5 Ways to Get More Readers on Your Author Blog

You’re blogging consistently, but you feel like you’re talking to the wind.

Few people actually read your blogs. You don’t understand it. You’re doing the best writing you can do, so why aren’t they interested?

I’ve found blogging to be the best way to get more readers for my books. But you have to do it right.

Below are five ways you can improve your blog to attract more readers your way.

1. Have and Stay True to Your Niche

If you don’t have a niche yet for your blog, get one. Otherwise, readers don’t know what to expect from you.

If you’re blogging about anything and everything, a reader may be interested in one post, but then will be unlikely to come back to read more. If you have a niche, however, you attract people interested in that niche, and they’re likely to return again and again.

Look around at the authors who have successful blogs. These are the ones that are frequently shared and read.

Author Icy Sedgwick, for example, calls herself a “folklore blogger,” and she sticks to that in her blogs, which she publishes consistently. Her topics range from witches’ charms to mythology to myths and omens to fortune-telling, all with the same undercurrent of folklore—her niche.

It’s effective. She attracts readers who are interested in folklore and gradually turns them into fans. Meanwhile, she gently introduces them to her fantasy books, which I’m sure they become more interested in the more they read her blog.

Find a niche both you and your readers will enjoy, then stick to it. Readers will be much more likely to make lasting connections with you. If you’re not sure what your niche should be, check out Writer Get Noticed! It will help you find the niche that’s perfect for you.

2. Write Clickable Headlines.

In today’s fast-paced world, headlines are more important than ever. According to a 2016 study, six in 10 people who share news links on Twitter and Facebook do so without ever having read the articles. Instead, they decide what to share based solely on the headline.

A 2018 study found similar results—70 percent of people never read more than the headline of an article before commenting and sharing.

This means your headline is critical in getting your article shared, which of course is what you want if you want to get more eyes on it. Digital solution firm ClickGiant notes that while the average Internet surfer reads mostly headlines, about 20 percent of those will actually read the article. The more you can get your article shared, the greater your odds that at least some scanners will go on to read your post.

How do you write better headlines? That’s an entirely different article, but there is a lot of great information out there about it. I’ve found some great tips on CoSchedule.

3. Use Subheads

Ask yourself: Do you enjoy reading long blocks of text on a blog post?

Most people would answer a flat-out “no,” but I still see blog post after blog post without any subheads. This is a huge mistake, as readers will see that long block of text and decide to do something else with their time.

Subheads are important for several reasons:

Subheads Keep Your Readers’ Interest

The Internet has made skimmers of us all. We tend to scan a blog post for information rather than carefully read every word. Your headline got your reader on the page, but if you don’t have something else of interest right away, you risk losing her.

Your first subhead grabs the reader’s attention, giving your post a second change to intrigue her.

Subheads Keep Your Readers on the Page

Skimmers are likely to move from subhead to subhead in your blog. That’s good, because it keeps them on the page and gives you more of a chance to snag their attention. Without subheads, your reader may take one look at your block of text and move to another site. With subheads, your reader is likely to scroll on down to see if this article has anything she wants to read more closely.

Subheads Give You Several Chances to Hook Your Reader

As your reader skims your post, going from subhead to subhead, he is giving you several opportunities to reel him in. Maybe the first three subheads don’t do it, but when he comes to the fourth, he stops and reads the paragraph. Win!

Subheads Can Improve Your Ranking on Google

Using subheads effectively creates a post of higher quality, at least as far as search engines are concerned. That can translate into improved search engine optimization (SEO), which means that your blog will get better traction online.

How do you write good subheads? There is a lot of information out there about that too. There is no one “best way” to write them, but they should do the following:

• Grab the reader’s interest so she will keep reading
• Inspire curiosity
• Show personality and emotion
• Describe your content (briefly)

Be sure to use the H2 and H3 header text for web page subheadings.

4. Consider Writing Longer Posts

When blogging first became popular, shorter was better. Blogs were brief glimpses into a topic or a person’s life. But things have evolved greatly since then.

Today, longer posts are much more likely to score well on search engines than shorter ones. That doesn’t mean you can’t write shorter blog posts if you want to. But if you want to get more eyes on your site, you may want to consider writing longer ones more often.

“Shareable posts are over 1,000 words,” writes co-founder of NP Digital and top 10 marketer Neil Patel. “Longer content (try 2,500 to 3,000 words!) attracts more shares than short posts. In fact, more words mean more opportunities for SEO. This means a higher conversion rate.”

Brian Dean, the founder of Backlinko, analyzed 912 million blog posts to better understand content marketing and found long-form content got an average of 77.2 percent more links than short articles. Longer blog posts also outperformed short ones in terms of social shares.

Longer posts are also good for backlinks and organic leads and help you become an expert on your topic. The more beefy posts you have on your niche, the more you’re going to stand out in that niche, and the more readers are going to come to you for the information they’re looking for.

Finally, longer posts help you create “evergreen” content—content that remains valuable year after year, keeping your site relevant.

5. Always Consider Your Reader

There’s nothing wrong with writing an opinion piece or a personal story now and then, but the bulk of your blog posts should be written to somehow enhance your reader’s life.

You can do that in many ways. You might inform, intrigue, entertain, support, or encourage, but always keep your reader in mind.

A blog is not a diary—not in today’s world. If you’re using it as part of your author platform, keep in mind that you want to give your reader a reason to come back and read more of your blogs in the future. What can you offer your reader to ensure that she will return?

Think about what you’re looking for when you browse the Internet reading blogs. Most likely, you’re looking for something that serves your needs. Maybe you need help with a certain subject, you want information about something you’re interested in, or you are looking for a laugh.

Your readers are doing the same thing. How can you fulfill their needs? Do that, and they will keep coming back for more.

How do you get more traffic on your author blog?

---

_{Sources
Best, Shivali. “Six in 10 People Will Post This Link WITHOUT Reading It.” Mail Online. Last modified June 17, 2016. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3646526/Six-10-people-post-news-story-social-media-WITHOUT-reading-it.html.}

_{ClickGiant. “The Importance of Headlines.” ClickGiant. Last modified November 10, 2016. https://clickgiant.com/importance-of-headlines/.}

_{Dean, Brian. “We Analyzed 912 Million Blog Posts. Here’s What We Learned About Content Marketing.” Backlinko. Last modified February 19, 2019. https://backlinko.com/content-study.}

_{Patel, Neil. “7 Proven Strategies to Increase Your Blog’s Traffic by 206%.” Neil Patel. Last modified January 24, 2020. https://neilpatel.com/blog/7-proven-strategies-to-increase-your-blogs-traffic-by-206/.}

_{SP Team. “Study: 70% of Facebook Users Only Read the Headline of Science Stories Before Commenting.” The Science Post. Last modified March 6, 2018. https://thesciencepost.com/study-70-of-facebook-commenters-only-read-the-headline/.}