Building a loyal readership and community around your blog is important for its long term success. It is also one of the most difficult aspects of blogging. It is relatively easy to get new or first time visitors to your blog using methods such as social bookmarking and other social media optimisation techniques. However, converting first time visitors into loyal readers who will visit you blog regularly, requires hard work and effort. Nevertheless, the rewards are promising and justify the effort required.

Here are ten easy ways to help you build a loyal readership and community around your blog. These simple techniques will keep your readers returning to your blog.

1. Publish Quality Content

If you want to be successful in a crowded market, your posts need to be exceptional. There is not much room for mediocrity in blogging especially if you want your content to go viral. There is more to writing quality blog posts than a good writing style. Take steps to improve the readability and usability of your content. Use images and headings to make your content easily scannable. Write for your readers not search engines.

2. Write Frequently

Quality is important but you should not under estimate the importance of posting frequently. The more content your write, the better will be you search engine ranking and traffic. Content is the core product of your blog and is ultimately what will attract readers to your site. If you post less frequently, it will take longer to achieve the same growth. Read more on 10 Benefits of Daily Posting.

3. Answer all comments on your blog

Connecting directly with your readers is important for building a loyal readership. Replying to each and every comment is a great way to create an active discussion whist adding new content to your existing posts.

4. Pay special attention to who is participating on your blog

Pay special attention to who is commenting on your blog and find the time to visit their blog or network and reciprocate. Perhaps you can like them on Facebook or follow them on Twitter. It will allow you to form stronger connections.

13. Make it easy for readers to connect with you

The success of your blog is closely linked to your performance on social media. Simply offering a social bookmarking facility on your posts is not sufficient.  Many popular social networking sites integrate seamlessly with your blog. E.g. a visitor can send a tweet from a tweet box on your site or post to Facebook without the need to leave your site. The easier and more options you provide to your readers to connect with you, the better are your chances of building a loyal readership.

6. Use A Contact Form

Use of a contact form can help increase reader involvement. Comments are great for individual posts, but not for general enquiries. Surely, you may receive some un-solicited enquiries however without a contact form there is no way for readers to contact you to discuss genuine opportunities or suggestions.

7. Use the Right Plug-ins to boost Reader Engagement

There is an abundance of free third-party WordPress plug-ins that can help boost reader engagement and participation. Plugins such as Top Commentators and Comment Luv encourage readers to comment by providing additional visibility to those who participate in discussions on your blog.

8. Use A Contact Form

Use of a contact form can help increase reader involvement. Comments are great for individual posts, but not for general enquiries. Surely, you may receive some un-solicited enquiries however without a contact form there is no way for readers to contact you to discuss genuine opportunities or suggestions.

9. Make Full Use of Your RSS Feed

Your RSS feed is critical for building a loyal readership. Many users use feed aggregators and readers to access blog content. Fellow bloggers, marketers and researchers rely solely on RSS feeds and seldom visit blogs directly.

Instead of using the default RSS feed of your blog, using a free tool such as Feedburner as it offers better control, detailed statistics and enables readers to subscribe to updates via email.

Take special measures to promote your feed. Place it prominently on your blog submit your feed to various RSS services and directories.

10. Create A Series

Creating a series of posts is an excellent way to build loyalty. Many blogs have used this to their advantage. A perfect example is 28 Days to Build a Better Blog.

It not only encourage readers to keep coming back for more but also helps you organise your content and plan for it better. If you are stuck for ideas then you can use other existing popular posts on your blog and is if you can write follow up posts around the same topic.

Summary:

Discussed above are ten easy tips that can help you to build a loyal readership and community around your blog. In a few days we will be covering additional methods to achieve this.

The author K.Singh is an E-Commerce & Web Development Consultant with over 10 years of experience working with established multi national businesses. He is currently the Director of Web Design Company in London. .