Every blogger has a dream. They have a dream where they will write a blog entry and they’ll have a surge of loyal readers visiting their website just to hear what they have to say. Unfortunately, for the majority of bloggers this is a dream which they’ll never realize. After around three months they’ll give up because none of their readers seem to return.
How can you make sure your blog readers return to you time and time again?
Give Them a Reason to Return
Your goal is to give your readers a reason to keep coming back for more. It’s the same with anything. If a band plays to a crowd in a club they have to put on a good show so they build up a core of loyal listeners. When they complete a new album and start touring again, if they impressed previously these same people will return to listen to them.
Put yourself in your readers’ shoes. Ask yourself whether you would return to your blog after reading it once.
Quality Content
Your content must speak for itself. You don’t have to have a professional design or any presentation, although it helps. If a nine-year-old writes something interesting enough people will read their blogs no matter what the site looks like. A blog must center on the content you write.
Part of this is being able to write on something relevant. Try to link your content to something people are talking about now. Next, make sure you create a character and a personality which people identify with. Those who were known as the class clowns in school might use a sarcastic personality and write witty jokes.
Your readers must fall in love with the personality if they’re going to develop any brand loyalty. Look, the chances are you’re not writing something original. What you’re writing has been said a hundred times before. Instead, you have to change the way people respond to it through yourself.
Make it Easy to Come Back
Bloggers often make the mistake of expecting their readers to bookmark their pages and keep coming back for more of their own accord. This is a barrier to entry. You must assume all your readers are lazy, since most of them are. Remove these barriers to entry so they know when you’re releasing new content.
The easiest way of doing this is with an RSS feed. Once you post something new, everyone subscribed will know about it via email. Alternatively, write a newsletter each month and have it sum up all your major posts for that month. Understand different reading habits. Some people like to visit blogs once a month and spend a few hours reading everything. Others check back the moment something new appears. Cater to them all.
The best way to keep people coming back for more is to imagine you are a reader just like them. Put yourself in their position and act based on what you see from their point of view.
