Ask The Readers: What are the Main Reasons For You to Subscribe to a Blog?

August 15th, 2008

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Photo by lawtonchiles
Photo by lawtonchiles

One of the most common topics among bloggers stands around the readership. What are the best ways to increase your readership? What are the main reasons for a visitor to subscribe to your blog?

Convert a visitor to a loyal reader is not easy. In fact, the reasons for subscribing vary from person to person. For example, I personally subscribe to a blog for the quality of the content and because I like the blogger behind the blog! Now, what about you?

The question this week is:

What are the main reasons for you to subscribe to a blog?


I would really appreciate to hear you on this topic. Please share your opinion and/or your experience with us. This is always very valuable for me and for the whole community. Thanks for your participation!


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9 Comments »

Comment by R.L.Scovens
2008-08-15 09:27:37

I enjoy reading blogs that capture my attention…blogs where the writer sounds sincere and not just trying to sound professional. Professional by itself can be boring. I like to see a persons’ heart in thier writing.

 
Comment by Richard McLaughlin
2008-08-15 13:10:20

To get a reader you have to give the reader what they want. I have a niche blog and my work blog and in both cases I write about what people are interested in. I probably don’t have one reader that reads both sites.

I translate many of my pages into different languages to expand my readership, since I translate into languages like Greek, Japanese, Korean and Russian, the search result are obvious in WordPress because the different character sets really catch your eyes.

I have over a dozen RSS feeds that appear in my Google home page, but that is not my firefox homepage, so I read those when I have time. I have a (very) few, like CatchThePosts, that come in my email. I know that I will be interested in what the writer is presenting. I quickly unsubscribe from sites that don’t give enough details.

I have some sites that I don’t subscribe to, but I have a batch file that open all the sites in different tabs.

That is my reverse order list. Google reader because they will probably be interesting. Email because they will be interesting and my batch files because I will go there for work on a special basis.

 
Comment by Marc Subscribed to comments via email
2008-08-15 16:26:14

Darren from problogger was describing one of the major aspects as future useful content.

Does it sound like this blog will deliver us something of value in the future? Current useful content can be bookmarked and searched for, but the value of being alerted to something important while it is brand new is priceless.

 
Comment by Winning Startups
2008-08-15 16:42:05

This sounds horrible, but the only sites I have subscribed to are the ones that have offered contests, and I’ve subscribed to them because that was a criteria for entering the contest.
I think a useful article would be why you want someone to subscribe. It seems somewhat pointless to me, as if I get an email with the article, i will just read the email or feed instead of visiting the website itself.

 
Comment by Sublime Products Subscribed to comments via email
2008-08-15 17:39:20

I quickly unsubscribe from sites that don’t give enough details.

That’s something I haven’t been doing fast enough in many cases. The promise of valuable content makes me hang on too long, generally, and that just wastes my time. I think I need to be a bit more ‘trigger happy’ with the unsubscribe button.

But the blogs I am happy to stay with always combine some element of learning with an interesting style. The writing doesn’t have to be perfect, but it does have to engage me and entertain me a little at the same time.

I don’t mind if I don’t agree with a lot of what’s said, either. Having a contrary view can often be very educational and it certainly challenges.

To get a reader you have to give the reader what they want.

That’s certainly true, but the hard part is that every reader wants something slightly different. I think one of the secrets is to have a pretty solid core style and then expand outwards from that a little to include as many wavering visitors as possible.

and because I like the blogger behind the blog!

Unlike Hans, I don’t feel any need to like the blogger since it’s the content and presentation that interests me. I’d go so far as to say there are a couple of blogs I subscribe to where I really don’t like the blogger for all kinds of reasons, but they come up with great content on a regular basis.

So of course I keep reading those blogs.

 
Comment by Pink Ink Subscribed to comments via email
2008-08-15 19:05:24

I think the only blog I’ve ever subscribed to is yours, and via e-mail. I can’t get my RSS to work in Outlook Express! When I figure it out, I will probably subscribe to more.

Why I subscribe: when I feel that I can use the info on a frequent basis.

 
Comment by Richard McLaughlin
2008-08-16 03:01:28

I have to chime in and agree with one of Amin points about 99%.

I don’t have to like the blogger. On the other hand, I have stopped reading one blog because the writer was offensive - he makes that 1%. Maybe he was acting like this as a tactic, maybe he was really like that. I don’t know the guy personally and it didn’t work for me - but others liked it.

 
2008-08-16 03:51:36

[...] presents Ask The Readers: What are the Main Reasons For You to Subscribe to a Blog? posted at Catch The [...]

 
Comment by Cindy King
2008-08-16 04:25:52

I posted a link to this in my Sunday Blog Carnival at: http://cindyking.biz/international-marketer-review-blog-carnival-13/

Stop by to vote on your post as the weekly best article.

 
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