With all the blogs that exist out in the blog-o-sphere, it can be a challenge to keep readers interested in yours. If you add some variety to your topic and find ways to engage your readers, though, you can be sure that they will stick around for a long time.
Regular quality posting
It may seem obvious, but it’s worth stating anyway: The best way to keep readers interested in your blog is by posting interesting material. Keep in mind that most readers don’t expect something from you every day. Posting that often can be sometimes burdensome to busy readers, and will certainly be detrimental to you if let the pressure of posting so frequently lead to watered-down posts. Unless you truly have unique and well-written material to post every single day, it’s far better to post quality material on less frequent basis. That way, your readers will get a regular dose of your blog without being overwhelmed by all of the posts they aren’t able to read.
On the other hand, it’s important to ensure that you get content to your readers on a regular basis. A “how to” blog is most helpful if it builds on information regularly, and a personal blog is most interesting if it builds on stories. As you add posts to your blog, you are building a book; as you build that book, you will build momentum over time. Keeping that momentum going is crucial to keeping your readers on board. Posting quality material one or two times a week is a compromise that prevents your posts from becoming watered-down and yet keeps your readers interested.
I like to stick to a schedule but in the blogging world it does not always work out like that. As long as you don't lower your standards and post any old article when you get desperate. If it gets to this stage, open your blog up to receive guest posts as Ileane has done here. Accepting guest posts can be both a good and bad experience and it will pay to get your rules made up before opening the doors.
Variety within a Topic
Although your blog will need a central, unifying theme, it is important to find ways to insert variety as well. A parenting blog, for example, might have some “how to” posts about parenting, some funny stories about mothering, and some insightful posts about the difficulties of motherhood. A natural living blog might have posts with recipes for green products, personal stories from people who have chosen to “go green,” and tips for dealing with the challenges that come from making green choices. Each type of post—funny, insightful, how-to, testimonial, personal anecdote—plays an important part in building a blog. Rely on only one type of post, however, and you risk boring your reader.
You will need to experiment with some different subjects within your topic and see which ones are the most popular. Then you can stick more closely to these subjects. For example I have a website that teaches people how to build WordPress websites, and I presumed that people want tutorials on how to build websites, install themes and so on. But I have found that they are interested in other things like making money online, making a SEO checklist, and getting traffic to their blogs.
Variety of Content Formats
Adding multimedia to your blog posts is another way to keep your readers attention. You can mix things up with an Infographic (like this one), a YouTube video or even a podcast. Ms. Ileane is always raving about the benefits of podcasting and what it can do for your blog as well as your personal development. Watch this video to learn more about why podcasting is so hot!
Give it a try and you'll see that your readers tend to stick around longer when they have something they can listen to or watch that enhances your message. Sometimes we all need a break from reading.
Engage with Your Readers
No matter what the topic of your blog, it’s a good idea to keep interest high by getting your readers to engage directly with you. There are lots of different ways to do this. One way is to present a scenario in a post and then ask a question about it. If you are writing a mommy blog, for example, you might describe the difficulty you are having with bedtime and then ask your readers for suggestions. Then, upon solving your bedtime dilemma, write a post about it and reference the suggestions you got from your readers, giving them a shout out in your blog as you do so.
Alternatively, if you are writing a blog on how to live frugally, you might write a post about finding coupons online and then ask your readers to share their favorite spot for finding online deals. Directly involving your readers in this way gives them a chance to feel connected to you as they offer their own advice, stories, or thoughts back to you. Think of it like a conversation—if you are always talking, people will get bored eventually. Giving others an opportunity to talk back makes them feel more invested in you and your blog.
It’s very important to remember that when you do get comments on your blog, you’ll want to respond to them. Readers will love knowing that you read their comments and will be eager to hear what you have to say back. A blogger who responds to and converses with her readers is much more interesting than one who does not.
Showing how you really do something can really build your readers. For example you can show how you make money online, show your earnings, or even reveal some blogging secret or tactic you have been successfully using.
Spice It Up: Give-aways for your readers
There are a number of fun ways to really hook blog readers, too. One of them is to host give-aways on your blog. The idea is simple: Offer up a product that you are going to give away on your blog. Ask your readers to comment on your blog to enter the give-away. You can have your readers answer a question in their comment, or to simply make any comment at all to be entered in the contest. You can also ask readers to “follow you” on your blog or “like” your Facebook page for extra entries.
You can also make your own products by using common viral marketing strategies but a mix of giveaways is always the best.
At first, you may need to dole out your own cash for the goods you give away. As you earn followers, however, you can look to see if businesses want to sponsor give-aways on your blog. Select businesses carefully; make sure that they match the subject in your blog. Then, approach the business armed with information about the number of followers you have and the number of page views you get each day, week, and month. Sell the give-away as an opportunity for the business to advertise to a target audience. You might even offer to write a post with a review of the product you are giving away to make it even more attractive for the business to participate. Eventually, if your blog grows enough, you’ll find businesses approaching you with products to giveaway.
Of course the best way to give back to your readers is to offer tremendous value to them on your blog.
Keeping your readers interested can seem like a daunting task at first. In reality, though, it comes down to a few simple steps: Post quality material on a regular basis, add some variety into your topic, and find fun and new ways to engage your readers. The more you do these simple things, the easier it will get, and the more interesting your blog will become.
When you have mastered the skill of keeping your readers interested and engaged in your blog you are now ready to learn how to monetize your website traffic.
Hi Mitz,
Very useful the tips you share with us. I agree so much with you on the regular quality posting. It’s all about quality not quantity. I really don’t care if I find 2 or 3 post per day in a blog. What matters to me is to find something worth reading.
Hi Nick
I do not like blogs with more than one post going through per day..I really think this is overkill! A lot of people post just to post…:)
I agree, even if you can make high quality posts, if you do more than 1 a day, it can be too much to read for a reader. I want to learn something but I don’t want it to take up too much time of my day, unless I’m researching.
And it can feel a bit demotivating when you see you got so much reading ahead of you.
It helps if the blogger/author mixes it up with some videos and guest posts.
Regarding “regular posting”, I’d say it differs, depending on the sites. There are some sites/blogs I know that will have at least one update every day, but I also know that not all of the articles are interested to me.
On the other hand, there are other blogs where I want to read *everything* that is posted because it such niche specific that it all interests me, but I have no idea when to expect new content – that’s when “Pulse” app for iPhone enters the picture, a great RSS readers 🙂
Hi klaus
Yes it is good to do regualr posting..but it should be quality..When they post just for the sake of it that is really anoying. 🙂
I really love to read blog like this.. Love to learn more about being a good blogger.. Thanks for this post!
Hi Mitz,
It’s a interesting post ;). I agreed that as a blogger you should try new things on your blog, like a post on different topic as your regular ones can do the trick but don’t do it frequently as it can hurt your loyal readers as they usually come on your blog to read your main topic.
Yes you are right..Each blogger should see what their readers want to read and go with that…sometimes it proves to be the right stuff…and you get a better response…I like to test these things and see what wins.. 🙂
Yes replying is so important!!! Answering the comments takes so much time though but it must be done!!! It is crazy how important this is! 🙂
I think that such saying as “quality is better than quantity” is ideal for this. You don’t need to have 2-3 or more posts a day, that won’t be much interesting for readers and you won’t have an opportunity to answer each comment. I do believe and think that it’s better to have 1 qualitative and interesting post with answers to all comments! It will evoke people’s interest to follow the whole discussion, to tell others about it etc.
I agree Jeanie! I can’t tell you how I hate people pumping through content at the speed of light! Even worse when they have guest posters with no chance to get exposure!
Best thing is to provide high quality stuff to your readers all the time and they will surely return to you
Agreed Bishwajeet! 🙂
I found it really tough to publish regular content. Even when I got plenty of ideas to write about, I just spend time on social media and reading blogs 🙁
Get off them! Go and produce your content, publish it, then promote it..When I spend too much time in the wrong places I notice my income drops in some places…
The more posts you can publish the better, as long as new posts don’t suffer in quality. It’s also important to increase your marketing efforts if you are publishing more so that your new posts reach as many people as possible and don’t get lost.
Hi Gino
Yes your are right that if you increase the amount of posts you also have to up the promotion.. The thought scares me…:)
Thank you! This is such a helpful article. It’s good to know that I’m somehow on the right track with my site. Lots of stuff to learn on a continuous basis. I’m happy to be sharing and learning at the same time.
Rain
Hi Rosyel
Glad you liked the article! 🙂
Looks like the most popular way now to hook the readers up on to your blog is give away posts. I see such posts every now and then.
Keeping reader interested in our blog is very much neccessary as this is the only way to have stable and increasing traffic.
And there are lots of ways for this. As per me we need to remember one thing forever that readers or visitors are the main aspects which keep our blog ALIVE. If no visitors then blog will DIE.
Thus its must to keep them hold, interested and maintained on our blog inorder to give full life to our blog.
Very true that “If there are no visitors then the blog will DIE”.. I used to tell my staff the same thing…”without customers there is no work for us” therefore looking after the customer was the most important thing!
Good and substantial post. This is the primary aim of any blogger to make readers interested in the blog. I think sometimes you can organize some competitions that will motivate people to read and react and if you give a prize it will work for sure. The same goes if you offer something for free. Surely that the main thing is the content of the blog which goes number one in any blog.
Your right, this is the name of the game!
As for content being the main thing of a blog…yes and no…yes you must have great content, but no if there is no one reading it… You need the package deal, the balance of all things to create a blog.
I just began my blog and your tips are very helpful. Thank you!
really great tips. In my experience, it’s really hard to keep the readers always come/visit our site repeatly. Hope your idea in this article/post may encourage me to make my blog/site always interesting
It is hard, especially when your blog gets bigger but by then you are well experienced in the game.
Hey Mitz great article,
I love the “Give-aways” idea even though its hard to do that if your still new and just starting out but its an awesome idea to keep your readers interested.
Thanks. 🙂
Hi Sayed…
Ask another blogger if you can giveaway their book until you get your own…
I have done this with new bloggers before..I have edited some of my books to brand it with their website, of course leaving the author and some links…
It works well for both parties..
Awesome idea Mitz, thank-you. 🙂
I’ve always found engagement with my readers one of the main parts for keeping them interested, it’s like having a conversation, if someone asks you a question in the “real” world then you don’t just ignore them, you try to answer them.
And for blogging a comment that requires an answer, must be answered 😉
Hi Karen
I agree that a comment that requires an answer, must be answered…This is crazy for me as I have a computer help website…They really want to ask questions there…I wonder what I have got myself in for??
Mitz,
You hit the nail on the head Mitz. With side-projects and keeping my main internet money maker going I am having less and less time to invest in my blog. Because of this i am just cutting back the amount of posts. I really want to ensure that the quality is there.
Posting frequently may get you more one time visitors but if the quality isn’t there they will simply become bounces. Which does no good in the long run. I would rather have 1/10th of the traffic if that one would become 10 times as invested in the site and the content.
I can see you have ultra quality postings on your blog…And your posts are worth waiting for… I know I enjoy it because I know you are one of the genuine guys out there making money.. There’s no hype at your blog!
I like to try and keep up but will not post if I can’t supply my standard. At the moment I need to publish but the articles I have are not up to scratch…
Sometimes I can write a monster article in no time, then sometimes I lose my inspiration or get distracted..I do other things until it comes back…
Hi Goa
yes it is hard to keep your readers interest! Probably the hardest thing about blogging…Getting the ideas and turning them into great content… Who said blogging was easy? 🙂
Yes same here Sanjay. I even have articles as drafts that possibility could be posted but are not up to my standard.. Not enough..So they will wait.
I like to post every two days… Even if you get a guest post or two in between..(good ones) I find that this is the perfect amount..
Being consistent is the key I think. I definitely agree with Steve on quality versus quantity. But everyone has different goals with their blogs as well. Mitz, you bring up a good point about writers block as well. Sometimes you just have to step away from the keyboard and return another day.
Yes step away if you have writers block…go on with something else and it will all come back to you..
Thanks Mitz
I think we should focus on the points that are the needs of a common reader. I think we should not directly talk too much about the product. We should train the readers, our product will automatically get value
I like to talk about solving a problem and then bringing in the product as an answer. This works well…
Yes, if we have a good topic and we already have focus on a certain group we should update post as often so many will visit it. As I observed here in blogging most of the bloggers just go into their site a month or 3months after. Too bad some of them have a great post.
Yes I agree..updating is very important!
These are great points. I need to really engage my readers more, but it’s a challenge when I’m in the early stages of business ownership. I will do more as the focus of my business grows.
You really learn as you go on… It will all fall into place if you keep working at it.. 🙂
Definitely, I agree with your points. Consistency plays a very significant role in keeping your website visitors stick to your website. Secondly, consistency also demonstrates commitment. You earn trust because you’re consistent. To make your readers satisfied you need to know what exactly they are interested into. If you plan accordingly it gets very easy to keep your readers interested in your blog.
I agree that consistency also demonstrates commitment and trust. Good points thanks for sharing! 🙂
These are some great tips. Most think that having a new post on your blog everyday is good because it gives your readers something to come back for. But I think this is the classic quality vs. quantity case. I would rather post 2 great posts a week than a mediocre post everyday. That way, the readers won’t get the feeling that you’re posting something just for filler.
Hi Mitz, nice to see you again 🙂
Another nice post from you and thanks for sharing your thoughts. I understand that it’s very important to keep visitors engaged when they come to a blog. Only by that, they will decide to come back or not.
Personally, I haven’t had a blog yet but I’m planning to have one in the near future. That’s why I think I will bookmark this page for future reference! Have a nice day.
Duy.
Hi there, buddy. Thanks a lot for sharing this! It’s a very nice tips from you. Love it!
Glad you like it! 🙂
Give aways are ok if you are making decent money. If not you are crossing the line of giving more money away than what you make. Still it is a thought and maybe there are some cheap give aways that attract attention.
You can make an ebook to giveaway..that is free and just requires a bit of hard work. There is no question of crossing the line..You just have to make things happen by creating your gifts yourself.. 🙂
This post has me stressing a lot less about turning out great, interesting articles for one of 3 website that I own and write for. Honestly, there is just so much you can say about the subject of tinnitus (ear ringing). This is my most serious of the 3 blogs and the one I have the most trouble coming up with new and interesting content for. I do not release posts on a set schedule. Some say that Google likes that better for indexing. However, since I am a total control freak about the quality of my writing I find it hard to outsource my work to a free lance writer. The quality I am looking for would be cost prohibitive in the long run. Anyone else out thee that shares my view ??
Go out and get ideas from other sites…There must be something around… Or maybe you can just update your posts to make them look fresh… Then concentrate on link building and bringing traffic…
You are right…there is only so much you can write about when you have a dead end subject… That’s ok though as all subjects are needed and can work if done correctly. 🙂
There are certainly a lot of details like that to take into consideration. That is a great point to bring up. I offer the thoughts above as general inspiration but clearly there are questions like the one you bring up where the most important thing will be working in honest good faith. I don?t know if best practices have emerged around things like that, but I am sure that your job is clearly identified as a fair game.
This is really great! I truly believe that good content gets you the subscribers but I never thought of changing up the variety of my blog to span across similar topics. Great ideas! Will have to use these ideas for my fledgling blog.
Thanks for sharing!
This is very inspiring. Bloggers should always have quality content to ensure that their followers will be loyal to the site. This can do good for you and for your site most especially. Bloggers should always take note that content is always best when it comes to giving good traffic to their site.
FTA: “It may seem obvious, but it’s worth stating anyway: The best way to keep readers interested in your blog is by posting interesting material. Keep in mind that most readers don’t expect something from you every day. ”
Yes, yes, yes. So many bloggers-on-blogging tell people to pump something out every day. Both because I love writing superb posts and because I am busy, I don’t post every day (and sometimes I go weeks between posts). But I think the posts I do write are top notch. And to me, that’s what counts.
Yes David I agree..Top notch posts are worth waiting for… 🙂
Thanks for sharing the tips. As I am just a beginner so, the entire information you have specified in your blog is seems to be beneficial that guides me while posting my next blog. It will not only helps in creating a benchmark for my future blogs but also assist to keep the readers interested of my every blog.
Hi Mitz, your comment to me about refreshing my old articles is an idea I never thought about. I thought they would not count as original content with just a refresh. I also do look at other blog, like I said before there is just so much valuable info I can give people about a dry subject like ear ringing. That’s why I like coming back here, I always get some kind of good, new stuff I can use. Thanks again 🙂
Mitz,
Good suggestions on how to keep readers interested in your blog.
I think the very most important thing to do is to have good unique content that is posted on a regular basis.
When people know when your blog is going to post they will be waiting for it and will come and comment. If you are posting randomly and sporadically your readers may not be aware that you have a new post.
I like your other ideas also.
Great list.
Dee Ann Rice