9 Non-Technical Tips To Finding Readers For Your Blog

Bloggers are a diverse group of people who end up wearing more hats the longer they blog. For a lot of us, the dream of operating a successful blog became a daunting task when we actually started to learn what is really involved in giving our blog the best chance for success.



Hat 1: Writer- This is the hat that probably wooed most of us into blogging. Then the other hats started coming...



Hat 2: SEO Tinkerer- I say tinkerer because most of us will never be the technical experts like the ones who we often read great tips and tricks from on popular technical blogs. Still, we try out the recommended plug-ins and *gulp* we even play around with our HTML template from time to time.



Hat 3: Marketer- We then realize that if we want people to read our blog, we need to make sure they know it exists.



Hat 4: Social Media Guru- When we see where our readers are, we dig in and become active in their social communities, delicately balancing promotion with relationship building.



Hat 5: Entrepreneur- At some point, we realize that we might be able to make some money on our blog so we start to implement ways to monetize it.



The number of hats we wear as bloggers don't stop there, as we all know, or will soon find out. While all of these hats are important, the daunting task that lies before us can become rather intimidating.



For those who get totally lost in the technical part of blogging, this post was written for you. I want to share non-technical tips to finding readers for your blog. If you're like me, then these are the tips you can grab hold of first as your grow in your ability to put on the more technical hats of blogging.



Each of these tips discusses non-technical, incremental actions you can take to help visitors make the choice to visit your blog.



1. Learn To Specialize- People return to blogs because they know what to expect from them. One way to make your blog sticky is make sure you deliver what people expect from it. I have a list of blogs I visit because I know exactly what I will get when I get there. Authors come to my blog because they know they will learn tips on how to market their books. The same holds true in any business. We go to McDonald's because we know what to expect and we go to Ruth's Chris for the same reason.



That doesn't mean we won't change our focus over time, or we won't start new blogs. But the skills and discipline we learn by specializing our message (or staying in our blog's niche) will give the comfort and predictability that our visitor's yearn for.



2. Master Your Titles- When you write a blog post, the title may be the single most important factor in whether people will click on it and read it or not. By using the right keywords, we can help the search engines find our post; but by asking an intriguing question in our title, or promising a list of items we will deliver, we can create anticipation and make the visitor want to know more. I have a post that focuses solely on this the importance titles called, 7 Tips For Writing Titles That Will Cause Readers To Click On Your Post.



3. Build Relationships- As a new blogger building your place in the online world, it can be a tough thing to find your readers one at a time by yourself. Most successful bloggers either come with a pre-built platform or celebrity, or they create relationships with bloggers and experts who already have an established following. If you can get these people to share your blog posts with their followers, you will leverage these relationships into something that will help you grow your own readership faster than you dreamed possible.



In order to do this effectively, you need to first, be willing yourself to provide value to these experts and bloggers. Most of these people are business people, looking for new ways to market themselves. If you offer to help them market their sites, products or services, then you can get on their radar. Marketing them can be as simple as writing an honest review of their product or inviting them to be a guest on your blog.



My book, Conducting Effective Twitter Contests, is about relationship building at its core. Anyone can put together a Twitter contests, but it takes skill to put together one that creates relationships with experts where everyone wins through the contest. But you can apply the same principles whether you conduct a Twitter contest or not.



4. Write Predictably- One quick way to lose a readership is to put out content with a haphazard schedule. Whether you blog twice a week or once a day, predictability of your content's delivery will go a long way in keeping your readership engaged. While an occasional break from your schedule will not likely make a bad impact, the lack of a consistent schedule will do more harm than good to your attempts at growing your readership.



5. Engage With Readers- Perhaps one of the least technical tips in finding readers for your blog is this one. Watch your comments and interact when people leave you one. Give readers a way to send you messages, and find ways to monitor and interact with them on your social networking sites. It's in these interactions that you endear yourself to your readers and become more than the signature at the end of a post. If you want to cement your readership and watch it grow, few things will ever work as well as interacting with your readers.



6. Read Widely- I recently past post number 400 on my blog and I know I couldn't have done it if I constantly gave knowledge without taking some knowledge in. Read up on what the leaders in your niche are saying. Keep up on your industry's news. Stay in touch with the same things your readers are staying up on. Reading widely can help you break through blogger writer's block and give you ways to enhance your own credibility as an expert. If you read widely, it will come through in your own posts. If you don't read widely, that will come through just as well.



7. Become An Expert- People read what experts write. It's not enough to proclaim yourself an expert, you need to back up your claim. You can do this through your writings, by contributing to a forum discussion, by writing and publishing your own book, by appearing as a guest on someone's blog or by being interviewed on a Blog Talk Radio program. Actually, almost anytime you have the opportunity to share your views, you need to take it. It's that media exposure that confers expertise. And if you have credentials, make sure your credentials are prominently displayed. If you earned a master's, a PhD, or specialized certification, or if you have written a book, you have inherent credibility as an expert. Don't be shy to display those credentials.



8. Lend A Hand- Becoming a successful blogger does not have a destination. It's a continuum which means that no matter how successful you are today, you can still learn things that will make you more successful tomorrow. And just because you may shine in one area of blogging doesn't mean that you've mastered them all. That said, when you do find yourself down the road of success, you need to be on the lookout for ways you can help those who are not as successful as you. Call it karma, the golden rule, or what have you, we all need to be willing to reach a helping hand just like someone once did for us.



And even if you've been blogging for only a few months, don't underestimate how much you really do know. And as lost as you might feel as a new blogger, there is always someone who just wrote their first post today. By helping out others, you create relationships that will earn you a lot of fans who will stick by you through thick and thin, and rave about your blog to people they know.



9. Play Nicely- While some people make their living by tearing others down and picking fights, most people are turned off by bloggers who are rude, crude and obnoxious. You might succeed in gaining a few vocal supporters who encourage your behavior, but I believe you will probably quietly lose a whole lot more over time.  Few people ever really win by getting into an online fight with others.



The time will come as a blogger when you will learn how to apply SEO/SEM strategies to your blog, how to integrate feeds into your social networking sites, how to monetize your blog, and how to wear all those other hats that you may now find intimidating. But the tips I just shared with you are ones you can use today, knowing they can make an impact in the success of your blog as you grow into those other important blogger roles.



If you're a new blogger, hang in there. You'll soon be doing things with your blog you now believe impossible. You can take my word on that. I'm living proof.





Two Quick In-House Announcements:



1. I will be the guest on Jo- Anne Vandermeulen's Blog Talk Radio show, Authors Articulating with Jo- Anne Vandermeulen. The show will be today at 5:30PM Central. I'd love to see you there tonight.



2. The winner in yesterday's daily mini-prize package is Laura Edwards. Join with me in congratulating Laura. She won the following prizes:



April 24th

Carolyn Howard-Johnson- Frugal Book Editor

Phyllis Zimbler Miller- Social Media Does Not Magically Work: You Have To Work It

Tony Eldridge- Conducting Effective Twitter Contests PDF Download



Today is day four and we have a great daily prize package in addition to the amazing grand prize package. To enter for a chance to win today's daily prize and the Grand Prize package, visit the official contest page.





Today's daily mini prize package is:



April 25th

Joel Friedlander- Free Cover Critique Of Your Self-Designed Cover

Shaila Abdullah- Existing Website Review/ New Website Consultation

Tony Eldridge- Conducting Effective Twitter Contests PDF Download



Remember, visit the official contest page to see how easy it is to enter for your chance to win some amazing prizes.











 -------- Tony Eldridge is the author of The Samson Effect , an action/adventure novel that Clive Cussler calls a "first rate thriller brimming with intrigue and adventure." He is also the author of the Twitter marketing book, Conducting Effective Twitter Contests .