26
20115 Reasons Why Bloggers Should Pay Attention To Their Readers
Anyone who has been blogging long enough probably understands the importance of interacting with readers who visit and comment on their blogs. It’s practically common sense as well as common courtesy. However, truly ask yourself, and this question is for new bloggers and well experienced bloggers alike, do you respond to comments on your blog as though it’s some knee-jerk reaction or do you sincerely take the time to listen to what your fans and blog readers have to say?
Successful Bloggers Need to Pay It Forward
It’s common for bloggers who are first starting out to be challenged in ways they never could have fathomed. To say the blogosphere is a competitive place is an understatement. However those who work hard, keep plugging away at it, do a lot of research, remain persistent and ask a lot of questions do end up becoming quite successful bloggers. Sure it doesn’t happen overnight, there’s a lot of trial and error involved and not all stories have happy endings, but if you have the right drive and get help from the right people it can make a world of difference.
I believe it’s important for well experienced and successful bloggers to pay it forward as best they can. Share your knowledge freely and with no regrets. Always remember we all have to start somewhere. Don’t ever think you’re too good to socialize or share tips with new bloggers on the scene. Never forget what it was like when you first started out as a blogger. When someone comments on your blog and asks questions always be willing to help no matter how rich or popular you are as a blogger.
I understand when a blog gets to a certain size it’s not as easy to respond to all questions as promptly, but even if it takes a while to respond it’s at least better late than never. Always lead by example and take the time to help those who are just starting out.
Readers Are Humans Not Robots
Always remember that your readers are in fact real people. They have real feelings, real questions and real concerns. Other than dreaded spammers of course, people are at your site for good reason. Chances are they look up to you and are inspired by what knowledge and wisdom you have to share.
It’s critical to pay attention to all people who contact you through email or comment on your site. In this digital age, sadly in a lot of ways we have become faceless on some levels. This is not a good thing. As wonderful as modern technology is, we must always interact as humans even if we are communicating through the use of machines. Someone doesn’t just magically press a button and activate a bunch of automated comments on your blog. These are real people and it’s only proper to address them as such.
Getting An Outside Perspective
Inspiration can arise at any moment and when you least expect it. It’s great to write about topics that you’re passionate about, but it can also be quite valuable and beneficial on many levels when you take advice from your readers.
Let me give you an example. I wrote an article on one of my blogs a while back, it was on a topic I have a great deal of experience with. Most of it just flowed quite freely but of course I had to do a bit of research too. Anyhow, I felt so happy when I had finally completed what I thought was quite an informative and educational blog post. Shortly after publishing it I was contacted by one of my readers who basically said “I still don’t get it… what does such and such mean”.
Well, at first my reaction was how can I possibly explain it any better. I thought I had covered it all, and quite well. Turns out that reader raised a very good question, one I had totally missed and was shocked that I could have overlooked something so obvious. So, I started over with a fresh perspective, but instead of rewriting the entire article I added more to it instead. Turns out I was actually the very first blogger to cover this topic in that much informative depth and to my surprise it went on to be one of those timeless blog articles that still brings me a great deal of traffic to this day, true story.
Moral of the story, had I just shrugged off this persons question or ignored it altogether I would have missed out on a great opportunity. Not only did my traffic get a nice boost, but most importantly it helped educate people and was basically just the right thing to do.
Etiquette & Common Courtesy
Ok, so you may have heard this many times before, but I’ll say it again, it cannot be stressed enough how important it is to let readers know their questions and opinions matter.
Building Long Term Relationships
It’s important to pay attention to all people who comment on your blog, even if they are just visiting for the first time and have a basic question. You could handle such situations one of two different ways. You could ignore that question, shrug it off as not being important or you could take a few moments of your precious time and do the right thing, which of course is answer that question like any real professional would.
How and whether or not you interact with your readers can either be very damaging or have a very long term positive impact. Who knows, that person who landed on your site for the first time and had a legit question to ask might very well turn out to be one of your best customers. Never, I repeat, NEVER underestimate your visitors. This is probably the worst thing you can do. Treat them all as if they are equal.
Who knows, this person who asked you what might seem to be the most basic question could very well have several things they could also teach you. It could turn out to be a symbiotic and long term relationship.
