6 Tips For Bloggers To Grow a Loyal Following

As bloggers, we always have the challenge of engaging first-time visitors to our blogs. We want to turn those who happen to come by chance to our site into loyal readers. We want to maintain our reader base, and work towards to always add to it. First impressions matter, so we have to make sure our visitors feel that our blog is the blog they’ve been looking for.

Content is king, that’s right, but it’s not the only element of success. You also gotta offer your first-time visitors something new, that little something extra that makes them think “wow, what a nice blog!”. The layout of your site, the way how your contents are organised in it, how your visitors interact with your blog, etc., all these elements also play an important role.

The following are 6 tips I’ve learned from experience for engaging your first-time visitors and turn them into regular readers of our blog, in order of importance:Regularity: maintaining a regular posting schedule is critical for success. Personally, I find it attractive when I visit a blog and see that the owner(s) updates it in a regular basis.

Interaction

Blogging isn’t only about writing and publishing entries and expect people to read them. Interaction is also necessary. Ask questions about your writing, reply to your visitors’ comments, create polls, etc.

Reciprocity

As a blogger, I like it when someone takes the time to visit my site and leave comments on it. The only way I know to correspond their interest in my site is by taking time to read what they said and reply. And if they have a site, I pay them a visit, too!

Proofreading

I think it’s very important to check your writings for grammar/typographical mistakes before presenting them to an audience. Show you care about the quality of your content. (by the way, if you find any typo please let me know )

Appearance

Let’s face it. A site with a nice looking layout is great. I love finding websites with original designs, who doesn’t? Same goes for your readers: if they like what they see, chances are that they will stick around for more.

Usability

Having a great design is always a good thing, however is your blog usable? Is your navigation easy to follow? Does your site render correctly on all major browsers? Can people locate your site’s resources easily (RSS feeds, comment forms, social links)?