Creating An Educated Blog Readership
The following is a reply I sent to blog reader and friend Seb Payne after receiving an email from him regarding boosting his blog readership. Thought it might be helpful for a few others, hence posting it here.
Consider why exactly you are after traffic? For bragging rights, to feel good, to make more ad money, or, in my case, for others to discover quality content. Think about what kind of visitors you want, and ultimately this will help you find where to pick them up.
If a quick burst of traffic is all you’re after then start off with an article you think will hit it off on Digg, this is the perfect way to create some exposure for your site first up. Prior to getting dugg, make sure that you have a truckload of quality articles in your archive, ensuring Digg users have lots to explore when they hit your site.
Personally, I wouldn’t normally recommend trying to get content on Digg too regularly because chances are it isn’t the kind of traffic you want. I try to attract a centric group of traffic - I value quality over quantity. My personal goal is to have a smaller, educated audience who really enjoy my content, rather than a huge readership who really don’t care what I write about. To achieve this, I write on a regular basis and I write more than reports and general reviews, I attempt to put a personal twist on everything I publish.
It all comes down to the same fundamental point, focus on creating quality content for the readers you currently have, and it’ll slowly spread one by one to more people. Value your traffic, and receive it for a reason.
#1
Nick Danforth → nickdanforth.blogspot.com
This would make a great video Glenn! Great response as well!
#2
Dumitru Tira → www.static-13.deviantart.com
Couldn’t agree more with you!
#3
Ondra SoukupIt’s all just about picking what you blog about.
So…does anyone really enjoy random rants ? I do. Even when I don’t even know the blogger…I like it…something comes to your mind and you throw it down onto your visitors. RSS is pretty much necessary for this :)
And tumblr, jaiku and twitter helps this random posting a lot ;)
#4
Dennis → dennisbullock.net
Great tips Glenn. I have found that readers of Digg just view your content to bash it. No value there.
#5
Justin Laramée → justincomparable.com
I found that commenting on blogs can bring quality readers as well. The community of digg is pretty harsh.
#6
Steven Campbell → www.stevencampbell.org
Yeah, Digg users are usually fairly negative towards the submitter, no matter how awesome the content is.
#7
Chris Marshall → chrismarshall.ws
Would add to the points (which I agree with):
- treat others as you want to be treated so a) take time with your content and b) participate on others blogs, Flickr etc
- create a community friendly site by using some of the plugins that are around that reallyhelp you treat your community well.
Glenn has an interview that he did with me on the recent changes to my site that has more details so I wont spoil that ‘treat’ for you :-)
#8
Elliott Cost → www.elliottcost.com
Great article Glenn. Oh, and here’s a plug for my site at http://www.elliottcost.com :)
#9
Jack Sauer → jacksauer.com
Good article Glenn! I thought I would continue the trend of giving you my congratulations. The fact that you gave me 17 days to last with E.V. saddens me, you of all people should know I can put up with crap for longer than 17 days.
By the way, any news on the cruise?
#10
LOR3N → www.R3FRESH.com
Very informative, thanks.
#11
» Was für eine Leserschaft für das Blog? » claudiome → www.claudiome.ch/was-fuer-eine-leserschaft-fuer-das-blog
[...] Wolsey hat in seinem Blog-Artikel »Creating An Educated Blog Readership« darüber argumentiert, ob es sich lohnt, Traffic von digg zu bekommen. Meist seien digg-User [...]
#12
Tim → www.funkeemunkeeland.com
I began blogging to share with family and began to get readers from those I met in town and on the web by commenting on blogs.
I went through a bit where I tried to trick some traffic my way. I realized that 5 readers versus 5000 wouldn’t really change what I wrote I chilled.
I just check the metrics now to figure out where people are and what does seem to get noticed more. It does make sense to not waste time on things that nobody seems to read but overall I write and post because it is fun and an outlet.
@Ondra, I love rants. The more humorous and randomly bitter the better. Reading a good one is almost as good as writing one yourself sometimes.
#13
Shawn Blanc → shawnblanc.net
I really like what you said about having a smaller readership that actually reads what you have to say than a big audience that doesn’t even pay attention.
With so many people keeping their RSS feeds trim, you’ve really got to make a connection with someone to stay on their list. Almost all of the top sites I read I also try to connect with the author.
#14
Tim CollierI like some of the tips here, especially the first one about using Digg to kick start your self. That’s the one thing I find hard when first starting up, attracting an audience, keeping them to stay and then develop something and run with it.
#15
Grant → www.grantmc.co.uk
Grea post and it would make a great video!
Maybe a longer special with boost your blog readership or SEO tips for the common blogger?