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If you think all there is to blogging is putting together a post and socially bookmarking it, you have a lot to learn. Getting eyeballs to your posts is just the first part.

In order for your blog to grow it needs a constant stream of new traffic. More importantly… it needs to be efficient in turning that traffic into subscribers.  Why?

Subscribers…

  • Can help you spread the word of your blog.
  • Can increase revenue. The more you have the more you can market to.
  • Give you another opportunity to market via the RSS feed.
  • A great resource for bring incoming links. People usually link to their favorite blogs.

In this post I’ll talk about how to improve your blogs readership and get visitors addicted to your blog.

1. What Would Seth Godin Do (WWSGD) Plug-in is one of my favorite plug-ins. If you are new to this blog you will notice on the top of of each post you’ll see… “If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!” This is a great way to get people to subscribe to your feed.

2. What’s your preference? Small or large? I am talking about your RSS button. What did you think I was talking about? Some of the best places are on the top of a page… big enough to catch a readers eye. Some bloggers prefer a smaller feed button but have it positioned above every post. I prefer a nice size RSS button is noticeable but not too overwhelming. I want people to notice it, but not so big it sticks out like a sore thumb.

Some people still don’t use RSS. Yes, I know it’s hard to believe. However, all is not lost. Feedburner will allow you to place and email box on you blog where readers can subscribe to your feed via email. This will send them an email whenever a new post has been added.

3. Your template should be neat clean and easy to navigate. The harder it easy for people to find their way around the less chance you have of them subscribing to your blog.

4. Stay away from over monetizing your blog. We all want to make money blogging, but if your site is littered with ads, it makes your blog look crowded and busy. If your ads are taking over your pages, you will start losing readers. People come for the content not the ads. So try to keep advertisements to a minimum. Readership should come first, the more readers you have the more you can make selling ad space. You’ll make more money that way then with adsense. Think long term.

5. Make it easy for readers to social bookmark your posts. Not only will it make it easier for them to find it later, but it will help increase your traffic.

6. Images - use them! Nothing makes a blog more appealing that a image or two in my opinion. It breaks up the content and makes the blog more inviting then just a lump of text.

7. Reference older related posts. I like to do this from time to time. I may have written an informative list or blog post that I think would support a new post. This helps with getting readers to explore the blog and increase page views. Another way to get readers and search engines to find older posts is using plugins that will allow visitors to read the most popular / related posts.

8. Sometimes in blogging you have to give in order to receive and by that I mean linking out. You can link to a related blog / post or offer a link to readers who offer to write a guest post. However you choose to do it, linking out can help you gain readers and incoming links.

9. Create a need for discussion. Ask your readers for their thoughts or suggestions, get them involved. There is nothing more satisfying than reading a discussion that has evolved from a post. It leads to more word of mouth traffic, pageviews and an opportunity to get to know your readers.

10. No one has to read your blog. They read it because they choose to and because you’ve done a great job of providing great content. Thank your readers every chance you get. State it in a post, give something away for free ( ebook, Google GrandCentral Invites (big hit with bloggers), link, etc.)

I hope you enjoyed this post. If you have any other ideas or topics you would like to see cover please post a comment.