Hellloooo my love!
Remember a while back when I mentioned that changes were coming to the blog and I was going to post more about art + blogging + biz?
Yeah! It is about time to get that party started! 😀
Back to the post title – how to keep blog readers coming back?
Tell me if I am getting this right:
You search and re-search engaging topics to talk about on your blog. You scratch you head and daydream a lot because sometimes it takes longer than you wanted for that topic to show up. When it is here you get to work. You slave over words, phrase construction, grammar, typos, you take pictures, download them to your computer, edit them and create nice graphics for that blog post. You review it a gazillion times and finally decide that you are ready to hit publish.
So you do it!
You wait…. And wait….
And wait a bit more.
Then….. oh.my.gawd. A COMMENT!
The PROOF that someone out there besides your grandma is reading your blog! Yesssss!!!!
You get fired up. You are ready to start the process again!
After all you know that if a reader took the time to leave a comment that means she is really DIGGIN’ YA so why wouldn’t she come back again, right?
Right!
So you go through the cycle once more. — Coming up with a topic, slaving over words, obsessing over pictures and finally you have another amazing blog post that you are so proud of.
You poured your ‘lil lovely heart out and you decided to be vocal this time….
You SHARED on social media!
Yeah! And in every.social.media.platform.that.you.know.of!
Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, Google+, you name it!
FO’ SHURE that commenter and a ton of others will see your new master-piece.
You are excitedly waiting for it!
…..and yet…..they didn’t…..they didn’t come…..
You check your blog, your email notifications {just to make sure}, your stats, and nothing is different than before…..
What happened?
Well, let’s look at some of the options:
- Too much cat videos on Facebook overpowered the blog post you just shared.
- Twitter feed is going nuts. It is one of those days that you are trying to read that 140 status update and when you are almost about done it got bumped down to give room for the fast pouring rants of a girl you don’t even know why you are following in the first place.
- That popular crafty blogger decided to show up on Pinterest after a month and now the feed is populated with her pins because she overdid it a bit. Yours… that pin of the pretty graphic you created for that lovely heart-pouring blog post? It got lost in the shuffle.
- {add here any other social media distraction you can think of}
I know! It is wild and crrrrrazy!
All your hard work being unnoticed!
And worse…… if those readers only landed their eyes on your post you are pretty sure they will like it, right?
Yeah, I have no doubt love.
What is happening here is that….
We have no control over all these social media platforms.
Have you recently gone through the pages you follow on Facebook and noticed how many of those you actually see updates on your news feed? Yup, just a handful make the cut.
And even your friends’ updates sometimes reach you a day or two later. Not even your friends are making “the cut”!
The worse is that YOU as a Facebook user don’t even get to make a decision about “the cut”. It is up to Mark Z. and his team. They decide it for you.
And the same happens to YOUR readers.
Even thou they liked your FB biz page that doesn’t mean they SEE your updates.
So the blog post you shared? Might not have made “the cut”.
Now, before you decide to completely sabotage FB, close your account and shake your fist against the computer while doing so, keep in mind my love that I picked Facebook as an example. Every social media platform works that way. They decide how to present their content.
It might favor you one month and not so much the other.
My point in telling you this is to illustrate that sharing your post on social media means *almost* nothing when it comes to bringing back readers.
And expecting readers to go through all the trouble of bookmarking your page and remembering to go back to it and check if you updated the blog or not is just asking toooo much of them my love! People are busy, they will {understandably} forget.
Solution?
Their emails!
Imagine you showing up on their inbox every time you have a new update and bringing them back to your blog and actually engaging?
You are not competing with the latest celebrity gossip on Facebook, or that dreamy mind blowing {and very photoshoped} beach gateway on Pinterest nor you are competing with the latest #firstworldproblems updates on Twitter.
No sweets, you are now in a whole different level.
Inboxes are full, yes, but only of what people allow in there.
All that mess of the wild-openness of social media doesn’t happen inside an inbox.
And that awesome new post you just published? You sent on an email, your reader saw your name and it was effortles for her to open it and read it.
Can you see how this is a win-win situation? You make it EASIER FOR YOUR READER to get updates from you without her having to scavenger hunt in the internet wildness AND YOU KNOW she will receive your updates and actually read your posts.
AWESOME DEAL for both of you!
Sooooo… summing up.
To make readers come back to your blog you need to make it easier for them to find their way back AND you need to cut through
{I mean ignore!} the social media fight for attention.
My fave email service for this kind of stuff is MadMimi. It is FREE and completely underrated. No idea why. Super-intuitive to use, customer service is excellent and it supports your list growth {list = the subscribers count}. And believe me my love, I have tried most of the the popular email service providers out there {Aweber, Mailchimp and even OfficeAutoPilot!} and went right back to Mimi! She is a delight to work with. 😀
Because handing over email information is WAY more private and harder for people to do than just click a “like” button, your content really really needs to be appealing and engaging to readers. But THAT is a whole other issue that I will leave for another time. 😉
Sooo… do you have questions about the topic? Did I not fire you up enough to take charge of your readership engagement? In the comments below let me know your questions and I will be happy to answer them!
Many Smooches,
I am always reading blog posts even if you (or others bloggers) don’t see me because I rarely comment. 😀
Me too
Hahaha, I know! 😀 That’s why having the very first comment ever is such a WOW moment. It is the written proof peeps are reading your blog. 🙂
me as well 🙂
Thank you Raine for another great post! My question is – if I post 4-5 days a week, when should I send the email? Every time I post? Once a week?
Thanx, Michal
Hellloo lovely Michal! 🙂
That really depends of what your reader prefers. You can set up on the time they sign up the option to choose between “as posted” updates or a weekly compilation. Keep in mind thou that the more info you ask them to fill out the less likely the will do so.
You can also just test things out and see which system has better open rates.
Regardless of what you do make sure to establish the expectation when they sign up. In the very first welcome email, tell them how frequently they will hear from you so there are no surprises down the road. 🙂
Thank you for your answer! I’ll give it a try. <3
I think emails are great as they add a personal touch to the recipient. However, it has to be something I willingly signed up for. One of my biggest challenges with many planner blogs I see out there is the limited Blogger commenting system. Many times, I just give up leaving a comment because there is no proper way to leave one without having to link to my Google profile, which is not my preferred option. So I tend to read the blog “behind the scenes”.
By the way, I sincerely appreciate what you do. I am new to this planner stuff but am already a fan of yours 🙂
oh, YES Lyn! By law a blogger CAN NOT add someone’s email to their list without that person’s permission. Meaning the reader has to add himself to that said newsletter subscription.
I agree with that linking with your profile thing. It is one of the limitations of certain blogging platforms and I don’t like it either. 😀
I have several (okay, a lot) favorites in the blog world. I check them regularly and I do take the time to leave comments. Although I don’t expect an answer, I appreciate when they answer back, which one of them always does. I put out a monthly ezine and I sure appreciate it when someone takes the time to write to me and tell me it helped them. My ezine reaches my readers through Constant Contact and I only send it if they have signed up. I will check out Mad Mimi-thank you Raine!
Hey Sandy, that is GREAT that you already have a list building system going! YAY you! 😀
Raine is truly inspirational! I love her JOY about everything. It started with her planners and now “life” and “business”. Thank you so much for sharing – I may add some “blog writing” to my “planner”!! 🙂
Awww, Crunchy you are toooo sweet! Thank you so much!
Yes, get on the blogging fun! You will like it. 😉
I’ve tried leaving comments on blogs and you have to go through an act of congress to do it AND after you’ve written your comment out. I wind up having to delete it because I can’t get through all the red tape to post a comment. Now I’m hoping when I hit “post comment” below it goes right through.
And it did. YAY! 😀
‘act of congress” hahahahahahhahahah! so true!
Wow, this is OUTSTANDING! I am new to the planner decorating world and I am impressed with this website and your offerings. You make a strong (and persuasive) case for using e-mail over social media and as a VERY active on-line buyer (of information AND products), I can enthusiastically and wholeheartedly AGREE with your approach. I HATE to use social media (for many reasons) and it’s very EASY these days to filter out on e-mail those contacts you don’t wish to see every day. I will offer one very important caveat about e-mail: PLEASE LIMIT your e-mails or you will get spammed. There’s nothing more annoying than to receive DAILY or even TWICE DAILY e-mails even from those sites you love. Moderation is the key to success. (Once or twice a WEEK is plenty!)
Thank you so much Carrie for your nice comment! 🙂
Social Media is a struggle sometimes and it is all so much nicer when we keep things simple.
And I totally agree with you, once or twice a week is plenty!
Great post. Thank you for the idea of emailing the readers.
You are super welcome Susanne. 🙂
I’m sure this is a very newbie question but, I don’t even know how to get people to get to my site! Let alone sign up for a newsletter. Help, please?
HA! That will take waaaaay more than just a comment reply to cover! It is another big topic. Will write a post on it at some point. 😉
I try and step out from behind the screen and get commenting because I know how much I appreciate the comments on my post. Okay you might not have the time to return the favour but if it adds a little bit of sunshine to your day because you’ve got that comment on your post then that’s a good thing for me 🙂
I totally agree Hannah! Going that extra mile shows that you care. <3 🙂
Thank you for sharing this with us! Glad I saw this. Im actually bad at posting anything. I started a blog in June/July and have only posted a few times. I’ll think of a hundred things to write about but I think I’m afraid of being all over the place.. I’ll sign up so I can get your posts. Thank you!
Awwww Tanya, what do you mean being all over the place? If you have the ideas, they need to be heard! Peeps need it! 😉
I juuuust started a mastermind + accountability group to help with this kind of thing {keep us on track!} and it is totally free! If you are interested you can sign up right here: https://www.limetreefruits.com/beez-league/
I just signed up for the accountability group.
I am a newbie and very excited to start. I plan on beginnings to work on my road map tonight
YAY Charlotte! That is awesome! So glad you joined us! 😀
so why mimi instead of the chimp? im on the fence here and could use some experience strength and hope. xoxo rowan
Hi Rowan! There are plenty of little reasons I love mimi but here goes the top three ones:
1- It is oh-SO-super-friendly and super-intuitive to use! When I was on chimp, it *seemed* intuitive but it was not at all.
2- Customer Service is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! In 1/2 hr they respond to my emails.
3- **Most Importantly** Mimi recognizes repeated emails. Meaning if I have three different opt-ins, each one feeding to a different list and a reader opted in to all three freebies, the system knows it is the same person. So when I have to send one email to the entire list, that person doesn’t receive 3 emails just because she is on three lists like it happens with Mailchimp. This is HUGE otherwise I wouldn’t be able to experiment with different opt-ins at all! Does it make sense?
Let me know if you have other questions. I really love mimi and can go and on and on talking about it. 😉
Smooches,
Raine.
Raine, Thank you for the wonderful article. Love your planners and am really excited to start the 2015 blog challenge. MadMimi looks great and will definately be comparing to my current promotion platform. I had not thought of using the promotion platform to send out my blog posts. What a great idea.
Thanks again for the information! You Rock!
Yay Denine! So glad this was helpful to you. You will loooove Madmimi. It is SO easy to use and reliable. 🙂
And yes, send out the blog posts to your peeps! They want to hear from you. {otherwise they wouldn’t have opted-in 😉 }
Hey, I really like your advises.
I yust opend up a little blog but nobody is coming 🙁
But its a german one so I thought about translating everything.
Your website is really lovley, it must have been hard work to achive that.
Now I will look up what this challenge is about =)
Hope you are liking the challenge Clarissa. 🙂