Every blogger dreams about it, having a big audience to write for, the popularity, even a few groupies if you’re so inclined! But if you had the chance to run a successful blog of your choice, how would you go about things?
I don’t want you to necessarily think of a particular blog (although feel free to). I want you to think more about how you’d keep an audience interested. Let’s face it, most of us don’t have a large audience to write to, which is why we are often lazy with our posting, and don’t keep to a specific schedule.
What if your business depended on keeping people interested through your writing?
What Would I do?
Being interested in web development, social networking, and open source software, any large blog I was running would have to have a focus not only on current events or the latest big news, but also on co-operative learning. I’m not really able to employ such a strategy on this blog as much as I’d like, since I don’t have a large enough audience to participate in articles, but nevertheless, it’s something I’d like to try and do more of.
I’ve already written my first themed article series, and it is that idea that I would extend further for the consumption of a larger audience. I would use a similar format, and start off with an introductory post, setting out the theme, the reason for it, and some broad areas to cover.
Going Interactive:
However, I would then go on to invite the audience (either via poll, or through general comments - maybe even a combo of the two) to help generate the next topic on the theme. A broad area, that they would like to learn more about, or participate in themselves.
Of course, not every article theme need be “user generated”, since the audience needs some structure too, but I believe it could be a good way to keep the readership interested in the content, and enable them to have more of a say in what is talked about. It also turns what could otherwise be a plain list of articles, into a journey through the issues, exploring them, touching most on what the audience wants to hear.
Incentives:
The other thing I’d do, is give people an incentive to give something back, most likely via commenting. Look at blogs that offer a competition, or an incentive for a particular post, and you will generally see that they gain the most comments.
I wouldn’t just want quantity however, I’d want to get people thinking, and offer something of value. For instance, if you’re writing about a problem, with a particular solution, ask the audience to come up with their own alternatives, or to explore flaws in your own solution. And then offer a prize or reward to the readers who give the most inciteful feedback.
Rather than incentivising mere participation, I’d aim to incentivise valuable participation.
Shouldn’t this apply to any blog?
Well yes, it certainly could! Without a commenting audience, it would be hard to put everything into practice (speaking about my personal plan above), but certainly the idea of trying to encourage interactivity is one that everyone should try. Even if it’s just an open-ended question at the end of a post:
How would you run a popular blog, if you were given the chance?