How to maintain an engaging blog that attracts readers consistently

By Vasudha Veeranna, Writer at DrumUp

Readership—that’s perhaps one of the most important concerns of any writer today, online or otherwise. Blogs have been heralded as one of the best advancements in publishing technology. They’ve made it much easier for a writer’s voice to be heard—so easy that the problem has shifted from being published to being read.

If you’re looking to monetize your blog, the problem of readership is all the more pressing. So, what is that one thing that will keep your readers coming back for more? Well, there’s actually more than one thing you’ll have to do, because yes, maintaining a good blog takes effort; but no, it’s not an impossible feat.

Here are five ways to make your blog a preferred choice among readers.

1 Write about things you know, or better yet, things you love

Writing on a subject you’re passionate about will make your blog more enjoyable for your readers. It’ll also be more fun for you. If you’re an expert on the topic, blogging makes for a good opportunity to share your knowledge and establish your credibility.

When you share insightful content through your blog, you’ll see that you appeal to your readers more strongly. Doing in-depth posts is advisable from an SEO point of view. In fact, writing lengthy posts (1,500-2,000 words) is a surefire way of improving your placement on Google’s SERPs. So, picking familiar topics to write about will let you delve into detail with more ease.

2 Get guest contributors to add flavor to your blog

Contributions to your blog by guest authors add a fresh perspective on the topics you discuss and help you build relationships with other bloggers and experts. Publishing guest blogs will also help you take a break from writing every once in a while.

However, since some people started using guest blog posts as a tactic to build more backward links, Google modified its algorithms to implement more stringent quality requirements. This means that accepting low quality or irrelevant content could harm your search ranking. So you should only accept posts from authors who are sure to deliver high quality content. Contributions from authors who already enjoy a good following will also help you attract new readers to your blog.

3 Create a content plan and post consistently

If building engagement is important to you, you’re going to have to think about your blog in more strategic terms. You need to understand what your audience likes to read and why. Building a content plan will help you align your content with audience preferences. It will give you better focus and make you more productive when you actually sit down to write a post.

If you’re blogging about a time-sensitive topic, planning for it in advance will make sure that your post is published well in time, when interest in the topic is still high. Having a well-documented plan also ensures that there isn’t any repetition in the topics you cover.

4 Share your posts on social media to amplify reach

Social media has become an important influence on content consumption patterns. It is also a powerful platform that can help you break through all the noise on the web. With more and more blogs cropping up every day, writing great content is no longer good enough. As a blogger, you need to do everything in your power to amplify your reach with a great distribution strategy.

Popular social media platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter will help you get the word out about your blog. But these platforms are so fast paced that getting any traction out of them takes effort. To maximize exposure and attract new followers to your blog through social media, you’ll have to share each post multiple times. Using content curation and scheduling tools like DrumUp can help you build a good following on social platforms. As a result, you’ll soon see a spike in traffic to your blog as well.

5 Nurture a sense of community to grow your following

Creating a sense of belonging among your readers will make sure that they keep returning to your blog. Track comments on your posts, answer promptly and encourage conversations. If you leverage the comments section of your blog effectively, it will quickly turn into an active forum for discussions. Encouraging comments on your blog will improve engagement and also give you an opportunity to learn from others’ experiences.

Ending your blog posts by raising a question is a good way to persuade readers to leave a comment. But remember, nothing kills engagement like unanswered comments. Whether a person is appreciating your content, seeking clarification, adding a suggestion, or expressing disagreement, you should never ignore a comment on your blog, unless of course it’s just spammy.

What other best practices would you recommend to help bloggers grow their readership?

 

Vasudha is blog writer at DrumUp and writes extensively about social media marketing. Apart from reading and listening to fusion music, she likes exploring lesser-known travel destinations.

from Grammarly Blog
http://www.grammarly.com/blog/2015/how-to-maintain-an-engaging-blog-that-attracts-readers-consistently/