Blogging : 15 business blogging mistakes ( Part 6)

Failing to encourage engagement

WHAT’S THE MISTAKE

  Your blog is a one-way platform for your ideas, offering no way for your readers to engage in conversations, interact, and provide feedback or insightful commentary.

WHY IS HURTS

  Just as you tend to hate the guy at a cocktail party who talks about only himself without letting you get a word in, no one likes a blog that suffocates conversation and engagement. Blogging is social, and treating your blog like a megaphone instead of a platform for two-way communication will suck the life out of it.


EASY FIX
  Remember that your blog’s readers are critical to the success of your blog, and treat them as such. By
publishing a blog, you’re also creating a community of potential customers, and these prospects like to be heard. Take the following steps to make sure your fostering interaction on your blog:

1 - Keep comments open : 

  Don’t close the comments on your blog. They’re essential to facilitating conversation aboutyour blog content. Prospectslike to be heard.


2 - Monitor & reply to comments :

  Keep track of the conversation that takes place on your blog by monitoring comments. Replying
when appropriate will show your readers you’re invested in the community you’ve created and care about what they have to contribute.


3 - Don’t moderate comments :

  Moderating comments will only deter people from commenting in the first place.
Don’t fear negative comments (people are nicer than you think), and embrace feedback as constructive criticism. If you want to take extra precautions, publish a page that outlines your blog’s comment policy and encourage people to comment intelligently and respectfully.


4 - Ask questions :

  Directly promote interaction by posing questions within your blog content. Ask readers how they feel about the topic, if they have any additional insight or advice, or can point readers to other resources they’ve come across related to the topic.


5 - Listen to feedback :

  Have you noticed that your readers aren’t responding well to a particular topic or type of content? Show them you’re listening by improving and modifying your blog’s content based on their feedback.