3 powerful ways to develop a loyal blog following

You can develop a blog following by reaching out to prospective readers.

There’s no doubt that finding readers is the key.

But how do you find those readers in the first place?

And when you do, how can you make those readers part of your loyal blog following?

In this article I’ll show you 3 of the most powerful ways to develop a loyal blog following.

1. Build an email list

Probably the very best way to grow your blog and build an engaged audience is with an email list.

Once you have your readers on your email list, you can send them regular email messages.

Of course, they would need to be the kind of email messages that your subscribers look forward to reading.

That way they will become loyal email subscribers.

And that’s a key step toward converting them into a loyal blog following.

High-quality emails

Your subscribers will look forward to reading your emails if you give them high-quality content.

That means you need to give them emails that actually improve their lives.

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I’ve seen too many bloggers use their email list as a dumping ground for sales pitches.

One after another.

Day after day.

If you do that, one of three things happen.

Some people will unsubscribe to your list.

That’s actually the right thing for them to do if they don’t want to see your emails any more.

Others will mark it as spam, which really hurts your deliverability rate.

And the largest portion of your disappointed subscribers will do nothing.

That means, they won’t unsubscribe to your list, and they won’t report it as spam.

But they also won’t open any of your emails.

They’ll just assume they’re all going to be sales pitches.

That really hurts your open rate.

And, in turn, that severely damages you deliverability rate.

All this is to say, you should always use your email messages to deliver value.

Help solve the problems your subscribers have.

This will improve their lives.

When that happens, they’ll be happy to keep opening your email messages.

Link to your blog posts

Yes, you can include some sales pitches in your email messages.

But only insofar as they help solve your subscribers’ problems.

If your subscribers struggle with writing well, for instance, maybe you could suggest they use a good grammar and spell checker like Grammarly.

You see, they won’t think you’re just promoting Grammarly.

They’ll understand that you’re doing so because you think it can help them solve their problems.

Promote you blog posts

More importantly than making sales offers, though, is to use your email messages to continually promote your blog posts.

Link to your articles that do, in fact, help them solve their problems.

In that way, you will keep your email subscribers loyal to your email list.

And, the same time, it will help develop a loyal blog following.

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People won’t necessarily look for the next blog post you publish.

But if they open your emails consistently, they’ll get links to each blog post your write.

And that’s how they’ll end up reading your blog on a regular basis.

Use a reputable autoresponder

Because your email list is the best way to develop a loyal blog following, you have to be sure to have a reputable autoresponder.

You see, you need a perfect system for getting your emails delivered automatically and reliably.

I use GetResponse because it

• has an extremely high deliverability rate, which means that your emails will actually be delivered
• is really easy to use
• makes setting up automatic messages simple and fast
• lets you set up free landing pages, like opt-in and squeeze pages, right inside of GetResponse
• has excellent pricing 

I highly recommend you take advantage of the GetResponse free trial period to try it out and judge for yourself.

The most important thing is that you build your email list with a highly reputable autoresponder.

Then set it up so your email subscribers will automatically get notified every time you publish a blog post.

That’s a powerful way for you to develop a loyal blog following.

2. Engage on key social media platforms

It’s pretty hard to build any kind of business without a robust social media presence.

That certainly pertains to your blogging business.

You see, social media engagement is tailor-made to helping you develop a blog following.

After all, where will you find your audience more easily than on social media?

If you don’t know where you can get the most traction, Arfa Nazeer (SheMeansBlogging)
shows you some of the top social media platforms that are especially effective for bloggers like you.

Once you’ve identified the best social media platforms for your blogging niche, then just start engaging with people on a daily basis.

The more engagement you create, the more effectively you can develop a blog following from social media. 

How to build engagement

Building engagement on social media is pretty simple, and it’s mostly intuitive.

But it does take time, consistency and effort.

So it may not be easy, but it is definitely one of the most powerful ways to develop a loyal blog following.

Just get out there and start talking to people in your niche, and with similar interests to yours.

Ask questions, offer helpful suggestions and just try to make some friends and contacts.

Building engagement is not about dropping links to your blog posts.

You could do that occasionally, but if you overdo it you’ll just annoy people and push them away.

Remember, to develop a blog following with social media, you want to engage people in sincere conversations.

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Again, it’s a simple formula, but it requires great dedication and perseverance.

3. Sell products and services on your blog

To gain a following, you need to show that you’re a leader.

Selling products and services can position you as that leader.

Your readers need products and services to help them solve their problems.

If you can show them things to provide the solutions they need, they will be thankful.

And they will start to see you as the leader, expert or authority they’ve been looking for.

It’s a sure way to develop a blog following.

Make affiliate offers

Introduce people to products and services they need.

They will thank you.

And they will follow your blog in order to get more helpful advice on specific things that can help improve their lives.

It’s funny how so many bloggers shy away from trying to sell things to their readers.

But it does them a disservice.

Part of your job as a blogger is to research and try out products and services your readers might find helpful.

It’s great to give people information.

But they also need real things they can buy to help them make good use of that information.

They just don’t want to spend hours researching, trying to figure out what those specific things are.

When you offer them an affiliate product that can fill a need they have, you are doing them a great service.

And you can develop a loyal blog following by doing so.

Sell your own products

Selling affiliate products that your readers need positions you as a true leader in your niche.

But selling your own products elevates your status even more in the eyes of your readers.

These products can be anything that you know your readers need.

They might include some software you developed.

Or ebooks, video trainings or even physical products.

Some bloggers create their own digital information courses related to their niche.

If you blog about how LinkedIn is an important social media platform for people in your niche to use, for example… you might want to put together a digital class to teach them how they can create a winning LinkedIn profile.

This really makes you an expert, and a serious leader in your niche.

And since everyone wants to follow a leader, it’s a really powerful way to develop your loyal blog following.

Sell your own services

Selling your own services is almost as effective as selling your own products.

The nice thing about selling your services is that it doesn’t require as much effort as it does to create a product.

You only need to tell people what service you provide and ask them to contact you about it if they’re interested.

But even though it’s much easier to create a “services” offer than a product, it’s still a very powerful way to position yourself as a leader in your niche.

So it can certainly help you to develop a substantial blog following.

3 powerful ways to develop a loyal blog following

You can develop a loyal blog following.

I’ve just shown you 3 powerful ways to do it.

Build an email list

That way you can always be in touch with your blog followers, and keep them up to date about what’s going on.

Engage with your followers on key social media platforms

That’s a great way to build relationships with people and let them know you really care about them.

It’s also a good way to establish social proof that you and your blog are worth following.

Sell products and services on your blog

That establishes you as a leader and an authority in your niche.

Now, I’d like to hear from you.

How strong is your blog following at this point in time?

What’s your strategy for growing it even more?

And what methods have you learned from this article that you believe can be the most powerful ways for you to develop a loyal blog following?

–Donna

PS: Don’t forget to share this article on your favorite social sites. Much thanks 🙂

• Bio
• Blogging Magic

Donna Merrill

Donna is a well known blogger and creator of "Blogging Magic" - an intensive guide to blogging. "Blogging Magic" is for beginners who are trying to figure out how to bring their blogs to life with tons of visits, comments and social media interaction. It's even for advanced bloggers looking to reach new levels of authority and engagement with their audience.