Chemistry behind converting one time visitor into a loyal reader -By Thilak Raj Rao

April 17th, 2007

14 comments

Posted in: Blog Bash Expert Posts

Expert: Thilak Raj Rao, Tech-Buzz.net

#17 of 30

Before I start talking about the chemistry, I would like to confess that I’m no guru nor will I presume as if I know it all. Although I’ve been blogging for the last two years, it was only a year ago that I started blogging seriously.

I truly believe that comments power the web 2.0 aspects of a blog. You might have come across blogs like Problogger or Successful Blog where readers enjoy talking though comments. As a fulltime blogger, my friends always ask me “How to encourage comments on my blog”. Well, the two word answer is “Respect your readers”. Whenever someone leaves a comment on your blog, he/she expects a response from my side.

I learned this lesson from Liz Strauss, when I first came across her blog six months ago, I dropped in a comment and she immediately responded to back. It kicked off a series of comment from my side. Soon, I was great fan of her blog. Why am I telling all this? Well, just to let you know that maintaining a healthy relationship with your readers means it all!

Whenever someone posts a comment on your blog, please try to respond back. It will encourage him to continue the conversation and keep coming back. This way, you’ll convert a one time visitor into a loyal visitor. Wordpress users are lucky because there is a prefabricated plugin called Comment Relish which automates the whole process of maintaining good relationship with your first time commentators, by sending them thanks you messages. I tested this plugin on my blogs and the outcome was very successful.

To keep the conversation going, you need to notify your commentators if someone responds to their comment. The most conventional approach would be to provide RSS feed for comments, but not everyone is educated about RSS. So, providing an email alternative to RSS makes complete sense. Yet again, Wordpress users are in advantage here because a plugin called subscribe to comments painlessly adds email alternative to track new comments.

In a few cases, readers look for an incentive to comment. In such cases, providing a free linkback to the top commentators come beneficial. If you are using Wordpress, you could do that using Top Commentators plugin, else you just might need to hand code all the links.

14 Responses to “ Chemistry behind converting one time visitor into a loyal reader -By Thilak Raj Rao ”

1. 
   KCLau Says:
   April 17th, 2007 at 7:28 am

   Thanks for your sharing.
   I am using wordpress to power my blog and I am really grateful to have your recommendation of the above useful plugins. I have been in the financial service industry for 4 years. I totally agree that long term customer keep us where we are nowadays.
   Wish to see more from you.

2. 
   Liz Strauss Says:
   April 17th, 2007 at 2:00 pm

   Hi Thilak,
   Great to see you here. Don’t discount yourself you are indeed a blog expert. You know plenty about blogs and how they work. You’ve even recovered from being been hacked by a famous hacker — not everyone can say that! Thank you for your generous hat tip in my direction . . . you are 1/2 of that relationship. Never forget that. :)

   I agree with the solid advice you lay out here. Every word is value added and the plug-ins are great finds for those who read this.
   Bravo!
   Liz

3. 
   copernicus81 Says:
   April 17th, 2007 at 2:17 pm

   Great tips Thilak! I think if you are part of BlogBash, you are a Guru!!

4. 
   Justin Shattuck Says:
   April 17th, 2007 at 2:29 pm

   @Thilak:

   Wonderful post mate, appreciate the reference as well. Comment Relish has come a bit from a simple idea I had one day to actually making it into a publicly released plugin. I’ll be updating soon. Your blog(s) rock my socks and I’m a huge fan.

   Thanks again mate!

5. 
   MasterBlaster Says:
   April 17th, 2007 at 2:35 pm

   Fantastic post Thilak! It’s funny, because I never actually thought about comments that way before. I try to respond to comments as quickly as possible, but I never really solidified the idea of “dialog” in my mind.

   @Justin - software sounds cool man. I’ll have to check it out. :)

6. 
   Thilak Says:
   April 18th, 2007 at 4:22 pm

   Thanks everyone, thanks for responding. I’ll need to convince Chitika to add those plugin here. :D

7. 
   Darin Says:
   April 28th, 2007 at 8:35 pm

   I love Tech-Buzz.net … great content … always fresh … new … innovative … just a great blog … Keep it up Raj !

   Darin

8. 
   Make Money Online: Weekly updates 28-April-2007 Says:
   April 29th, 2007 at 4:23 pm

   [...] Thilak Raj Rao, Tech-Buzz.net - Chemistry behind converting one time visitor into a loyal reader [...]

9. 
   1 Says:
   May 18th, 2007 at 7:20 pm

   asefasdf

10. 
    Sreejith Says:
    May 25th, 2007 at 1:33 pm

    Fortunately, I do all the stuff you said here, Thilak. Except I don’t use Comment Relish. Thanks for sharing but I think there’s a lot more you could’ve included.

11. 
    tcpzynvuxk Says:
    June 20th, 2007 at 11:18 pm

    Hello! Good Site! Thanks you! ouwezourou

12. 
    Apply food stamp Says:
    September 22nd, 2008 at 1:18 am

    I wanted to research this subject and write a paper. Your post what a thousand words would not. Nice job.

13. 
    Leo Says:
    November 6th, 2008 at 12:53 am

    And the answers to kommety be?

14. 
    alex Says:
    December 9th, 2008 at 6:44 pm

    save to my Bookmarks )

Comments are closed. Please direct all feedback to the feedback form.