10 Tips to Keep Your Readers Interested for Longer

The key to a great blog is great readers. Many writers find that they struggle to acquire and maintain a large or consistent base of readers. There are a lot of factors that contribute to the success and the popularity of a blog and there are a lot of tricks that can help you master these factors. The following ten tips will help you create a blog that keeps your readers interested for longer and provides you with greater blogging success.

1. Great Content: The best way to keep a steady reader base is to provide great content. The content that tends to thrive in the blogging world, is content that empowers or enables the reader. Come up with excellent “how to” articles or inspire your readers to try something new or expand their horizons. Blogs that help the reader feel productive will have the most loyal readers.
2. Popular Posts: Having a list of your most popular blog posts at the top or side of your website will allow readers to get to the meat of your blog. If a reader struggles through an uninteresting blog post, he or she is extremely likely to leave the site and never return. If the reader has access to a list of the best articles, however, he or she is likely to find an article to immediately connect with.
3. RSS Feed: An RSS feed can be an excellent way to build a strong reader base. The feed allows readers to subscribe to your blog. Whenever a new blog is posted, readers will be notified via email. This prevents the frustration of returning to a blog only to find that it hasn’t been updated.
4. Comments: Many readers enjoy commenting on blogs because it allows them to engage with you and with other readers. Enabling some form of comments can help improve the success of your blog. Additionally, if an exciting conversation occurs in your blog comments, readers are likely to return to your blog to check the progression of the conversation.
5. Frequent Posting: If you’re not posting blogs, you can’t build a strong reader base. It’s vital that you write blogs as frequently as possible. If your readers check your website once or twice without finding a new blog, they are far more likely to lose interest.
6. Social Networking: Readers like to feel connected to bloggers. They want to know who you are, what you like, what you look like, and what you’re all about. The best way to allow your readers to feel connected to you is to link to your social networking sites. Accessibility is important and allowing your readers to be your friends on networking sites can have a positive impact on their loyalty to your blog.
7. Related Posts: A section of related posts at the side or bottom of each blog entry can help readers find articles that they’re interested in. Linking between related blog posts is an excellent way to engage a reader for a longer period of time because they will have the option to view articles that are similar to the one that brought them to your blog in the first place.
8. Contests: Running contests through your blog is an excellent way to get your readers to return to your site. The contests can take many forms and can be as simple as a silly photo contest. The prizes will depend on your skill, resources, and expertise. You can offer physical prizes, but it is far easier to offer digital prizes. Subscriptions, E-books, and site memberships are all excellent prizes.
9. Ask Questions: Asking your readers a question at the end of each post can increase the comments on your blog and encourage your readers to return to your site. Because you don’t have to answer the question yourself, you can even ask challenging or controversial questions. This will encourage readers to return to check the comments and may even spark a lively debate on your blog.
10. Excellent Headlines: A great way to get readers to read your blog posts is to provide excellent headlines. Your headlines should be both descriptive and fascinating. Lure readers in with an exciting and engaging headline that peeks their curiosity.

Tom Walker is a full time writer who works with an online supplier of HP 363 ink and other supplies. He is the lead editor of their blog about print marketing, advertising design and art.