Blog Staycation: Interacting with your readers

Hi everyone! Yesterday we kicked off Blog Staycation 2014! As promised we will be bringing you  tips on getting your blog organized and ready to interact with your readers. I could find no better way to start of this event, than to talk about why it is SO important to interact with ALL of your readers.
I understand that not everyone who gets into blogging is looking for mass amounts of readers, but it would be nice to go have SOMEONE looking at your daily posts. As bloggers we need other peoples opinions on what we are writing. The content we put out is hard work. We take time out everyday to bring the best content we can to the internet for the world to see. There is no reason why we shouldn't ask for feedback and get to know our readers.

Asking for feedback is important. If you don't ask, you won't know. A few ways to do this is:
  • Host a poll: Ask your readers questions about your blog. Be specific because chances are if they are willing to take your poll, they will give you honest feedback.
  •  End of post questions: Ask your readers questions in relation to the post. This will strike up conversation and help your readers relate to your content, and you get to know your readers.
  •  Use Social Media: Social media is a great way to connect with readers. You can ask for feedback with simple tweets like "I love reading about food, what about you?" or "I love so and so's blog, who do you read?" Questions like these will engage your readers to tell you what they like without feeling like you are being pushy. 
Talk to your readers! Interacting with your readers gives you a feel for what they like and why they read the blogs they do. Make sure you follow these tips to keep your readers coming back:
  • REPLY TO COMMENTS! This is a biggie. If you aren't replying to your readers, they have no real connection to you and probably will not be back. 
  • Reply to E-mail: Whether it be a simple compliment, complaint or collaboration, reply to your emails. Replying to a compliment will show you care about you readers and are excited that they are excited. Sometimes that complaint can make your blog better. More eyes on your content can see things that you may miss. Maybe a business opportunity comes up, but you are not interested, replying that you are not interested is professional rather than ignoring it. There may be something in the future you are a fit for, and they will consider you again.
  • Participate in chats: Whether it be Twitter chats or Facebook chats, get involved! You get to meet other bloggers and readers this way. Host your own or participate in ones already established. Either way you are interacting and getting feedback.
Help your readers: Helping our your readers in anyway you can, will always bring those readers back. Positive actions bring positive feedback:
  • Bloggers: If your reader is also a blogger, visit their blog! Leave comments! Help them the way they help you.
  • Shops: Do you have a reader who has a shop? Visit the shop. Buy something if you find something you love. Give them feedback.
  •  Ect: Engage in anything your readers throw at you. Maybe they are hosting a blog hop, or a link up, or even an e-mail chain. Check it out. This doesn't mean you have to get involved, but at least give it a chance. You may find something new and exciting you never would of though of on your own.
 So what do you think? Do you interact enough with your readers? Is there something on this list you need to work on? In what ways do you interact with your readers?

Thank you for stopping by and I hope you are enjoying Blog Staycation 2014! Make sure you follow along on Twitter with #blogstaycation!


12 comments

  1. The Twitter party was a ton of fun! Even if I couldn't keep up, I learned several things about Twitter yesterday. Lol! I plan on going back tonight to visit some of the links. It's funny - I wasn't thinking about the staycation as a place to meet bloggers, but I've already got a couple new ones I'm excited to check out!

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  2. Interacting with readers is one of my favorite parts of blogging, and I love all of these tips...so helpful!

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    1. Thanks Julie! I love my readers and anything I can do to help them is at the top of my list!

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  3. Great tips! I jsut started blogging a few weeks ago and one of the things that I'm really enjoying is interacting with readers, meeting people on Twitter and reading other blogs. It's true that all of those things help to build community,

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    1. It is so important to form a relationship with your readers. That's you need! Good luck with your blog! Share your link so we can all check it out! :)

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  4. Great tips! I found your page through the SITS share and I'm glad I did. I started blogging in the beginning of July, so I have a lot to learn. I try my best to interact with readers. I always reply to comments and I always try to visit their blogs and leave comments. It takes a long time though! I find myself getting wrap up reading everyone's wonderful blog posts. I need to work on a balance!

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    1. It is SO easy to get off track when reading blogs. I do it all the time. I get sucked into all of the wonderful content. So glad you stopped by! Will be checking out your blog as well!

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  5. Great tips. It's so important to interact with your readers if you want to build a real readership.

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    1. Amen! We gotta help each other out! Thanks for stopping by!

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  6. Love these tips Trish! I did a reader survey back in January and it really helped me develop a focus on my blog.

    Thanks so much for sharing. I'm really enjoying the Blog Staycation!
    xoxo

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    1. Somehow I missed this comment! I am so glad you enjoyed the blog staycation. It worked right into the point of this post so well! We Interacted and made new friends!

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