Why A Relationship With Your Blog Readers Is Vital
Posted by Anand in Guests Posts, blogging, tags: blog audience, blogging tips, managing relationshipsThis is a guest post by Anand Srinivasan who blogs on interesting web statistics at TechCrunchies.com. His new venture KnewThis.com; a hub for interesting facts shall be launching later this month.
One of the critical aspects of owning a blog is managing your relationship with your readers. The importance of this aspect cannot be stressed any further because the most successful bloggers around the world are those who can afford to maintain that relationship going.
Why is maintaining relationships so important? This is a question asked primarily by those bloggers whose focus is on search engine traffic. I was one of them and remember telling myself why it was a waste of time maintaining relationship with my readers when I should rather be building links for SEO purposes.
That’s a terrible mistake to make. As in any business, in the online world too, contacts – big and small, matter. As a newbie blogger, blog promotion is a vicious cycle. Other websites wouldn’t write on what you would say unless you are reputed enough and you would not earn that repute till others start writing about you. It is here that your contacts come handy.
Through my course of blogging, I came in touch with bloggers from across the world; some warm enough to ‘befriend’ me (virtually of course) just after a few exchanges. These people turned out to be the marketing mavens I was looking for. They offered me suggestions, linked to so many things I had written till then – all that helped me gain a lot of fresh exposure to my blog.
Life can be harsh and only a handful of newbie bloggers make it out big in the long run. You cannot always expect to become a pro blogger yourself. But with a lot of contacts, it is a matter of only a handful of your contacts to make it big or even moderately popular. Their contact can virtually catapult your blog to popularity too.
And come to think of it, where did all of this begin –with just one comment thanking a reader who took time to comment on your blog!
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Why A Relationship With Your Blog Readers Is Vital…
One of the critical aspects of owning a blog is managing your relationship with your readers. The importance of this aspect cannot be stressed any further because the most successful bloggers around the world are those who can afford to maintain that r…
I agree. Now that I leave comments and try to nurture friendships with my readers, my blog has become more popular. It’s hard work maintaining those relationships but finding friends makes it worth it!
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Anand Srinivasan
Twitter: knewthis
(38 comments) Reply:
October 11th, 2009 at 6:42 am
It truly is very difficult Topaz..especially as you grow when you will have to spend a lot of time in replying to comments..But it is very rewarding in the long run.
Anand Srinivasan´s last blog ..Multiple Mobile Connection Among Indian Population
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I am too busy to build relationship with my readers because I am running too many websites. What you wrote is so true because from my web analytics I can see that the number of repeat visits is something I am not proud of.
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Twitter: TechPatio
(52 comments) says:
Anand, you’re right – having a relationship with readers is vital. It takes a lot of hard work but I believe it might pay of in the end – but even more important, you get to enjoy the relationship while it’s going on. You can easily learn stuff and get valueable feedback from your readership too.
Klaus @ TechPatio´s last blog ..How To Use Twitter To Get Through To Customer Support In A Jiffy
[Reply]
Anand Srinivasan
Twitter: knewthis
(38 comments) Reply:
October 11th, 2009 at 6:45 am
So true..Many times your readers give you a perspective that makes a good topic for future blog postings as well.
Anand Srinivasan´s last blog ..Multiple Mobile Connection Among Indian Population
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Twitter: deborah3756
(2 comments) says:
This is great advice. Having a relationship means you must answer comments when left. People will keep coming back and spreading the word if you take the time to answer.
Just my thoughts.
~Dee
Dee@Good Morning America´s last blog ..Links for 2009-10-10 [Digg]
[Reply]
Anand Srinivasan
Twitter: knewthis
(38 comments) Reply:
October 11th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
Bang on Dee..Blogging is like giving a lecture to an audience..If someone in the audience is raising their hand to point their suggestion, and if you are going to simply walk away, I doubt they are going to come back to listen to you..
Anand Srinivasan´s last blog ..Multiple Mobile Connection Among Indian Population
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Twitter: Blazing_Minds
(1092 comments) says:
Wise words indeed from my first guest blogger and what a first post, I do try to reply to the majority of the comments left, but sometimes, time is a little too thin to communicate with everyone, but, I have noticed that a lot of bloggers are returning back when comments are replied to.
[Reply]
Anand Srinivasan
Twitter: knewthis
(38 comments) Reply:
October 11th, 2009 at 12:28 pm
One thing I’ve observed with a few bloggers is tht they reply to their previous comments only after they have made their new post. This way, they get to remind their earlier commenters that a new post is up (which they are going to check when they come to the site after a few days since they last visited).
But I guess this is not the right way to pull the readers back as well, though you can do this is as a desperate measure when traffic is refusing to come back.
Anand Srinivasan´s last blog ..Multiple Mobile Connection Among Indian Population
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Twitter: extremejohn
(165 comments) says:
One of the best parts about blogging is the different connections I get to make, I dont think I would do it if I didn’t take advantage of that part of blogging.
Extreme John´s last blog ..10 Tips for Removing Your Blogging Blinders
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Twitter: technokyletwit
(1 comments) says:
Friendships are good but i always keep in my mind that being too friendly will hurt you in the long run. There are times where your blog readers ask too much about something and you can’t turn them down. Even though blogging is your passion there’s still a part that it is business.
[Reply]
Anand Srinivasan
Twitter: knewthis
(38 comments) Reply:
October 12th, 2009 at 6:05 pm
I guess that’s natural to think that way,Kyle..Because we would rather spend time available building links or generating traffic rather than responding to user queries., but if you are ever going to turn pro plus if you are going to have the kind of site that needs repeat traffic (and not just search results), you should consider it as an investment.
Building business is all about building relationships, networking, etc. The best example I can give you is of Yaro Starak from Entrepreneur Journey. He is one of the biggest bloggers around with so many comments everyday, and he manages to respond to all of them..
Come to think of it, I am recommending him here out of nowhere..
Anand Srinivasan´s last blog ..Growth in Email vs. Social Network Usage
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Twitter: HichamMG
(32 comments) says:
Welcome Anand and congrats Karin on your 1st guest post & guest blogger. I am for communicating and keeping up with my readers not only because they came back but also because their comment is supposed to enrich the original article.
Hicham´s last blog ..High Hopes
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Twitter: knewthis
(38 comments) says:
Thank you Hicham. You are right. In a way if you see, the more content your blog is going to have, search engines are going to love it because there is something extra to index every time. And that would get them to keep visiting the inner pages again, which is very helpful from a Search engine perspective as well.
Anand Srinivasan´s last blog ..Leading Publishers of Online Display Ads by Content Categories
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Nice idea, but it’s hard to implement such a thing when your readers never leave any comments. I have many talents, but ESP is not one of them.
FYI: Your page takes a loooooong time to load. I see the culprit is some Google syndication thing.
Doug C.´s last blog ..7 Reasons Why I Love Blogger
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Twitter: blaineblogger
(15 comments) says:
Community is what makes a great blog, when I see a live community on a blog I say to myself there is something valuable here so keep those relationships growing and you’ll grow your blog, that’s how I see it anyway.
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Twitter: themepremium
(6 comments) says:
This is the common mistake done by a blogger by not looking at the power of relation ship with commentator. I share a special relation with my commentator, every 3rd day i go to my commentator website and leave a comment so that they will never feel left out..and more over occasionally I mail them some tips on their site improvement.
Harsh Agrawal´s last blog ..10 Things to Consider Before Becoming a Professional Blogger
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Maintaining the relationship is one thing, but building a relationship worth maintaining is quite another mission in itself.. Getting people’s attention and saying the words they want to respond to can be a daunting task, especially since you don’t know what they want to talk to you about until they’ve spoken to you
Shane’s Music Mix´s last undefined ..If you register your site for free at
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Hi,
Well according to me it is really a great relation and i think a commenter is the only one who knows about your topic and your thoughts also. SO it is really a great thing because he or she gives his or her feedback to you and this is really a great thing. I like your post and your topic too. Anyways keep it up and keep continue with your valuable thoughts.
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