Increasing Traffic, Readers and Loyalty

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One of the most common questions I get is “how do I get more readers, more visits, and grow loyalty to my blog?”

There are many ways and I could write a book about it. Maybe I will. But for now, I want to give you six things that EVERY blogger can do right now to build traffic and loyalty.

First, a little lesson about blogging. There are gagillions of blogs. Content and entertainment is absolutely in jaw dropping abundance. Learn this rule: with every “abundance” a “scarcity” is created. What’s the scarcity created in blogging?

Attention.

More specifically, people have a finite amount of time so you are competing with other blogger for the attention of readers which is manifested by them investing their time with you. Multiple and continued grants of attention over time are what we call loyalty.

People value their time and are more willing to give you their attention in exchange for what? C’mon… what’s that answer?
YOUR attention. When you invest YOUR time and attention in them, they feel valued and your value increases with them. It sends the message that you know their time is just as valuable as yours.

“Yeah, but I already give them my time by writing content on my blog…” So what. A googlegillion other bloggers do the same. So giving your time to create content is no longer a difference maker. It’s a mandatory ingredient, but not a difference maker among a group who is all doing the same.

My main point today is this: it helps you build traffic and loyalty if you invest the time and effort to RECIPROCATE ATTENTION. Want proof?

How do you feel when you leave a comment on a blog and you actually get a reply from the author? Do you enjoy having another blogger mention you on their blog? Do you like opportunities to leave your link or information on someone else’s blog? Of course. They are reciprocating your attention. They value you.

Okay, you get the point, so here’s some tips for reciprocating attention to build traffic and loyalty:

Comment Replies
As often as you can, reply to comments either with a meaningful response or a simple “hey thanks for leaving a comment, I appreciate it”.

There’s an art to this because if you simply copy and paste the same thing on every reply, then it becomes insincere and people pick up on that with light speed. The trick? Be genuine. Be friendly. Be a real person, not a marketer or a flatterer.

You can’t reply to every comment, especially if you get hundreds of them, or perhaps they aren’t really the type you reply to anyway. However, take every opportunity you can to sincerely reply to your readers. Comments are your readers “speaking to you”… don’t ignore your friends when they talk to you.

Answering emails
Answer every single email you get from your readers. If they can take time to write you and show you they value YOUR attention, you owe it to them to reciprocate. Failing to do so will leave the door wide open for someone who DOES value them… and steal their loyalty from you.

Of course you get some emails from people you do NOT want to reply to, that’s true. For the most part though, answer every email from every loyal reader.

Mentioning others
Mention readers in your blog posts. Mention their blogs. Mention their achievements. Mention their needs. Mention their families. A personal mention of others shows that you care, and shows that you don’t think you are the center of the universe. There are plenty of bloggers out there who achieve a level of success, start believing their own press, and think the whole blog world exists to worship at the feet of their URL. Never forget that there is a seemingly infinite number of blogs competing for the same finite amount of attention and loyalty.

Readers and loyalty are excruciatingly hard to gain, and can be lost with a wisp of haughtiness.

Linking to others

Links are both the glue and the power of the blog world. When you mention your blog friends, link to them. Linking to others very often leads to motivating them to link back to you. Many bloggers become obsessed with GETTING links to their blog, but are stingy and hesitant to return the favor. Don’t let that be you….

Collaborating on content

Ask readers for ideas. Ask them for suggestions. Ask them for their input on your blog and content. Involve them in what you do. Utilize their creativity, energy and goodwill. People who feel involved, feel a sense of community. “Community” goes a LONG way towards building loyalty.

MckLinky lists that benefit others
Okay, so this is a little self serving, but MckLinky is a great way to do many of these things. Creating lists that benefits your readers accomplishes many of the ways we’ve already talked about. I have a long list of new tools in development that are focused around the principles we’ve discussed today. I look forward to providing them to you.

RECIPROCATE ATTENTION… a great way to build traffic and loyalty for your blog.

Actually, on second thought, ignore everything I just said. That will be one less blogger I have to compete with…

I would be very grateful if you would share this with someone, or put it on one of the social sites:

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