But What About Our Readers? Six Ways to Make Your Readers Feel Involved!

One of the best things about writing a healthy living blog is the opportunity to become part of an online community in which people share the same interests and hobbies with one another. I know that any time I am feeling lonely, inspired, or just want some dinner ideas, I can hop online and chat or Tweet with other health bloggers! My real-life friends might be too busy to listen to me talk about food and exercise every minute, so it is great to know that the blog community will always be there. As a blog writer, I always know I can get support from others and feel involved in the online world.

But what about our readers? I’m sure they want to be involved in this amazing community as well. Our readers are the reason most of us are still blogging! Even if you aren’t sure who your perfect reader is just yet, you know they are most likely interested in healthy living if they are taking the time to read what you have to say. What can we do to make sure our readers feel included in this community? Here are a few tips on how to make your readers feel important, appreciated, and involved in the online health community:

1. Ask your readers some questions during your post in regard to the topic at hand. You do not want your post to seem like a one-way conversation with yourself. Asking questions will allow your readers to see that you care about their opinion. They will feel like they have a voice and will be encouraged to participate in the comments section.  This will also allow them to really think deeper into the blog topic rather than just skimming your post and moving onto the next blog in their Google Reader.
2. Respond to your readers in your comments section or through personal emails. Your readers are taking the time to react to your post to say how they feel. You should also take the time to make them feel welcome and appreciated. This goes back to showing your readers some respect. I know I’ve stopped commenting on certain blogs because the blogger never responded to me which made me think she didn’t give a crap.
3. Make sure your readers do not feel like they are inferior to you. I do not want my readers to feel like I am the snotty CEO of a company who thinks she is better than everyone else. We are all humans interested in a healthy lifestyle. I am not a celebrity (not yet at least). Don’t get me wrong; I love when bloggers say that I inspire them and I am their role model but I do not let them feel like they are beneath me.
4. Begin a reader challenge on your blog. A challenge is a great way to encourage reader participation! It is also an amazing motivational tool for you and your readers! You can create any kind of challenge you want! Get creative! Some nice examples could be challenging yourself and your readers to do an exercise DVD 4 times a week, getting 8 hours of sleep a night, or going vegetarian for a week. Rachel and Leah held a very successful March Madness “Outside the Box” Challenge. Every week for two months, they created a new challenge in which their readers would have to complete an “outside the box” task.  At the end of the week, the readers could post their results on a separate blog and win prizes for participating! This allowed their readers to get to know one another and feel involved in the healthy community. Another great example of a challenge that involved the readers was the Core Fusion Challenge at Dori’s Shiny Blog. Dori committed to taking a Core Fusion classes four to five times per week for a month and invited her readers to do the same. Next thing you know, 16 of her readers were doing the Core Fusion DVDs or attending live classes nearly every day! Not only do they all have rockin’ ass bodies now, but they also got to talk on the phone together with Fred Devito, the founder of Core Fusion! I’d say all 16 of them felt very special from this challenge. Holding a challenge for you and your readers is definitely a win/win situation and one of the best ways to make them feel included.
5. Coordinate a meet-up where bloggers AND readers are invited. A lot of readers seem to think that they are not allowed at blogger meetups since they do not write their own blog. Of course they are invited! Make them aware that they are more than welcome to attend! Some of my favorite meet-ups have been with my readers. It is nice to see who is reading my blog in real life. It is also kind of fun when they know everything about me so I get to spend the hour or two learning everything about them!
6. Find out if your readers have Twitter! Just because they don’t have a blog doesn’t mean they don’t tweet! Be sure to follow them if they follow you. Why not retweet them? This will make them feel amazing!

Think about how you felt before you started writing a blog. Maybe you read food and health blogs every day but kind of felt invisible. You thought of your favorite blogger as a role model but never felt like she noticed you or read your comments. You spent hours of your life reading what she had to say but did she care? Did she show her appreciation to you? Did you feel like you could ask her questions or chat with her outside of her blog comment section? From now on, let’s make our readers feel included in this healthy community and try to involve them in our blog posts. Let’s give them a reason to continue reading our blogs. On that note, thank you for reading and I’ll see all of you at the bar tonight for a blogger + reader Hollaback Happy Hour!

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Tagged as: Missy, readers