Not so many people can create a blog and be a blogger that gets a lot of people to read his blog. That being said its much harder for someone to create a blog and be a blogger that people would like and would love to read to for a long time.
I know that of course, I’m a lurker. In my free times, I do a lot of blog hopping and try to see what the blogosphere is talking about. Some blogs are good and I like them a lot while some are good, yet I don’t feel like I ever want to get associated with them. And that’s the truth, needless to say.
There seems to be some key substance or ingredients that make a blog or the blogger that’s behind it likeable for people and for this post I’d like to share them to you based on my own experience. If you find that I’m missing something in the list, feel free to let me know it through the contact form. Anyhow here’s the list:
1. The blog loads smoothly and quickly
Let’s face it, blogs these days are plastered with ads. Look at you’re blog, look at my blog, look at this blog. But the truth is that it does not mean that your blog has to look cluttered, the truth is that there’s a lot of ways still to make a blog presentable and look uncluttered. And that is by making sure your blog loads smoothly and quickly.
There’s nothing worse than craving to find information only to wait for days and days before that info loads (of course “days” is a hyperbole description). I experienced that too and it took me a while to realize that my blog was loading slow enough for people to actually just move away and bounce from my site.
2. The author cares to reply to comments
These days, it can quite be hard to drive and attract traffic to your site especially if you’re just starting out. There’s just so much to read and there’s a chance that someone is always better than you, writes better content and knows more. So how do we counter that as a smaller blogger? Well the simple answer is to interact better to our audience.
As obvious these days, blogs that get loyal audience are the blogs that care about their readers. For my own perspective, I always feel appreciated everytime someone takes some time to reply to my comments and thats the reality about it. You may not be able to reply to all comments or may not be able to do it in a timely manner. But what’s important is to at least show you interact with them.
3. It’s easy to connect to them
Blogging is often associated to social media simply because they’re really connected to each other. You see, I have a blog but because I have a blog, I also use Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Stumbleupon or whatever. What makes a blogger approachable and easy to connect to is when he/she shares his/her information publicly to his readers. When connecting to him/her is easy.
4. When the blogger is nice and transparent
By saying nice, I don’t mean angelic or religious in some way or another. What I mean is that the blogger is nice and a true person. Here’s the thing, I myself is a big advocate of criticizing someone and in my blog I always voice out if some things or tools suck and that’s because its who I am.
I wrote a post not so long ago entitled, “its not about making controversy, it’s about being me” and in that I emphasized the importance of being yourself and not faking it. Although I also covered the consequences that one could face by being so transparent. Blogging is a human to human connection and I haven’t seen anyone succeeded who’s pretending to be someone else.
5. They reward their readers once in a while
This is a big reason for most readers and audience why they have to stay. Not all bloggers do this and I’m not talking about rewarding someone by giving him cash or gadgets. What I’m talking about is the simple things like commenting back on the blog, or giving a mention or link love. How about a simple retweet or a stumble? Those things are really small yet they mean a lot especially for your readers.
Those are the 5 things that I think makes a blog and its blogger likeable . They are definitely simple things but the effects can be dramatic especially for the growth of the community of your blog.
Did you notice I haven’t even included writing good content? Yes, writing superb articles will always be a factor for one’s success but good writers and informational blogs aren’t really always likeable, you know what I mean? People read for two things, first is to find information and second is to connect and if you’re just going to write good blog entries then I’m not sure that’s enough for you to be successful.
I just named 5 here because I know you have other things in your mind too. So what are the other key ingredients of a likeable blog that you think I missed out?
Hi Melvin,
All of these are good traits to find in a blog and a blogger. I also like to see a nice uncluttered theme. It makes a blog easy to read. Then it’s really nice to see the author replying to comments and generally building that community atmosphere.
Agreeing with above! Getting replies and then visits back to your own site …i.e. a more networking approach, gains loyal readers,
bingo buddy…you got it right..
how little we know the importance of these traits..infact i can bet that not every blogger out there (even those who are popular) are following it..
for me, on a personal basis, i need to find out some ways to reward my readers to get more traffic and build a brand
Hi Melvin,
Blogging is tough, but it doesn’t have to be. As you allude to, it really is all about being a real person who interacts with other real people.
I agree that a blogger should write about even the most dry, boring, complex subjects with wit, charm, and personality. That makes all the difference whether a visitor will run for the hills or stay, learn and enjoy.
Rick
Hey Melvin,
Like you said, having a likeable you don’t have to have tons of great content, you just have to be great with your readers. You have to show them that you care about them and you don’t treat them like some numbers on a chart.
A cool, flowing and uncluttered design (like yours, I like your theme 😉 ) that is not filled with ads, and pop-ups that annoy just when you are in the midst of reading some funny part of a post.
You are doing well, for now!
Hi Melvin,
I agree with the points you mentioned here. Smaller bloggers do really struggle especially when starting on their blog, and they cannot entice visitors (especially those who comment) to come back to their blog if they don’t acknowledge or reply to the comments made on any of their posts. I am actually a newbie on the social media aspects, but I try my best to keep connected, even though it’s after a day or so. Starting to blog and only part time is really difficult, but seeing the positive progress I’m having through my blog, I’ll definitely continue my blogging adventures (that’s how I view it) 🙂
Yes I agree. Perfectly fits this blog right? 😉
Thanks man. I guess my redesign is good enough that people like you feel its uncluttered. heheh
Actually even I am blogging now for 3+ years I still feel I have a lot to learn and whats important for you is that your willing to learn as well. It can really be a struggle especially if you’re just getting started but over time, you will see the benefits gradually and hopefully that would motivate you more to do things. 🙂
I think this is the reason why I’m retweeting some of your posts…because you’re a likeable person too! 🙂
And I hate pop ups that come up first thing when I visit a site. I don’t know if I want to subscribe because I haven’t read anything yet — but you can guarantee that I won’t subscribe my giving me that popup early in my visit.
Do you only post positive comments? Deleting dissenting views is a top 5 way to make your blog unlikeable and the #2 reason why I won’t be checking your site out any longer.
Melvin,
Thanks for posting these tips. I also like to read blogs that are grammatically correct and do not contain lots of jargon.
Keep up the great work and make it an awesome day!
Darren
I can’t argue with that. Its a marketing strategy that has worked well for me so I’m not changing something just to cater to one person. 😉
But anyway the popup only appears for new readers once but as a standard thing, I always look into suggestions
?
If I ever did that, then this comment won’t appear. Unless they went through spam filters because it contains fake name and fake email.
I like this post Melvin! Thanks so much, I have really learned a lot from you! I hope you can give suggestions on how I can improve my blog. Thanks in advance.
agree. Too much blog will slow down your blog loading and will make people go away from your blog.