How To Create Engaging Content
Joel Conner • June 2, 2020
How to make media that will actually be consumed by the modern distracted person.
Whoa now hold on… This is another blog about blogs? A post about media that engages ought to be, well, engaging, right? If you make it to the end of this article, you will have a new superpower! You’ll be able to draw in any reader and have them stick around long enough to get your point across. There are a few tricks used by best selling authors and award winner movie producers that work great for content marketers.
I have been enjoying 2 courses and 2 books simultaneously. How to write best selling fiction & how to produce engaging video. So much of what I am learning applies perfectly to web content. So many content marketers get so focused on getting people to their content (I have been guilty of this.) that they neglect to make content in such a way that readers/viewers will want to engage with the content.
Disclaimer: This is not an article about merely getting people to take action or engage with your business. That will never happen if you don’t first get them interested in what you are saying.
It’s not that the content is low quality (though this is also commonplace), it’s just not easy to digest. Even if the content is decent, if it’s presented poorly, no one will care and what’s even worse is that they won’t ever have the chance. Why, because if your delivery stinks, then your content may as well not exist. Search engines will interpret the bounce rates of your content to mean that users don’t like your content.
So, what to do about it? How do we ensure that your media is liked enough to be consumed?
5 keys to engaging content
- Start With Intrigue
- Introduce Conflict
- Deliver Something Valuable
- Be Personable & Builds Trust
- Invite Them to be apart of something
I’ll attempt to put this into a single statement.
Blue Swing Media’s Content Manifesto
Content should draw in the user, help them feel tension, deliver actionable insight while building trust and offering them a chance to in some way associated with the creator.
I know that this is no small task. And if your content just has 1 or 2 of these elements it will already be ahead of 80% of web articles that you encounter.
Start With Intrigue
Do you know what killed the second Star Wars Trilogy?
Well if you read to the end of this section I’ll tell you.
From the get-go, the post title, include some mystery.
Example: “How to get reviews on Google, in ways that you wouldn’t expect.”
Don’t spill the beans too early. Don’t give them the whole solution in the first sentence.
If you are solving a problem for the reader/watcher, give them a teaser. Let them know that their is more to come and that it will be worth the wait.
So what the second round of Star Wars movies less that wonderful?
Unless you lost in a galaxy far far away, you already knew the ending. And on top of that, it wasn’t a very warm and fuzzy ending. It was an anti-climax.
Introduce Conflict or Struggle
Life is full of struggle, pain, and conflict. Best selling novels and movies thrive on conflict. No one wants to watch two friends sitting idly at a coffee shop talking about the weather. Without conflict, you wouldn’t be reading this.
You have a need or pain point and you are hoping that this post might help your content get from A to B so that your business and get from A to B so that your life goals can get from A to B.
Why do I want this article to be as helpful as possible? Struggle. In compelling books and movies, we begin to care for a character, and then that person gets slammed into a conflict of some kind that they must overcome.
On your blog post, the reader is likely there not for mere entertainment, but because of some struggle that they have. If you can poke that pain point a bit, you may just invoke the motivation for them to consume your content.
Deliver Something Valuable
Ask yourself this question before you start writing, “Why should they care?”
If you can’t answer that question, then don’t waste your time. Then ask another question, “Does my blog post solve the issue with insight or does it just rephrase what most people already know from common sense?”
Readers are tired of catchy article titles that under-deliver. Or when the top 3 google results all basically say the same thing, just in a different way.
This doesn’t mean that you can’t write about something if someone else already has. It just means that your content needs to be something of value to the reader.
In college, many of us learned how to stretch out our content to fill four pages. This is exactly the opposite of what makes for good writing. Say what you need to say in as few words as possible.
Be Personable & Build Trust
When you can tell a story. I am writing from my man cave/office attached to our carport/therapy space. Managing my media agency from home allows me to help my wife with our two special needs children as much as possible. At any moment my door may burst open and children will be crawling all over me and my equipment. From my space to your screen, I believe that this post could make a difference for you and your family.
People like to know a bit about you. You don’t want to go on about your personal struggles, but you include a bit about yourself and what makes you different from all the bots out there. I enjoy taking conversations offline a quickly as possible. And when I get on the phone, I never ever try to sell them anything. People are valuable. All people. Be personable, learn from Mr. Rogers, care. It will always come back around.
Invite
Within your content, you want to give the readers a way to connect or reconnect with you. This could be in verbiage or it can be another on-page element. This is commonly labeled as the “call to action.” Be creative with your invitation. Here are some very common ways to invite people to connect with you.
Link to contact form
Click to call button
Chat Widget
Schedule a Meeting Form
Subscribe to Newsletter/Channel
Offer a free resource in exchange for contact information
Invite them or Challenge them to call you on the spot!
I genuinely hope that this will help make your content more engaging! If you would like to chat, please don’t hesitate to reach out!
Cheers,
Joel
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Discover proven strategies for real estate agents to optimize their content and websites for AI search platforms like ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity. Learn how to dominate AI-powered search results and attract more qualified leads in 2026.
A lot has changed since I published Digital Marketing with Tortoise & Hare in 2017. Back then, the digital marketing conversation was heavily centered on websites, search rankings, social media consistency, and building momentum over time. Those principles still matter, but the landscape has shifted in a big way. Even the way people discover businesses and consume information has changed. My book was published on June 12, 2017, and in many ways, that feels like a different era of digital marketing. One of the newer terms getting a lot of attention right now is GEO , which stands for Generative Engine Optimization . If you’ve been hearing people throw that term around and wondering whether it’s just another buzzword, you’re not alone. But there is something real behind it, and it’s worth understanding. So, What Is GEO? GEO is essentially the practice of optimizing your business, website, and content so that AI-driven search experiences can find, understand, trust, and reference you. Traditional SEO has focused on helping your website rank in search engine results. GEO is more about helping your brand show up in AI-generated answers , summaries, recommendations, and citations. In simple terms: SEO helps you rank. GEO helps you get referenced. That’s a meaningful distinction. Today, people are no longer just typing a keyword into Google and clicking through ten blue links. More and more, they are asking full questions and receiving summarized answers from AI tools. That means your content is not only competing for rankings anymore. It is also competing to become part of the answer itself. Has SEO Been Replaced? No. Let me say that clearly: GEO does not replace SEO. It builds on it. If your website is poorly structured, your content is thin, your service pages are weak, and your business has little authority online, then GEO is not going to magically fix that. The same foundational principles still matter: a technically sound website strong service and location pages clear messaging helpful content consistent brand signals trust and authority In other words, the tortoise still matters. Steady, strategic digital marketing still wins over hype, shortcuts, and shiny-object syndrome. That hasn’t changed. What has changed is that now your content needs to be useful not just for human readers and search crawlers, but also for AI systems trying to summarize the web. Why GEO Matters If AI-powered search experiences continue to grow, businesses that are easiest to understand and trust will have an advantage. That means the question is no longer just: “How do I rank for this keyword?” It’s also: “How do I become the kind of source that AI tools want to cite, summarize, and recommend?” That changes the strategy. Businesses that win in this next phase will likely have content that is: clear direct well-structured specific trustworthy supported by real-world authority The businesses that struggle will often be the ones still publishing vague, bloated, keyword-stuffed content that says a lot without really answering anything.
Most People Think They Understand AI Search. They Don’t. And that misunderstanding is exactly why they’re not showing up in: Perplexity Google AI Overviews (Gemini) ChatGPT web results Let’s break something open that most churches and ministries haven’t realized yet. The Assumption That’s Costing You Visibility You search for: “churches near me” You check Google. You see the top results—maybe even your church is listed. So logically… 👉 Those should be the churches AI recommends, right? Wrong. The Strange Reality of AI Search In many cases, AI-generated answers (especially in Google AI Overviews or Perplexity) recommend churches that: Aren’t at the very top of Google Sometimes aren’t even the most obvious local options At first glance, it feels random. It’s not. It’s a pattern. “Wait… Doesn’t Local SEO Still Matter?” Yes. It absolutely does. Showing up in Google Maps, having reviews, and optimizing your website are still critical foundations . But here’s the shift most churches don’t see: 👉 Your keyword is just the starting point. Not the final query. What AI Is Actually Doing Behind the Scenes AI doesn’t just take “churches near me” at face value. It reinterprets the intent. Inside tools like Google’s Gemini, if you dig a little deeper, you’ll notice something like this: “The user wants a church… but what kind? Maybe they want a family-friendly church… or a Bible-based church… or something with kids programs… I should search for: family-friendly churches near me with kids ministry” 💥 That’s the turning point. Why Your Church Isn’t Showing Up Here’s what happens next: AI rewrites the query It searches using its version of the intent It pulls churches that match that refined query So now… 👉 The churches being recommended are NOT just optimized for “churches near me.” They’re aligned with something like: “family-friendly church near me” “church with strong kids ministry near me” “non-denominational church with modern worship near me” Proof in Action If you take one of those rewritten queries, like: “family-friendly church near me with kids ministry” …and search it yourself… You’ll often see: 👉 The same churches AI is recommending. This pattern shows up across: Gemini (Google AI Overviews) ChatGPT search Perplexity And it’s consistent. The Hard Truth No One Is Talking About Let’s be clear: ❌ Your church isn’t being ignored ❌ SEO isn’t broken 👉 You’re losing interpretation battles. The New Game: AI Search for Churches If you want your church to show up in AI-driven results, here’s what actually works: 1. Start with the Core Search Think: “churches near me” “church in [your city]” 2. Identify How AI Expands It Ask: What kind of church is someone looking for? What concerns or needs might they have? Examples: Families with kids Young adults Spanish-speaking communities Bible-teaching focus 3. Discover the Rewritten Queries These might look like: “family-friendly church in [city]” “Christian church with youth group near me” “church with Spanish service near me” “small church with strong community near me” 4. Create Content That Matches Not just a generic homepage. But pages or sections that clearly communicate: Kids ministry Youth programs Worship style Beliefs Community life 5. Align With How AI Thinks When your church clearly answers those deeper needs… 👉 AI starts including you in its recommendations. This Isn’t About Doing More. It’s About Being Clearer. You don’t need: More complicated SEO strategies More technical tricks You need: 👉 Clear alignment with real human intent—through the lens of AI. Final Thought AI search is changing how people find a church. They’re not just searching… 👉 They’re asking. And AI is answering based on interpreted needs , not just keywords. The churches that will grow in this new landscape aren’t just visible. They’re understood.