How To Keep Your Readers Involved On Your Blog

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Blogging is a fun activity especially if you are passionate about what you are writing about. At the same time, you don’t want to be the only one who is talking. If you have been blogging for years and still don’t get any comments on your blog, you are doing something wrong. If people don’t care about your work, how can you expect them to stay loyal to your blog. You don’t necessarily have to keep giving your visitors free things to get them motivated. Here are 7 very simple steps you can take to make your community care more about your blog:

1. give recognition to contributors: if people take time to add value to your blog, you should acknowledge their work. That is only fair. People do love to be appreciated for the time they spend on your blog. If somebody writes a great comment or sends you an awesome image, share it on your blog and give them full credit. Empowering your top contributors by publishing their guest posts would be a nice idea too.
2. write articles based on your readers’ suggestions: as long as you get a decent amount of traffic to your website, there is a good chance you get questions and comments from your community members. If someone suggests you should write about certain topics or asks you a question about something you have not covered on your blog, that should be your cue to start writing about those topics. Of course, we are talking about suggestions that are relevant to your niche.
3. create contests: contests are a great way to get user generate content and increase the engagement level of your audience. You should create photo, video, and other types of contests and give away decent prizes to get people interested.
4. push their contributions to your main blog: I have seen this practice done on some top websites. Take SB Nation blogs for instance. Some of these blogs publish top fan posts or create blog posts about them. That is another great way to get your audience to care about your community. Your community members want to be heard. If they have got something valuable to say, you should encourage and empower them.
5. ask them to be guest bloggers: going back to the previous point, by watching your commenters, you can identify people who may be able to contribute to your website with their posts. There is no reason not to invite them to write guest posts for you. You can always compensate them for their efforts if you have the resources.
6. conduct surveys: people want to be heard on your blog. If you are not listening to what your visitors have to say, you are going to lose their attention fast. Conducting surveys and starting exciting polls on your website is one way to do that.
7. get your visitors involved in community development practices: want to get your visitors really interested in your blog? Empower them to help you take your website to the next level. Ask them to help you design the best logo for your site. Take their suggestions on how to improve your exciting site template. You should actively pursue their feedback to let them know that you care about what they think.

If you want people to care more about your community, you should give them a sign. By empowering your visitors and top contributors, you will have a better chance to create a more vibrant community.