3 Simple Steps To Building a Loyal Following With Your Blog

Your competitor might have twice as many Twitter or Facebook followers as you, but these numbers don’t mean much if their followers aren’t engaged with the brand.

A loyal fan – someone who comments, tweets, and follows your blog religiously – will ultimately help make your brand a success.

Here are a few tips for growing and keeping an insanely loyal reader-base for your blog:

1. Know Your Objectives

Before you start blogging, sit back and think about why you’re blogging. Is it because you’re trying to sell something? Or do you just want to be popular? What topic do you plan to blog about?

As successful blogger Nick O’Neill writes:

“Blogging can dramatically improve your life but before you start plugging away at new posts, you need to know why you’re blogging in the first place! Write down your blog objectives, hang them on your wall or put them in a place where you can see them every day.”

Having clear blogging objectives will keep your blog and audience focused on your end-goal.

2. Be Consistent

Blogging often and at predictable times builds trust with your audience. 

Your audience needs to know that whenever they come to your blog, they will find new and interesting things to read about. 

Make blogging a habit. Best-selling author and blogger Seth Godin emphasizes this point. “If people view it as a habit, they will visit,” he says.

3. Promote Others

Make others into celebrities on your blog, and you will become a celebrity. Everyone loves being a celebrity, especially if they haven’t already had their 15 minutes of fame.

Plus, people like to brag. When you post about someone or their work, make sure they know about it. Send them a link and let them know you find their work to be of interest. Better yet, interview the people you find most relevant to your content strategy.

If the person is the sharing type or rarely gets featured, you can pretty much count on them promoting the post to their family, friends, and social network.

In the end, you’ve earned yourself a little bit of celebrity as well. As ProBlogger puts it:

“This does two things: first, it lets your followers know you’re not selfish, and you’re out to educate them (which builds trust). Second, people feel flattered you thought their work relevant enough to share, and they’ll most likely return the favor.”

You have the advantage of stepping back and creating the most followed blog in your area of expertise. Just know your objectives, be consistent, and promote others.

Happy blogging!

Image courtesy of Flickr, Artful Magpie