You write content on your website because you want people to read it right? If a website isn’t receiving traffic, it’s taking up wasted server space. The rise to the top is sat on the back of your readers, so don’t you dare ever forget them.
- Elite
We’ve all come across elite websites, the ones who put themselves on this fake pedal stool who do nothing but sell to their readers without ever interacting with the people who put them there in the first place. Everyone starts somewhere. By that I mean not one of these ‘elite’ pro websites knew it all when they started, they needed and asked for help. Some of these guys may say that they are giving back to their readers by writing free content telling everyone how they did it.
A lot of the time they miss out details which they know will keep them at the top and people coming back for more information, respect your readers.
- Service
If someone has visited your website, whether it be a catalogue style or SEO website and they take the time to read your content then email you asking you a question, answer it and answer it properly. If you provide a hotline or live chat for instant help, give them exactly that, instant help. Keep your promises to your readers and customers.
Do you remember your very first sale or comment? I remember mine (even though it was only 9 weeks, 826 comments ago) It gave me a buzz that someone had read what I had published and liked it enough to leave a comment. Don’t ever forget that feeling, I love it when I open my wordpress dashboard and see comments waiting to be approved. That feeling drives me to give more value and more respect to every one who visits.
- Where you came from
Remember when you started out? It maybe right now or a few years ago, but think about it. Whether you run a photography website or a blog about coffee, you started some where. At that point you relished the interaction of your readers, replied to everything and spoke to everyone. Your readers are coming to you to be educated, inspired or entertained.
The easiest way I can relate this, is by taking the film star who shot to fame. Picture the normal guy on the street who suddenly made it after being ‘discovered’ on the street. Next minute they are driving a Porsche into a swimming pool swigging a bottle of jack with a gram of coke in his pocket.
Money does crazy things to people, giving them illusions of grandeur, so do a stack of readers. You are no one special, you are the same person as your readers. In fact your readers are more important than you, because without them you are nothing!
photo credit: Adam UXB Smith
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{ 42 comments… read them below or add one }
Twitter: Bigredtomato
January 4, 2010 at 23:05
James, you hit the nail spot on here. Without traffic we are dead. No website has the right to visitors and it’s only by consistently posting great content that visitors will come.
If we don’t take note of our customer needs then we’ll find that we are selling betamax videos in a world wanting blue-ray.
Matthew Needham´s last blog ..How to get the job you want in 2010: The Best of The Big Red Tomato Company 2009
Twitter: theinfopreneur
January 5, 2010 at 22:59
Great analogy, love it betamax! I remember watching star wars on a betamax!
theinfopreneur´s last blog ..My Promise to You
Unfortunately you are one of those newish bloggers that just doesn’t “get” it yet.
I write content on my blogs because I want the SEARCH ENGINES to find it and take people to it. Then once they are there, I hope they find it very boring and leave through an ad.
I have one blog that gets over 1000 uniques a day and makes over $4,000 per month. How many returning visitors does it get? ABOUT 20 a day and I have no regular readers.
Do you want regular reader and starve or do you really want to make money?
Twitter: theinfopreneur
January 5, 2010 at 07:53
OK you are making money, that’s fine. But you are not a blogger, if you are dedicated to writing boring content purely so people click ads then you are funneling people to make you money.
I have no problem with people making money online through ads, but for me, the message is the most important thing, its good that you are making good money though, just not sure about the way you are doing it.
I think a lot of people act on their blogs exactly how they act in real life. I think it’s a mirror of the actual person. If your blog is snake oil puffy gay crap, I tend to believe that’s how you are in real life. Oh yea, no offense to snakes. However I perceive your blog is pretty how how I perceive you in real life and that’s how I make my decision to become a reader or not.
If I only have 2 readers that’s cool because the 3 of us will form a long time bond and friendship.
Steve Sherron´s last blog ..A Simple New Years Resolution
Twitter: theinfopreneur
January 5, 2010 at 22:58
That’s a really good point Steve,
People follow you because they like who you are, not what font your text is in.
theinfopreneur´s last blog ..My Promise to You
Wow so true! Readers are the life of the blog. With out them what do you have? Your right nothing.
I really enjoy the interaction between me and my reader. Ok maybe I have 2. Hopefully I have more
I will admit there is a kind of excitement I get when I create a post and I kinda sit there and wait to see if anyone comments. I keep checking back to see if anyone came by and read it. It is exciting when someone reads it and makes a comment that they liked it. It keeps you going.
Jim
Jim Hardin´s last blog ..Nutrional Value of Baked Stuffed Post
Twitter: theinfopreneur
January 5, 2010 at 22:56
You are so right, It really does drive you on when you get a new comment. I came back to my site this afternoon and saw I had 10 new comments waiting. Man I was like a little kid!
Great point Jim cheers
theinfopreneur´s last blog ..My Promise to You
I recently did an article about building traffic. Leaving PageRank aside, traffic on the road is bad, traffic to your website is good. Even if PageRank was not a part of this blog, I can still appreciate the value and benefit of a reader venturing to my website even if it was a “nofollow” link. Thanks for the good post.
Twitter: theinfopreneur
January 5, 2010 at 22:55
No Probs thanks for the comment
theinfopreneur´s last blog ..My Promise to You
Twitter: kbloemendaal
January 7, 2010 at 23:00
Will, what are you doing commenting on blogs! LOL
There has been quite a lot of this lately, bickering about pro-bloggers and their interaction on their sites, and in David Risley’s defense, I see him responding to everyday people (if that is a logical term) frequently on twitter and facebook.
I still say that you MUST at least make an effort to interact, even if it is to reply to only a few comments or I have even seen bloggers (including Matt Cutts) reply to several comments in one comment of his own.
I have ads on my site to help offset time and money I spend to keep it up, but I blog because I like to voice my opinion. If I only want to voice it in my articles then I would turn off comments.
I still read some of these so called “A-List” blogs, but I don’t comment if I feel my comment is wasted.
It will be interesting to see if any of us “make it big” if we will remember our creed to our readers….
Keith´s last blog ..6 Tips On Post Structure
Twitter: theinfopreneur
January 7, 2010 at 23:10
Good point Keith,
David Risley has given me a lot of his time recently which I’m hugely gratefull for. I for one will never forget you brother! lol
Twitter: robertbravery
January 5, 2010 at 09:01
So so true. I have consistently said that a blog or website with out readers is just a cybersqatter. The customer, or reader in this case, is King. An age old marketing truth.
IF so, then why is it that so many A-list bloggers have no care or interaction with their readers. Do they think that their position entitles them to loyal readers, or are they just to rich to care.
I I ever forget my readers, I deserve t be shot, and my blog to be sent to cyberspace black hole.
Robert Bravery´s last blog ..10 SEO Myths to watch out for in 2010
Twitter: theinfopreneur
January 5, 2010 at 09:07
absolutely right Robert, the ‘pros’ who think they can sit back and ignore everyone drive me mental!
Great attitude you have!
Twitter: Giveabrick
January 5, 2010 at 10:09
Hi James,
It was interesting and inspiring to read this post from one who sounds like he has ‘made it’ it just a handful of weeks. You produce interesting, useful content on a daily basis and are getting a loyal following as a result. This is something I aspire to.
But when I read Jessie’s comment above it made me think about this whole blogging thing. I guess it all comes back to what you wrote about before: the goal of the blog.
By his own admission, Jessie puts blog type sites together purely for the purpose of making money through ads. He isn’t secret in this goal and it’s obviously working for him. I was wondering where the job satisfaction is in doing it that way but then an image of him sipping cocktails in the Bahamas jumped in and squashed it
It will be interesting to see how things develop as you start to monetise your blog later in the year. Can what you are doing right now really be turned into a main income stream whilst remaining true to your original goal? Only time will tell. Personally, I feel they are uneasy bedfellows.
What I do know is that what you are writing about and the help you offer folk like me is invaluable. Relationship based blogging is central to Give A Brick since we’re all about friends giving just a little bit to help. Without relationships, friendship is dead!
So, thank you, (again!) for a thought provoking post.
Eleanor
Eleanor´s last blog ..Egg and the pony tail
Twitter: theinfopreneur
January 5, 2010 at 22:54
Hi Eleanor,
It can be tempting to go for the whole site production for ad revenue (which is fine by me) If that’s what you want go fir it, doesn’t really bother me people doing that.
The reason I DON’T do it is because I want to connect with people, I want to help others and really connect. I haven’t made it yet, but I will. I do plan on monetizing the site, but it will be done carefully and without screwing the readers out of everything I can get.
Ultimately it’s down to you, money or passion, which will eventually lead to both.
theinfopreneur´s last blog ..My Promise to You
Sorry James, but I’m going to have to disagree with you slightly. I mean, great article, but it really touches a nerve for me when people say about probloggers not interacting.
Think about it. You get thousands of visits a day. You post two articles a day, and probably get around 150 comments every 24 hours. I’m guessing you’ll get a couple of hundred emails per day too.
Now, if I said to you ‘go and reply to at least half of those comments, and reply to every email’, you’d be wondering how you were gonna fit that in a day. Probloggers still have to sleep, have time for their family etc. Take Darren Rowse for instance (he was the blogger I was referring to in the previous paragraph)… he has 2 children (I think), so he needs to make time for them. He also has the problogger forums (where he does actually interact every now and again) and Digital-Photography-School.com, which has even higher traffic than problogger.net.
Now, sorry, but it’s impossible to interact with everyone. I know Darren replies to most his emails, reads them all, and also takes the time to visit articles and comment on them when they involve him (even on smaller blogs). Probloggers simply don’t have the TIME to interact with everyone and thank everyone who links to them etc. When you get there James (note: WHEN not IF
), you’ll have to cut out the replying to comments (apart from the odd few) and have to focus on things which are actually making you money.
(ps. Sorry to Darren for banging on about him, he was the first problogger that sprung to mind, lol)
Simon | Teenius´s last blog ..Interview With Nathan Hangen of Beyond-Blogging.net
Twitter: theinfopreneur
January 5, 2010 at 10:36
Awesome a debate!
Thanks for the input Simon, although this wasn’t directed squarely at Darren, It was directed at the ‘pros’ who don’t reply. If reply to your comment about you saying ‘Now, if I said to you ‘go and reply to at least half of those comments, and reply to every email’, you’d be wondering how you were gonna fit that in a day.’ I do, I do reply to I would say 95-97% of everything. The ones I don’t reply to either don’t need a reply or simply get lost (whether they get caught by spam or I simply don’t see it)
Gary Vaynerchuk, makes a big deal about replying to everything, he owns a $70 million dollar business and he is one guy!
Problogger forum’s are not run by Darren, he employs someone else to run it. Again only using Darren as an example, because you brought it up.
Simon, you do great work and I think we will have to disagree on this one. I’m hoping this sparks a debate on here, but from my point of view, If you can’t reply to the readers who put you where you are in the first place, you have no business staying in that position. Don’t start out by doing everything for your readers in the early months then ditch them after you start making cash.
What does everyone else think? Good comment Simon!
Sorry, I didn’t realise how long the last comment was until I actually posted it, lol :p
In regards to your second paragraph about the fact that you do, it’s a bit different, purely because of the volume of comments probloggers get. I didn’t know about Gary, so I guess that kind of makes my argument slightly invalid, but even so, if you’re replying to 100 comments per day as well as doing other maintenance tasks, the workload is going to start to really pile up, and that’s not what the ‘internet lifestyle’ is about.
Regarding the forums, he’s still fairly active on them and has done a few hundred posts. I know he also checks it often, so I’d “kind of” count that as running it (although I accept he doesn’t moderate that much).
Like you say, I think we’ll have to disagree. Thanks for the great reply!
Simon | Teenius´s last blog ..Interview With Nathan Hangen of Beyond-Blogging.net
Twitter: theinfopreneur
January 5, 2010 at 11:45
Any time Simon,
it’s great to have your input. I agree it will get a lot more difficult, but as you say that’s the internet lifestyle, If you need to work 18 hours a day to reply to people and give your readers value rather than trying to squeeze every last cent of them, so what!
It takes a lot of hours to do it properly but your readers deserve it, it’s why you are there in the first place.
Twitter: AussieSire
January 5, 2010 at 13:01
Simon, I just had a look at problogger and over the last seven days, disregarding the one guest post, he’s had 390 comments, thats roughly 56 comments per day.
Yes he is a busy bloke, but there is one major difference between Darren and the rest of us. Blogging is his job, so he doesn’t have another job to go to like the rest of us. We have to go to work, spend time with our families and then if there is anytime left we spend some time writing a post or interacting with our commentators.
Sire´s last blog ..What Is This World Coming To When It Comes To Morals
Regarding the first point, for the past week or so he’s been doing lots of posts with links to other posts on problogger, presumably to spend more time with his family over Christmas.
To the second point… I’m not exactly sure of the point you’re making? I mean, he still needs to spend time with his family and friends, still has to write posts and stuff.
Simon | Teenius´s last blog ..Interview With Nathan Hangen of Beyond-Blogging.net
Twitter: theinfopreneur
January 5, 2010 at 18:45
Hi Simon,
I think the point Sire is making is Darren blogging is his job. The rest of us have 10 hour day jobs which will include travel time and if you actually break it down probably only have 4 hours max to work on your site AND still manage to reply to everything.
Twitter: AussieSire
January 5, 2010 at 22:46
Yep, that’s exactly right, just as theinfopreneur said and so he has more time than the rest of us.
Sire´s last blog ..What Is This World Coming To When It Comes To Morals
Twitter: beginnerblogger
January 5, 2010 at 12:10
I am dedicated to my readers, people that email me, people that @ reply me on twitter. I hope this NEVER changes. But I have to ask the question what if ONE MILLION people emailed you every day, what is ONE MILLION people commented on your blog every day. It’s impossible to reply to everyone. What’s the solution?
My beef with the A-List bloggers is that I don’t SEE them posting as often as I think they could. Now I emphasised the word ‘SEE’ there for good reason. Maybe they are commenting on blogs I don’t see (I’m sure they are)
I know after the recent debate that someone had with David Risley not commenting both he and Darren Rowse started to pop up in comments. David Risley has always bobbed up a few times commenting on his own blog, Darren Rowse I never really saw that often but I did notice a slight change after the debate. Darren even replied to one of my comments which was awesome.
I think when you get to a stage where they get you have to back off a bit. Would it be the same if someone they outsourced commented on behalf of them? I think it would do more damage than good.
I understand that their commentators are their ‘customer’ but as I said. What if you got ONE MILLION comments/emails a day? There’s only so many hours in a day and the reason their successful isn’t because of their comments/replies (obviously).
Sarge | BeginnerBlogger.com
Sarge | BeginnerBlogger.com´s last blog ..Contests Contests Contests – Are you in?
Twitter: theinfopreneur
January 5, 2010 at 23:03
Hey Sarge,
Loving this debate, I definately noticed an upswing in comments being left by the ‘A’ list when Sire’s post went out. But you are right they could post more and to be honest they could actually spend a bit more timejust helping people.
1 million emails a day I would happily say is impossible to do yourself, but hey if you are that big employ someone else or a few more people get them working on the site and let them share the work load.
Readers put you up there, stick with them
theinfopreneur´s last blog ..My Promise to You
Twitter: beginnerblogger
January 5, 2010 at 23:12
Getting a message/reply from someone else, someone the ‘A-lister’ has hired wouldn’t nearly be the same as getting a reply from the ‘A-lister’ themselves.
And it would be damn right insulting if the employed person used the ‘A-listers’ avatar to reply to posts. You’d see right through it. You know when someone like David Risley replies to a post because he’s got a certain personality about himself that you just know.
Twitter: theinfopreneur
January 5, 2010 at 23:19
Hey Sarge,
I wasn’t implying a inpersonator, but hire people on the site, maybe get them writing too, build up your staff, provide as much help as you can. You are right that by sometimes people will want the real deal.
This is all boiling down to if you get 1,000,000 emails a day which the ‘A’ listers don’t get.
Twitter: benlumley6
January 5, 2010 at 12:37
Right as top commenter here I feel I need to wade in and put my 2 pennies in.
Customer service is everything, whether you run a blog that makes money or you just blog for free. You readers are your customers.
They read your content because you post content about things that are of interest.
If you don’t interact with your readers then you’ll quickly be seperated from the rest as your readers WILL go and find someone who produces content about what you do but who takes to time to respond to comments and emails.
To say that there aren’t enough hours in the day just won’t cut it in 2010. It just won’t. You can argue the point as much as you like but people what you interact with them on a personal level.
You don’t need to reply to everything, this is a misconception. As James has already pointed out, sometimes comments don’t need a reply. Should you reply thou even if someone just says “hey great post!” Hell yeah you should.
You need to find the time in the day and night to reply and respond to everything even if you’re getting 1000 uniques at day! Stop watching you’re favourite TV program, stop playing on the xBox and start running your online business.
Ben Lumley´s last blog ..Dealing with Distractions: Knowing when to give up and when you should carry on.
Twitter: theinfopreneur
January 5, 2010 at 23:05
Hi Ben,
Man Gary is rubbing off on you! You are so right, these days it really doesn’t stand as an excuse.
You make a fortune out of the people who read your site, they own you!
theinfopreneur´s last blog ..My Promise to You
Twitter: rwallace
January 5, 2010 at 14:17
I have mixed opinions on this and this has been an ongoing debate with bloggers/readers since day one I presume.
As an online publisher, I truly respect and appreciate the time that anyone will give me as far as visting my blogs and especially taking even more time to comment or email me. Yes, I do try to bend over backwards to reply to them all even if I have to let them know that I have no answers at all. I am writing for my readers, not for myself…although I do get that satisfaction of being able to provide some value to others.
As a reader, although I understand that the successful, or not so successful, blogs are alive and kicking due to us looking for the information, I personally know that I am not going to be singled out as a site’s most important asset more than I am part of the collective reader base of that site.
I’ve learned that although blogging doesn’t “SEEM” to be something that could pry someone away from the social interaction side, I’ve been proven wrong over and over again by watching the number of comments fly upward overnight, and seeing the amount of work put into actually buiding the content and other tasks push the envelope.
In the long run, yes…I think the readers are the most important asset of any site/blog and proper interaction is expected, yet, if I expected the author to stop and answer every single question, which we know only bring more questions, we may start to notice the quality of the actual content we crave start to dip.
My pair ‘o’ pennies
-Rich
Rich Wallace´s last blog ..Accept Your Own Humanity
Twitter: theinfopreneur
January 5, 2010 at 23:22
hey Rich,
Interesting point you made about the quality of the work going down. Perhaps that would be the case, although if it meant you had to work 18 hours a day rather than 8 hours a day then so be it.
In my opinion the higher you get the harder it should become, not easier
theinfopreneur´s last blog ..My Promise to You
Your so right, some sort of feedback, even a short message can go a long way. Thanks for sharing.
Twitter: theinfopreneur
January 5, 2010 at 23:52
Anytime, hope you come back for more
theinfopreneur´s last blog ..My Promise to You
We bloggers are an interesting sort. We spent our time writing these articles that we hope people will come by and enjoy, and yet for some of us we also have an ulterior motive, which is to market something, either ourselves or something we want to make money from.
The truth is that without readers, everything else falls flat. I know that I have certain expectations for how many comments I hope to receive on each post I put on my site. I might not get there, but when I do I feel elated and appreciated for the effort I put into writing something. I have way more readers than buyers, and truthfully if the readership increased in the buyers didn’t, for my blog I would still be a very happy guy.
Mitch´s last blog ..Post #601 – Time For More Changes
Twitter: theinfopreneur
January 5, 2010 at 23:53
Hi Mitch,
That says leaps and bounds about your personality. Being happy with what you have created and in the message.
Great comment
theinfopreneur´s last blog ..My Promise to You
Twitter: fitjerk
January 9, 2010 at 03:06
Interestingly enough, you didn’t have to write shit in this post. The title is probably powerful enough. Without eyeballs, your blog existence is worthless.
This reminds me of an incident that happened at TechCrunch a few weeks back where on of their writers was complaining about how he can’t be bothered to read the emails people send him… or something equally insane.
What a fucking cock. Needless to say, he practically got “booed off stage”. I never knew comments could get so hateful, it was awesome. If you think you’re the shit, show it, don’t say it.
Good article nonetheless.
FitJerks Fitness Blog´s last blog ..FitJerk Friday #1 – Realize & Maximize Your Potential!
Twitter: theinfopreneur
January 9, 2010 at 10:35
Hey brother,
Yeah dude lead by example, off to check out if I can found out that TechCrunch post.
theinfopreneur´s last blog ..Why I’m Going To Write Even More!
Twitter: robertbravery
January 15, 2010 at 20:39
You are so absolutely right. Are we not selling something. We are selling ourselves, our blogs, our posts. No one in selling, and business is that the client is king, he might not always be right. But he is king. Without him, you do not eat.
Same thing with blogging. Our readers are our clients. I do not care what anyone says. If your blog has no readers, you are just cybersquatting and taking up space with your useless drivel.
Power and money do take our eyes off this a bit. Many tend to relax on their reputation thinking that all is well. But readers and clients have a remarkable way of changing the tables.
We can name so many companies in the Tech industry alone that fell foul to this. But there is not enough time or space.
My only hope is that I always remember this and never forget my readers, whether I become a six figure blogger or a six cents blogger.
Robert Bravery´s last blog ..You have a friend in me.
Great article. (But what is a “pedal stool?” Do you mean pedestal?)
Thanks for sharing your path to success!
Patty Mooney´s last blog ..Why I Am Proud of Our Mayor – by Patty Mooney
Twitter: segedoo
January 26, 2010 at 08:53
Hmm,
Just like tortoise without it’s shell is dead
The truth is I do not respect any problogger that is too big to respond to emails just because i have not bought from them yet. This happened to me once and i really felt bad because i couldn’t pay via PayPal.
I noticed also that any product purchase related email gets an instant reply for obvious reasons.
How Shallow!
Anyway in these days of relationship marketing, they will learn the hard way.
I also think the way most new bloggers suck up to these guys gets into their heads.
Few men have the character of Nelson Mandela who walked away from power and all its lures but then he must have built that in the 27 years of being locked up.
Maybe some of these guys need to be isolated for a while.
Of course, i must say that a few A-listers have been very responsive and approachable.
Olusegun´s last blog ..How To Build A List Using A Squeeze Page And An Autoresponder 2
Twitter: theinfopreneur
January 26, 2010 at 19:36
Hey brother,
yeah you gotta look after the people who put you there in the first place. I have to say David Risley is on guy who really does reach out and speak to people, well to me anyway. He has given me so much of his time.
On the flip side though I emailed Yaro and I got an automated response trying to hit me up for a sale!
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