Blogging is not just about write, publish, promote and forget. Blogging is all about creating a community and to make your blog a place where people like to come back again and again. How can you measure which community is the best? Off course the community where people are active.
You may have read a lot of posts about how to get traffic and now you know quite well how to bring some visitors to your blog but in the end of the day, all of them turn over and go back. Don’t check your blog’s statistics about how much traffic you are getting. Focus on how many people are staying on your blog for a long time.
If generating traffic is the first step, engaging your readers would be the second step to build up a great blog and to make the best from your hard earned articles.
Now here are some steps which will guide you to engage your readers on your blog,
1. Write great articles
Off course the content is the king. No one will last in your blog for longer if there are no interesting articles to read. One of the greatest articles that attract readers is the articles which inspire someone to do something. If you write an article which guides someone to do something, then your readers will be interested and will do that. Lots of articles about ‘How to’ are one of the top favorite choice of many internet users.
You can also engage a reader by inspiring him or motivate him to do something great with inspiring articles. Your readers will be highly attracted to your blog when you will present lots of articles on your own experiences.
2. Killer headlines
The word ‘Killer’ -itself is also a killer word to attract anyone. I learned this trick that, if you write a great headline, you will get the more chance of getting noticed by your readers. Killer headlines works also with social Medias to get more buzz. Write a great headline of your article which is more attractive and also tells about your post.
Its better to write a long article title (10-12 words) and to add some of the keywords on the title. Like I added the keywords, How to, engage, readers, connected and blog on this article. This will help me get better ranks in search engines.
3. Showcase the best you got
Its easy to bring someone to your blog but don’t let him get away. Showcase your best articles on your blog so that the visitor can also check other articles too. Another great addition is to create a page with your ‘popular articles‘ -just like you see on my blog. Add some ‘categories’ which will help your reader to browse your blog. Add uncommon and attractive categories like I used ‘Money making‘ -instead of ‘make money’; ‘Organic traffic‘ -instead of what everyone uses, ‘SEO.’ With all of the great articles, your reader will stay on your blog and come back again.
4. Offer RSS feeds and more ways
Offer RSS feed of your blog and place the RSS feed icon on the top of your blog. Add an option to get updates via email. You can also use other options of feed for your readers. I have offered comment feed, my twitter feed and friend feed along with regular RSS feeds. Giving more options will help your readers to get connected. Transforming your visitor into your daily RSS reader is better for the long run.
5. Show off your readers
Show off your readers on your blog which will give you more creditability. You can use a Mybloglog widget to show off your recent readers. This will make your visitors feel that he is not alone in this site and other people read it too.
Show off your RSS feed counter that lots of people like to read your blog and you should subscribe too. Blogger allows you to add a follower’s widget. Add it to your blog if you have a good number of followers.
6. Make it easy to connect with you
You have to reveal yourself if you want to develop a successful blog. Reveal yourself and make it easy to contact with you. Show off your social profiles on your blog which will help your readers to connect with you. If your readers communicate with you, they will come back to your site regularly and you can make a long term readership.
Show off your social buttons which will attract more people to connect with you just like you see on BlogKori.
7. Comments and chat
Make it easy to leave a comment and ask your readers to leave a reply. If someone leaves a comment, thank him for the comment and build up discussions. Comments can boost up when you will reply to your readers. People will come back again and again to read the follow up comments. You can also add a chat widget on your blog to engage your readers with your blog. You can also show off a recent comments widget to attract more comments on your blog. You can easily add a recent comment widget. Add a new RSS feed item on your blog and add this address, http://yourblog.com/feeds/comments/default
8. Ending lines
Don’t complete your article with every possible information’s. Use a good ending line which will engage your readers. Ask questions and ask them to leave a reply. Ask them to describe their own opinion in the comments and to complete the article. You can also use it as a reminder to them to promote it. You can learn it by taking a look at my article ending lines.
9. Keep it going on
When you will provide a great quality article, you readers will be interested in your blog and will keep coming for new ones. Don’t make your readers wait for longer and write new articles regularly. Keep up new ideas coming and create another great article. Don’t rush, take your time to create a better article. When you will write a great article and readers are enjoying it, leave it for a while in the front page. You can use your popular article’s idea to extend it by making a sequel of it or creating a series with more great informations the article.
10. Don’t forget to promote
Once you gave the best article, don’t forget to promote it with different methods online. The best time to promote the article is within the next hour. Use social Medias like digg, stumble upon, yahoo buzz and other methods to promote. Tell your friends to have a look and ask them to help you too. Use a ping service to notify search engines. Email your friends about your latest article and ask them for a social vote. But please do it and only with your best articles, not every post!
How do you engage your readers?
There may be lots of ways to attract people and to keep him for longer in your blog. What do you do for engaging readers? Please tell me a little about your blog. Please leave a reply.
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“Show off your readers on your blog… make your visitors feel that he is not alone in this site and other people read it too.” I never thought from this point, yes you are right it will give a feeling that this blog worth reading.
Chinese Girl’s latest blog post..Train Yingkou-Shenyang 6661
Yeah, this gives a feel that it’s an open place and anyone can join in! A new blog is always a creepy place for new people.. :)
I just reinstalled the Top Commentators plugin on my blog due to this post. Will see if it encourages more commenting.
Geoserv’s latest blog post..New upcoming Pligg template
@Geoserv: you can see the example in my blog, how much comments I’m getting for this widget!
I got to say something. I agree with all of the advices you wrote into this post. Especially writing great articles and giving them a “Killer” headline are really great way to make people curious to read what’s inside.
Can you give me some suggestions “what’s to blog about?” I mean, this blog is a blog full of essential blogging tips. There are lots of blogs out there about Technology, Cars, Flowers, Pets, Travels etc. But do you think anyone can earn from Personal Blogs? What will be your suggestions to the bloggers who write personal blogs instead of any specific content? I’d request you to have a look on my Bangla Blog. Do notice the hits (pothito) on each posts (excluding latest posts). I get good enough readers on my posts but when I write the same content in English, I get none.
Aminul Islam Sajib’s latest blog post..Wanna write on Foreign News Agency
@Aminul Islam Sajib, The big problem with you is marketing. You know how to blog but don’t know how to promote your blog. Platform blogs have traffic and this is why you get lots of comments and expossure but for your own blog, the traffic is low and this why you’re not getting commnets.
The future is on your own blog, not in platform blog -you better learn how to make publicity for your blog.
Niche selection is important in blogging. When I was new in blogging, I started to blog about MLM and motivations. Try to think about a topic you like and know and start your blog.
Hi Tamal ,
Thanks for sharing this info. I found your site from another blog. Your post on building a human sitemap caught my interest!
@Tony Lee, Now this why I love to post comments! Thanks to be here, and I’m sure you’d love to come back here for more :D
I have regular features during the week, such as a weekly Monday Morning Question. It builds community — readers come back for the activity on that particular day — expecting to see a particular feature. They even get others involved in coming to your blog. They like to know there are regular things they can count on, and after awhile become regular parts of the activities — they take ownership in a way — it becomes theirs — as they do contribute so much.
krissy knox :)
follow me on twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/iamkrissy
Weekly features such as round ups and link love always works but they are hard to arrange! It gives you an extra pressure to create that regular piece of content.
Hi Tamal,
Your tips are enough to attract and engage more readers to blog forever. I agree with you by writing original content and killer titles, folks are attracted to read the blog and leave a comment. I always ask for feedback and suggestions for blog posts and I get those from my blog readers.
Most people will read your blog in their feeds and there are always 100′s of posts to look at. The killer title is the first thing to consider as a valuable content and then leading a successful convertion.
I think quality content is important. I always struggle getting started. I think the introduction is the hardest part. You want to have a hook that will interest people.. but at the same time you still want to leave all the really juicy stuff for the body. Of course.. the title is absolutely do or die. People are going to open it based on the title. Of course, the ending is also a vital part of the article. Ending paragraphs are almost as tough as the start… but at that point you kind of already have the momentum going. Actually as a runner, I compare writing to running a race. The start always sucks. Everyone is on the line and you have to worry about getting boxed in… etc so I compare it to writers block and the frustration and worry. In the middle you tend to hit your stride. Towards the end you just want to finish. Its difficult but you are pretty motivated and you go for that sprint finish.
-Randy
Hey Randy, if we see the thing this way,
We need a good title to capture the attention; then need a good opening line + good content and then good ending lines to let them comment and bookmark.
In short we need to create good content. But good content always isn’t enough! You have to make it appealing so that people will take time to read it.. just like I do with my posts.
Thanks for nice post, Tamal. I could’nt agree more.
Toan Nguyen Minh’s latest blog post..Interview With Ben Pei – The Founder Of Pro Blogging Secrets
Hey thanks for the track back!
You can also Engage your readers and blogging friends @ Blog Engage! It’s a small community I developed for bloggers.
I will submit this to a few other social networks… this is how I socially Engage!
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