Did you know that 81% of bloggers never make $100 from blogging and that only 8% of bloggers will earn enough money to be able to support a family? Shocking right?
It’s sad that a lot of people suffer this fate, however, what’s worse is that many never really find the “holy grail” of blogging.
“Content is king,” “traffic is everything,” and “conversions matters” are some of the phrases most of us have come across. Now, all these phrases are true, however, without effective blog engagement strategies, content, traffic, and conversions don’t mean a thing.
It’s in light of this that I would like to share with you 5 of the most powerful blog engagement strategies that you can use to improve your readers and customer’s experience.
Email is one of the most effective engagement strategies you can use to connect with customers and prospects. Experts tell us it takes 7 exposures to turn a cold prospect into a hot lead. Usually, this is done through email. So why is email a great way to reach your audience?
First and foremost, there are 3 times more email users than Facebook and Twitter users combined. Secondly, email is more private and allows for more flexibility (length of copy, ability to include links, etc.) than sites like Facebook and Twitter.
That being said, many people do not understand the proper way to use email. In order to connect with more prospective leads, you must be of value to them. This is very easy as all it takes is a little research and ingenuity on your part to build your list.
The hardest part of email marketing, is turning the people on your list into leads. To do this your email copy must be really good. It takes more than just putting words together and sending an email. You must understand the psychology of your list.
Understanding your readers’ psychology will help you effectively engage with them. This post on Kissmetrics on the advantages of email marketing is a good read if you are looking to understand how important email is to the life of your blog.
Social Media
Social media has to be the most popular engagement tool on the internet today and for good reason. It provides businesses with an opportunity to pass instant information about their products and services to people the anywhere in the world at no cost at all!
However, just like with email, there is a right way and a wrong way to do it. If done right, the results are staggering!
Just to give you a glimpse of how important social media can be to your blog and business, consider these few facts:
- Businesses that use Twitter average twice the number of leads a month than those that do not.
- 47% of people say Facebook has on their purchase behavior.
- Websites that use the +1 button increase page traffic by 350%.
As you can see, the potential impact social media can have on your business is huge. Whether you choose to hire someone to manage your social media accounts for you or whether you decide to do it by yourself, this is one strategy that you cannot afford to ignore.
Forums
Integrating a forum into your blog is another effective way to get the most out of your audience. People like to be heard. Moreover, they like to hear from other people they share an interest with other than the owner of the blog.
Tim Ferris of the 4 Hour Work Week fame offers a good example of how to use a forum to engage with your fans. In his case, Tim built on the success of his book and launched the forum amongst other products to cater for the growing demands of his readers.
It is important to know that forums do take a lot of time to build a following. They can, however, provide you with tons of traffic that you can use to extend your reach.
Comments
I am a big believer in comments and commenting because it is a good indicator of the health of your blog. I once had Yaro Starak respond to one of my comments and it felt great!
Had I kept on commenting (and I mean doing this genuinely and not just for the sake of getting noticed), who knows what our interaction would have led to. Personally, I believe that taking time to pay attention to and participate in blog comments is one of the best and the fastest ways to show your readers that you appreciate them and are eager to hear from them.
Not everyone is keen on sharing their contact information with strangers. Blog comments offer people a safe way to interact with businesses, without having to give out sensitive personal information. Comments, like forums, also help to provide a deeper level of interaction between your readers. Such interaction allows you to gather information which you could use to improve your blog.
Content
Finally, in order to engage with your readers effectively, you must provide them with valuable content. Neil Patel in his post “Why Content Marketing Is The New SEO”, breaks it down in numbers just how important providing your readers with very valuable information is to your business or blog.
The key however, is to be consistent in your approach. Laziness doesn’t cut it here. In essence, you should stick to a plan. Posting content sporadically on your blog is the fastest way to loose readers.
It not only shows that you aren’t serious, but also that you don’t have a lack of appreciation for your readers. It is important for you to let your own voice be heard through your content. Don’t be a copy cat and try and write like your favorite blogger.
Be yourself and let your own uniqueness strike a cord with your audience.
Conclusion
These strategies will help you build lasting relationships with your readers that will not only help to improve your credibility, but also improve your revenue streams significantly.
What other strategies do you think are worth using?
