Starting a blog is an incredibly exciting time as you get a platform to communicate with the world about your ideas, way of life, and work. However, the blogosphere is a crowded and noisy landscape, so you must know – how to get people to read your blog. It is no less than a challenge if you don’t know how to get blog followers and convert them into loyal followers.
When it comes to blogging, SERP can only take you so far. Successful blogs that rake in money each month all have repeat traffic. You can build as many backlinks as you want if first-time visitors are the only people checking out your blog; you are fighting a losing battle in your search for blogging profits without converting them into loyal followers.
If you are wondering day and night how to get followers on a blog, do you want to know the secret to getting blog followers?
The first thing to do is set your expectations before starting a new blog. It’s going to be hard work, it will take dedication, and getting blog followers will be a long process. Do not expect to create a blog and receive thousands of visitors within a few weeks. It simply doesn’t work like that, or at least not anymore.
How to Get Blog Followers and Loyal Followers?
Your primary goal as a blogger should be amassing a loyal following. You must clearly know how to get people to read your blog. The following are ways to increase your blog followers and traffic, which will lead you to success.
1. Be unique, be yourself
When starting a blogging site, your main selling point to potential new readers will be you. There is no secret behind getting blog followers. Let’s face it: There are hundreds of thousands of blogs online, almost certainly covering subjects similar to yours. So, the key here is to pick which subject you want to cover on your blog and go from there.
If you can make that core area more specific, you can even begin carving a niche for yourself. However, if your aim here is the volume of readers, don’t box yourself into that blogging niche too tightly.
For example, if you want to blog about floristry, perhaps a niche within that area would be Asian flowers. While this topic still has a wide scope, it is specific enough for readers to begin associating with you and your blog. However, if your topic was about a particular flower that grows in one particular part of Asia, your target market would be vastly reduced immediately.
Once you have your subject area, establish your own writing style. It’s entirely up to you what that is, but make sure it is ‘you.’ Do not try to mimic another blogger or be somebody you’re not because you will struggle to keep it going. Sooner or later, users will set it.
Readers and search engines seek genuine content from people with genuine knowledge or stories to tell. Being yourself and sticking to your niche will form the beginnings of a solid fan base for your blog.
2. Become an authority on your subject
Once your blog is up and running and you’re beginning to get some traction in visitor numbers, the next thing you need to focus on is becoming an authority in your chosen niche. Over time, write as many informed pieces as possible, including some backed by research rather than solely on opinion.
The more facts you can tie in, the more authoritative your writing will become. Google loves a writer with authority on a subject and writing well about a particular subject. In a way that attracts excellent social sharing, it will lead to better search engine rankings. If you are searching for blog followers, this tip will help grow a loyal readership.
3. Focus on quality content
While there are undoubtedly many tips and tricks to boost your blog’s repeat readership, none of them is going to mean a damn if you don’t have top-notch content. Signs you are failing in this department include high bounce rates and a lack of backlinks you haven’t built yourself. You don’t need to be a literature professor, but you do need to write concisely and entertainingly. If you don’t believe you are doing so, fixing your content should be your priority.
4. Use Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques
Bloggers need SEO from the beginning to grow their readership from their target audience. This strategy works for anyone who wants to boost their readership online. It means optimizing your blogs for search engines like Bing, Google, etc. It makes it possible for the internet to discover your blog. Get your homework done in this area to stand a good chance of excelling in your blogging efforts!
5. Keep your posts on the topic
If you keep throwing outposts on different topics, nobody will know what to expect from your blog. And if they don’t expect anything, why will they return and become loyal followers? You should define your blog and make it evident to everyone who visits it. This can be achieved with either an informative tagline underneath your blog’s name or a personal statement above the fold.
6. Keep your language simple
Who are they, and what do they want? In addition to defining your blog’s niche, you should also define your target audience. And when you write a post, you should write exclusively for that audience. Write informative posts that will both educate and entertain them. Don’t use language that they are unlikely to understand to show how smart you are. When something happens in your niche, don’t be the last blog to report it. Provide genuine value.
7. Let them know what’s next
If you plan on posting something great next week, advertise that fact in advance. Make first-time visitors to your blog well aware of what they can expect to read about in the future. Where is your blog going in the future? Keep your readers updated about your intentions. But under no circumstances can you make promises that you cannot keep. Doing so might benefit you in the short term but will cost you dearly in the long run.
8. Build a sense of belonging
Readers should have the feeling that you are speaking directly to them. They need to have a sense of being part of your blog. When you engage them directly through your writing, you cultivate the sense of familiarity and loyalty they need. As you involve your readers in your writing by referring to comments they made or inside jokes, they will connect with you and make them feel like part of your community.
8. Be consistent
Last but not least, be consistent. Consistent in your tone of voice, your opinions, and the regularity of your postings.
People are creatures of habit. If they enjoy your blog, they will quickly get into a routine when they read it. It could be on the bus to work, at home in the evening, or whenever. If you can post at the same time each week, or better still, every day, users will see your content as reliable.
Also, keep your opinion consistent, or at least if your opinion on something changes, back up why it has changed with clear arguments and facts. Readers will quickly become confused if your opinion changes from one day to the next.
One of the easiest ways to lose repeat readers is to fail to update your blog regularly. You certainly don’t need daily updates, but you do need to post on a schedule and make that schedule known.
If you only have time to write a single post each week, that’s not a problem. Provided it’s of sufficient quality, and your readers know not to visit your blog looking for new content more than once a week, you will do just fine.
The problems start when your readers expect new content, and it isn’t there. It leads to feelings of disappointment, and such feelings do not lead to repeat traffic.
10. Respond to their comments and feedback
Understand their comments from time to time and respond to their feedback. This is one way to continue interacting with them and giving them a reason to return for more from you. If you take the time to respond to them, they will keep following up on your blog and become loyal to it.
11. Allow RSS feed
Probably the easiest way to boost the amount of repeat traffic your blog receives is to build up many subscribers. RSS feeds are the most widely used and are generally the best choice for blogs that target reasonably tech-savvy audiences. You must advertise your feed prominently throughout your site. You should be aware that most RSS subscribers prefer to read entire posts in their readers, not introductions. Therefore, don’t offer a partial feed if you want to keep them as loyal followers.
12. Build your community
It doesn’t matter how talented you are when writing killer content. You will always have competition. And that competition wants nothing more than to steal your readers. How can you go about preventing them from doing so? You let your readers know how valued they are. Take an active approach when it comes to commenting responses. Ask them what they want to read about and deliver posts that cover those topics. When someone says a lot on your blog, return the favor. Show your readers that you value them.
13. Social media presence
Networking with others through social media platforms is also advantageous. For instance, you could pick up a Google+ account to optimize your site for search. Google+ was available to the public and can be used as an official hub for all linkbacks via an online search. When you sign up via the service, you can edit links into your profile that Google will connect with your online identity or brand. These results rank in search when prospective readers come around.
14. Make use of online communities
Based on your niche, you can network with people having similar interests. Online forums and communities are a perfect way to introduce your blog to a niche group of readers with tastes like yours. Therefore, you can leave a link to your blog using your forum identity signature and connect to other areas where you are known. The help of a professional writer service is useful in working around this idea. These communities give you internet credibility that will develop trust among your readers.
15. Monitor your blog through Google Analytics
Add Google Analytics to your site to get information about your site traffic. It will help you understand when your site gets high traffic, the frequency with which people visit it, and the time they spend on it. This way, you will know when your audience will likely bounce off due to content that does not engage them. These are important metrics to study to adjust your blog presentation to keep readers on it for the longest time.
16. Create an eye-catching logo
When somebody visits your blog and checks out a particularly entertaining post, you want them to remember where they read it. If your domain or your name doesn’t register in their minds, and you’re not ranking that high for the post’s keywords, how will they find you again? An essential part of amassing loyal followers is ensuring that your domain sticks in the minds of first-time visitors. It can be achieved not only with a unique and memorable domain name but also through the use of an eye-catching logo.
It is all about how to get blog followers to write your own success story.