Build a Community Around Your Blog
To have a successful blog it is essential to build a strong community around it. Why? Your blog’s community are the people that support it. Whether that be by commenting, subscribing, or writing. How can you build a community? Let’s examine three ways to do it.
Post Quality Content
Having quality content is essential. You should have a high standard for the material that gets posted. Don’t let just anything make the front page of your blog. If you have nothing to post, then so be it. It’s better to post nothing than publish an article that is mediocre. This might mean that you’ll have to say decline some articles and/or writers. However, instead of just rejecting an article, give a suggestion. Help the writer see what type of content you’re looking for. This helps both parties; you publish great content and you also help the writer grow.
Posting quality content also tends to bring up the subject of how often you should post. When it come to this, you’ll find that everyone has their own opinion. Some bloggers will say that it’s essential to post everyday. Others will say to post one quality article every week. However, instead of giving you a specific formula, the MenwithPens published an excellent article on this topic.
Encourage Participation
Encourage your readers to participate in commenting. You can do this by asking questions at the end of your posts. For example, “What did you think?” “Did you have a similar problem?” “What have you done to solve it?”. These type of questions invite your readers to express their problems and hopefully their solutions. However, if no one comments, don’t let that disappoint you. Readers appreciate your interest in their feelings and if they ever want to express them, they have a way to do so.
Also, invite your readers to contribute to the community by writing articles or submitting useful resources. Instead of them seeing the community from the outside, they’ll be a valuable asset of it.
This brings to mind an important point. As it’s stated above, you will sometimes receive an article that isn’t fit for your blog. Help this reader, now writer, to see where the mistake is and how to fix it.
Engage With Your Readers
This can be done in various ways, one of them being: social media. Use Twitter to link to useful articles for your readers and followers. Thank people that Re-Tweet your links and help people that are just getting started.
A second way to engage with your readers is replying to comments. Be apart of the discussion. Give readers your input on their thoughts. When readers see that you’re an active participator in discussion, they more likely to comment, therefore fortifying your blog’s community.
Lastly, reply to e-mails. Be friendly, courteous and professional. When readers ask you questions, answer them with authority. In other words, build their trust in your community and blog by answering e-mails correctly and promptly.
Final Thoughts
It takes time to build a loyal readership and a network. However, these tips get you started on the right path. How have you built you community? What has worked for you?
Tim Smith is a music loving blogger and designer. He’s passionate about blogging and loves to share his thoughts and experiences for the benefit of others. Find out more on his personal site. Follow Tim on Twitter: @timothybsmith.
Nice post, Tim.
Engaging your readers is one of the most important things a blogger can do – and not just because it makes the reader feel like they’re actually talking with the blogger or that they’re being included, but because they have the power to take action once they’ve read your article, which is part of the reason why I think traditional news papers and magazines are having a hard time in the print world.
Encourage participation from your readers – while most know they have the power to interact or engage with you online, most rather continue reading. Encourage these readers to get involved, as Tim suggests, by asking questions or giving something specific to do at the end of the post.
Frequent posting is something I’m a believer in, but only because of what my goals are as a blogger – I’m exciting to discuss my topic with my readers. I think that’s what it comes down to – your goals as a blogger. If you’re interested in making money through PPC ad networks, you might be interested in posting 10 times a day to catch as many readers organically from the search engines as possible; if you’re interested in discussing your topic (as I am), you might post daily or close to it; if you’re interested in creating a brand focused on high quality content that earns revenue from direct advertisers, you might post once, twice, or even three times a week.
There’s a lot of room for debate here, obviously because the form is still pretty new, so, as Tim states above, every blogger will have their own opinion.
For me, blogging isn’t a way to shred expertise and brand myself as leading guru in the subject, but rather a way to share ideas with others interested in the subject – for those interested in making money, the latter just doesn’t make sense, – and sharing ideas often means posting daily … continuing the discussion.
This all said, Tim’s post is a great place to start for new bloggers and a nice reminder to vets.
As for my own community, I found that reaching out with a new idea works pretty well. I created a portion of my blog called the POV, which is specifically for posts from aspiring screenwriters. The motive behind the idea to feature articles from aspiring screenwriters was the fact that there’s already plenty of content out there written by or covering professionals, so I wanted to focus on a different angle … which happened to be the majority of my readership – the aspiring screenwriter. Anyone out there an aspiring screenwriter? Share your point of view at ScriptXRay!
What’s everything about engaging their readers at the end of the post? How can we improve the technique? What else can we do other than ask questions?
Wow! A post within a post!
You bring out some excellent points I really like when you say that blogging for you is to share ideas. That is the type of motivation/reason that allows for creativity to flow. In fact, that’s the reason Fuel Your Blogging is here. We want you to blog because you love it and you’re creative and you feel the need to share your ideas and experiences with others.
Thanks a bunch for your comment!
Very informative post. I’ll definitely follow you on twitter and look forward for such posts in the future.
Tim
Great post as usual. In fact I’m tweeting this right now.