While starting a blog you need to make sure that it should ultimately help you to meet your objectives. One of the best ways to achieve your goals is to turn your readers into the active participants that can help you forge friendly relations with them and offer you (and your readers) several benefits. For instance, you can expect to get new contracts, social media mentions, link sharing, and various other benefits. For that you need to keep some important things in mind to turn your visitors into loyal readers and active participants:
Do Not Clutter Your Blog
Cluttering your blog with different topics will attract the people with different mindsets and interests, and it can prevent you from remaining connected with your readers or build long term readership. So, be specific and concentrate on the single niche.
Pro Tip: However, it doesn’t mean that you need to entirely shun diversity. Use your discretion in determining the line between amicable diversity and abrupt diversion.
Example
- For instance, if you are an IT blogger concentrating on digital marketing then writing an article on Blockchain’s role in shaping the future of SEO can be called an agreeable diversity that would even be appreciated by the readers.
- However, sharing the articles on Blockchain technology on the same blogs would be more like an abrupt diversion that can confuse the readers.
In the former instance, there is a clear connection with the core theme (Blockchain + SEO) while the latter one lacks any connection with digital marketing or SEO (as it is about the Blockchain Technology).
Research about the pain points and concentrate on problems and solutions
Carefully write the blogs that readers can quickly connect with. Present the pain points and offer clear solutions to them so that the readers can have clear expectations at the starting of the blogs and should feel satisfied after reading your blog. Such blogs instantly impress readers and encourage them to share your thoughts with their friends, families, and colleagues. It would help you gain organic social media traction.
You Should (Truly) Know What You Are Talking About
You should also possess in-depth knowledge on the topic you are writing about. The knowledge will help you writing convincing posts supported by solid reasons and create actionable posts that instantly impress the readers and encourage them to comment and share your blogs on social media platforms. Over a reasonable period, it will strengthen the overall reputation of the blog.
Use Personal Posts
Write the personal posts that connect quickly with them readers. The overtly formal tone creates distance while the casual and friendly tone brings the readers near you and makes a quick relation with them that will eventually win their loyalty. Use the informal tone that you would use while communicating with your close friend or colleague (rather than the formal tone that you used while talking with your CEO during an interview!)
Turn Your Readers into Superheroes
You can even go a step further and turn your readers into a superhero by offering them an elevated position and distinct visibility on your blog. The top bloggers use strategies like creating special badges for the readers depending upon their expertise and engagement but it might not be a viable option for the new bloggers. You can create clear criteria to recognize and reward the active readers of your blog and ask them to share their stories, excerpts and real-life reviews/experiences. Include that into your blog posts along with their profiles, images, business/position, and social media links.
Pro tip: Many people look at it as a quick way to get popular in their social media community. So don’t forget to add social media sharing buttons to such integrative polls and quizzes.
Create Online Competitions
It is a fact- as people, we all love looking more confident, superior and stronger than others. Why not take advantage of this inbuilt competitive streak of humankind and throw challenges to your readers. It will not only boost the participation of the readers but if planned fairly, it can also help them recognize their hidden potential.
The challenges and healthy competitions can be a great way to bring diverse readers closer as they all are putting their efforts towards achieving the same targets.
However, you need to be careful while planning the challenges and ensure that they should promote friendly competition instead of spawning hostility among the readers that can break them apart.
Also, you should reward the winners suitably but at the same time, you don’t have to make other participants feel like losers. These are some things that differ from case to case and you would need to use your discretion wild signing the challenge.
Grow and Evolve with Your Readers
If building a community is a difficult exercise then retaining it is an uphill task. The community consists of different people with different goals of life. Their progress and phases of life can affect or reduce their participation that can start discouraging the other members as well.
So, make sure that your strategies should be flexible and constantly evolving to include different goals progress curve and phases of your readers’ lives. For that, it is best to offer your active readers and optionally share their personal stories, next goals, and the career targets by offering them a dedicated community corner. It will help you take note of the upcoming events and goals of your most active readers and adopt the strategy that aligns with the same (or at least does not disturb their objectives).
Organically Promote Your Readers (with no commercial strings attached)
More importantly, you should actively step in and congratulate them on their milestone successes, wishing them best in their pursuits and endorsing the new skills they acquire- both on your blog and social media channels. This will create a sense of pride and will help in further strengthening the relations between you and your readers.
Additionally, if you would actively recommend, appreciate or promote your readers then it is very likely that the readers would also do the same for you as a thank you gesture.
You Just Cannot Afford to Ignore the Value of Your Blog Posts
While all the above strategies can help you build a thriving community, you should never ignore fundamental factor- delivering high-value content for your readers. Share the posts that help your readers in achieving their goals, solving their real-life issues and offering them tips and tricks to gain better output out of their efforts. It will feel them being benefited (and will benefit them) and thus, such readers are more likely to recommend your blog and endorse your expertise.
Other strategies that you can follow:
- Include the news and reviews that are usable for your readers. For instance, if you are writing about WordPress then presenting real user reviews about the new and innovative WordPress plugins could be a great strategy.
- It is also possible that your readers might also be budding bloggers or small entrepreneurs with a digital presence. You can strategically link to their sites or blogs in your relevant posts. It will benefit their digital profile/reputation and can turn them into a loyal community member.
Gaining Commercial Benefits
While being honest and genuine is extremely important, you also have to keep in mind your commercial goals. After building a thriving community you can also think about gaining fair commercial benefits from them. For instance, if your community has entrepreneurs who are looking to enhance their digital presence then you might offer them your digital marketing services.
You don’t have to be on their nerves or annoy them by asking if they need your services. Rather you can create a page or a campaign to know the major pain points of your readers and then decide if and where you can offer your services to solve those pain points.
Pro Tip: Be careful throughout this entire strategy to ensure that you should not look like a clever blogger who has created the community only to forward his own commercial goals. Don’t forget to offer your readers some special discount and additional service or free trial period to make them feel privileged.
Conclusion
To convert visitors into readers and gain commercial benefits out of their blogs, the bloggers need to be extremely careful. They would need to build a well-planned strategy to write the irresistible blog posts that not only attract the readers but also encourage them to subscribe to your blog. You should also have clear goals on how to create a closed fraternity of the readers that can help you achieve your goals.
