This post is based on Episode 60 of the ProBlogger podcast.
One of the most common questions I hear from my readers is, “How do I get my readers to interact with me?”
Of course there are many answers I could give to this question. But for the next few weeks I want to talk about one method: building a community.
First, let me give you nine reasons why you should create one around your blog. (Next week I’ll show you how, I promise.)
1. It increases the usefulness of your blog
I’ve always believed that the way to create a successful blog is to create a useful blog. And in my experience, building a community around your blog makes it more useful.
In his book The wisdom of the massesJames Surowiecki said that together we are much smarter than any of us. And I’ve seen the truth of this statement many times on blogs, especially my own.
I once received an email from a reader at the Digital Photography School asking for advice on how to photograph her dying grandmother with dignity. Her family did not have many photos of her grandmother, who was hospitalized at the time and is expected to die in the coming week.
The problem was, I had no idea how to even begin to answer her question. But I wanted to give her an answer and I posted her question (with her permission) on the blog.
Within a week we had 90 people who came up with all sorts of interesting and useful ideas on how to photograph their grandmother during this incredibly difficult time.
And that’s just one example of how the community of a blog can make it more useful.
2. It creates social evidence on your website
If you’ve ever walked down a street looking for a restaurant to dine on, you’ve probably seen the power of social evidence. We are generally drawn to the restaurants where people are sitting rather than empty.
The same goes for blogs.
Getting new readers to your blog is much easier if you already have readers who are engaged – commenting, taking surveys, participating in your social media channels, etc.
3. It increases your page views
If you make money from advertising (e.g. AdSense) on your blog, the number of page views often determines how much money you can make. And if a community regularly comments on your posts, that number can certainly increase.
Suppose someone looks at one of your posts and decides to leave a comment. That means two page views immediately – one for the first visit and one for the publication of your comment. And that’s just to start with. Chances are, they’ll come back to read other people’s comments (especially if you’re using something like Discus which will notify them when someone has replied to their replies). And the more people you have in your community, the more comments you will get and the more page views you will get.
4. It makes your blog more attractive to advertisers
Over the years I’ve found that advertisers are much more likely to advertise on your blog when there is a community of readers to interact with directly.
Once a year we hold a Digital Photography School competition with the New York Institute of Photography (one of our advertisers). At first they came up to us and said, “We might want to hold a comment contest.” As part of the contest, participants had to go to their website and choose which course they wanted to win and then provide a reason in the comments as to why they wanted to win that course.
When we first held the competition, hundreds of people left comments trying to try to win. And since then, they have come back to us every year to do the same competition.
5. It makes it easier to sell products on your blog
Regardless of whether you are selling a product or service, people will be much more interested in buying from you when they feel they know you and are engaging with you and your community.
Over at the Digital Photography School, we have over 35 e-books for sale. And the people who buy them most often are the ones who comment on our forum, leave comments on our blog, and connect with us on social media.
It also makes it a lot easier to decide what to sell. After running the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Several times my readers asked if I could build a product on it. I eventually turned the series into an e-book and it became my best-selling e-book of all time.
6. It makes your blog more attractive to sell
Over the years, a number of companies have offered to buy my blogs. Of course, they want to know something about our traffic and the income I earn from them.
However, in some cases we talked about the community I had built on my blogs and the engagement I have with my readers. And each time her eyes lit up and the offers became far more generous.
7. It gives you an army of lawyers and evangelists
Another great benefit is building a community around your blog. This community can help you grow both readership and popularity.
Shortly after I started Digital Photography School, a dedicated reader who commented a lot on the blog emailed me saying, “Hey, I know a journalist at the New York Times. Would you like to be interviewed by them? They are currently looking for bloggers to interview. “
And why did you make such a generous offer? Because I knew them and had studied them many times.
8. It can help you create user generated content
You are far more likely to attract guest posters and contributors when engaging with your readers. They can also help you generate content for your blog in other ways.
I asked my social media followers to share their advice on various aspects of blogging on social media, and then turned their responses into blog posts. I didn’t have to write much at all because my readers gave me most of the content.
They can also help you start conversations, which in turn will generate even more content. We asked our readers at the Digital Photography School once which brand of cameras they used and then created a follow-up post where we ranked them in order of popularity with our readers. That, of course, opened a can of worms and sparked a number of debates and interesting discussions.
9. It brings more personal satisfaction to your blogging
A question I am often asked is, “How did you manage to blog for so long?”
And my answer is always the same: “I love my readers.”
If I hadn’t had the community, comments, and dedication I’ve built over the years, I might not have stuck with it that long.
Another reason to build a community around your blog.
But don’t expect it to happen overnight. Building a community can take years. And when you put your heart and soul into your blog and no one is commenting, it can be very daunting.
There may even be times when your community gets mad. I’ve seen it happen to a number of bloggers over the years. Sometimes it’s because they haven’t invested much (if at all) in the community. Another time it is because they did something wrong and were not transparent about it.
Overall, the benefits of having a community far outweigh the costs.
And now it’s time to build
Now that you understand the benefits of building a community around your blog, it is time to start building a community. And in next week’s post, I’ll be giving you tips on how to do just that.
Photo by Hudson Hintze on Unsplash