I have been asked a few times for my suggestions and help on getting more readers to a blog. It usually starts with the question, “How do I get more email subscribers?” While it may be one indicator of popularity and readership, in today’s world of online tools – just because you don’t see a big number in your subscriber list, doesn’t mean your blog is a disaster.
Readers subscribe through RSS, or just bookmark the page to revisit, or they might be checking Twitter or LinkedIn. Email subscribers are no longer the end-all-be-all indicator that a blog is successful. Let’s focus less on subscribers, and more on interested readers. If you build it, they will come, and they will bring their friends.
How DO you get new readers to your blog?
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Write good, consistent content
Are you writing blog posts to engage others? Is your blog easy to read? Are you writing frequently to keep readers coming back? Take a look at our infographic – The Perfect Blog Post (legal sized for easy printing!) for quick tips on writing style, and see Kristina’s post for some great tips on writing successful posts.
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Keep your friends close and your frenemies closer –
The people that you connect with (industry experts, peers, media) will help make or break your blog. The more genuine connections you can make, the more likely you are to grow as they help promote it. If you just blog on your own and then wonder why no one is reading it, it’s probably because no one knows it exists! Are you referencing any key players even competitors in your posts? Who do you want to notice you? ~Email them
By emailing them and letting them know, ‘Hey, I just wrote a piece I thought you might be interested in, I would welcome your thoughts’, tagging them in Twitter or Facebook, you will proactively be engaging specific readers to your blog. It’s like the old Fabrege ad with Heather Locklear (now I’m dating myself). They tell two people, and they tell two people…. you get the idea. ~Engage them using other social media resources
Tag important contacts that you think would be interested in your post when you share it on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn get them looking and reading! -
Talk amongst yourselves
Are you incorporating your blog into firm website? Legal blogs are a tool in which firm’s can leverage the power of social media to connect with their audience. Today legal blogs are commonly used/cited by news publications further increasing select firm’s as industry leaders. Read more about how you can increase visibility on your firms website in Christopher’s post 4 Ways to Incorporate Blogs Into a Firms Website.
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Share
Sharing is a powerful tool – are you linking to your posts from your LinkedIn profile? Are you sharing your posts on Social Media? On your personal and/or Firm Twitter, LinkedIn, or Facebook? But don’t get caught up in ONLY sharing your own posts. Use the 80/20 rule to share other experts powerful insights and news. The more you share of their information, the more likely they are to share YOURS.
OK fine, you’ve done all that, how do you know its working?
You tell me. It’s not just the numbers. Do contacts mention or recall a post you have written? Is your reputation being enhanced and are you getting more work? If you must know, the number of email subscribers is visible to you in the dashboard of your blog (with LexBlog) and Google Analytics can give you valuable insights into what is working.
Do you have any additional thoughts or ideas on incorporating your blogs into the firm website? Leave us a comment below or begin a conversation in Reach.
