MelvinBlog

A blog that chronicles my journey on online marketing, blogging, social media, technology and life.

Do You Appreciate Your Readers?

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It’s kinda sad that most bloggers (even popular ones) don’t seem to show they appreciate they readers/audience. There is a big imbalance between bloggers wanting to get too much traffic and bloggers showing their appreciation to their readers. One crucial factor I think why blogs get loyal readers is the fact that readers feel appreciated and therefore they keep returning because they know the author “care” for them.

Many people misunderstood my posts about not caring for PM’s on contact form and not replying on blog comments as a proof that I really don’t give much value to my readers. It’s understandable but it’s totally untrue. The value that I place to the blog readers is the highest (higher than advertisers). Because no readers literally means no money made at all and no fun.

Well today I am going to list ways on how you can show appreciation to your readers and I hope you guys like it.

  • Read and reply to their comments – It sure did take long for me to realize this one. Contrary to what I believed before, its not true that readers comment on blogs and don’t come back anymore. It surprises me a lot of times when I replied to a comment that the readers comes back and say thanks for replying. Replying to every comment may look silly but it builds readership and loyalty.
  • Link out to them – Although its impossible to link out to all your commenters, giving a link love to some of their best posts can be helpful. Believe me, bloggers feel appreciated when someone links out to them, may it be a big blog or a small blog. Most people are afraid to give links because they don’t want to dilute their pagerank w/c is a lame reason. Readers > Pagerank/Metrics.
  • Ask for their opinion – If you’re a long time reader of this blog, there is a customary question and answer thing here wherein a reader can ask a question and me hopefully me being able to answer it. The mistake that most blogs do is they stuff their readers so much that they are an expert in their niche that their readers won’t anymore do anything which is completely wrong. Ask out your readers for something, post a poll or just simply encourage them to do interactions with you.
  • Give out incentives – Ok, so here I have never had given an ipod or a flip (and I think it’s far-fetched). The blogosphere is a tight community that every incentive received is a big thing. I can’t stress this more. It doesn’t have to be a physical product or a cash prize but anything that can be useful to them is a nice thing.
  • Show Social Media Love – I always feel good when someone retweets my post or stumbles something here and stuffs. Another good way to show your appreciation is to actually do the same for them. If you’re into social media (who’s not?), a simple digg, or some buzz on their article can mean a lot to them. Remember it’s ALWAYS giving first then receiving second.
  • Network With Them! – The reason I put the little social bookmark/network icon on the sidebar is to network more with my readers. Everything we are doing online is marketing. Marketing is not business, but it’s a function of the business. It helps big when you connect to your readers via other social means like Facebook, Friendfeed or maybe Youtube and etc. The good thing with blogging is that it enables us to maximize networking with other people w/c at the end leads to bigger business relationships, joint ventures or just simple friendships. If you’re not doing this, then you’re missing out a lot!

Showing your audience that you appreciate them is a big factor on having a successful blog, successful business. Sad state is that most people don’t even pay attention to it. What do you think? I would love to have your own take about it and you can do so in the comment form.

Note: Interestingly, all people who are in my top commentators list (@ sidebar) would be able to get a free advertising for one month. Just comment here and I would hook you up on something. Thanks. 😉

Reader Interactions

Comments

  3. “Ask for their opinion” works really well. People always like to give free advice and this satisfy them a lot.

    I am using it now on my posts. Rather then asking directly, I put few questions after my posts and readers answer them. They ask their doubts and I clear them.
    .-= Agent 001´s last blog ..How to Get Twitter Followers Real Fast? =-.

  16. This is an excellent post for people expecting to turn a blog into just another moneymaker. I used to wonder why I couldn’t get traffic to my blog, and I realized it was because I was ignore the people who were there in an effort to get the people who weren’t. I guess I behaved like a cell phone company 😛
    .-= Tamahome Jenkins´s last blog ..The Sad Story of Student Loans =-.

  17. For me personally to appreciate your readers means that you consider their feedback and suggestions, you answer to reasonable questions you get via email / tweets / comments… probably the best way to show the appreciation is to write great content that your readers will be able to learn from.
    .-= Marko Saric´s last blog ..8 tips to optimize your time for blog writing =-.

  20. FYI, I found this via Danial Scocco on Twitter. And I’m glad I followed the link. I sincerely appreciate good tips about blogging, especially small but important things such as this.

    I do communicate with those (very few right now) who comment. Even though I’ve been blogging for several years, I never really studied the process beyond content. And there is so much more it is a never ending process of learning, relearning.

  22. I always take the time to reply to my readers, except when there is nothing to be said. But if you take a look at my comment section, the communication is “very” active depending on the topic. I really appreciate my reader. Their comments are very important for me. Top bloggers don’t have to worry much about their readers because they already create a blog that bring traffic like bee to honey.
    .-= Benjamin Cip´s last blog ..PhpBay Pro Review =-.

  23. It’s not really a money-related post but I think it somehow is a part of the process. Readers love to get appreciated and in my opinion its a factor on whether they want to come back or not.

  24. Hey Marko, glad to see you hear.

    I agree. Well for me I’m a little lazy to answer emails and stuffs but that is something that I am working hard to improve.

    Btw, good example is you, answering my email. 😉

  25. I always reply to comments on my posts. Reader comments are great asset for any blog and I really appreciate the time and value that readers put into comments.

    I try to go a step further and reply via email (personally, no plugins) to comments that ask questions/are great!
    .-= Mr. I´s last blog ..Serendipity Is a Blogger’s Muse =-.

  26. Nice post man. I agree to all these points except the incentives part. Incentives for staying with a blog may not be what one needs but more of interesting and relevant competitions to make them participate. Of course, if a sponsor wants to give away stuff why not?

    Also, what about commentluv/keywordluv/topcommentator way to appreciate? If that’s done, probably many do not expect a reply (esp those who seek backlinks alone). Anyhow, I amd done with all those options 🙂
    .-= Ajith Edassery´s last blog ..Even bloggers need rest! =-.

  27. Hahaha, I can relate John. Blogging is weird and I used feel pissed off when someone calls me a blogger but anyway thats a long time ago.

  28. Heheh thanks. I remembered again my post about “thinking replying to comments silly”. Your comment there was completely the antithesis of that certain post. 🙂

  31. Most bloggers, both newbies and intermediate usually really think blogging is just about giving out good content but as you’ve said it really is more than that.

  32. Well I think its the fact that most bloggers do incentivizing wrong. I mean they just give out stuffs and eventually it doesn’t hand out value to both their readers and them. So the result is that the spike would just last for a few weeks maybe and then the readers would start to go away.

  34. Me as well. I realized that even though sometimes you like to reply to as much as you can, you can only do so much. We, people are busy persons and we’d rather prioritize things that are needed to.

  43. this is my first time to visit your blog Melvin, and this is the first post i read from you,

    talking about appreciate our readers, i always reply my reader comments, of course the comments which needs to be replied, but it’s just 1:10 ratio between readers will be back after i reply his comment and the readers not coming back after i reply his comment . heheh.. maybe i need to grow up my loyal visitors to my blog, your blog has good amount of total visitors! great!
    .-= mytheory´s last blog ..How to find Dofollow Blogs =-.

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