How to Connect with Your Readers (& Gather Useful Data)

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Have you been wondering how to develop a stronger relationship with your readers, and struggling with how to do that? One of the most important things you can do to help with this, is to figure out who you are as a writer and how you best get your message across so that it is received.

Having a relationship with your readers means they value your blog and they share the link to it with other people. You want that type of connection because as a professional, the traffic and connections that you gain will be priceless. You will learn so much about who you are in connection to your readers, and in such a rich way.

Take the time to get to know your readers as best you can, and pick topics they want to know about. Part of your job in relationship building is to listen to your readers and meet their needs to the best of your ability. There are so many unique and creative ways you can do this. And once you get into a rhythm with it, your skills will sharpen and your productivity will naturally increase.

A good keyword tool gives you help on what to blog about.

But there’s more that you can do to find topics. You can look in forum threads and check out trending topics in order to see what people are asking.

You can also simply invite your readers to submit questions to you.

You can do this on your email auto-responder opt in form, or have a special contact form on your blog where people can engage with you that way.

Whenever someone emails you with a question, you can safely assume there are more people out there who are wondering the same thing. Use those questions as juicy goodness for your blog topics.

When you start blogging about all of these things, it makes the audience feel like you’ve really got your finger on the pulse of the blogosphere – like you have great instincts. Which of course we all do, you’ll just get your point across more clearly.

Next, write in a highly conversational style and end each blog with an invitation to connect.

People need to feel like you’re speaking just to them – even if you’re not.

It helps a lot (and it takes time) to build your writing style to a point where you are very comfortable with what you say and how you say it, so that your words just flow. Be patient with yourself, and be sure to put your practice in. Write daily, even if it’s simply writing in your journal or tweaking and refreshing old posts.

When you end a blog post, you can ask a question or invite people to share their own perspectives about the topic in the comments. 

Participate in the conversation that goes on in your blog comments. If people are kind enough to take you up on your invitation, then make an effort to have a dialogue with them.

One of the best ways to get your readers engaged is to hold a survey.

A favourite tool of mine to use for holding surveys for my readers is WPForms. Surveys are a surefire method to get you fine tuning your personal outreach methods and building a connection with your readers. If you’ve never tried holding a survey with WPForms, here is an easy to follow guide on getting started on doing so with WordPress.

Thank them for their comments and input, and be sure to address them by name.

Open up a discussion about what they had to say. These are fabulous ways of connecting. If you wish, you can look into using a plugin for blogging to help the comments become “threaded,” which helps all of your readers see who was responding to who which deepens connections around your work even further. It’s a beautiful thing.