How to Write a Strong Blog Conclusion (+7 Examples)

An effective conclusion is often a simple one:

Writing a conclusion for your blog article can feel a bit like a necessary evil.

You know it’s important. A strong conclusion helps your readers understand the importance of your article. It can encourage them to come back, participate in a discussion, share your content, and more.

But it's not always obvious how to write a conclusion that checks all the right boxes. And after spending all your time and energy writing the rest of your article, the conclusion might seem like a chore.

Fortunately, there are simple and effective methods you can use to write an impactful conclusion every time.

As a writer, editor, and account manager for a writing agency, I've written and edited dozens of conclusions — and learned a lot along the way. In this article, I'll look at the different parts of a strong conclusion and explore seven different kinds of conclusions, with helpful examples you can use for inspiration.

Anatomy of a strong conclusion

A good conclusion clearly and concisely summarizes the key points of your article, explains why they matter, and leaves some kind of lasting impression on readers. Including a call to action (CTA) can be an excellent way to engage your audience even after they finish the post, but if you do, it should be tactful and with clear benefit to the reader.

Let's take a look at what you should include and how to go about it.

1. Start with a topic sentence.

Briefly restate the main idea or thesis of your article. This reminds your reader of the overall context and purpose of what they’ve just read, and how all the parts of the article fit together. 

Provided the topic sentence from your introduction is clear and concise, feel free to simply adapt this.

It’s important to write this concisely. Wordtune’s Shorten feature can help ensure this is to the point.

2. Summarize your article's main points.

Don't introduce any new information in your conclusion. Instead, summarize your main points concisely. Make it clear to the reader how these points relate to your introduction, referring to it as needed.

If you've made any claims, summarize the evidence. If you've made any promises, explain how you've fulfilled them.

3. Leave a lasting emotional impression.

Appeal to your reader’s emotions by connecting the solutions you have offered in the article to the audience’s pain points, interests, or needs.

A few quick pointers on creating an emotional impact with your writing:

• Use active voice.
• Don't shy away from personal pronouns (e.g. "I", "we", "you").
• Choose powerful adjectives like "bold," "tremendous," or "outstanding." 
• Create empathy by clearly naming emotions: "frustration," "disappointment," "apprehension," "excitement," "enthusiasm," "relief," etc.

If you’re stuck looking for creative emotional phrasing, ask Wordtune to Rewrite the section for you and choose from one of the suggestions. 

4. Wrap up with a closing sentence.

Your closing sentence will depend largely on your topic and what you hope to achieve. For example, if your article is promotional or commercial in nature, close with a call to action (CTA). If it's educational, focus on what readers can do with their new knowledge. Try to connect your article to some broader context: How does it relate to the world? To the industry? To the problem solved?

Seven ways to write a conclusion

Of course, there's no end to the number of ways you can write a solid conclusion. Nonetheless, these seven strategies work in a wide range of situations and are simple to get right.

1. The sell conclusion

What: Offer your product as a solution.

Good for: Marketing material.

Marketing articles demonstrate to the reader how a product, service, or feature will benefit them. Your introduction presents a problem, and the body of your article expands on it. It may also explain how your product or service can help. Your conclusion should make the connection between the problem and your solution clear and impactful.

Here’s an example from bikepacking company Apidura.

Here, Apidura reiterates a problem from the article (long stretches between resupply) and ties it to a solution: hydration vests, specifically the company’s Racing Hydration Vest.

2. The further resources conclusion

What: Offer a resource to the reader. (Call to action)

Good for: Articles with templates or downloadable materials.

Offering a resource for the reader to use is a great way to provide a concrete solution to a problem. This can be especially beneficial when readers are looking for a solution they can start using right away. 

Here’s an example from the Wordtune blog article How to Write a Business Case (+Free Template):

To help readers get started straight away, the conclusion includes a link to a downloadable business case template. Free resources like these offer great value to readers and encourage them to come back for more.

3. The discussion conclusion

What: Start a discussion with questions

Good for: Opinion pieces, LinkedIn articles, and others with comments

Whether on your own blog, a forum, or LinkedIn, encouraging readers to leave a comment is a great way to boost its visibility and get feedback. This is a very popular way to end a YouTube script, but it works well for articles, too. Wordtune can even suggest Counterarguments for you, which you can frame as questions for readers. 

Here's an example I cooked up:

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Alternatively, you may have specific questions related to opinions or solutions regarding your topic. Here's an example from an article on DebatingEurope. Notice the article has garnered 17 comments already.

4. The related links conclusion

What: Offer links to further reading.

Good for: Introductory articles on big topics.

Providing the reader with links to other articles on your website or blog is a great way to increase the time they spend there. Not only is this important for SEO, it means you capture more of your readers' time and attention. As a result, you have even more opportunities to provide them with value, offer solutions, and promote your product or service.

You can do this by weaving links directly into the text, like in this conclusion from TechRadar:

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You may even want to provide a list of links, like in the next TechRadar conclusion.

5. The share request conclusion

What: Invite the reader to post and share. (Call to action)

Good for: Tips, listicles, advice pieces, and more.

Encouraging your readers to share your content is a simple way to increase its reach. It allows you to impact new audiences without any additional cost or effort on your part. People sharing your content, whether by linking to it on their own blog or via social media, is also hugely beneficial for SEO. Google — and readers — see it as a mark of expertise, authority, and trustworthiness.

You can go with the standard, "If you liked this article, be sure to comment, like, share and subscribe."

But more creative formulations can go much further. Here’s an example that appeals to the reader's sense of empathy:

Or:

Just be sure it's easy for your readers to share your article. If your blog or website doesn't already include one-click share buttons for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and other popular social media platforms, add them now.

6. The sign up conclusion

What: Invite the reader to sign up for a newsletter or podcast. (Call to action)

Good for: News pieces and articles with high value to readers.

Subscribers to your newsletter, podcast, or other regular content are hugely valuable assets. They've already demonstrated loyalty and interest by signing up, and you can easily keep them engaged with regular content.

This works especially well for news pieces, as you can encourage the reader to sign up for more news like it. It also works well for pieces where you've been able to offer a lot of value to the reader and show them the possible benefits of hearing from you on a regular basis.

Here's another example from the Apidura blog:

7. The "up ahread" conclusion

What: Tell the reader what to expect next

Good for: Article series.

Turning occasional readers into loyal fans is hard, but well worth the effort. Writing a series of articles that looks at a topic from different angles or walks readers through some complex task or subject can help achieve this. To keep readers engaged, be sure they know what the next article will focus on and when they can expect it.

Here’s another original example:

In addition to teasing the next article, we can also link to the first article — two birds with one stone.

Conclusion (see what we did there?)

Ready to get a bit meta? Here we go: concluding our article on conclusions!

People often get stuck on conclusions because they're so important. It’s a critical skill and essential to writing top-ranking blog posts. 

But there's a simple formula you can use to simplify the process. Start with a topic sentence borrowed from the introduction (like the first sentence of this paragraph). Summarize your main points (like this). Then close with a sentence that encourages the reader to think or act (see below — did we get it right?). Refer to the examples above for inspiration. (In fact, why not bookmark this page?)

Author Dan Chaon said, “A conclusion is simply the place where you got tired of thinking.” But I'd say it’s where you decide to pass the baton to your reader. What do you think?