So you’ve made a blog and you post all the time.
You think everything you write is pure gold and your readers love it.
But your number of subscribers won’t budge. Neither will your unique visitors, social media shares, or comments. What gives?!
You may have a few devoted readers who comment every now and then – but it’s time to switch up your game-plan.
Here are some solid tips for increasing readership:
1) Involve your readers…
Simply writing good content isn’t enough. Give readers a reason to stick around a bit longer.
- Ask them to submit content ideas they would be interested in. Create a simple survey for free with Google Forms.
- Reward those who share your posts with special content you’ve conjured just for them. By giving users extra content, you develop a stronger relationship while gaining some social capital.
- Challenge them in the comments section – engage your readers to show you are, in fact, a real individual with great ideas. The Happiness Theory is a social brand who has done this well. Challenge them to “Do Something GREAT!!”
What are you going to do with your one and only life? Do something GREAT!! Get inspired: https://t.co/gE6mjjCY1i
— The Happiness Theory (@YourHappyTheory) May 24, 2013
2) Guide your readers…
Think about where you want your readers to navigate – what’s most important?
- Linking to prominent blogs in your field can gain their attention. They may return the favor with a link, comment, or even a guest post opportunity. Now your readers will see you are Mr. Popular – plus you’ll be grabbing the attention of new readers from the blogs you linked to. 12 Palms Recovery Center does a great job drawing in their audience with this on their blog. The image literally uses a call-to-action asking people to click on the infographic. This is highly beneficial, as that image is probably the first thing to catch the attention of any readers.
- Have any hobbies? Kids? Exciting travels? Take a moment to give your readers more personal expression. Sometimes readers are fascinated by the simple things in your life.
3) Create your own superfans…
It’s intimidating to compete against sites with 100k+ subscribers. The good news is – you don’t have to! Forget about the numbers and focus on your devoted readers. Turn your existing readers into superfans and those numbers will start climbing. A superfan will share your posts, comment everywhere, and be a huge advocate for you.
- Research your own blog – what are your most successful posts and what type of prompts have got your readers commenting?
- Take your results and expand on them. Focus on improving the readers’ experience.
- Answer every question. Help them solve problems. Give them appropriate advice. Make insightful comments and provide expert recommendations.
- If you go out of your way to help individual readers, they’ll go out of their way to help you. For example, check out the way Jennita at Moz responds to comments on her recent post.
Icing on the cake for Readers?
Community building efforts help your SEO campaign. Every time a reader links to you, shares your content, or advocates you on another site, your authority, popularity, and trust increases. Be consistent with your targeted keywords and brand name – your community will subconsciously adopt these terms.
tl;dr – the interaction doesn’t have to end when readers get to the bottom of your post! Ask questions, challenge them with your insights, and reward your best readers with bonus content. Guide them to great external content and let karma do the rest. Turn devoted readers into superfans. Get involved; answer their questions and show an honest interest in their lives.
Bonus Tip: Promote your blog in your email signature. You’ll effortlessly brand yourself and grow your audience with every email.
Watch Ms. Ileane's video Create Your Email Signature with WiseStamp
Shane,
Adding some spice and extra cream for readers is a tough and important job to do. You have an amazing point of view.
Great post. Learn several new things from the post. I never promote my blog using email signature. Surely I’ll do this from now onwards.
I think the third point is difficult .Its difficult to create your super fans. but onces created then its all yours.
Great article Shane, it’s all about enagagement and building relationships and as you say listening to your readers to find out what they’re looking for.
I adore your tips and I might love to make an extraordinary signature with Wisestamp. They don’t alter the message bearer that I utilize (Apple mail). Cheerfully, they will open up to Apple items soon.
Great advice especially regarding trying to build super fans. Thanks for it.
hmmm! super fans, thats not an easy task! Great post, i’d prefer forgetting the digits and face my readers, what do you think about this tip
*create a blogroll, visit the blog of your commenters and comment on their blog and share it, they’ll eventually do the same.
all the same great post shane!
Conversation is most loved thing by Google. I will say it should be …if it isn’t it will bring some worse results in Google search results.
All your points are easy to follow & helpful in building readership, authority of blog. Will focus on making super fan readers for my blog.
Shane it’s incredible what you have shared. These 3 tips will be a booster to my blog. Thanks for the share 🙂
Great tips, I am giving the email signature tips a shot right away…
Thanks for sharing!
I say that promote your blog is the most important, every piece of your content are great but all you need to do is promote to people know.
Some great tips and advice, keep up the good work and thank you for sharing.
Thanks for sharing your pov on this matter=)
Personally, I attract around 60% of my subscribers via Twitter by giving my eBook away for free.
That works great for me.
Awesome post! Very helpful. I love your image.:)
Very impressive points but i must say that content is the most important parameter for increasing readers on any blog. great tips. Thanks for sharing it.
Thanks for the great info shane….Actually i failed on tumblr the last time and i thought it is the worst website i have ever seen. But the info you placed here looks promising and i will surely give it a try. Indeed a good way to grab good backlinks and huge traffic.
Hey Shane,
Interaction with your readers is vital for blog success. It too k me a while to understand this, but now I’m reaping the benefits. It’s the law of reciprocity. What you do for your readers will in return they’ll do for you. Thanks for sharing these incredible tips!
Method number one is something that I have tried and I got ZERO response! I guess I am not shouting loud enough. 🙂