You Have 10 Seconds To Impress Me
What is it that attracts us to certain blogs more than others? Is there a secret formula that top bloggers are using to gain a steady following of readership, or are they simply applying a strategy that gets them noticed and appreciated.
One things is for sure, when we browse blogs it doesn’t take long for us to determine whether we like what we see, or hit the next button.
But what are those factors and how can we as blogger assure ourselves that we can attract readers rather than turn them away?
Well, to be honest there is no secret but a few methods we can implement to help us on our quest.
First, lets look at some things we can do to make our blog more attractive for readers to hang out:
- Use a nice and easy layout/navigation
- Write good content in words that talk to your readers. What many believe works best is a mixture between talking (writing) in the 3rd person sprinkled with our own experience. Kind of like talking to a good friend.
- Ads should never distract from the content of your blog
- Write regular updates, contrary to popular belief they don’t need to be daily but should be regular.
- Write about things your readers want to hear.
- Help your readers with free and valuable information.
- Use Plugins to help display top commenter’s, popular posts etc.
- Allow both regular and email RSS subscription. You’d be surprised how many readers prefer to subscribe to RSS via email.
- Have your own unique voice, don’t rehash everybody else’s content.
- Interact with your readers via comments, contests, free give away’s
These tips are merely the absolute minimum we should strive for when trying to gain a good readership.
If people email you with questions, link exchanges and the likes, don’t be rude or offensive. Who knows, it might come back to you in a negative way one day.
Always try to be courteous in your comment replies. I have seen blog comments getting out of hand and this will drive regular readers away. As the blog owner we should strive to keep control of this and not bite into aggressive baits.
As bloggers we need to put ourselves into the best possible light. Since last time I checked hatred and abuse doesn’t get anybody far.
Giving our readers what THEY want makes for better attraction!
Having a loyal readership is what we should strive for. In a way we are a bit like politicians with our own party. Blogging in essence is a bit like politics without TV.
Our readers support our views and belief’s and they listen to what we are saying.
Readers really do scan blogs fast and we don’t have much time at all to leave enough of an impression to keep them reading. Often a catchy headline is what attracts them to us first. But if the rest leaves a lot to be desired, then you can be the best headline fabricator in the world for nothing.
Maybe you would like to add your own recommendations in the comments and share with us your best tips.
Thank you
Monika
Technorati Tags: attracting blog readers , blogging , hoe to keep readers on the blog , building a loyal readership
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9 Responses to “You Have 10 Seconds To Impress Me”
Got something to say?
Hi! I only have 10 secs so I will be quick. Love your tips. I think I have them covered. Thank You.
Some excellent points raised here – in my own experience I’ve found that I’m struggling to find what my readers want to begin with – I have a general topic (celebrity gossip in this instance), so just by doing research I’ve concluded that there are 4 or 5 different “types” – no time to go into them, but I’ve found so far that mixing the types does not go well (keep in mind I’m just using google analytics and hittail to get some trend info) – readers respond to a full page of one “type” much better than a mix of 2-3 types.
Peter: 9…8…7…6..5,4,3,2,1 well done
you did!
TrashyCeleb: You are doing better than most because you are actually trying to find out what works and what doesn’t. Those two programs are great, I use them myself. It is a matter of getting the data, analyzing it and trying to implement slight changes until you are happy, just like you are doing now.
I am enjoying your newsletters and your blog very much. You continue to be a great help in my learning curve with all of the tips that you publish. Thank you.
Aloha,
June
Please, ** **** ********… (9 seconds)
please tell me you didnt censor…
The 10 second rule is absolutely right – at least for new visitors like myself who are unfamiliar with this site.
Plus, you don’t always know the reason for a person’s visit. I’m personally keeping my eye open for blogs on which to advertiser (I mean the paid type), and one of the first things I look for is feed count (yes!), nice layout (yes!) and how to actually advertise here (I probably need to look a bit harder).
Anyway, you got me past the critical 10 seconds
@ Paul: speak to Gobala, it’s his blog if you want to advertise. Not sure whether he has open spots.
I would love to see any information about attracting money. Do you have any? thanks.