How to Aim for Devoted Readers
You can be into blogging to make money, to make waves, or to make a difference. The goal of your blog is really secondary to the one essential need that every blog has – readers. You’ve probably heard the philosophical (and rather dumb) question, “if a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a noise?” Well, if a blogger breaks a great story and nobody ever shows up to read it, does it matter?
Quantifying successful blogging is challenging. Some blogs that are highly successful in terms of influence can’t boast of large direct revenue while others that make a killing off of pay-per-click ads offer little real value to the world. And traffic alone isn’t always a great qualifier of successful blogging either. Analyzing traffic is tricky because the real story sometimes gets hidden beneath the numbers.
The real goal is readership. One devoted reader can be a more powerful ally than 100 random visitors. So the goal isn’t just to grab attention, but to stimulate real devotion. Great blogs rely on a great community of devoted, supportive fans.
How does a blogger build a community of truly devoted readers? The answer is simple, the execution is challenging – reach the heart. The reason you are loyal to certain brands has a lot more to do with your emotions than your mind. Daily, we make the choice to spend extra money on the things we value rather than going cheap because we’re emotionally devoted. So if you want to build a loyal, devoted readership, aim for the heart.
How do you engage the emotions to win the hearts of devoted readers?
- Make people think… about themselves. Facts can be interesting, but facts that hit home are compelling. Human beings, by nature, are uncomfortable with change, but change we will when our emotions are involved. People don’t buckle up because they see a road sign – they do so because they’re in a fender bender that jolts them or they see a horrific accident.
- Be a face and a name, not just a blog. What do Chris Brogan, Michael Hyatt, and Brian Solis all have in common? In addition to being successful bloggers who impact their respective industries, they each have an online persona that can be known in a unique way.
- Push buttons. I heard a Christian minister say once that his role was to “comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable.” In many cases, our role as bloggers is to push buttons – to make people mad… or sad… or uncomfortable in some way.
- Tell stories. Or at least make sure a story is told about you, your blog, or your brand. In fact, branding is often misunderstood as symbols, designs, and logos. But a brand is really the story associated with a person, product, or organization. It represents the emotional connection people associate with a name.
- Do it all again. Making people laugh, or cry, or think just once is great, but we’re aiming for devoted readers, which can only be done when we communicate with the heart consistently and repetitively.
This is a partial list. I’ve gotten you started. Now help me out. How else do you gather a devoted community?
In addition to serving as Editor of Fuel Your Blogging, Brandon is also a Pastor at Saddleback Church and Online Community Coordinator for Pastors.com. He’s also a web designer, blogger, and church communications consultant. Catch him on his own blog or on Twitter.
I gather devoted readers by showing that I actually do care. I visit their blogs and comment on them when I can. I retweet their posts. And when I find something that I think we’ll help them with an issue they’ve been having, I pass it along to them. I like people to feel as if they matter, when they know someone is listening, they are more like to interact with the blog and return often.
All reasons your blogging reputation is growing like wildfire!
Excellent post! Your insights are spot on. I love the “comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable” quote. Thanks!
Haha, no problem Jose!
Brandon, thanks for the tips. I blog on my website but probably not as often as I should. I’m a writer (books, essays, etc) and also a painter. My problem is preventing my blogs sounding like a commercial for my books or paintings. I enjoy writing on many topics that may be helpful to the reader while downplaying the emphasis on “me”. I get many hits on my site but not so many responses, so it’s hard to know what people want to hear. How do I get them to ask questions and be more interactive? Thanks.
Marie, I’ve found that even on blogs with an active community, seeing 5 – 10% responding and commenting is good. It’s amazing how many casual observers there are, which is fine, but it makes it hard to gauge.
One tip is to ask for feedback – don’t finish every blog post but end it with a question and leave it a little bit open.
I wholeheartedly agree with what you’re saying here Brandon, because all of those things will definitely boost your credibility with those who visit your blog and take the time to see what you’re all about.
However, I’ve ran a blog before that’s not getting nearly as good results as this one. I did have some loyal followers, but not as many as I do with the blog I have now, and it didn’t grow nearly as fast. The difference in what I did was not ON my blog (which fulfilled pretty much everything you mentioned), but the things I did OFF my blog.
I found that properly networking with others (on twitter, with blog comments, and through guest posts [and responding to the comments on your guest posts]) will not only get you visitors, but they’ll already be “presold” to liking and trusting you, making it easier to warm up to your content and what’s on your blog, especially if you follow the advice that you provided in this article.
Thanks for the great tips Brandon :-)
Excellent point, Jonathan! I think some people point to the rapid rise of blogs like TwiTip and are enamored with Darren’s success with it, not realizing that his blog took off because of all the other things he had done on the net already. Great point!
Wow I didn’t even know people were “surprised” at the success of TwiTip… I think Darren Rowse could start a blog on rice pudding and it’d become popular! lol
Personally I think getting creative and showing that you truly care about your readers in some way shape or form is a great way to get them to come back. Everyone wants to be wanted so make your readers feel wanted.