Bloggers that want real readership need to strive to stand out from the crowd. In this age where there is so much information online, and when everyone and their mother has a blog, you need to give people a reason to read yours over the rest. So, let’s look at what makes people read certain blogs.
I am only one man, and I can really only speak for myself, so I’ll share the thing that I look for in a blog. And when I say “reading blogs”, I mean on a regular basis, not just happening to find one post and never returning.
- The blog covers a niche that I am interested in.
- I just stumbled across the blog and it seemed interesting.
- The blog offers a fresh and/or humorous perspective on the niche it covers
- The blog contains interesting content that isn’t readily available elsewhere.
- The blog is informative about current happenings in the niche it covers.
- It is easy to keep track of posts that I am interested in thanks to RSS.
- The person who owns the blog is my friend.
- The blog offers helpful tips or advice on things that affect my life.
- I can win free stuff by reading the blog.
- The blog is updated regularly.
I’m sure there are more things that attract me to certain blogs, but that’s all that come to mind at the moment, and ten is an nice even number. Now, I would guess that these same reasons that I read blogs are probably similar to reasons why a lot of other people do. So you would do well to think about how to apply at least some of these to your own blog if you are not already.
1. Covering a specific niche is probably one of the most obvious ways to attract readers. The readers know that they will get content about something that they’re interested in, and therefore will be more likely to read on a regular basis.
2. People have to be able to find your blog before they can read it, which is why you should promote it as much as you can, and in as many places as possible.
3. Humor is always a good approach to blogging. It is one of the simplest ways to convey personality in writing and get people to identify with you. One drawback to this is that you may alienate some readers who don’t have the same sense of humor that you do. This doesn’t mean that they will necessarily give up on you though.
You may not be funny, and that’s ok too. Just try to put some angle of your own on the topics you write about so your posts stand out from others on that same topic.
4. Offer something that people aren’t getting elsewhere. In other words: original content. A wonderful example that immediately comes to mind is Thomas Hawk’s blog. He talks about photography and other tech-related issues, but you can always count him to post beautiful original photos, which alone make revisiting his blog worth it.
5. When you can break news or provide commentary on a fresh news topic in the niche that you are covering, you’re bound to attract some attention. Being the first to break a big story is priceless. Being one of the first to talk about it is good too.
6. Your readers may prefer to read your posts via RSS, so make sure your feeds are working and are prominently promoted on your blog.
7. People will read the blogs of those they know. So naturally, the more people who know you, the better. This is where you would do well to have a strong presence on major social networks (perhaps even some smaller ones). Make sure your friends and followers know about your blog. It also pays to keep a clean reputation, or at least one that represents you in a light that you wish to be represented in. If you’re Howard Stern or somebody, “clean” probably isn’t the angle you want.
8. Offer useful advice to your readers. This may not apply to some blogs, but one type that comes to mind is parenting blogs. New parents are prime examples of people who seek tips and advice on the Internet. They may choose blogs as one way to get that (trust me, I’m a new parent myself). You might say, I’m trying to do the same on this blog with this particular post. I’m trying to help people who want to boost their blog readership and keep their readers around.
9. Offer contests that will allow your readers to win prizes by simply reading your blog or feed. There are also blogs like ContestBeat, which points readers in the direction of different contests, and “It’s All Free Online“, which shows readers places where they can get stuff for free (also a big hit with new parents whose budgets are suddenly tightened).
10. Post on a regular and consistent basis. Give your readers a reason to check back frequently.
Ordinarily, I’d suggest keeping posts to a reasonably short length, but I guess that would make me look pretty hypocritical wouldn’t it? I think long ones are ok if they’re informative enough. 
What makes you read the blogs that you read?
