A blog is a personal diary.
A daily pulpit.
A collaborative space.
A political soapbox.
A breaking-news outlet.
A collection of links.
Your own private thoughts.
Memos to the world.
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Blogging has become increasingly popular as more and more people turn to writing online journals to express their thoughts and interests. Most blog writers eventually develop some sort of following by readers, unless they purposely choose to keep their blogs private. Even if the blog is designed just for your family or a group of friends, it is important to understand your readers and what they want.
A blog, can be an online journal or diary where people of all ages and from all over the world can express their thoughts, opinions, interests. Businesses also use blogs to communicate with their customers and it is proving to be quite an effective form of communicating. Whether you write a blog for your company or just for other readers, your readers come to rely on you for updating your blog on a regular basis.
Readers: Finding them
When you get ready to do your blog, make sure you give thought to what your readers want from it. One important part of keeping readers interested in blogs is to update frequently. If blogs are not updated on a regular basis, they will find another blog to read. It is important to keep your blog current and to provide the updates to your reader.
You may want to think about including a subscription or email option to your blog. When a reader subscribes to your blog, they will automatically receive updates when you add a new post to your blog. This lets them know when you have new material up on your blog.
Target your audience
Another way to keep your readers coming back to your blog is to target your audience. For instance, if you are a pet lover and write about your life with your five dogs, then you need to find others with similar interest. Some groups will not be interested in your story at all. You can begin to find out about your audience by visiting online groups, forums or communities that have to do with your main subject. Tell everyone you know about what you blog about and provide a link to your writing. If a reader is interested in the subject you are writing about, more than likely they will come back and visit often. It is really important to remember that there are literally thousands and thousands of blogs on the Internet on virtually any and every topic. Your job is to grab your reader’s attention and keep them coming back for more.
Readers: Keeping them
Be responsible
You are also inviting your readers to come back for more information if you use your blog wisely. If you want to write about your very private thoughts, then these are not the thoughts you may wish to put on your very public blog. If you do want to share, be careful and considerate about what you write. If you embarrass the people you know through your writing, then you are not using your blog responsibly. Protect the people around you. By the same token, this is not the space that you want to use to try to get even with someone. The readers who do not know you personally are not at all interested in reading your posts to or about your perceived enemies.
Ease of use
When you blog, keep your readers interested by having an easy to use blog setup. Often large pictures or downloads can take up a lot of time and your reader may not want to take the time to open these larger files. If you want to include pictures, links, or downloads make sure they work well and will not slow their computer down. You can also make your blog easy to use by using a blog-hosting site that minimizes or eliminates advertising and pop-ups. Most of the time, those types of advertising will annoy only your reader. When you choose a blog site, check into the types of features that the site can offer. Some of the sites that don’t use ads and pop ups may cost you a few dollars, but they are worth every penny if you want your readers to have an excellent blog experience while visiting your site.
Much respect
You can also be sure that your readers will return to your blog if you treat them with respect. They may disagree with something you write about, and that’s okay. We won’t all see eye-to-eye on every issue. But, if they leave a negative comment, resist every temptation to flame them. It will not go or end well.
Also, you readers will appreciate your writing more if you in turn comment back to them or even thank them for visiting your blog. This is a great way to build communication with your readers and will keep them coming back for your blog.
What would you add to this short list for newbies about getting and keeping readers?
Photo Credit: Mexicanwave via Compfight cc
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