Most people blog because they want to share something–their opinion, their knowledge, or a bit about their daily life.  Others do it for more cathartic reasons; after all I have found writing to be very therapeutic and it often helps relieve stress to “get stuff of my chest” through the keyboard.  Regardless of your motivation, it is flattering when others read what you write and find inspiration in your words.  I recently shared a few ways to attract an audience, so now I’ll share ways to lose one.

Five Ways to Lose Readers

1.  Be a know-it-all.  Nobody likes to listen to a know-it-all, and they don’t like to read stuff from one, either.  If you want to really connect with people then you have to share both your successes and your failures.  I readily admit to my screw-ups when blogging, and then share the lessons learned from that experience in the hopes that it will help someone else.

2.  Don’t write anything for weeks.  There will be times when you simply cannot meet your traditional blog schedule.  That’s fine; most readers recognize that you have a life and will forgive a short vacation from posting.  However, when a few days turns into a few weeks, or even months, your site goes stale.  Readers have a lot of options these days, and if you fail to put out any new material for a long time you might just become dead weight on their feed reader.

3.  Be insulting.  What’s that old saying, “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all?”  Yeah, I heard that a lot growing up because I was rather opinionated (still am).  But this is a case where you want to take the moral high-road.  It’s fine to disagree with other bloggers, or readers who leave comments, but do so respectfully and then thank them for sharing their opinion.  I love a good argument, and oddly enough am closest to those I typically disagree with, but only because they are as respectful of my opinion as they are of mine.

4.  Do not engage readers. Most bloggers will admit that they could do a better job of interacting with readers–via email or comments.  So could I.  But I do try to make an effort to respond to those who take the time to email me with questions or comments, and I try to respond to comments on individual articles.  One note about this, blog authors can sometimes be “thread-killers” in that they’ll jump in the middle of a particular volley of comments and squash the whole discussion.  It isn’t necessary to ALWAYS repond to every single comment, or interject your own opinion in a heated debate.  Let your readers battle it out; that’s what builds a sense of community at your blog.

5.  Allow ads to dominate your theme.  A few blog advertisements are acceptable.  In fact, I take them as a sign of a healthy blog, and I personally have no problems with bloggers earning a part-time (or full-time) living from their work.  After all, they are providing content to me for free, usually at their own expense.  But you can take monetizing too far and allow ads to dominate your blog’s theme.  While sneaking in the occasional affiliate link is fine, you wouldn’t want every single sentence to include an ad.  And you wouldn’t want 3/4 of your page to be taken up by banner advertisements, leaving only a small fraction of space for your content.  After all, it is your content that readers return to see, not the latest deals from eBay.

Photo courtesy of lepiaf.geo

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Ever visited a blog and noticed the author never responds to comments? Ever emailed a blogger and never received a reply?  It’s frustrating, isn’t it?  Well, in the defense of non-communicating bloggers everywhere I will tell you that blogging is a lot of work, particularly if you are doing it as a side hustle.  But as a reader of several dozen other blogs, I am sensitive to how important it is to interact with readers.

There are a variety of ways to interact with readers, but here are three that I try to use with some consistency.  I admit up front to not always taking my own advice and have on occasion failed to respond to comments in an article, let an email go by, or spent a couple days away from Twitter. Still, I think these three tools are critical in developing a relationship between bloggers and their readers.

Three Strategies To Improve Reader Interaction

Respond to comments.  The easiest way to respond to readers is to simply leave a comment in response to something they said in response to one of your posts.  I like to start out the comment with something like “@Frugal Dad:” so readers will know to whom my response is directed.  It isn’t necessary to respond to every single comment, but try to respond to those who make the best point, or disagree with you, etc.  Don’t be overly defensive in your response, and even if you disagree in principle thank the reader for taking the time to leave a comment.

If you are a WordPress user, you may want to consider installing the “Highlight Author Comments” plug-in.  With a simple CSS line you can make your comments standout by modifying the background color, and/or surrounding your comments with a border.

Answer email messages promptly. over time, this gets harder and harder to do as your readership grows and so does the number of messages you receive.  I try to respond to all emails in time, but based on my workload and the number in my inbox it might take a while.  Still, answering emails with a personal message to readers is a great way to build reader loyalty.  And I’ve discovered that most of my readers are much smarter than I am and quite often I learn something from them!

Invite readers to follow you on Twitter.  I love Twitter because it does two things well.  It allows you to easily respond to others who have directed a comment or question your way, and it forces you to keep the message short (140 characters or less).  This helps both bloggers and readers stay on point with messages.  I use Twitter for sharing things of more of a personal nature–sort of a behind the scenes look at what’s going on in the Frugal Dad household.  I also seed blog post ideas in Twitter by asking questions of followers for informal survey results, or to gauge interest in a particular topic.

Again, there is more to blogging than simply writing great content. If you want to be successful at blogging you have to go beyond that, and work to build your personal brand. Responding to readers with a willingness to help them with a problem, or thank them for an encouraging message, will go a long way towards building your online reputation in a positive way.

Photo by edans

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I am a big proponent of running a debt-free business. I haven’t always practiced what I preached though, and in the past started a couple home-based businesses with credit cards. Big mistake. The businesses eventually flopped while the credit card debt lingered. Nothing worse than continuing to pay for a dream that burned out a long time ago.

When I started blogging I vowed to run a debt free business. That meant my marketing budget was zero, and my operating budget consisted of the $50 or so I had available for logo design, hosting, domain registration, etc. As you can see, it was going to be tight. Still, I was a big believer in guerrilla marketing, and finding ways to promote my blog without spending a lot of money.

Here are a six strategies I used with some success at building FrugalDad.com without spending a penny on marketing.

1.  Comment on relevant blogs in your niche. This suggestion is probably overused in “how to blog” articles, but it really is the cheapest way to get your name out there fast. As a blogger, I can tell you that nothing is more fulfilling than reading a well thought-out comment left by a fellow blogger. “Great article!” just doesn’t cut it. Most blogging software allows commenters to add their name and URL, which is then clickable by other readers. It is a good idea not to include links within the comment text itself, unless it is relevant to the discussion.

Task: Leave relevant comments on at least 10 blogs every single day

2.  Write a weekly roundup post, and include links to medium-sized blogs. One of the best ways to get noticed by other bloggers is to include them in your link roundups. Pick five or six articles from your favorite medium-sized (not the largest in your niche, but bigger blogs than your own) blogs, and write a weekly roundup promoting their posts. Bloggers receive a pingback letting them know when someone has posted an article about them, and they will likely come to your blog to check out what you had to say. Eventually, a few of them will begin to reciprocate with links to your site and that will lead to more visits to your site.

Task: Write a round-up post each week with at least five links to fellow bloggers

3.  Participate in forums, but careful not to spam. I was a member of several forums before I even got into blogging. A couple of them were related to my niche (the Dave Ramsey Total Money Makeover forums, for example), and a few were not (college football). When I began blogging I updated the signature line of my profile to include a simple link to FrugalDad.com. Then I simply continued to participate in the forums. If you present yourself as professional, and helpful, people will want to click through to check out your blog.

Task: Join two forums in your niche and update your signature/profile to include your blog

4.  Form your own network with other new bloggers. In the early days of blogging at FrugalDad.com, I virtually bumped into Ron at TheWisdomJournal.com and through him met Jeff at MySuperChargedLife.com. They had an idea to start up a blogging network and I was eager to join. Today, the Life Skills Network has grown to seven member blogs, and all of us have grown together through promoting each others work and sharing tips learned along the way.

Later, I also joined The Money Writers, a seasoned group of veteran bloggers who have really taught me a lot about the ins and out of blogging, particularly some of the more technical tips. I attribute most of my success to these two networks and their find members.

Task: Join forces with fellow bloggers who started around the same time you did.

5.  Yahoo Answers can drive traffic. I am by no means an expert at personal finances, but I’ve learned a lot of lessons over the years. One way I attracted new subscribers was by creating a Yahoo account and answering questions related to my niche (frugal living, credit cards, paying off debt, etc.). I used relevant posts at my site to link in the “Reference” area when answering questions. On a couple occasions mine was voted the “best answer” and people looking for the answer to a similar question found mine on top, and then clicked over to FrugalDad.com.

Task: Sign up for a Yahoo Answers account and answer 10-20 questions a day

6.  Participate in blogging carnivals.  Carnivals abound for nearly every topic imaginable.  Find a few carnivals in your niche and submit what you feel is the best article for that particular category.  Often times editors will select your post as an “editor’s pick” and place your article at the top of the carnival post.

Task:  Check out blogcarnival.com and find two or three carnivals to participate in on a regular basis.

As you can see, the old addage, “It takes money to make money” doesn’t necessarily apply to blogging. Sure, had I had a few thousand dollars I could have done things like hire virtual assistants, a PR person, had a custom theme designed, etc. But I found more frugal ways to get my side hustle off the ground.

Photo courtesy of PopTopRanks.com: Subscriber growth at FrugalDad.com (Jan. 2008 – December 2008)

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Seems counter-intuitive, doesn’t it?  How do you get subscribers without asking for them?  Well, that’s not exactly what I mean–I was just using an example of a catchy title (more on that later).  What I was really referring to is the idea of avoiding use of the word “subscribe.”

Most blogs today have some sort of feed icon (like the one in this post) with the word “subscribe” indicating a place where visitors can sign up to receive their content.  Subscribers can typically subscribe via RSS feed or email delivery.  Best of all, the service is typically provided for free by providers like FeedBurner.  The problem is that most web visitors still think of the word “subscribe” as an action that requires money.  After all, very few subscriptions in the off-line world are really free.

Free Daily Updates

So instead of using verbiage around the word “Subscribe,” I recommend using another method to entice readers to sign up for your automated content delivery.  “Free Daily Updates” works well, as does “Receive Via Email.”  Neither option sound like they cost money, and that is what you want to sell to potential subscribers.

One way to test this service is to create a dedicated subscription page and name it “Subscribe” in your menu bar.  After a month or so swtich the text to “Free Daily Updates” and see if you have more subscribers (as a percentage of traffic) at the end of the second month. If not, experiment with other terms like “Get By Email.”

When you find something that seems to work well for your readers, be sure to update any subscription buttons or links with the same text.  Also include a similar tag in your email signature and any off-line marketing materials you might distribute promoting your blog.

Photo courtesy of St A Sh

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Now that you have identified a subject you are passionate about it’s time to identify your target audience. This is an exercise familiar to any traditional author or marketing executive. The identification of a target audience helps you focus your topic on their interests, and generally helps your writing fit their personalities. It isn’t necessary to spend big bucks here on a full-blown demographic study. Here are some frugal ways to identify a target reader for your blog.

Who are you? Sorry, I know you probably now have the theme to CSI running through your head. If you are passionate about your subject chances are there are others out there like you. After all, great minds think alike. What you need to do is identify who you are in terms of demographics. How old are you? What’s your marital status? What’s your household income? What careers interest you? What hobbies would someone like you engage in?

When setting up “Frugal Dad” I knew there were frugal-minded people out there like me, but I had one distinct uniqueness – I was a man. There are many excellent frugal living websites out there run by women – I know because I subscribe to nearly all of them! What I was planning to offer was content on frugal topics from a man’s perspective. Actually, from a dad’s perspective.

Men are notoriously bad about succumbing to big screen televisions and sports cars, to the detriment of their family’s finances. I wanted to present an alternative view. I would set out to prove that stay home mothers weren’t the only ones good at being home economists; us dads could do it, too. So my narrowly-defined target audience became middle-aged husbands and fathers interested in living a frugal lifestyle.

Got your target audience? Good, now think bigger. There is some danger in becoming too targeted. No one will ever find you. In my case delivering targeted content to wannabe frugal fathers aged 25-40 may not yield a large readership. What about writing content geared towards men, but with a frugal slant? I could write about careers, fatherhood, kids and money, technology, etc. And while I’m at it, how about writing some content addressed to both men and women interested in frugal living? Frugal shopping tips, household energy saving ideas, finance book reviews, etc. Does this all sound familiar? It probably does if you have been reading Frugal Dad for any length of time.

I recommend you try to discover a peripheral topic to provide to your readers. It’s a great way to engage readers not in your targeted audience. This series of blogging posts is a good example. I know that most of my subscribers are fairly technically proficient. Many of them are blog owners themselves, or may be interested in starting up their own blog.

Those who discover Frugal Dad via search engines may also be interested in creating a blog, so there may be value in providing a “how to” series on blogging. I can still stay true to my frugal theme by providing low-cost ways to start up a blog, market your site, etc. Before moving on, brainstorm some ways for you to connect with your readers by providing a peripheral topic.

Photo courtesy of cogdogblog

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