creating a community with your blog
When I asked Jessica Smith, of Wish Pot & JessicaKnows fame (among many, many other things…), what one tip she would give someone just starting out in social media, she replied:
“Talking with people” may be easy to put into practice with sites like Facebook and Twitter. But you probably use your blog just to “talk to people.” It takes a bit more thought & a tiny bit of effort to turn your blog into a conversation – but it’s well worth it!
Community = Conversation = Comments
How do you feel when you receive a comment on a blog post? Pretty jazzed, right? Are you doing anything to encourage comments?
Comments are the currency of the blogosphere. Sure, impressions, page views, & unique hits are great – but if you’re not engaging your readership, what is your blog really worth? Engaging your readers means that they’ll keep coming back whether they’re ready to buy from you that day or not. They’ll be more likely to keep you in mind for a special gift or a personal splurge! Inviting & encouraging comments will keep your readers engaged.
Just as in life, the more you give, the more you get. Think about the blogs you visit regularly. Are you giving them the comments that you’d like to get? Leave a comment. Start a discussion. Point out something specific from the post you found helpful, eye-catching, or interesting.
Comment to Get Noticed
Commenting on others’ blogs is also a great way to get noticed by people who are in a position to promote you & your business. You read all your blog comments, so do I. And so do editors whose blogs have more readership than we could ever dream of! To encourage reader loyalty, you can even respond to your comments – by email, on your blog, or on the reader’s blog.
Ways to Encourage Comments
Encouraging comments starts with providing excellent content (that always keeps in mind your mission statement, of course!). New projects, special features, tours of your studio…anything that your customers can’t find elsewhere – these things all encourage comments by making your readers feel valued.
You can also increase the interactivity of your blog by asking for design ideas. girlscantell does an excellent job of this! Sara regularly collects reader input and then creates new designs based on the ideas! You can also have polls or ask for readers’ personal experiences. ProBlogger has even more ideas for increasing comments.
The readers who comment are most often your best customers & biggest fans. You certainly want to take every opportunity to reward them for being a part of your business! Add a link to their site in your sidebar. Thank them publicly, by name, in posts. Offer to answer reader questions in an open comments thread. Give your readers a piece of homework and have them report back to you ;)
What have you done to increase a sense of community on your blog?
Homework
Your homework for this post is really easy.
Craft a question for your readers to answer. Make this post 200 words or less. In other words, a little background information is fine but really make the question the feature of your post.
Let your readers know that you would really like to read their answers.
Then come back here and leave a comment with the permalink for your question post. Visit other HiP blog challenge participants and answer their questions.
Next week we’ll talk about writing better posts by incorporating the principles of search engine optimization.
Great post! I like the idea to post things your readership didn’t know about you yet. Thanks for the thought! Cheers, Julie
Julie Bouésso’s last blog post..World Beard and Moustache Championships
Done! Here is my question: http://bstauffdesigns.blogspot.com/2009/04/wanted-your-recyclingreusing-ideas.html
Barb’s last blog post..Wanted: Your recycling/reusing ideas!
Thanks for sharing the info!
Super ideas! I took time out of my vacation to do this and am excited to see what my readers will say!
My question for my readers is in the link love to my comment.
Avlor’s last blog post..What would you like to see here on this blog?
Dumb question – is there a way to subscribe to the comments on this post, so we can easily know when there’s new comments to check out?
Avlor’s last blog post..What would you like to see here on this blog?
My question was “How do you find your treasures?” I can’t wait to see what my readers browse for.
Thanks for hosting this Tara!
Waters Girls’s last blog post..What Do You Search For?
Finshed my homework. Thanks. What a great idea.
Here is my question.
http://jeanieswritingsandmusings.blogspot.com/2009/04/tips-and-tricks.html
gmsgeoteacher’s last blog post..Tips and Tricks
I tend to ask questions fairly often in my posts, but rarely get answers. The most recent one is in today’s post – What are you going to spend your tax refund on?
http://hammermarks.wordpress.com/2009/04/15/what-to-do-with-that-tax-refund/
Wendy Edsall-Kerwin’s last blog post..What To Do With That Tax Refund
check out my question- I am looking forward to seeing what people suggest!!
sorry, im dumb…here is the link:
http://blog.brookiellen.com
I would like to let everyone in blogville know that you should try to make it as easy as possible for people to comment on your blog. If they have to log in or create a user id, they are less likely to leave a comment. Just my little pet peeve.
Wendy Edsall-Kerwin’s last blog post..What To Do With That Tax Refund
sorry wendy, i had no idea that my site required that- I fixed it so now you don’t have to create any user id or log in- Just comment!:)
Something I’ve never done before on my blog. I can’t wait to hear what others have to say…
http://michabellacreations.blogspot.com/2009/04/whats-your-inspiration.html
Excellent series, Tara! Has me thinking and making lots of notes. I’ve been blogging a while, but this post had me considering how to spice things up a bit–thanks! :o)
Thanks for the suggestion. Here’s my question.
Delana’s last blog post..Vegetables! I need some recipes!
Well I am waaaaaaaaaayyyyy behind and still determined to make it through the challenge! So while I’m spending the holiday with a child who has a cold/flu, I thought what better time to work on my blog. I finally got around to posting a question…this has made me think of more interactive questions….hmmm..hopefully it won’t take a month or two to post them. :))
Thank you Tara for all your hard work!
tremundo’s last blog post..summertime…almost
[...] week’s HiP blog challenge homework was to ask a question of your blog readers. So I figured I better take a little of my own [...]
[...] got a blog, you’re written a mission statement, you know how to build a community, and now you’ve started making it easier for search engines to find [...]