Tips On Maintaining and Keeping Your Blog ReadersAttracting people to visit your blog is just the first step to building your readership. Maintaining and keeping them visiting your blog is the more challenging task facing every bloggers. This is a better strategic approach to blog traffic rather than a continuous effort to attract new visitors that do not return. By maintaining and keeping your current readers, you secure your blog a sustainable growth in readership and traffic.

Over the past months of my blogging, I learned a few tips that when implemented can help you maintain and keep your blog readers from coming back. After implementing these tips, I have noticed a considerable growth in my readership and blog traffic. Try it and see for yourself.

Tips To Maintain And Keep Your Blog Readers

1. Drive Targeted Traffic To Your Blog

Targeted Traffic are those coming from visitors that are interested in what you offer. This would include, but not be limited to, visitors from your target market or your target audience.

Any form of traffic is good but not all traffic can be maintained or kept especially when it’s not targeted traffic. Hence, you cannot expect someone who visited your blog looking for dating tips to pay another visit when your blog is all about blogging tips. Here are some pointers to increase targeted traffic to your blog.

  • Participate in relevant forum.
  • Leave comments on blogs related to yours.
  • Optimize your blog for search engines using relevant keywords.
  • Use relevant ‘Anchor Text’ when linking to your blog.
  • Become a guest blogger on blogs related to yours.
  • Your promotional strategies should be geared towards your target audience.

2. Make Sure To Give a Good First Impression

First impression lasts so make sure your blog has what it takes to give your first time visitors a favorable impression. By giving your first time visitors a good experience when visiting your blog, you improve your chances of having them pay another visit. Here are some tips you can do to give your visitors a good experience and a good impression of your blog.

  • Make sure your blog downloads fast. Slow downloading is a major turn off to blog visitors. You can read Simple Tips For a Faster Downloading Blog for tips on making your blog downloads faster.
  • Make sure that a navigation menu is available on your blog. Make it visible and accessible to all your readers. Nothing is more annoying that a blog that is hard to navigate.
  • Use a professional theme or template. Your visitors are more inclined to judging your blog from your blog layout so make sure you use an appropriate theme for your blog. You can win a Premium Wordpress Theme, get a Wordpress Theme for free or simply buy one.

3. Make Post Series

Post series can induce your readers to continue following the series thus, keeping them checking your blog. Here are some pointers to remember when making post series.

  • Choose a good topic that you can write a lot about.
  • Make a general outline of your post series.
  • Make your first post the most interesting to get your readers wanting to read more.
  • Sustain the momentum until the last post, wherein you will give a satisfying conclusion to the series.

4. Engage Your Blog Readers

Engaging your blog readers is another effective strategy to keep them coming back. By engaging your readers, you make them feel that they are a part of your blog. Here are a few things you can do to engage your blog readers.

  • Identify your audience. Having a knowedge of your audience, enable you to write something they want to read, something they can read or something they are interested to read.
  • Organize to meet your reader’s needs. Make sure to satisfy your reader’s informational need. They need answers and explanations so make sure you provide it on your posts.
  • Use a question-and-answer format.
  • Use “you” and other pronouns to speak directly to readers.
  • Use appropriate tone.
  • Make your post open for comments. Don’t be like Seth Godin.
  • Blog about interesting and controversial issues.
  • Provide a contact form for your blog readers in case they need to contact you.
  • Reply to your blog readers’ questions, suggestions and comments.

5. Reward Your Readers

Rewarding your readers is another sure way to maintain them and keep them coming back. Here are some simple suggestions you can do to reward your blog readers.

  • Organize contests or giveaways. I’m currently running two Wordpress Theme Giveaways, you might want to join.
  • Give some link love to your blog readers. I do this every Sunday, where I call it Sunday Link Love.
  • Make links to your comments ‘DoFollow’ or link to your ‘Top Commentor’.

6. Visit Your Blog Readers

To maintain and keep your blog readers, you need to stay in contact with them. You should also give some time to visit their blogs, leave a comment or send them an email. If possible, try to know their names, remember it and use it when exchanging messages with them.

7. Offer Useful And Relevant Information

Lastly, and the most important of all, you should offer useful and relevant information. All of the above tips are useless when your blog has nothing good to offer. Read how to create valuable contents for your readers for more tips. You should also remember to stay focussed on your niche. Changing your usual topic may cause your blog readers to lose their interest.

There you have it. What do you think? :)

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