7 Qualities Blog Readers Want More Than Quality Content
A blog is not a newspaper nor is it a website where companies post their updates and that’s it! No interaction, no connections, no personality etc.
Your blog readers need more than great content from you….if only what they need is just the information you’re posting; then is obvious they could get it on any other blog around the web and never return as a loyal reader.
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Great content alone won’t guarantee you return loyal readers and build a community around your blog. There are thousands of blogs churning out great content every single hour on the internet….for your readers to keep coming back and stay loyal to you; you must offer them something more than just quality content.
To build an audience is hard; maintaining a community of repeated loyal audience is harder. You need to give more than creating content….your readers want to see something in you that is different from other blogs they visit.
7 Qualities Your Blog Readers Want From You More Than Quality Content
Here are seven qualities your blog visitors want to see in you to keep coming back as loyal blog readers.
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Be Human.
If you can’t put your face to your blog how do you want others to recognize you with your work?
Your blog author name should not be admin – admin is nobody and no progressive human being will want to associate with nobody. Let your name be bold and visible on your blog.
Your bio profile should consist of your name and a clear headshot picture of yourself and not that of pet, cartoon, or celebrity.
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Consistency.
Consistency is the key to successful blogging; whatever your posting scheduled is…….make sure you keep to it.
Posting daily is good but has its own advantages and disadvantages while posting a few times a week is also good but comes with its own pros and cons too. Find what works for you and the type of audience you want to attract with your content.
In finding your feet, don’t forget to consider sustainability.
Whatever your decision is, check to see if you can sustain it in the long run. It doesn’t pay to run a marathon of daily posting for two consecutive weeks only to fade away the third week by not posting for another two weeks.
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Your readers want to know when to expect something fresh and authentic from you; you can only help them to do that by sticking to a posting scheduled.
In reality, this is something that is hard to sustain especially if you’re in the news and entertainment industries (niche) or that blogger that has other life responsibilities to attend to.
Find the balance between your blogging career and personal life responsibilities and get the best out of the two.
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Personality.
Don’t be afraid to let who you are showing in your work and in everything you do online.
Your readers want to see that in your writing, that’s what makes you different from other bloggers. People should remember you for something and not for nothing.
I once commented on a social status on Facebook and surprisingly, a reader asks me if I’m a member of an online forum – NairaLand – I answered yes, and what is it about? He replied, the tone at which I write feels pretty much like that of a forum member; and you know what?
He is right, I’m the one.
Let your personality shines throughout your work. Many people won’t like you for who you are but I tell you, you will make more friends than enemies.
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Passion.
If there is absolutely one thing your readers want to see in you……that thing is sure the passion that you love what you’re doing. Be passionate about your work and let that too shines through in your writing.
If something bugs you, don’t be afraid to voice out your opinion like when I blog about blogs that remove postdates on their blog posts. I know my advice won’t change the way they do their thing, is their blog…but hey! Is my blog too, I have every right to say whatever I wish to say and no one should stop me from doing that.
But don’t be surprised too, when you come to know that some top authority blogs have rewind the hands of the clock and do things in the right way – last time I checked, CopyBlogger has brought back dates on their blog post.
Don’t write as if you’re talking to a board of executives directors and don’t want to get them angry, or writing like the newspaper does. Part of the functions of a blog is to enable conversation so please, don’t defeat that purpose.
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Authority.
If you’re using the word “I think this might work” when giving advice to your readers – stop using it from now on.
You don’t “think” your advice is good or not when you’re giving someone advice; say what you have to say and leave the rest for that person to decide what best good for him or her.
The only need here is to make sure you have done your homework well, and have carried out your research and be well convinced that your findings are genuine and correct.
By telling your readers that you’re thinking if what you’re saying is right or wrong, you have definitely told them that you’re no sure of what you’re saying. So how do you expect them to take you seriously and recognize you as an expert?
There are two ways you can stamp authority in your niche: You either claim it or prove it.
You can claim an expert in your niche by leveraging other people’s work and used that to polish your own work to look smarter and better.
I’m not telling you to fake it till you can make it, but every great man you see out there start from somewhere and that somewhere is the beginning. The beginning where they once knew nothing and only walk their way up through trials and errors, history, people’s experiences, case studies, etc.
The other way round is to prove what you really know and prove that yes, I know this thing. It is easier and more convincing on the reader’s part that the author really knows what he is talking about when demonstrating what you know.
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Write with strong conviction, and don’t mumble. See your blog as a classroom, you as the headteacher and your audience as the student. They rely on you for advice, so speak with strong convincing authority.
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Blog Design.
Hold on, I don’t know what a good blog design means to you, but to me, it is not to have a blog with a flashy appearance or a great color combination – those are just the shining object not what offers value to your readers.
Design your blog in such a way that users will find it easy to use and find their way through. Have a blog that the user will like to associate with and find it simple to read the text on it while reading.
Have a search box by the side and avoid cluttering your sidebar with banner images that don’t have any significant benefits both to you and your audience.
Have a functional 404 error page that returns the proper 404 error code, this in itself is one of Google criteria for measuring the usability of a website.
It is good to have Google language translator on your blog, don’t be a surprise if it comes to your notice that even some of your regular blog readers are using it to read your content.
Not everyone understands English as you do.
Also, make your content easy to digest by keeping your paragraph short and clean – you can achieve this by keeping paragraphs nothing more than five lines and not more than 16 words in length.
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Honesty.
The internet is a faceless society, your readers want someone they can trust and take every word he said to be true and worthy enough for them to apply to their life.
Don’t tell lies; don’t act funny or in some tricky ways that could lead to your readers losing the trust they have in you. Word of the mouth easily spread like wild-fire, and one thing you should be aware of on the internet is – whatever goes up online, stays there forever.
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Over-deliver on your promise, and remember to give credit to whom it is due. If your reader helps you out with information that produces a blog post or points towards a useful resource, let the community knows about it and say thank you to that reader.
No one is perfect if your weakness is spotted out by your reader, instead of trying to prove smart or taking it the other way round, accept it, and learn to make things right.
Conclusion
If only great content will be enough to build a profitable blog, then half the blog on the internet would have been in the fortune 500 lists.
The foundation to build a popular blog that people love to visit regularly is quality content, but after that, you need more than just churning out these content, you need to give your readers a sense of belonging to that part of your blog and these seven ingredients will help you do that if you possess them.
What other qualities do your blog readers want from you?
Let’s talk
Do you have comments, questions, and or thoughts you’d love to share with us? Please do use the comment box below. Remember that your comments, questions, and thoughts are highly welcome and much appreciated.
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Do not forget to share the post with your friends because I am sure they will definitely like a post as this one 🙂
Hey Shamsudeen,
Good to see you on Babanatures Blog.. How nice of you to come here.
Your article speaks the truth… I do value blog design as i think it goes a long way.. If you visit my blog you’ll see what am talking about.
Authority is also a key fact readers look upto. The fact that youre good at what you do, are sure of it and can never give fake…
Honesty is just the way to go to gain trust and convert visitors to readers.. You have said well and i agree with your post.
Thanks plenty for sharing,
Babs.
Thanks Babanature for the opportunity given to me to speak to your audience and many more readers I wouldn’t have reached if otherwise.
Thank you, it a great honor for me to be here today having my content on your blog, and from the bottom of my heart, I say thank you one more time.
I pray this will mark the beginning of a good and lasting relationship.
Thank you, and do have a blessed day.
Hello Shamsudeen,
It is good to have you here sharing valuable information that many bloggers would find useful.
And i’ll also say thank you for dropping such good post.
do have a wonderful week ahead…
Hello Shamsudeen,
You’ve said it all – and there’s very little to add.
Usually, I crave interaction above all else when I visit a blog…bloggers that are way too busy to respond to my comments, with time, discover that I’m also too busy to check them out!
I must also comment on the blog design you mentioned. These days are days which finds readers extra busy with loads of information many have no idea what to even do with…as a blogger, your job is to help such readers when they land on your blog! As a rule therefore, I make sure that all my themes are the cleanest – and easiest on the eyes available in the market. Simplicity really is supreme!
Be certain to have a very great day!
Always,
Terungwa
High Quality content is all about Value. If your content does not provide any valuable information or does not make any difference then it is not what people crave.
You should write content that can benefit other people and change their lives or way of thinking.
Your content should be influential not just a park of scrambled words.
Thanks for sharing this article 🙂
Thanks YourFirend,
Yes, quality content is all about value, but in our today world where you can easily find abundant of high quality value content flying around, we need more than this quality content to win the heart of our loyal readers.
Thanks Man, nice having you here.
Thanks Baba Heybell,
Nice words from you. Yes, your blog design looks cool and very attractive, which is part of what some readers do look out for and like to associate with the blogger behine it.
Honestly also is what your blog readers will want from you most, especially the paying customers. If they can’t trust you, the they can’t do business with you.
Thanks for coming and do have a blessed day.
Hello Akaahan,
Thanks for reading through and what you said above is just too valid, if a blogger can’t respond to comment then is obvious he doesn’t want it in the first place.
Though, it doesn’t seems so with all bloggers, if you’re having such amounts of hundreds of comments on regular basis, it may be difficult to always respond to all comments left on your post except those that ask question that needs and answer.
Thanks Akaahan, nice to have you here.
Hi Shamsudeen, and good to see you at Babanature’s blog 🙂
Yes indeed these are the basic qualities that bloggers want from us. Agreed that content is kind and we need to write quality content that our readers can relate to and what the search engine also likes, but if we cannot connect with our readers or give them what they expect and want from us, it serves no purpose. 🙂
You are absolutely right about being consistent, honest, human and having your own voice, or your personality. That’s how they know the person behind the content whom they can relate to. Authority is another important point, which happens with time and that your readers expect from you, especially when you write posts that matter to them.
Thanks for sharing this with us. Have a nice weekend, both of you 🙂
Thanks Harleena,
This is an opportunity I will for long remember being here on Babanature’s blog. Many thanks to him.
I like the part most where you say authority is something that comes with time and when you write some good stuffs that matters most to your readers.
Thanks Harleena, wish you a lovely day ahead.
Hello Hey Shamsudeen,
First of all welcome to this blog,
You are right sir, Your face is very most important thing in blogging. Every one know you through your face.
As you say No person is Admin So always use your name so that You could popular with your own name.
Like this other things also important in blogging.
Any way thansk Shamsudeen for sharing your knowledge with us.
Thanks Areesha,
Imagine if Darren, John, Pat etc are using admin as their blog author name or their profile picture is that of J’lo or Micheal Jackson, who will today know them by their name and how would they become so popular.
In whatever we’re doing here, being human is one important factor we must consider first.
Thanks for coming.
Hi Shamsudeen :
This is WOnderfull List Of 7 Setup For Readers Content I like Your Article Really GoooD Work Great Stuff Thanks For SHaring me ( Great Post )
And thanks for the kind words too, Leena. You’re welcome.
hi
Well said, in all these points, Thumbs up for being human, having passion and honesty. Every body knows that you can’t be champion in anything. So it is best to be honest expressing what you know and if there is something readers can contribute.
Thanks Harish,
No human is born perfect, so we must learn to accept things and move on. If we’re not honest, it will be hard for others to have that trust in us.
Tanks for reading through, and besides, I like your gravatar – it really shows who you are..
Thanks.
Mr. Shamsudeen, thank you for the great post, May God Bless you and continue to bless Babanature for this great platform.
Amin!
Thanks one hundred times for that, Eedris and may GOD bless you too and ease your task for you and make your way easy as that of those he has blessed and shown mercy.
HI Shamsudeen,
All points are really important to be a authority blogger within a short period of time. Find some new points and hope that will help me to increase my personal quality as a blogger.
Thanks for the nice sharing 🙂
Thank you Manik, hope they get you as far as you wish to be a problogger.
Thanks.
Hi Shamsudeen,
Good to see you here at Babanature’s blog.
You have written an effective post.:)
Bloggers always try their best to boost up their blog but they need to know that quality always matters. People like to read the content which can help them.
Consistency is required because people and search engines like fresh content.
There should be clear vision about the post you are going to write because if anyone ask question to you then you should reply him/her properly.
Great article indeed.;)
Enjoy blogging.
~Ravi
Thank you Ravi,
I appreciate your effort reading all the way through and sharing this pots, thank you.
Yes, you’re on point about be consistent and having a clear vision on whatever you’re writing so your readers knows exactly what to expect and understand the topics clearly.
Thanks one more time Ravi, do have a nice day.
Hey Shamsudeen,
Great to be here at your blog today. You have optimized your blog very nicely 😀 .
Coming to the point, My favorite among all is Being a Human. 😀 I’ll of course shy off from a site if the admin doesn’t have its name and face on the website.
Maybe its been running by a bot? Haha! Same goes in commenting. Some commentators don’t have their gravatar in the comments and naturally they are considered as bot.
Anyways, the list goes on and on. Thanks for sharing Shamsudeen!
Have a great sunday!
Cheers!
– Rohit
Hello Rohit,
First, am not the blogger behind “One Naija blog”, I only have my post published here courtesy..Babanature, who is the founder and blogger at One Naija Blog.
Next, this may come a bit late; accept my apology. Thanks for adding more to the list…..your opinion are well received and appreciated.
Thanks.
Hey shamsudeen,
Well, I agree with these points. One who is looking to build a great blog will need to have a passion to provide to write and he/she also need interest and that’s where they will beat their competition because their interest will help them target a specific audience and then provide a quality content.
BTW, Great post buddy :).
Thanks Atinder,
Passion and interest are two key ingredients well needed to make great things in life in respective of any field you’re heading to.
Thanks for liking the post, have a nice day Atinder.
Yes Shamsudeen you are right. Quality contents will always help us to grow in our digital publishing world. You shoot it in a clear voice.