On Blogging

Advice for new bloggers: Turning one-time visitors into repeat readers

As part three of my Essential Advice for New Bloggers series we’re talking about establishing a readership.

So far we’ve covered networking and basic search engine optimization, which means you’ve got the tricks for getting people to your blog.  Now you need to know how to keep them there. 

It’s all about the content
The single most important element for finding and keeping readers is to publish great content.

No matter how much work you do optimizing your blog for search engine traffic, networking, or building backlinks and buzz, you have to have good content or you will find yourself fighting a very uphill battle.

Readers go where the content is.  They flock to blogs that are unique, relevant, interesting, or helpful.  If your content is good enough, your readers will promote it for you.

Every post is the most important post
Think of every post that you write as the first and most important post that a new reader will see.

Ask yourself,

• Does this post reflect my best work?
• Does this post represent what my blog is about?
• Is this post likely to convince new readers to keep reading?  Will it make them want to subscribe to my RSS feed?

If the answer to any of these questions is no; rethink posting.

Let’s say that a major site links to your blog, driving massive amounts of traffic.  Let’s also pretend that you don’t know this site is linking to you until the link has already been live for a full day.  If you’ve followed my “every post is important” rule, you’re ok.  Readers will come to your blog, immediately see a great representation of what you’re about, and subscribe.  You will live happily ever after.  If, on the other hand, your latest post is a meme that you threw together in five minutes, or an other less-than-stellar example of your work, you’ll be kicking yourself for a wasted opportunity.  (Trust me; I speak from experience here.)

Quality over quantity
So you’re probably thinking, “well gee thanks. How in the world am I supposed to come up with great content day in and day out?”  Let me fill you in on a secret. 

It’s better to publish less often with high-quality content than to publish daily with crap. 

Seriously.  Your readers will wait a day or two or even longer when they know your next post is likely to be really good.  What they won’t do is put up with a barrage of garbage in their feed reader day after day after DAY. 

Try it.  Skip a day.  Skip two days.  Skip a whole week. 

Crazy, right?  Not really.

One of the benefits of taking some time off from blogging is that you’ll find your mind begins to overflow with really great ideas, until you CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE and you sit down to a veritable stream of bloggy goodness.

Your readers will thank you.

Optimize the new visitor experience
Another important tactic for converting visitors to readers is to provide them context and information that orients them to your blog.  You can do this by looking at your blog as if you were a first-time visitor and making sure you’ve provided answers to the questions that they’re likely to have.

Here are some common questions that your first-time visitors are likely to ask,

• What is this blog about?
• Who writes this blog? 

Let’s break these questions down, and I’ll show you how to design your blog so that the answers are easily apparent.

What is this blog about?
When a person visits your blog, they will quickly make a decision about whether or not it’s relevant to them.  A primary driver in this decision is whether they can find out what your blog is about.  And then, of course, the what it’s about has to be relevant and appealing.

There are a few key ways to communicate what your blog is about.

1. Title and tagline.  We went into this topic in great detail in the post about SEO, but from a search-engine perspective.  Now let’s look at it through a human perspective.  Does your title and tagline communicate your blog’s topic or purpose?  If not, you’ll have to work harder to communicate this information elsewhere.
2. ‘About’ page. Every blog should have an ‘About’ page that summarizes your blog’s purpose and topic.  There are a lot of ways to do this.  Surf around some of your favorite blogs to get ideas.  Remember, this page is the first place to start building your brand. It says what you’re about like nothing else.  Make it personal.  Make it in your voice. Make it YOU.
3. Lists of best posts. Sometimes the titles of your best posts communicate what your blog’s about better than a paragraph ever could.  At minimum, a list like this urges visitors to dive in and read more of your best stuff.  And, if the content is as good as you and I know it is, they’ll fall in love and subscribe. 

Tip: Use a graphical tagline in the banner area of your blog to communicate the “human version” of what your blog is about.  This way you can optimize for search engines AND for first-time visitors.  Here’s an example,

For my blog, Absolutely Bananas, I have a SEO tagline of “Seattle stay-at-home mom blog.”  Ok, so it gets some relevant information across, but it doesn’t convey the playfulness that is my brand.

So, I have a second tagline that’s incorporated into my banner, “Blah blah blah with a lemon twist.” (actually I have several of these that rotate… but we’ll talk about that another time!)

Who writes this blog?
One of the strengths of blogging is the very personal connection that is formed between the blogger and her readers.  It is CRITICAL that you take advantage of this by introducing yourself to your readers.

Early on in evaluating a blog, a reader begins to wonder about the blogger behind it.  Why should I care what she says?  Is he credible?  Would I like her?  Do we have anything in common?

Help your readers out by making this information front and central.

1. Profile picture. There’s nothing more personal than a picture.  A mugshot of your smiling face is completely unique, totally personal, and 100% you.  If you blog anonymously or under a pseudonym, use an illustration as your mug shot. 
2. ‘About me’ paragraph or page. In addition to your profile picture, it’s a good idea to have a sentence or short paragraph on the sidebar that says what you’re about.  You can also build an “about me” page that gives readers an overview of who you are and what you’re into.  If you’re an “expert” in your blog’s topic, this is the place to establish that expertise!

Tip: When it comes to building brand recognition it’s best to use the SAME mugshot everywhere, always, in all your social networks.  People should be able to recognize your face (or the face that masquerades as you) with barely a glance.

Make it easy to subscribe
Finally, the tip that should be obvious, but isn’t always… if you want visitors to turn into subscribers, make it easy to subscribe!

For example, post a “subscribe” link in a prominent location (I prefer top right or left column).  It’s also useful to duplicate your subscribe link below each post.

For readers who are new to blogging, social media, and RSS, it can be helpful to provide a “what is RSS” link to introduce them to the idea of viewing content in a feed. 

Related articles from around the web:

• 7 ways to get readers to stick
• 10 ways to turn new blog visitors into subscribers
• What is RSS?

See all 5 essential pieces of advice for new bloggers 

© Jenny Blackburn. All Rights Reserved.

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Catch more of Jenny Blackburn’s humorous anecdotes on being a mom, a woman, and a whole lot crazy at Absolutely Bananas. If you have questions, anecdotes, or topics for “On Blogging,” email jenny[@]seattlemomblogs[dot]com.