4 Ways to Better Connect with Your Blog Audience and Build your Brand

The success of any blog or business depends more than anything on your ability to connect with your core audience. Once you begin losing sight of who makes up your audience and what, precisely, they want, then your blog and your business will begin to lose its way. It’s very easy for established bloggers to lose that strong connection with their audience, which made them successful in the first place. If you’ve noticed a drop in the number of people who read you, but no attendant drop in your search engine rankings, it may be because you are failing to connect with your readers. Here’s how to reconnect with them and get that readership back on target.

1.      Read all blog comments and take them seriously.

Although it can be very time-consuming to read each and every reader comment on your blog, make it a habit of doing so. And don’t just read the comments and dismiss bad comments while accepting compliments. Do something with these comments. If you receive several bad comments criticizing the same aspect, it’s time to make some changes. If you receive good comments, use these comments to understand your strengths and build upon them. The worst blogger is the one who is passive when it comes to comments. Comments are there for a reason.

2.      Follow your core readers on Twitter and other online venues. Find out what else they’re reading.

It’s not enough to know your customers or readers only through your website or blog. Do some more research. Make a list of readers or yours who comment heavily on your blog, and see if you can find them elsewhere on the Internet. Your most loyal readers often provide a good snapshot of your readership as a whole, so understanding a smaller set of readers intimately is a great way to better connect with your audience. Follow them on Twitter, read their blogs and comment on them, and discover their interests. See how you can incorporate their interests when you’re developing blog content or a new business strategy.

3.      Begin accepting guest posts to get a new perspective on your blog as you consider other ways to improve your content and align it with what your readers want.

Guest posts are a great way for you to bring a fresh perspective and voice to your blog. Sometimes, readers feel disconnected because they are tired of hearing the same thing over and over. Post an announcement accepting guest posts, and reach out to your biggest fans and ask them to write for your blog. This is a great way to get your blog started in a new, fresh direction that’s more closely connected to what your audience wants.

4.      See what others are saying about your business–whether you offer a product or service–and make improvements accordingly. 

If you are a business and education blogger like I am, then you perhaps publish your blog to support the main products or services that you provide (in my case, tutoring and education information). If you go out on the Internet and read what people are saying about your business, you’ll get a better idea when it comes to making improvements for both your blog and your business. Treat what people say about you on the Internet as a whole the same as you would treat blogger comments.

It’s tough always having to figure out what your audience wants, simply because tastes and interests change so rapidly. But if you commit to truly listening to what your readers have to say, you’ll be sure to be successful in every aspect of business and blogging. Good luck!

Author Bio: Samantha Gray received her undergraduate education online, and enjoys guiding her readers through the process of doing the same. She is now a freelance writer by day, and she also moonlights as a tutor and zoo tour guide in her spare time. She may be reached for questions and feedback at [email protected].

Image Courtesy: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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