One of the challenge in blogging is attracting traffic to your blog especially if you are a newbie. There are lot of tips and tutorial covering the techniques and strategy on how to attract huge traffic. Mainly is to produce great content, guest posts, social networking, comments on other blogs and building relationship etc. Should you wish to find out more, be sure to visit www.youngprepro.com by my good friend Onibalusi Bamidele. There is lots of tutorials teaching you ways of attracting traffic to your blog.
What i like to cover today is whether you have what it takes to attract lots and lots of traffic to your blog. Blogging is a way of sharing your ideas and passion online and give you the chance of interacting to the rest of the world. How are you going to attract people to read the blog? Besides employing all the techniques and strategy, you require some additional element in you. What is that? Persuasion power – You need that to attract visitors.
Imagine you are a sales person who is promoting and selling your products. A sales person persuades people to buy his products by his talking, his body language and his understanding of his products. All these are persuasion power to instill confidence and trust to the buyer. In bloggers case, we are also promoting and selling, the difference is we are selling our blog. As a blogger, you do not have to talk directly to people. Even though you are hiding behind a computer screen, that doesn’t mean you can’t have any persuasion power to attract visitors. You can persuade by a few ways.
1. Persuading by Writing
Bloggers do talking in the means of writing. The things that you write reflect your knowledge on the issue that you are touching on. Writing content is easy but to write great content doesn’t seem as easy as ABC. How you going to present your post determines whether you have five visitors or hundred visitors, one comment or thirty comments. Besides adding value to visitors, the way you structure your post also determine whether your visitors read the whole post or stop half way through.
Does it mean that we need to be a great writer to attract visitors? A definite no from me, not everyone can be like Shakespeare. But there are some guidelines for it.
- Think of some catchy headlines
You can have a bit of creativity and let your imagination run wild for a short moment. This is the part that attracts your visitors to start reading.
- Write in concise sentence
Unless every sentence of your long paragraph can keep your visitors reading through, try to keep it as short as possible to relate your thoughts.
- Break into short paragraph
I understand ideas keeping flowing through your mind but you need to break them into short paragraph to give your visitors some breathing space.
- Make your post scannable
Some people are too busy to read through the whole posts. In this case, try to make your post scannable. Let your visitors pick up the main points easily for his understanding.
Here are some posts you can take reference from:
What is Good content? A working definition and Some General Principles
How to Craft a Blog Post – 10 Crucial Points to Pause
The Structure of Persuasive Copy
Blogging doesn’t encourage one man show. You are not alone regardless of what niche you are blogging. Every niche and every topic has their own set of supporters. Besides interacting and communicating with your visitors, are you listening to them?
- Listen to what they mean instead of what they say
Instead of looking at the words in the comment box, try to figure out what they really mean. It helps you in better communication with your visitors and building better relationship.
- Listen to their needs
Find out what your visitors want or simply what are they looking for. Give them what they want or need will result in them coming back for more.
Listening to your visitors is important for your blog traffic especially if you are making a decision with your blog. For example; you are planning a redesign and you want to find out what your visitors are thinking. It lets you react accordingly and improve on top of the decision taken.
3. Persuading by your personality
Your writing reflect your personality. You may not be known in the blogosphere, but people will know what type of person you are based on your response to comments, emails, positive or negative feedback. Do you take constructive criticism graciously? Or do you react furiously to criticism? It’s never wise to get involved in a heated argument with anyone online.
You can’t please everyone in the blogosphere but you shouldn’t offend the majorities. Just remember blogging is a medium for you share your views and add value to the blogosphere. It’s not a place for you to vent your frustration or to slander anyone. Your visitors will be driven away by your actions once you start doing that.
Share your thoughts
Besides the three elements listed on top that persuade people to visit your blog, what else did I miss? If you can think of other ways that can be use in persuading, please kindly share it with us in the comments box.
No related posts.
Twitter: RyanBiddulph
Hi Lye,
I love the tidbit of advice: listen to what they mean instead of what they say. A talisman of wisdom to be heeded.
To persuade my readers I aim to share entertaining value and follow up with a subtle call to action in each post. When new to blogging I didn’t have the confidence to direct my readers to move into action. They sensed this lack of confidence and I received no clicks; not exactly persuasive
Thanks for sharing your insight.
Ryan Biddulph
Ryan Biddulph recently posted..My Interview on Trafficcolemancom
Hi Ryan,
Call to action is definitely a point that i missed out and thanks for bringing that up. You are right about the readers will be able to sense the way you are based on the way you write. We must show our confidence inside the post. That’s another well added point.
Thanks for the well written comment. Talk to you soon.
Hi Lye
This is a very persuasive post, well written, too. The points your make resonate strongly with me because I am a big believer in building community, writing well and persuading readers to take action.
Thanks for sharing this great post.
Michael
P.s You are really ‘crushing it’ my friend.
Michael recently posted..How To Turn Your Readers Into Buyers
Hi Michael,
You are most welcome bro. The three things you have mentioned is what you are doing now and i am seeing great results in your blog. Keep the good work up.
Thanks for the kind words and support as always.
“Does it mean that we need to be a great writer to attract visitors?” i think the important thing is, whether you can write well or not, you have to be able to get your message across. You might be a bland style of writer but if you offer something that is moving to the reader then you will not fail.
Yes, but how do you offer something moving to the reader if you cannot convey that message in a moving way?
Michael recently posted..How To Turn Your Readers Into Buyers
I agree with Peter! the most important thing is to get your message across, and its always good to listen to what readers need!! great post man! keep the good work up! take care.
samuel recently posted..How To Build A Reputable Relationship With Your Customers
Hi Samuel,
Getting message across is important but i think Michael got his point too. To write a bland style can get the message across but you need to write in a moving way if you need to stand out from so many blogs out there.
Really great post Michael and thanks so much for the link
.
You really listed great points and I can agree with your #1 point totally, you definitely don’t have to be the best writer to succeed as a blogger. I also agree with you about persuading with your personality and that is another very effective way to get more results from your blog.
BTW: You made a typo in my name, “Onilabusi”, it is “Onibalusi”.
Thanks so much,
-Onibalusi
Onibalusi Bamidele recently posted..Blogging with Style- How to Manipulate Your Writing for Success
Hi Oni,
Sorry for the typo error. Have corrected it. Thanks for bringing it up.
Having a pleasant personality definitely helps in building a relationship. I am glad there are many nice guys around in the blogosphere.
Thanks for the comments Oni. Talk to you soon.
Hey Lye,
I like how you mention that “How you going to present your post determines whether you have five visitors or hundred visitors.” Very true, and making your content easy to read is probably the best you can do. Most people just want to scan the content for what they are looking for.
Thanks for sharing.
Mandeep recently posted..How do you make money blogging
Hi Mandeep,
You are right. Sometimes people just like to glance through and absorb the main points. We need to make the post as scannable as possible.
Thanks for visiting and talk to you soon.
I like what you say about the way we write and speak. Also how our personality comes through on our blog. I agree with that. If my visitors ask questions I try and answer them as best I can. Also I check my comments regularly so I give a swift reply. People like to feel that they are valued so by replying to them quickly they know what they are saying is valued by me. this builds up trust so when I do monetize my blog my vistors will know they can trust me and what type of blog I really am.
Also I visit all the blogs of people who have commented on my site and if I am able I will return the luv by commenting on their blog too. That way a blogging community grows and we can all help and encourage each other.
Patricia Perth Australia
Patricia recently posted..Lavender Health-Embracing An Organic Lifestyle
Hi Patricia,
Really good point there. That is one of my aims too, to reply every comments and install Comment Luv plugin. This is the best way to build up a community. This is also one factor that keep us motivated to continue blogging which is something we enjoy doing.
Thanks for another great comment Patricia. Talk to you soon.
Hmm Peter, you’ve just proved how persuasive a blog post can be! I love that bit about listening to your blog readers. I’m at the point of a major work over of my blog and I must say these are helpful tips. Thanks.
Chadrack recently posted..Blog For Business- How Not To Start A Business Online!
Hi Chadrack,
Thanks for visiting and the kind comments. I really appreciate your kind words.
Hope to see you around and talk soon.
I think your blog post offers helpful tips, and I like how you shared- Break blog posts into short paragraphs, and Make your blog post scannable… Thank you!
Hi How To Im,
You are most welcome. Thanks for the kind words and the comments. I appreciate that.
persuasive persuasive
you have just prove it
i am a fan now
so expect my visit
but no banners and bands
please
a smile will do
thank you
bendedspoon recently posted..You’ll see it when you believe it
Hi bendedspoon,
Thanks for being a fan
Thanks for smiling!
Just like in real life, if you don’t show confidence in your words and actions, people will avoid you. You can’t inspire trust that way.
The same stands for a blog, you need to show authority and make people understand you know what you’re talking about.
Amit recently posted..How to Become a Certified Forklift Trainer
Twitter: Findmyblogway
Hi Amit,
Whether online or offline, our doing reflects on our personality. As long as we speak based on facts, people will trust us.
Thanks for sharing your input.
Lye
I agree, our works reflects our personality. The design of our sites, the contents we post, the brand, logo, in fact everything about our work speaks about our personality. A successful blogger keeps a reader engaged and wins loyal readers.
Brandon Patton recently posted..Effective Online Real Estate Search