Turning Visitors into Regulars Part I
Do you need more regular readers of your blog? More RSS subscriptions? Read on to get tips, ideas, and suggestions!
Let people know who you are. Any “Anonymous” blogger on the internet cannot be recognized properly. There are 30 million other “Anonymous” bloggers on the internet. Tell a little bit about yourself perhaps on the sidebar or on a special page. That way, your visitors feel more comfortable knowing exactly whose blog they are reading.
Maintain a good relationship with your readers. Be nice and offer some help if anyone needs it. Regardless of their page ranks, if they have a good article, you should link them. Do not write what you would not say in front of them.
Have a good design. Blogs with dark backgrounds and dark, small fonts do not usually get a lot of regulars since they are so hard to read. Some blogs can get away with that by posting a visible RSS feed button so visitors do not have to read through the actual site. NeonScent blogs about the web, internet, and webdesign, so you can also get some tips here.
Your design reflects your blog. This is a complicated thing. If you have a picture of a duck on your design, people will assume your blog is about ducks. But if your blog is not about ducks, then put your blog name near the duck so people know. But if your blog name has the word “Duck” in it, then it is still a good idea to put the ducks near the name, but also include a short 5-8 word description of your blog.
Use good colour schemes. That is self explanatory. Use good colour schemes. A good colour scheme website is Color Combos.
First impressions count. First time visitors usually look at your first post to see if it’s worth reading. If it’s not, then they will assume the whole blog is junk like the first post, unless you have some visible good links on the sidebar. Avoid blogging about useless things.
Visible, uncluttered links on the sidebar, archives, etc. help. When browsing through your post, visitors usually scroll down the page and see your sidebar. In this case, one sidebar is the best idea to have so you do not redirect the visitors’ attention to somewhere else.
Do not overwhelm your visitors with ads. Popups especially. A few Adsense ads here and there are okay, but do not put them everywhere. Popups shouldn’t be on your blog if you want returning readers.
Subscribe to the RSS feed and be notified when Turning Visitors into Regulars Part II is posted!
Comment posted by dharmagypsy7
at 5/25/2007 6:03:47 PM
Grace, great post… yes I think it is essential to keep a good relationship with your readers. I mean that’s who you writing for right.. unless you have a private blog or blog for your friends only and I think you need to show interests in others.. that’s how it works in the real world.. and that’s how it works in the blog world too..
Comment posted by Brown Thoughts » Blog Archive » Brown Batch #6
at 5/19/2007 11:02:04 AM
[…] - Turning Visitors Into Regulars Part I Your design reflects your blog. This is a complicated thing. If you have a picture of a duck on […]
Comment posted by 2 BROS BLOGGING
at 5/19/2007 4:54:18 AM
I always start mine out as semi anonymous. I dont know why, I think its more comfortable that way.
Comment posted by Rhys
at 5/18/2007 5:00:18 PM
Good article! I’m a big fan of “non anonymous bloggers”, as I open myself up online. At the very least, provide a name. I also like seeing a photo too. It just gives it a personal touch.
Comment posted by Rewarding Regular Readers - 19 May 2007
at 5/18/2007 1:30:36 PM
[…] Turning visitors into regulars - Grace […]
Comment posted by Neonscent.com
at 5/16/2007 6:10:15 PM
[…] Do you need more regular readers of your blog? More RSS subscriptions? Read on to get tips, ideas, and suggestions! Read Part One of Turning Visitors Into Regulars. […]
Comment posted by teddY
at 5/12/2007 8:39:28 AM
Thanks for posting these very useful tips Grace! I think they’re really important for people to observe these basic guidelines this is because there are a lot of bloggers out there who keep doing the wrong things. Some of them have grey text against dark backgrounds (the hardest blogs to read on earth! OMG), and some of their text are so small you’ll need to use microscopes to view them.
Some of the blogs are over-cluttered with javascripts and other unessential things. Although they spice up the appearence of the blog, these blog owners are only disadvantaging themselves because they never think about people out there with slower internet connection. According to a survey which I can’t remember, people usually give a maximum loading time of 30 seconds before they switch to other websites.
And I never believe swarming your blog with advertisements will help. You want advertisements because you want to earn money from your blog (and you expect a considerable amount of visitor traffic), but the irony lies here - the more ads you put, the less visitors will come since they’ll get very irritated, even if they have popup blockers activated (IE will give those bleep bleep sounds which is pretty irritating especially when every single page on the blog is peppered with advertisements!) This is a very important tip, and thanks for bringing it out 
Sorry for this super long-winded comment! But I hope it helps! Just my 2 cents anyway. May you have a great weekend!
Comment posted by Grace
at 5/11/2007 5:17:21 PM
Lyan- Why not?
Comment posted by Gwen
at 5/11/2007 5:15:40 PM
I like your tips, Grace! I think your site is a really good resource. Keep it up! x
Comment posted by Emsz
at 5/11/2007 8:35:02 AM
Good tips
My blog is personal though 
I always blog about what other people might consider useless things xD
February 17th, 2008 at 10:28 pm
Nice post…I do agree that maintaining a good relationship with the visitors will turn them to be regulars. Just make them feels “at home” with our blog, they will visit us periodicly.