As blog owners we constantly think about how we can grow our readership. More readers equals more potential buyers for your products or services if you’re selling them online. As a business owner though, you want to ensure that the readers you attract convert to purchase your products or services.
That means that you don’t just want to grow your readership you want to grow your readership in your target market or niche.
So how do you grow your blog readership in your niche?
Here’s a 4 step plan to grow your readership in your chosen niche:
1. Write Lots of Content…Awesome Content.
Write lots of content that your target market is going to be interested in. Stuff that they need to know, giving them reasons to come back and visit your site. Make the content interesting, but more importantly make it useful. Update your site regularly so there is always lots of fresh content.
2. Hang out with your potential readers
Be where your readers are. Find out what websites your potential readers hang out on and make sure you go there too. If you don’t know what sites they like. Make a point of asking them, through say an online poll or ask your visitors through a post what other sites they visit or email the people who comment on your site and ask them for their advice. Connect with people.
Also you need to comment on the sites where your potential readers hang out and as many relevant sites as you can find. But don’t go putting nice post as your comment. Put something meaningful and give insight. Don’t just try and promote your products either!!!
Be out there. Make sure your potential readers know your name and recognize your style. However, be yourself style wise, don’t be influenced too much by others.
3. Add Lots of Value
The best way of adding value to your visitors is to answer your readers specific questions. Which you can do by inviting readings to ask questions or following up on a comment left on your site. Then post post the responses as a new blog post.
Hey mathew,
Nice Post man. You’ve mentioned some awesome ideas.
I think “awesome contest” is the most important, in growing any blog readership.
Thanks for sharing this great post.
~Dev
Dev | Technshare´s last [type] ..7 Effective Ways to Get Quality Traffic to Your Blog
Hey Dev, you shouldn’t have a problem with Awesome content, your site is full of it!
Matthew Needham´s last [type] ..Wednesday Wisdom
Great advice here on growing a blog’s readership!
If I might add, to make sure you are working towards retaining your visitors in some way (through a mailing list) and then work on building a relationship with those who have stated specifically that they want something to do with you.
Great post!
Jonathan Beebe´s last [type] ..How to Really Improve Your FREE Offer
Hello Jonathon, funnily enough I’m just writing the next blog post for 2 weeks time and I’m going to focus on building your email list too.
Hopefully that’s of use too.
Thanks for the comment!
Matthew Needham´s last [type] ..Wednesday Wisdom
Hi Matt,
I especially agree with #2 – Hang out where your readers are. I would add – go to your readers’ blogs. You’ll be amazed how many relationships you can build when you just spend a little time visiting and commenting on their blogs.
I’ll admit that it can get time consuming, so it’s okay to limit the number to maybe 3-4 – it’s not about volume anyway. It’s about building quality relationships.
Absolutely Kiesha, you’ve got to build quality relationships, which is what makes the community. Thanks for the comment.
Matthew Needham´s last [type] ..Wednesday Wisdom
I engage with readers (and potential readers) every chance I get. It’s a lot of fun for me, and it’s done a lot to help the blog along too.
Jean Sarauer´s last [type] ..7 Signs That Granny Hijacked Your Blog
Yes Jean you’re right, you’ve certainly made some valuable contributions to my site, thank you!
Matthew Needham´s last [type] ..Wednesday Wisdom
Very good summary Matthew.
Lately I’ve been spending time in relevant forums and leaving lots of comments, primarily in the Third Tribe.
And to expand a bit on what you said, it’s important to put your full name on your blog posts and in comments on other blogs and forum posts. That way people get to know you and associate you with a specific name.
John Soares´s last [type] ..4 Reasons Why You Should Write the Sales Page First
Hi John, thanks for the comment. How is the Third Tribe working for you? I’d be very interested to hear.
That’s a really good point – and so often overlooked. Makes a lot of sense.
I’m getting a lot out of the Third Tribe, both the teleseminars and the very active forum. They’ve raised the price to $97 a month, which I think is too steep for most people.
I wrote a post about three weeks ago urging people to join just before the price jump, but with little success.
The forums have around 20-30 new threads a day, and they average 10-20 replies, including Brian Clark, Darren Rowse, Sonia Simone, Chris Brogan, and many other heavy-hitter bloggers who have been successful at making money.
John Soares´s last [type] ..4 Reasons Why You Should Write the Sales Page First
Thanks for sharing your experiences. That sounds really good. Glad you’re getting benefit.
Maybe you could launch your own product ‘cash for questions’ – where you charge people to ask questions on their behalf!
Matthew Needham´s last [type] ..How $350 increased profits by 150%
There is nothing better than doing a huge pile of promotion. Your customers will never remember to frequent your business if you don’t constantly remind them that you are still around.
I think that many business owners like to think that their customers will just show up because your product is awesome. Unfortunately that is not the case. You’ve got to get out the megaphone, build your customer list and get your message out to anyone that is willing to listen to you.
-Joshua Black
The Underdog Millionaire
Joshua Black | Underdog Millionaire´s last [type] ..Pea-ing on Your Small Business… Part 2
I love the way you make the important points very simply. If only more people took your advice Joshua!
I agree Joshua…it’s definitely a department I need to re-step back up efforts with myself.
Talk soon.
Yes, we can all improve!
Matthew Needham´s last [type] ..How $350 increased profits by 150%
Hi Matthew,
Great post. I was just wondering, do you have any specific ways to promote once you have 1-3 in place?
I find that is the biggest stumbling block for me. From your experience would you just say that it is putting in the time and getting your name on as many things as possible, or are there certain mediums (or efforts) that you think yield the greatest ROI, especially when time is scarce?
Cheers,
Schmidty
Thanks Schmidty.
I take the Mars Bar approach. The more places you are the more you get known and the more people that come and check you out. Hopefully sign up to newsletters and maybe buy some products.
Basically you want to make sure that you comment on as many sites in your niche or your target market.
You can either blog search in google using Blog:[Niche] in the tool bar to find relevant blogs or maybe use stumbleupon and the stumble feature in your category.
Hope that helps.
Matthew Needham´s last [type] ..How $350 increased profits by 150%
I’m finding it increasingly hard to keep up with networking these days. I feel I spend so much time on content that I fail to really interact with my network.
Lauren´s last [type] ..Top Archaeology School: Arizona State University
Thanks for the comment Lauren. I guess it’s all a question of balance. There’s no subsitute for content, but content is no good in itself if people aren’t reading it.
Matthew Needham´s last [type] ..How $350 increased profits by 150%
Nice post Matthew, especially connecting to them in where they go to.
You can keep hitting your readers with great content all around. They come to your blog to read your post, you go to theirs, read, leave a comment then later on discuss it even more on sites like Twitter and Facebook.
I love it whenever someone comes from my blog and starts up a discussion with me on Twitter – it immediately adds value to the relationship because it isn’t hit and run.
It’s really the small things that add up over time. I thought it would be hard to remember everyones name but it’s soon getting easier because I’m trying to stay connected with everyone
Murlu´s last [type] ..How To Setup A Domain With Hostgator
Absolutely Murray! (See remembered your name!)
I think you’re right, I can think of 20 people off the top of my head who I regularly interact with and share contents of their great sites. This group grows and grows.
The more interaction as you say, the easier it all becomes.
Matthew Needham´s last [type] ..How $350 increased profits by 150%
Hi Matthew,
You’ve made some excellent points. Growing your blog readership has to start with great content first. Then, I really think it’s all about building a community around your blog.
I think you have to genuinely want to build relationships with your readers and other bloggers. Thanks for the great tips on interacting with your readers.
I think it’s kind of funny that we spend so much of our time alone writing and building our blogs but we need a community of people to make it successful.
Jazz Salinger´s last [type] ..Learn and Earn – It’s a Marathon Not a Sprint
Hi Jazz. I think that’s right. Community is very important. A great example of this on my own site is when I posted a question one of my readers raised and asked the readers to contribute with a solution.
It got a huge response (2nd most commented blog post on my site) – It’s all about community.
http://bigredtomatocompany.co.uk/2010/04/so-whats-your-problem-part-2/
Matthew Needham´s last [type] ..How $350 increased profits by 150%
Hi, new blogger here and thanks for the tips – hope to find them useful. Still feeling like a gumbie when it comes to finding out what tags are and how to use them – any tips?
k
Kate´s last [type] ..Incarnation through Carnival – What Rolando knew . . .
Kate,
Welcome to the club.
B
Hi Kate, glad you’ve found the tips of use!
I know what you mean about Tags, I’m not sure if they are indexable by Google etc. Maybe someone else can answer this question please?
Matthew Needham´s last [type] ..How $350 increased profits by 150%
Hi,
One way I’ve begun to gather followers is through a little campaign called #teasertuesday on Twitter. My online community consists mainly of other writers and we like to support each other. #teasertuesday is a way to drive traffic to everyone’s blogs (where they’ve posted a new excerpt each week).
It’s also a way for me to help promote other writers while also promoting myself. I’m not a “taker” by nature, more a “giver”. This way I get to give and recieve – best of both worlds!
Since starting #teasertuesday, I’ve probably doubled my following, which has only just now reached 1000. But the rate of increase has been much greater than before. Many of the new followers have visited my blog and signed up for email updates.
So, having something to offer, perhaps on other platforms than just the blog, also helps.
Madison Woods´s last [type] ..Wu Wei revisited
Madison,
That is great feedback! thank you very much for sharing and keep up the great work. that’s sweet.
Hi Madison, as Brandon says, this sounds like an excellent idea.
Thanks for sharing.
Matthew Needham´s last [type] ..How $350 increased profits by 150%
Matthew,
Great post first of all, no seriously! I like how you have just a few simple steps one can take to really make an impact in their readership.
I strongly believe that one common mistake people want is more readers. While that’s a good goal to have it’s important to remember that you want to have the right readers who are going to stay with you and will later on buy what you have because it adds value to their lives.
This should never just be about money. That’s just a result. It’s always about providing value.
Something else I like that you mention here is knowing what your niche is and being where your readers are. You’ll notice on my blog’s latest post that I’ve already got someone asking me what niche I’m in. Great question and one I’m looking forward to answering.
Stop by and leave two questions if you like.
Eric´s last [type] ..Get To Know Me Better: Ask Me Any 2 Questions You Want
Good tips. I believe writing amazing content and promoting are the two main factors to increase a blog’s readership. But most important of all is giving something worthy to talk about.
Daniel´s last [type] ..Wool socks
Content is directly connected to the visitors and this is one of the big factor. Most of the readers they like to visit any blog because of good content and for collecting information which is help to solve the confusion. Mostly I do concentrate on content and promotion activity but now after read your post I want to do concentrate on other factors also.
Thanks for this nice post.
Jenny@ Dietary Fiber´s last [type] ..Body Wraps For Weight Loss