provoking posts often generate a lively discussion without too much prodding. Ending your post with a question, however, can be a particularly efficient way to jump-start the action in your comments section. A yes/no or either/or question will make it easy to engage your readers, while more open-ended ones might inspire longer, more thoughtful responses.

Share a quote

Many bloggers use quotes at the beginning of their posts to set the right mood for what follows, like epigraphs in a book. Sometimes, though, ending with a powerful quote can be just as effective — whether it’s a famous line from a play or a movie, a verse of poetry, or even a snippet of dialog by people mentioned earlier on in the same post. It’s a great method to convey emotion without explicitly stating how you feel.

Create a poll

Note: A poll doesn’t have to come at the expense of thoughtful comments — you could invite everyone to elaborate on their response in the comments.

A tried-and-tested way to get your visitors to reflect on what they’ve just read is to add a poll at the bottom of your post. If you wrote about a decision you’ve made, your poll could ask whether it was the right one. If you debated which course of action to follow, you can solicit direct feedback from your audience. You could even use a poll to determine whether readers enjoyed your post, and if they’d like to see similar ones in the future.

Repeat yourself

Repetition can be a powerful stylistic and narrative tool — why not use it at the very end of your post to give it a stronger sense of closure? You could highlight the journey you’ve covered in your post by showing how the same sentence reads differently in a different context. You’d also be giving your readers a mnemonic device — a memory aid —  that might help distinguishing your piece from all the other blogs they’ll visit that day.

How do you tend to end your posts? Do you have any advice to share about which endings to try out — and which to avoid? We’d love to hear your insights!

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      1. Questions on other blogs have prompted me to comment so perhaps they’re useful for getting people involved. I’m yet to try that myself though. I’m sure there’ll be an angsty teen, “WHY DOESN’T HE LOVE ME??” sooner or later but it’s more a question for the universe than for fellow bloggers…

        Liked by 3 people

  4. To be honest, i prefer ending my posts by asking questions. Because as a reader, i tend to enjoy reading posts that don’t just end at the ‘full stop’ but make me wonder and think a little bit more about the topic being discussed.

    Liked by 5 people

  6. At the end of my posts, I love to include a link to my new favorite songs, since I find new songs on the daily. I recently included a poll at the end of one blog post, and lots of people voted, so I think I will be doing that much more.
    Content wise, I like to end with a call to action, or a general statement that is relatable to most readers.

    Liked by 4 people

  7. I use a tagline for the column I write for our site. It is thematic to the topic discussions and (I hope) is memorable for the reader. Quotes at the end is a great idea! Usually, I’ll use quotes in the middle to help separate the piece a little but at the end seems like it could be effective.

    Liked by 1 person

  8. Nice post. Provided me some food for thought. I generally end my posts with a “happy ending” or using a quote at the end. I also urge people to think over the matter. Considering to ask a question or throw a teaser in my next post. Thanks for the ideas! 🙂

    Check out my latest post “Double Faced People: The 3 Types” at http://wp.me/p4eluy-6m which I have ended with a quote by Winston Churchill. Your feedback is most welcome!

    Liked by 1 person

  9. I often throw in a form of repetition. Actually, today, I used an exact line of repetition. For me, a good ‘close’ is letting the reader know why they started reading the post in the first place. As a reader myself, I want closure.

    Liked by 2 people

  12. I try and conclude everything I’ve mentioned in the post. Ask readers if they enjoyed it/if they want more like it.

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  19. I love that you ended this post with one of the listed ways to end a post. Clever. I love all your examples and try to incorporate at least one of them in at the end of each of our posts. I’ve never tried a poll though. I will have to keep that one in mind.
    -April w/ Nexus Development

    Liked by 2 people

  20. Awesome information. Very informative, and straight to the point. I am new to this site, just posted my first blog. I fearfully took part in short story challenge. I know I have a lot of work a head of me. If you could possibly look over I would appreciate it. Thanks, again for this information. ” )

    Liked by 1 person

  21. You have ended your post as I do mine; with a question looking for discussion. My comments section has become something readers look for. Frankly I’m starting to think it may be more interesting than the actual posts. 🙂 Great to see that kind of international conversation going on.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Ha ha. I have to admit to this being the case for one of the blogs that I follow. The comments are becoming more interesting than the actual post!

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  24. ‘Repeat yourself’ – this I do a lot, in most of my posts. Creating a poll I have never done. But I’ll try that and the others too.

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  25. I’ve been going with questions in the hope of prompting engagement within the comments, but haven’t had much luck! I’m thinking of using the quote idea, and styling it as an image that can also become a pinnable quote as another way to drive traffic.

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  26. I tend to end my posts with a concluding statement. Well, doesn’t know really if it works, but no matter, I just want to write anyway.

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  28. Thanks for the ideas. Ending a post has been the biggest challenge for me…even with using questions, adding teasers, etc. Many times, I’m writing, writing, writing and it all sounds really good…then I get stuck trying to find the cohesive ending that makes sense and doesn’t feel like I’ve suddenly closed the door.

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  29. What should we do if the post is only an image, like in the photo challenges, should we add our name at the end? or/and something like ” I hope you’ve enjoyed it” ,…

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  30. Just published my first post!
    Seeing as I’ve expressed my opinion on a topic that’s out of my control, I’ve gone for a bit of self deprecatory perspective, to conclude? Does anyone have any suggestions?

    Thank you!

    Liked by 1 person