SEO World

When you have a blog, you’ll attract all different types of readers, from those who just pass through one time to casual readers who come by occasionally to dedicated readers who subscribe to your blog and read every post. Clearly, your goal is to attract as many dedicated readers as possible, but that doesn’t happen instantly. Typically, you have to work on turning casual readers into dedicated readers over time.

Here are 5 ways you can transform a casual reader into a dedicate reader.

1. Focus on creating a great reader experience—The quality of your content isn’t the only thing that matters. It’s the overall experience that keeps readers engaged and coming back. Your blog needs to have a clean, compelling design. You don’t want to annoy readers with pop-up ads, complicated registration processes, spammy comment section, etc. Focus on creating the best possible experience for your visitors.
2. Make it easy for readers to subscribe and participate—The easier it is for someone to subscribe to your blog, the likelier it is that they’ll do so. Make sure your subscribe button is clear to see, and you can even include a call to action at the end of each post encouraging readers to subscribe. Also, make it easy for your readers to comment and share your posts on social networks. Don’t require them to register or complete a CAPTCHA to leave a comment. It’s annoying and kills their drive to participate.
3. Interact with your readers—If you want readers to stick around and keep coming back, one of the best things you can do is interact with them. Respond to them whenever they leave a comment. Connect with them on Twitter and Facebook. This builds relationships and increases their loyalty to your blog.
4. Give your readers a sense of ownership in your blog—Make your readers feel invested in your blog so they’ll keep coming back. Allow them to submit guest posts. Highlight the best comments. Ask them to submit ideas for topics they want to see you write about. Hold a contest. All of these things will create a community and make your readers feel like they own a piece of your blog.
5. Be real—It’s the easiest blogging advice you’ll ever receive. Just be yourself. Write like you talk and let your personality shine through in every aspect of your blog. That’s how you’ll build a personal connection with your readers that keeps them coming back for more.

What’s your best tip for turning casual readers into dedicated readers? Share it by leaving a comment.

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SEO Hosting Blog

It’s not enough to get someone to read one of your blog posts once. If you really want your blog to succeed in the long term you want them to keep coming back! Aside from creating great content on a consistent basis (which is a must of any business blog) here are 4 tips for building a stronger rapport with your blog readers.

1. Share the comment love.
Even if they were just doing it for the link (although we all hope it’s really just because they love our blog), everyone who leaves a comment on your blog posts took a few minutes of their day to do so. Repay the favor and leave a comment or two on some of their blog posts. I can’t say I know many bloggers who don’t like seeing new comments! That kind of back-and-forth commenting is a great way to build a real relationship with your readers.

2. Invite top commenters to become guest writers.
If someone has been a regular reader and commenter on your blog for years, why not invite them to become a guest writer for your blog? Everyone is always on the lookout for new places they can post their content and fuel their own content marketing campaign. Plus, you get to benefit from their experience in your industry, provide a new point of view to your readers and maybe even attract new readers who are loyal fans of your guest author’s blog.

3. Feature their blogs.
Here on the Search Engine Optimization Journal, I publish SEO News posts a few times a week highlighting some of my favorite Internet marketing related blogs I’ve recently come across. I found the information in them valuable, so I know my target audience will to. This kind of content curation is a good way to build a stronger rapport with your blog readers and give them a quick shout out. Try writing a similar recap post and link to some of your readers’ blogs that you enjoy.

4. Connect with them on social networks
I do my best to thank and follow everyone who retweets my blog posts (and I’m sorry if I accidentally missed someone!). I want readers to know that I appreciate them taking the time to read and share my content. Your readers don’t have to share/tweet/Like/post your content so take the time to thank those that do!

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Source
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Journal

Sooner or later, you’re going to have to take a break from your blog. It might be because you’re going on vacation, or it could be from sheer blogger’s burnout. No matter what the reason, it’s fair to worry about losing your audience while you take a break. Here are some things you can do to keep your readers while you step away.

• Write and schedule your posts ahead of time—If you know ahead of time that you’re going to need to take a break, start planning ahead. You can write posts ahead of time and schedule them to go live while you’re on your break. Your readers won’t even know the difference!
• Accept guest posts—I’ve discussed the many reasons to accept guest posts on your blog in the past. Allowing others to submit guest blogs lets you take a break from writing while still providing your readers with fresh content. It also can make your blog more interesting, adding fresh opinions for your audience to read and discuss.
• Hire a freelance blogger temporarily—There are lots of talented bloggers out there who would jump at a chance for a paying gig to write for your blog, but be careful. You need to make sure the blogger you hire knows your niche, produces quality work, and will appeal to your readers.
• Announce your break—If worst comes to worst and you just can’t find a way to keep pumping new content into your blog while you’re away, simply write a post announcing that you’ll be away for a while. Any visitors to your blog will see this post. Make sure you let your readers know when you’ll be back publishing new content, and maybe include a few links to some of your “greatest hits.”

What do you do to keep from losing readers when you want to take a break from blogging?

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Source
SEO Hosting Blog

SEO 2.0 is for real. I practice what I preach. It’s not just talk to make more people to follow me. I really visit every blog or site that my readers and commentators enter in the “website” input when they comment. I also really look out for great content on their blogs and sites and when I like it

• I +1 it
• share it
• link to it.

It’s not just something I have written about in my 101 ways to succeed at blogging flagship post. It’s not just a tactic or technique.

In late 2010 I was a bit disappointed. Many people considered this blog just another “dofollow link”. So I moderated comments even more strictly this year to separate the wheat from the chaff. Now I can reap the rewards it seems.

There are so many great bloggers reading SEO 2.0 and even commenting here or pinging me that I have to share their awesome resources.

I’m really impressed. These are bloggers nobody has ever heard of and who have probably just a few readers each but they deserve lots of them. I hope this article helps to grow their audience.

These 12 awesome posts are about SEO and adjacent Internet marketing topics, I haven’t even included my offtopic readers. I’m proud of you people, you are really getting it. You are doing it right. I see a bright future for all of the below mentioned or rather linked bloggers:

1. Measuring SEO Success
2. SEO You Should Know: Why We Blog.
3. How Does Google Panda Change the SEO Landscape?
4. How to Calculate the ROI on a Small Business Website
5. Where to Find Links That Build Trust and Improve Search Engine Ranking
6. How to Pitch SEO – #BrightonSEO 2011
7. Identifying “Low-Hanging Fruit” Keywords: The First Step
8. 4 Common SEO Errors to Avoid
9. SEO most effective for lead generation
10. Conversion optimisation testing – how does it work?
11. Copywriting myths: the 12 most persuasive words in the English Language
12. Social Media and Assumed Consent | LinkedIn Steps in it

I think I got used too much to reading the same sources over and over. After a while you just visit the same few sites. You lose out on the myriad of great bloggers who haven’t yet been discovered by everybody else but who nonetheless contribute really valuable resources for the SEO industry and beyond. I will be more open minded in future again.

Related posts:

1. How to Use LinkedIn for Marketing & SEO: 20 Resources
2. How to Overcome the Established Blogger’s Apathy
3. The Best Free RSS Readers for Windows, Mac and Linux

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Source
SEO 2.0

There are a lot of reasons why those people may answer “no” when your web form asks them to sign up for your emails. But change the design of your form, and some of them will answer “yes” instead.

It’s true. Here are the stories of two companies who netted huge increases in their subscription rates just by testing a design change.

Take a look at what they tested, then keep reading to find out what you could test to get results that are just as big.

Talking Avatar: + 131%

Small Business Trends, an online entrepreneurial publication, needed to find the right face to represent their newsletter in its sign-up offer.

They alternated a photo of the editor, Anita Campbell, with a talking avatar that resembled her.

Avatar Anita popped up as soon as the page loaded and talked for 20 seconds about why the viewer should subscribe, giving visitors much more information than the photo form provided.

And she converted 131% more subscribers than Photo Anita.

Red Light, Green Light: + 46%

Internet marketer Eric Graham, aka the “Conversion Doctor,” wanted to design the ultimate submit button.

He ran several tests. For his final split, he tested a simple red border around the button against a red border that changed to green when hovered over.

Red Border

Red Border, Green Roll Over

The color-changing border got 46% clicks more than the simple red border.

According to Graham, the button showed that it was clickable by reacting to the mouse. When the red outline turned green, he theorized, viewers interpreted the change as a “stop” signal changing to “go” – so they did.

Your Design Changes: + ?%

Granted, you have a different audience than SBT and the Conversion Doctor, and a different site. You could make the exact same changes and probably not get the same results.

But there are plenty of things you can test that could turn up results that are just as significant. Try:

Which category do your site visitors fall into? Change your button’s design, and find out!

Have You Tested Your Form?

Have you ever run a split test on your web form?

If not, what are you waiting for? What could you test today?

If you have, what did you find out? We’d love to hear your story!

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Related posts:

1. Get More Subscribers: Seal the Deal with Incentives
2. Optimize Your Emails for Preview Panes
3. Master The 3 A’s of Calls to Action

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Source
Online Marketing Connect