Fashion and Style Police won’t be where it is today without my readers. I have a couple of loyal readers that read and comment on almost every post I publish, and that makes the endless writing of blog posts worth it. I would still be a dedicated blogger if I had no blog readers, but having people look forward to reading my new posts, makes me feel very good, and I am sure I am not the only blogger feeling this way. That is why it surprises me when I see bloggers completely disregarding their blog readers especially the commenters.
I see many established and not so established bloggers, blogging away, completely ignoring the people who take out time to read and comment on their blog posts. I understand many bloggers may be torn between the two – being real and acting established, if you know what I mean. I was undecided on how to treat my blog readers in the early days. Then, I saw bigger bloggers never replying to comments, and thought that was the way forward so I didn’t reply to comments, I saw bloggers posting whenever they felt like, and I thought that was ok as well, but the longer I blogged, the more I began to understand the blogging business, and how important our blog readers are to us. I also decided I wanted to make my blog, my job, so I decided to set up my own rules on how to run Fashion and Style Police, ignore what every other blogger is doing and continually thank my blog readers.
Here are the ways I thank my blog readers:
Reply Comments
I reply every thoughtful comment left on my blog posts because I think it is only polite to do so. I like when other bloggers reply my comments on their blogs, so I treat others the way I want to be treated. Some bloggers think it may appear ‘scamish’ to Google, to keep replying thank you to each individual comment, so I try to say more than that, depending on the comment. I also understand that some blogs get hundreds of comments on a blog post, well if you do get that many comments, you may struggle to reply every one of them, which is perfectly understadable, especially if you have taken part in comment threads already.
Post Regularly
There are many blogs I genuinely like but I have given up on them because their posting schedule is all over the place. We readers want to know when to expect new content, so if you are posting daily, great, if you are posting weekly or bi-weekly, good, just let your readers know when to expect new posts. When posting regularly, notice the posts that get the most engagement, and keep publishing posts like that. So if your readers read and comment more on product reviews posts, publish more posts like that, if they engage more with outfit posts, publish more of that. Listen to your readers, they are always talking!
Visit Other Blogs
So if a blog reader has left you a comment, and you can see the reader has a blog too, you should pop over and say hi or at least check the blog out, you do not have to comment if you don’t want to. I enjoy checking out new blogs, so I always pop over to read any blog I find, and if I like what I see, I will be revisiting, and probably following on social media. This sounds like a normal thing to do, but it amazes me the amount of people who do not do it.
Another thing you could do if the blog commenter does not have a blog, is to email saying thank you. The fact that you took the time to email the reader specially may have earned you a reader for life.
Host Giveaways
Now to the controversial giveaways incentive, I know I was previously on the fence, as to where giveaway stands in terms of thanking your readers, because there is no guarantee a regular reader will win the giveaway, but I still believe it is a great way to say thank you to your readers. Everyone loves a gift. However, if you do want to narrow the winners to your regulars, it is very easy. Just ask a question only your regular readers will know the answer to, it could be anything about your life or blog, that you have mentioned in the past.
These are the ways I say thank you to my blog readers and commenters. How do you say thank you?
