I first starting blogging about 11 months ago on my personal blog. I would write a post and wait. Write another post, and wait. I had this illusion of a readership that was reading my stuff, but not acting. Was it their fault? Or, was it mine?

When readers did comment, I was thankful, but didn’t respond to all comments because not all comments merited responding to. There was one crucial thing I was missing out on though: the relational aspect of blogging.

A Retail Analogy

I have about ten year’s worth of retail experience and all the managers I ever had stressed the importance of customer service. If you went out of your way for a particular customer, customers would notice and keep coming back.

One time I walked into Wal-Mart (a retail chain notorious for bad customer service). One of the employees noticed me and asked if I needed help finding anything. I was shocked. I wasn’t quite sure what to do. I thought to myself, “This guy must be new because he’s actually friendly.”

Another example is Best Buy. I approached a Best Buy employee and asked if Best Buy sold a wireless headset for a computer. He said no, but that CompUSA might. He warned, “Don’t expect to be helped though if you go there.” Sure enough, when I went to Comp USA, help was hard to find and I had to hunt down a cashier to check out.

How the Analogy Relates to Me

When readers were commenting on my work, it was as if a customer was walking through my store and making a small purchase. But was I going out of my way to ensure that my “customers” were going to come back? Not really. I would just acknowledge I had a comment and be happy and that’s about it.

However, I have tried to change my approach. It was a mistake to assume that people “should” comment on my work. In reality, I have to “earn” it. A reader’s time is valuable and if that reader takes the time to comment, I should take the time to provide some extra service to my reader. Now I usually do a few things when a reader visits my site and leaves a comment:

I visit their site if available

I like to investigate (err, learn more about) the readers that comment on my blog. It helps me understand who my audience is.

I subscribe to their feed if available

If the reader has a feed, I usually subscribe to skim their content to see if it interests me. If it does, I keep them on my feed list.

I e-mail them personally if there is a question

If the reader poses a question that is better answered through e-mail, I go this route.

I visit their site and comment

If a reader comments on my blog, I usually try to find something to comment on theirs if the content appeals to me. And if the content is extra special, I do my best to promote the reader via links and recommendations.

I’m Still Not Where I Want To Be

I admit I’m still not where I want to be regarding my interaction with my readership. I’d like to have good interaction with all readers on all the blogs I write for. It’s tough when there are different audiences, however. This is why it is important to put a little research into your readers so you can understand who they are and what they want out of you.

Thanks for reading.

This post was written as an entry for a group project by DailyBlogTips. The topic for this group project was blogging mistakes.

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