Your blog is more than a collection of articles — it’s a community of readers, commentators, visitors, advertisers, and you, the blogger. Learning how to connect everyone who sees your blog in some way is important if you want to excel above and beyond the typical blog. When it comes to building a community, you have to be prepared to expand.
Your blog content is the core of your community. Essentially, it is the landscape that you will build your neighborhood on. How you choose to build that landscape will affect how your community develops. There are five areas that sum up your total community’s backbone:
- Your Blog Content
- The Design of the Blog
- The Comment Section
- The Announcement/Follow-Up Options
- Extras
The Content
As I’ve said, your content is your landscape. If you write in a bland way, then your landscape is pretty much a dessert. However, if you write with personal style and interest, then your landscape becomes a lush, green plain with some very nice trees and a river through the center. Learning how to develop content that generates a community is a hard task, but here are some tips to get you started:
- Consistency is key — always post on the same days and always deliver the best content you can.
- Style is important — don’t change up how you write.
- Variety is also important — do change what you write about (within reason). See: Diversifying Writing Topics.
- Consider visitors — be as clear and concise with your message as you can.
- Don’t fluff - nobody cares about the extra stuff
Creating consistent, quality, and interesting content will provide you with a fantastic foundation for building up your blog’s community. The standard and style of content builds a brand all on its own. Once you have unique and regular content, you can focus on expanding that brand of your blog to its surroundings.
The Design of Your Blog
A custom design will result in more loyalty than a regular brand, simply because it is more recognizable. Consider McDonalds. You see the golden arches and the clown and you think of a Big Mac or memories of the ball pit. Now imagine if every fast-food chain had the McDonalds look, but in a different color. Now Micky D’s doesn’t seem so fantastic anymore.
Having a unique look makes you stand out and above all of the other blogs in your niche. Members will know your blog the instant they see it, and will actually find comfort in seeing your blogs brand. There are a few important points you should consider when designing or having designed a personal theme:
- What is the first thing your visitors will see?
- Does your logo reflect your blogs personality and community?
- How easy is the theme to use?
- Are the most important parts of your blog being emphasized?
- Is your entire community connected in some way?
Always put your most important content above the fold (the content people can see without scrolling down). This allows your readers to get to the most important places of your blog a lot easier.
As was talked about with McDonald’s as an example, your logo should stand out and be unique to you. Imagine if everyone had the same styled logo as you did. How memorable would your blog be?
Usability should always come first when coming up with a design. They say “don’t write for search engines,” and the same thing can go for designing — “don’t design for search engines.”
Just as I was talking about above — put the most important things above the fold so people can get to it easier. Most people will barely scroll down to read your blog and will just click the exit icon on their browser. Do whatever you can to increase the chances of them staying at your blog and subscribing even.
A unique theme not only builds brand, but allows you to connect your readers with every aspect of your blog.
The Comment Section
The comments section of your blog is where the majority of your reader interaction will take place. Moderating comments effectively and offering incentives to your commentators is important to build a bustling comment community. The more valuable your comments are, the more valuable your content is, and the better your blog will be.
You should install plugins such as commentluv and top commentators to reward commentators for participating in discussions. In addition, plugins such as comment edit and threaded comments should be added to allow visitors to interact with one another and say exactly what it is they want to say. Finally, you can use plugins such as Thank-Me-Later
and subscribe to coments to keep commentators up-to-speed on what is happening on your blog.
In addition to giving your commentators plenty of opportunity to interact with your blog and each other, you should also be active below posts. Reply to comments and answer reader questions, debate or agree with reader opinions, and thank new readers or friends for stopping by your blog. An active comment section is an essential part of building a blog community.
Announcements and Follow-Ups
Photo by Raman Sharma.
Once your readers decide to leave your blog, make sure they leave with a piece of it. Having prominent links to feeds and social media profiles will increase your exposure and allow readers to stay on top of what is happening.
In addition, creating and maintaining a weekly or monthly newsletter will add an immense amount of value to your blog and keep the most loyal of readers in touch with you on a regular basis. Consider developing a useful newsletter for regular readers of your blog.
Other plugins such as Referrer Detector will allow you to welcome back visitors from specific websites, and build your blog’s reputation even more through reader appreciation. Readers love to feel as though they are helping out, which leads to the final aspect of community building…
Extras
Extras are anything interactive that you put on your blog specifically for readers. This includes polls, surveys, forums, plugins, freebies, etc. that your readers can access to find even more value in your blog. Adding appropriate extras will increase the value of your community exponentially.
When considering adding extras, think about the utility it will offer your readers. Adding widgets that offer no value will only make your blog look cluttered and messy. When in doubt, ask your readers what they would like to see added.
Take a look at my three part series “When Blog Expansions Backfire” which goes over what you can do when something you add (an extra) doesn’t work out. Check out Part 1 and Part 2, with Part 3 coming shortly.
Building a community around your blog is critical for your overall success online as a blogger. While it can take time, community building is rewarding, both personally and professionally.
30 Discussions
Excellent post, Alex. I think it’s easy for solo bloggers to forget about fostering a community of supporters around their blog. I’m a big fan of minimalism and optimization, so I don’t often take into consideration the needs of a community when I’m reskinning my site.
Thanks for the reminder and helpful tips about how to accomplish this.
Thanks for dropping by Willie!
Creating a community is always my number one priority for this blog, and now my other blog. It’s something, as you said, you cannot forget!
Alex´s last blog ..Design Trends in the Thesis Community
Hi Alex,
Thanks for laying out all the specific details to make a blog stand out in the crowd. I will try to keep all the points on my mind, that you mentioned in your post.
Thanks for a great post.
Mani Raj
Havoc Marketing
Havoc Marketing´s last blog ..SEM Business Blueprint – Unconventional But Profitable True Business In A Box
No problem, thanks!
i think this is one of the most challenging part of blogging. one cannot blog and make his way to the top without recognizing the fact that he needs to build a good community around his blog and not only live or even earn from total strangers visiting blog, rather from loyal fans and readers and blogging buddies.
good, summary of everything.
elmot´s last blog ..Don’t Tell Your Children Not To Lie?
Thanks Elmot.
The community you make on your blog is what brings you to the top. You can’t do it alone.
I have always seen my blog as a community; a community of friends where everyone gets together to learn, discuss and impart knowledge. This post neatly mapped the blogging life to reality, that is, the more colorful your life, the more enticing it becomes. Same is a blog; it should have the features that bypassers cannot resist the urge to check it out.
Richael | Domain Marvelous´s last blog ..Some tips on choosing killer domain names!
Thanks Richael.
I think if every blogger saw the people who visit their blog as a community instead of something like “people who will click ads,” then a lot of blogs would be better off!
Alex´s last blog ..Design Trends in the Thesis Community
Blogs are community. It is very important to master that aspect. A good community makes a healthy blog.
Jake| Web Journey´s last blog ..10 Commandments For Bloggers and Webmasters
Hit the nail on the head Jake!
Alex´s last blog ..Design Trends in the Thesis Community
Blogs are a good place to interact with people. Would you believe that a few years ago, wordpress was voted the best social networking software by packtpub.com’s CMS awards.
btw, nice article Alex.
Divyun @ Webmasters Blog´s last blog ..Mistakes made and problems faced by a blogger
As a social network software? That’s pretty awesome, did not know that.
Alex´s last blog ..Design Trends in the Thesis Community
Pretty nice post. I just found your site and wanted to say
that I have really liked reading your posts. Any way
I’ll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you post again soon!
Thanks Mary, glad to have you as a subscriber! What’s your blog URL?
Alex´s last blog ..Design Trends in the Thesis Community
I’m always startled about how many people complain about not getting comment on their blog, and they don’t even follow up with the people who do. If you won’t comment on your own blog why should I?
Perfect logic, I love it! If you’re not even excited about commenting on your own blog, then why should anyone else be excited to?
Alex´s last blog ..Design Trends in the Thesis Community
Great post and you are right, all 5 of those elements need to be strong in order to build a solid foundation. I have seen many bloggers that do some of those sections well, but there are not too many that are able to put it all together. I also agree that a strong a recognizable theme is importtant. In fact, I just wrote a post about the top 10 blog designs…FYI, your blog made my top 10 list.
Tycoon Blogger´s last blog ..Top 10 Blog Designs
Wow, we made it into a top 10 list? I have to see this. Thanks for the writeup on your blog, can’t wait to read it!
Alex´s last blog ..Design Trends in the Thesis Community
I’m not sure I agree that you should always post on the same days. Consistency is definitely the key but I don’t think you have to take it that far. In regards to a custom blog theme, this may be out of reach of the normal blogger, but as it is an important point there are themes out there flexible enough to allow bloggers to customize their blog giving it a unique look.
Overall though, a very good post.
Sire´s last blog ..Helium Helping Writers Fulfill Their Dreams
So what you are saying is basically: as long as you post the same number of times a week, you don’t have to post on the same days? I hear you, and it’s probably more important to update the same times a week than the same days.
Alex´s last blog ..Design Trends in the Thesis Community
Its really important to build a community around our blog as it helps us interact with our readers. Good post Simon
Harish | Blogging Kid´s last blog ..A Recap of Some My Best Posts On This Blog
Wrong blog Harish, but thanks anyways. :p
Alex´s last blog ..Design Trends in the Thesis Community
Hey Alex, I think building a community around your blog is a great for your readers. Quite a few of my new commentators have been people I have seen here and on other blogs I follow. It’s cool how that works.
Nick Tart´s last blog ..New JuniorBiz Logos: Please Vote – JJ Entry #18
It’s like a chain effect, and I have seen that same chain pass through here too!
Alex´s last blog ..Design Trends in the Thesis Community
Alex, I can’t read your latest article “Personal Reflection: How Has Your Blog Changed You Offline?” Clicking on the title and the “more” link returns to the home page. Can you check your links?
Charles´s last blog ..Why Entertainment Bloggers Earn More than You
It’s fixed, thanks for letting me know Charles! It was some really weird, but in my eyes, kind of funny .htaccess messup.
Alex´s last blog ..Design Trends in the Thesis Community
Hi Alex,
I think this is really one of the great advantage of blogs over traditional site. The interaction you can create within a blog can really help makes a difference with your visitors.
It’s just so much easier to convert a visitor to reader from a blog than a site.
Nicolas Prudhon´s last blog ..Day 17: 21DSM – On-Page Analysis With IBP
Thanks for stopping by Nicolas!
I had static sites, but I never really was pleased with how they were going. I had no form of contact except a PHP contact form, and that’s a little lame! I love blogs because people can easily interact.
Alex´s last blog ..Big Changes Coming to Asnio + My Week Long Absence
Great post. So many people never figure half of this out. I see people all the time put the info below the fold and most people leave site instead of reading down the page. They should also worry about page speed so it does not make people leave if it is slow. To many images or videos make site so slow people leave and never read what it is about.
Your right Alex, community is one of the things that can make or break a blog, and now days, even a brand.
Zack´s last blog ..How to Outfox Your Competition with Keyword Research
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