Part 1 - Building Readership
If you blog it, they will come...or something like that.
Are you a blogger looking for ways to increase your readership? If so, you're in the right place. This blog post is dedicated to helping you generate readership by focusing on engaging with your existing audience. We'll delve into understanding your audience, creating compelling content, boosting SEO, and engaging with your audience.
Understanding Your Audience
Who, exactly, is your audience?
The first step towards boosting your blog's readership is understanding who your audience is. What makes them tick? What do they enjoy? You might think you know all about your audience, but there is a good chance that you only have a wishful idea of exactly who they are. They might not even be remotely close to what you are expecting.
They might even be nothing like you.
But that's okay. In the grand scheme of things, the goal is to figure out exactly who they are and then create great content for them.
You need to know who they are, what they like, and what they expect from you. This can be achieved by using analytics and other tools that provide insights into your reader demographics.
It's more beneficial to focus on the existing audience rather than trying to win over unexpected people because these are individuals who already find value in what you offer.
After all, if you try and cast your net wider to swoop up some new readers, you might end up alienating the ones you already have.
We can look at specific examples of this related to what Hollywood has become in the last few years.
Failures to write to the audience
- The Marvel franchise stopped writing for it's audience and instead aggressively sought a new audience in the mistaken belief that their "core" audience would stay through everything. The constant box office failures would make it seem that maybe they were wrong.
- The Star Wars franchise wrote and targeted a new generation of fans that they hoped to earn, and instead lost many of their pre-existing fans.
- Netflix has released a stream of projects like the Witcher that were not true to the fans of the books and as a result lost and alienated many fans.
Successes when writing to the audience.
- Five Nights at Freddies was written for a small subset population that were fans of the video game series. People unfamiliar were left confused, but it was a hit with its core audience.
- Reacher was written directly for it's target audience and as a result was a huge success.
Both of the successes share one thing in common: their target audience isn't massive. The true potential of an audience relies on your ability to appease them. And not in the way that Disney attempts to do by shoving in product placement and merchandising opportunities but by telling a compelling and novel story that your audience will enjoy.
Think of how many times critics and reviewers screamed from the rooftops that Marvel was formulaic and homogenous in its storytelling and needed to break the mold? And yet, the capstone of the franchise was Endgame, which made three billion dollars, and basically since then the franchise has lost nearly five billion. Telling unique and interesting stories is important and relevant, but telling stories your audience will enjoy is the only way to keep them coming back. And, if they trust you enough to keep coming back then you will have their trust to try something brilliant and unique once in a while.
You need to learn to walk before you can run, and you need to build trust before you can expand minds.
Part 2 - How to Engage
Your audience wants know you care
Send out surveys
Go ahead and try it. People like to be engaged, and sending out surveys is a great way to engage with them.
- Typeform - A great premium option that integrates into a lot of different tools.
- Survey Monkey - Another great option for creating meaningful and engaging surveys for your readers.
You can also just include ways for people to get in touch with you to offer feedback. Like I said, people like to be engaged, and letting them know that you are approachable and easy to talk to is a great step toward getting feedback.
Analytics Tracking
Fairly self-explanatory and likely something you know all about. If you don't then check out Google Analytics for a super simple way to set up tracking on your website.
However, make sure you are careful with cookies where such tracking code is concerned. You don't want to run afoul of GDPR.
There are a lot of other options out there, many much pricier, but in most cases the pricy options are also incredibly expensive and offer very little that google analytics doesn't (at least not for the price). There are also alternatives from Microsoft like Clarity which is also free, so it could be a better option for you, depending.
Beyond that you can do some research, but keep in mind that most blog sites are likely spreading referral links to make themselves some cash for recommending pricy services. Not that I am above such, my point is that if you trust anyone, it should be you and what you can afford.
No analytics link is going to suddenly make your blog super successful, it's just another tool in understanding how your readers think.
What should you ask them?
It really depends on what kind of blog you are writing, but here are a few good starter options:
- What types of posts do you like the most on my website?
- What topics would you like us to focus on more on my blog?
- Were there any posts or topics you didn't like reading about?
You can also try things to make the surveys more fun by hiding easter eggs or other surprises in them. Ask silly questions or highly specific things that will make your readers laugh. You could have the most boring and driest blog on the internet and there is still room to add some levity.
Part 3 - Creating Compelling Content
Your audience needs to be fed.
Once you've identified who your audience is, it's time to create content that resonates with them. This involves crafting posts that are not only informative but also engaging and persuasive.
Be personable and approachable. Sure, it's fun to watch the housewives or the Kardashians as aloof and pretentious, but most of the time when you are writing a blog you want it to feel like a conversation.
After all, writing in general is a conversation; it is just usually one-sided.
Don't overdo it, though. On the flip side of everything, you could easily get an idea for a niche and push it so far that your audience eventually gets bored and falls off. If you look at Mr. Beast for example, you will notice that every few months to a year he completely shifts up his style and content to something completely different and new. Inevitably, a month later there are a million copycats making an entire channel of just this "new" type of content while he is moving on to something else.
That is his brand, though, and not something you need to strive toward. There is a happy medium, because we don't all need to be Mr. Beast.
How do I find good topics?
So glad you asked! Research!
- Ahrefs - This is a great tool for researching topics. The goal is to find out what your audience likes, and then do research for topics that you can rank in and find a beatiful synergy between the two.
- Moz - Another incredible tool that sets the standard for how to rank.
That, in fact, leads right into the next topic!
Part 4 - Boosting SEO
Search Engine Optimization? More like Such Empty Onions...Wait, what?
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) plays a crucial role in attracting more readers to your blog. By focusing on topics relevant to your audience and incorporating appropriate keywords into your posts, you can improve SEO performance and increase visibility of your blog.
Don't just stuff keywords, though. Sure, the dumb algorithms and AI might be tricked when you write a sentence or product description like: 'PEOPLE ALSO SEARCHED FOR BEST SEO TOPIC MILLIONS NEW READERS EXTRA PERFECT RANKINGS FOR FUTURE ALGORITHM BRIGHTNESS' but I'm sure you can see why that might not be a good idea. The goal is to have people actually want to spend time on your page, and when you are keyword stuffing people generally run away as fast as possible.
The goal is to find relevant keywords and then talk about those topics. Then, the SEO and optimizations will come naturally.
Refer again to the Ahrefs tools for great ways to find keywords.
Engaging with Your Audience
We are right back to this topic which I mentioned earlier. Engagement goes beyond just creating content; it involves interacting with your readers through comments, social media or email newsletters. Responding promptly and thoughtfully helps build a loyal readership as it makes them feel valued and appreciated.
I can't stress enough that people like to feel valued and appreciated. If you are unavailable or unresponsive then people will just move on. If someone suggests a way to make your blog better, listen to them. They might not have great suggestions, but if you listen to their suggestion, it will mean a lot to them, and there are always a lot of gems out there.
If you don't think you have room for improvement then, well, honestly, I would ask "why are you reading this blog at all?"
Takeaways
No, not takeaway. You need to order your own food.
Generating readership isn't about casting a wide net hoping to catch as many fish as possible; it's about knowing exactly where the fish are swimming and offering them the bait they can't resist! Start focusing more on your existing audience and watch your blog's readership grow.
