A blog is not a newspaper nor is it a website where companies post their updates and that’s it! No interaction, no connections, no personality etc.
Your blog readers need more than great content from you….if only what they need is just the information you’re posting; then is obvious they could get it on any other blog around the web and never return as loyal reader.
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Great content alone won’t guarantee you return loyal readers and build community around your blog. There are thousands of blogs churning out great content every single hour on the internet….for your readers to keep coming back and stay loyal to you; you must offer them something more than just quality content.
To build an audience is hard; maintaining a community of repeated loyal audience is harder. You need to give more than creating content….your readers want to see something in you that is different from other blogs they visit.
7 Qualities Your Blog Readers Want From You More Than Quality Content
Here are seven qualities your blog visitors want to see in you to keep coming back as loyal blog readers.
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Be Human.
If you can’t put your face to your blog how do you want others to recognize you with your work?
Your blog author name should not be admin – admin is nobody and no progressive human being will want to associate with nobody. Let your name be bold and visible on your blog.
Your bio profile should consist of your name and a clear head shot picture of yourself and not that of pet, cartoon or celebrity.
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Consistency.
Consistency is the key to a successful blogging; whatever your posting scheduled is…….make sure you keep to it.
Posting daily is good but have its own advantages and disadvantages, while posting a few times a week is also good but comes with its own pros and cons too. Find what works for you and the type of audience you want to attract with your content.
In finding your feet, don’t forget to consider sustainability.
Whatever your decision is, check to see if you can sustain it in the long run. It doesn’t pay to run a marathon of daily posting for two consecutive weeks only to fade away the third week by not posting for another two weeks.
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Your readers want to know when to expect something fresh and authentic from you; you can only help them to do that by sticking to a posting scheduled.
In reality, this is something that is hard to sustain especially if you’re in the news and entertainments industries (niche) or that blogger that have other life responsibilities to attend to.
Find the balance in between your blogging career and personal life responsibilities and get the best out of the two.
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Personality.
Don’t be afraid to let who you are show in your work and in everything you do online.
Your readers want to see that in your writing, that’s what makes you different from other bloggers. People should remember you for something and not for nothing.
I once commented on a social status on Facebook and surprisingly, a reader ask me if I’m a member of an online forum – NairaLand – I answered yes, and what is it about? He replied, the tone at which I write feels pretty much like that of a forum member; and you know what?
He is right, I’m the one.
Let your personality shines throughout your work. Many people won’t like you for who you are but I tell you, you will make more friends than enemies.
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Passion.
If there is absolute one thing your readers wants to see in you……that thing is sure the passion that you love what you’re doing. Be passionate about your work and let that too shines through in your writing.
If something bugs you, don’t be afraid to voice out your opinion like when I blog about blogs that remove postdates on their blog posts. I know my advice won’t change the way they do their thing, is their blog…but hey! Is my blog too, I have every right to say whatever I wish to say and no one should stop me from doing that.
But don’t be surprise too, when you come to know that some top authority blogs have rewind the hands of the clock and do things in the right way – last time I checked, CopyBlogger have brought back dates on their blog post.
Don’t write as if you’re talking to a board of executives directors and don’t want to get them angry, or writing like the newspaper do. Part of the functions of a blog is to enable conversation so please, don’t defeat that purpose.
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Authority.
If you’re using the word “I think this might work” when giving advice to your readers – stop using it from now on.
You don’t “think” your advice is good or not when you’re giving someone advice; say what you have to say and leave the rest for that person to decide what best good for him or her.
The only need here is to make sure you have done your homework well, and have carried out your research and be well convinced that your findings are genuine and correct.
By telling your readers that you’re thinking if what you’re saying is right or wrong, you have definitely tell them that you’re no sure of what you’re saying. So how do you expect them to take you seriously and recognize you as an expert?
There are two ways you can stamp authority in your niche: You either claim it or prove it.
You can claim an expert in your niche by leveraging on other people’s work and used that to polish your own work to look smarter and better.
I’m not telling you to fake it till you can make it, but every great man you see out there start from somewhere and that somewhere is the beginning. The beginning where they once knew nothing and only walk their way up through trials and errors, history, people’s experiences, case studies etc.
The other way round is to prove what you really know and prove that yes, I know this thing. It is easier and more convincing on the reader’s part that the author really know what he is talking about when demonstrating what you know.
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Write with strong conviction, and don’t mumble. See your blog as a class room, you as the head teacher and your audience as the student. They rely on you for advice, so speak with strong convincing authority.
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Blog Design.
Hold on, I don’t know what a good blog design means to you, but to me it is not to have a blog with flashy appearance or great color combination – those are just the shining object not what offers value to your readers.
Design your blog in such a way that user will find it easy to use and find their way through. Have a blog that user will like to associate with and find simple to read the text on it while reading.
Have a search box by the side and avoid clustering your side bar with banner images that don’t have any significant benefits both to you and your audience.
Have a functional 404 error page that return the proper 404 error code, this in itself is one of Google criteria for measuring usability of a website.
It is good to have Google language translator on your blog, don’t be surprise if it come to your notice that even some of your regular blog readers are using it to read your content.
Not everyone understands English like you do.
Also, make your content easy to digest by keeping your paragraph short and clean – you can achieve this by keeping paragraphs nothing more than five lines and not more than 16 words in length.
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Honesty.
The internet is a faceless society, your readers want someone they can trust and take every word he said to be true and worthy enough for them apply into their life.
Don’t tell lies; don’t act funny or in some tricky ways that could lead to your readers losing the trust they have in you. Word of mouth easily spread like wild-fire, and one thing you should be aware of on the internet is – whatever goes up online, stays there forever.
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Over deliver on your promise, and remember to give credit to whom it is due. If your reader help you out with information that produce a blog post or point towards a useful resources, let the community knows about it and say thank you to that reader.
No one is perfect, if your weakness is spotted out by your reader, instead of trying to prove smart or taking it the other way round, accept it and learn to make thing right.
Conclusion
If only great content will be enough to build a profitable blog, then half the blog on the internet would have been in the fortune 500 list.
The foundation to build a popular blog that people love to visit regularly is quality content, but after that you need more than just churning out these content, you need to give your readers a sense of belonging to that part of your blog and these seven ingredients will help you do that if you posses them.
What other qualities do your blog readers wants from you?
Let’s talk
Do you have comments, questions and or thoughts you’d love to share with us? Please do use the comment box below. Remember that your comments, questions and thoughts are highly welcome and much appreciated.
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