Last week, in the first part of this post I introduced some of you to the term a ‘Sticky blog‘. If you didn’t catch that post you can check it out here. However, in summary a sticky blog is one that retains its readers after they read the initial blog post and turns them into (hopefully) repeat visitors. In that first post, I highlighted a number of ways you can start to make your blog stickier and I will share some more here now.
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Social media/branding consistency
To return to your blog people are going to have to feel as if they know you and for you to seem familiar to them. There are so many blogs out there and it can be difficult, even for the best writers and photographers, to be remembered. What will help is a consistency of your branding across all your social media platforms, including using the same profile picture.
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Consistency of message
Also important is consistency in the message of what your blog is all about. Imagine how confusing, and maybe off putting, it would be to enjoy a child focused blog, then popping onto Twitter and witness them effing and jeffing. It might not matter if the blog is lighthearted and funny, but if they have portrayed a more serious image, then this might jar.
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Easy to find contact information
This should go without saying, but you should have your contact information displayed clearly on your blog. Don’t make people hunt for it, signpost clearly where it will be. The minute someone starts searching they will be tempted not to bother. Make it easy for people to find the information and ultimately find you.
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Maximise the effect of any post which is proving popular
What do you do when there is a surge of traffic to a particular post? Give yourself a pat on the back? Instead of that think about how you can get the most benefit from this traffic. You could write a follow-up post (which hopefully would be as popular and you will be able to link both ways too, building more internal links within your posts). You should think about adding a subscribe button to the bottom of that post. Pop a couple of links to other similar or popular posts on the bottom too, which will encourage people to read on. These are just a few ideas of the action you should be taking when something is ‘hot’.
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Create a series of posts
Another way to ‘hook’ readers in is to create a series of posts. This has the effect of building anticipation; if they enjoy the first chances are they will come back for the next. You never know they might even subscribe so they don’t miss out.
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Respond to comments
There is no doubt that responding to comments builds your community and might even help you find your tribe. This is time consuming and I won’t lie and tell you that I respond to every comment, but I try. It is not just blog comments I am talking about either, all comments on your social media could be responded to. In ‘real-life’ if someone spoke to you, you wouldn’t ignore them (well hopefully you wouldn’t), so I feel the same goes for your blog too. As said this takes a vast number of hours and is often the thing that end up building up for me.
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Start here page
Now, before you notice and tell me, I do not have this page, but it is on my list! If someone arrives at your blog and reads a post they like, there is a moment where they will consider what to do next. They will click another post, click a page or close your blog. A ‘start here’ page can be a really good way to highlight all your favourite posts, the most popular posts and the ones which showcase your blog. They are a great way to get people clicking around your blog, while allowing you to direct them to all your fab posts.
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Sneeze page
So what’s a Sneeze page? This term was coined by Pro Blogger. A ‘Sneeze page’ is a collection of post links on a page or post. So you could have a sneeze page as your start here page, or you could get all of your reviews together in one post, all of your days out, you get the picture. It is a place to collect together lots of post links (with an explanation each) and so has a powerful effect of driving traffic to lots of posts on your blog.
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Consider removing dates on old posts
Old posts can sometimes be considered out of date, but it is possible that your old posts are still relevant and useful. So it might be advisable to remove the dates from posts over a certain age.
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Make sure your site loads quickly
There is no point in focusing on keeping people on your site, if they can’t get on quickly in the first place. There are various sites where you can test your blog’s load speed.
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Post frequently or at least consistently
People consume content. If you post once a day Google will love you and your readers will start looking out for your posts each day. They will start investing in you, as by posting regularly you are declaring a commitment to them. If you can’t post daily it is not the end of the world, but commit to what you can do and be consistent.
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Write an engaging about me page
The most popular page on most people’s blog is the ‘About Me’ page. This means you need to make the most of it and use it to show your personality. A couple of boring paragraphs might not be that engaging, but show the reader who you are, use pictures and you might have a better chance.
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Create a forum or reader area
This might not be possible or appropriate for all blogs, but a forum/area for readers can be really effective on helping you to retain your numbers and creates a social space right there on your blog.
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Interlink your posts
One of the easiest ways to keep people on your blog is to interlink your blog posts. Just make sure the links make sense and don’t crowbar things in just for the sake of linking to another post.
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Social proof
People are social creatures and we love to do what others do. If 500 people ‘like’ a post, it will get more attention from people than a post with 10 likes. You assume that it is good/beneficial/positive and so you are more likely to follow the crowd. The best way to do this is to show people how many people follow you on social platforms. Also consider creating a list in your sidebar of most popular posts, as this will drive even more traffic.
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Easy navigation
Make it easy to navigate your blog, with well thought out, clear menus.
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Easy sharing
We all want to write a post which goes viral and gets thousands of shares. This can only happen if your social sharing is set up correctly. I vlogged about exactly this last Friday and you can see what I had to say here.
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Balance your content
If your blog is just review after review it might be harder to start building relationships with your readers. Consider balancing the useful content with some personal/emotional content.
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Share your life off your blog
People connect with people. So the more you can share snippets of your life and the more people get a sense of your presence, the more they will connect.
Have you got all these points mastered? What is the biggest thing you need to work on to improve your blogs stickiness?
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