How To Passionately Engage Your Blog Readers

Posted by Jozzua on Oct 1, 2008 in Random Blabber | Comments Off

You create great content on your blogs, yet nobody’s reading.

You look at your visitor statistics and discover that “time spent on site = 10 seconds” (which means they don’t stick around long). You see your bounce rate over 90% (which means, they don’t click on your other links and just leave the site).

Perhaps that’s your intention. You fill your website with ads so that when a visitor drops by, they’ll click on your ad and go away. It is the simplest way to earn online.

However, if you want to keep your readers and what them to become subscribers, you have to do more. You have to add passion in your writing. Read up and listen to Merlin Mann’s “How to Blog” video and blog.

Content is king but voice is queen. – Merlin Mann.

This goes hand-in-hand with persuasion, emotion and trust. Your users are there for your content. To keep them coming back, you’ll need to add personality.

We could lamely say:

You are reading this blog.

Or you could say:

You are breezing through my posts, aren’t you?

In the first statement, you imagine a monotonic robot speaking to you. In the latter, you realize it’s a real person speaking.

That’s what differentiates healthy blogs from mere news or corporate websites. There is a personality behind the site. You feel it. There is emotion.

That’s why Ms. Noemi’s blog gets the attention of people:

This blog is about my “new normal” which I struggled to achieve after the sudden death of my 6 year old son, Luijoe on May 27, 2000.

Look at the love/hate relationship Mikey and his readers:

“Mike Villar likes to lick donkey balls because he has the intelligence quotient of a barbecue skewer. Also, he is a gay and a dumb”

So, you know, why don’t you kamehameha your face and just read the fucking guide?
What the fuck do you know? I am the expert. Bitch.

Rhiza’s words on a highly emotional issue gets us to look at the value of life:

When I reached the hospital, my mom and two brothers were already there, eyes swollen red, and my dad.. he was already gone.

Blogs like these get fans. They get readers.

Engage your readers with a little voice in your writing. Show them that there’s a person behind your site. What’s the formula? Something like this:

1. Say what you want to say.
2. Be believable.
3. Touch emotions.

People will then remember you.