This is Building Readership Week at Successful Blog–and next week too, if there’s still more to talk about. We’ll be looking at how we help readers find us and how we keep them engaged and participating when they do. We’ll also be packing the Survival Kit with readership-building tools.
This post comes early to give you a chance to think about two questions and leave your comments.
On Building Readership:
What works to get readers to stop by your blog?
What readership-building issues would you like to discuss?
Go on leave a comment. That’s how you make sure that this week’s conversation covers ideas you want to explore.
–ME “Liz” Strauss
I think you have to define what a reader is. How about those lurkers that you never see or find out about, people you’ve reached, but have no way of knowing how? There’s one reader I know of who reads faithfully but never leaves a comment, never makes himself known. I know he’s there because of the exotic country he’s in (I see it in the stats), and because he’s added a link to me at his blog. I value this reader as much as one who has commented and participated in ocntributing stories.
Good point, Indie, and one that will take some thinking. I was just writing the post on what content is so it seems we’re coming from two sides of the same coin. Good maybe with a few more like you and me, we’ll get this subject covered. ๐
Anyone willing to start an answer to the question: How will we define what is a reader?
Liz
I guess I answered it myself. There will be passive readers and active readers. I would not count superficial hits as readership, but recurring visitors. The bottom line for building any kind of readership is to offer good content. If you can build readership by offering weak content, I guess you’d really be good.
When I started blogging, I stopped by other blogs, and if I liked what I saw, I left a comment. Often the blog owners will stop by themselves to “check you out”.
Links in forums are also helpful, for a short, brief burst of visitors. A friend of mine kept posting my links to my posts in a gaming forum he was in. I got a lot of traffic from that, but don’t think many stayed on.
How about a simple(nomics) definition:
A reader is one who comes to the site and reads the content.
How he got there doesn’t define if he’s a reader or not. If he’s a one timer or repeat, also doesn’t change his definition.
If they only come once, it ain’t their fault, it’s mine.
As for how we get them to come, the ways are as varied as the blog.
Most of my readers, as evidenced by my server logs, have come from comments, links and posts on other blogs as #1, search engines #2 and promos by other blogs as #3.
A trackback or a comment that leads to more info on my blog is far better than just a comment with a link. If we can add to the conversation or look at it from a different slant, we have a better chance of gaining a regular reader/subscriber.
Also, unique ways to draw attention are to do compilations, lists and to create viral documents that other blog owners can distribute to their readers.
Hope this helps.
Hi Indie. Hi Mike.
I guess we’ve agreed that the best we can do is say that a reader is someone who reads, however he or she gets there.
I agree with your point, Indie, that the bottom line is good content. Without it there’s no point in readers making the effort. As you say about links placed with the wrong kind of readers, you can get them to come, but you can’t make them stay. (Do I hear a cliche about a horse and some water? ๐ )
Mike, thanks for pointing out the ways that your readers come to you. I’ll include them when I finish up the posts for this week. Your reminder that lists and viral documents build readership is proven by the attention that Successful Blog from that one little post “Think before you Link.”
You guys have both already kicked the conversation up a couple of notches. Thank you for that. ๐
Liz
It’s nice to see you writing about building readership rather than “building traffic”. That can be the same thing, of course, but “readership” definitely carries the implication of value, while “traffic” has the unfortunate baggage of spammers trickery driving people to a page they never wanted, and even without that does not necessarily mean readers.
A reader is someone who wants to be at our site. We all get accidental and misdirected traffic; that’s a natural effect of search engines misunderstanding our pages. Those folks are just “traffic”, not readers.
While raw traffic may look good to advertisers (and may even benefit them: just because the page wasn’t what the visitor wanted doesn’t mean the ad was off target), but what we, the writers, really want is readers. Traffic may pay the bills, but readers are our reason for writing – if that were not so, we’d all just be spammers.
Hey PCUNIX,
Great to see ya!
Thanks for making the delineation between readership and traffic and within that using the important word “value.”
Yeah your last paragraph puts it plainly, especially that last sentence. I can’t resist quoting you.
Traffic may pay the bills, but readers are our reason for writing – if that were not so, weรยรยขรยขรขยยรยฌรยขรขยยรยขd all just be spammers.
I think that just became t-shirt number 2. ๐
Liz
Interesting topic. For the kind of blog I’m running readers are “seasonal” – they come and keep coming back for about a week, then they disappear. This has to do with the way the blog’s content works and is pretty convenient for many reasons.
Some readers always come back, sometimes every few hours. Again this has to do with the way the content is updated. It’s interesting to note that while content brings repeat readers, it can, when carefully crafted, also affect the visiting patterns of those readers.
It will be interesting to see what you discuss in the coming week ๐
Hello ๐ I am a new blogger. I am happy with the stats that I am getting for the first two weeks. My question though is this… I am not getting enough (if not, very few) comments from my site visitor… is this a gauge for a “not happy” reader? My visitors however are staying in my site at an average of 6 minutes.
Your two cents worth please…
Hi Blogfather,
I’m a member of your family. I think you might be surprised to see how much what we talk about has to do with your blog. We’ll be discussing how to make your blog more visible to search engines as well as to readers.
Liz
Hi Minic,
There are plenty of reasons people don’t comment. Some that we know and some I’m sure that we don’t. Sometimes it has to do with the content, people feel that it’s fine as it is and there’s nothing to comment about. Some folks like to get to know who they’re talking to before they’re willing to comment and some never will.
Your blog has another complicating factor. It’s half information source and half store. People might find it uncomfortable at first commenting at a place right next to a price. That’s just a guess, but it could have something to do with it.
I think two weeks is way too soon to tell. I also suggest that you might be taking your stats too seriously, as I know I can do–they’re just so darn interesting. Aren’t they?
Thanks for asking the question. It’s a good one. With your willingness to interact, I’m thinking that once you make some blogging friends in your niche, you’ll be getting plenty of comments. I bet you’ll forget what it was like not to have any.
Liz
I’m on pcunix’s wavelength here re: “building readership” as against “building traffic” – too many people blog by the numbers rather than drilling down to a niche and producing quality content. I’d rather have 1,000 loyal readers than 10,000 bandwidth-eaters that might make my stats look good but means nothing because they stay for under 10 seconds.
My definition of a reader is somebody who actually visits your blog and wants to read what you have to say.
As with Mike, comments and trackbacks/pingbacks is how I got the ball rolling. That, and forum (in my niche, of course) involvement.
It’s relatively easy getting the one time reader (traffic) but getting them to come back is the hard part. From my experiences, the first thing is first impressions & perceptions: when a new visitor comes to your site is it pleasing to the eye? Easy to read? Easy to navigate? each new reader will give you only a handful of seconds before they settle on a perception of you – and either stay or leave.
These are all excellent points to ponder. I remember when I first became aware of the Internet, around 1995 and read the main thing people enjoy in websites: pictures. I had a static website with a URL people often tried out by hand and the most heavily visited section was the page with photos. A short story / articles page was hardly visited at all. On the other hand, I don’t see a photo log building as much traffic all by itself, as a blog which illustrates interesting content with good photos. I’m at an advantage there, presenting photos AND short text.
Speaking of short, brevity is also important, because people don’t want to read volumes and volumes of material. Grab their attention with the first sentence. And a good way to do that is to present some kind of contradiction, something that doesn’t fit the usual schemata, something that teases the reader’s imagination: First thing this day I gave my boss an apple and he fired me. (Don’t know if my first sentences always fit the contradiction patter, but it’s one of the principals commonly used in advertising).
P.S. As an example of a blog that did very well in building readership, also incorporating the ideas I wrote in the last comment – and a lot more, I’d cite Cori’s http://agagreflex.blogspot.com.
Hi Martin and Indie,
I agree getting readers’ attention quickly and keeping it is important. You’re right, Martin. Look–design and navigation–plays a big part in that. And perceptions? Perception is reality.
Indie, you do have an advantage with your photo/flash fiction, but only because you’re a master at it. I agree with you brevity and a great lead are important. To expand on that so is a clear and well-positioned title.
Thanks for the link, we’ll check it out.
Liz
Several things I did at my main site (aplawrence.com) increased comments:
First, I put comments “in-line” – you don’t go to a separate page to see other people’s comments. People like that. I do that even at my “full blog-style” page: I don’t present in typical blog format; I list blog entries in an index page. But I do offer two “blog style” pages also, and one of them includes comments in line, which was a feature the readers asked for.
Second, I added “Recent Comments” to the home page, which lists the 6 posts with the most recent comments.
Finally, like Liz here, I often respond to comments – people want a conversation.
Another important thing is to insert personality. That isn’t always easy with a tech site like mine, but personality is probably the biggest factor in both building readership and increasing comments.
By the way, I just noticed that a recent post I made demonstrates some of the things I just mentioned. Take a look at http://aplawrence.com/Opinion/what-do-you-do.html
I do a fair number of “opinion” posts like that. It’s those that usually garner the greatest number of comments, and the comments become mini conversations. Seeing conversations like that helps people feel more comfortable about posting comments on other pages, so the whole site benefits.
So – to Minic: I’d agree with Liz that the commercial nature of your site probably discourages comments to some degree. However, you are inserting personality; you probably just need to work harder at it and actually ask for comments – solicit advice, etc.
Hi pcunix!
You know a lot of what you’re saying is proved out right here on this page. The post we’re commenting on is just an announcement of what’s going to happen this week with a request for opinions.
I really like the inline comment idea. I was reading a post last night that I’m going to offer later where the post itself is for newbies, but the comments carry some really meaty stuff. They’re too easy to overlook if you’re in a hurry.
With you on the personality point–have to be. I’ve been described as having “a lot of it.”
Minic, pcunix makes a good point about working harder, but I’ve also been thinking some about your problem since last night . . . I think you should find a way to set off your postings more–Maybe frame the pictures of the t-shirts. Currently they look like catalog descriptions of the t-shirts, rather than editorial comments and that could be confusing readers about how appropriate it is to comment.
Liz
Just a little suggestion about getting more comments.
In addition to writing open-ended posts or ones asking for opinions, I think it’s also good to change the link text for your comments.
Instead of a link saying “0 comments”, isn’t it more inviting to say “Add a comment!” or “Be the first to comment!”?
I just realized I haven’t changed this on my own blog yet, since upgrading my version of WordPress (which was quite a while ago)… Going to do that right now!
Jennifer,
To think I almost missed your comment. What a good point this is! We’re thinking new design. I’m adding this to the list and saying Jennifer said so.
Liz
Hehe, thanks. ๐
No problem. ๐
Liz