Before I went to WordCamp Dallas, I had never really had the opportunity to share in person what reader appreciation was about.

Most of the people I know have no concept of what blogging is, much less on how to deal with readers.

While at WordCamp Dallas, however, I was able to explain to others, some new to blogging, some veterans, what the concept of reader appreciation was all about.

Below is a fictional conversation of how I would ideally explain reader appreciation to someone who had no idea that it was.

Jason: Hey, nice to meet you Ron. I see you blog for the Reader Appreciation Project? Did I get that right?

Ronald: Yes, the Reader Appreciation Project.

Jason: So what is it? Something to do with readers, I imagine?

Ronald: Well, everything you see or experience generally has some kind of support base. For example, a business wouldn’t survive long without its customers. A television show wouldn’t last long without viewers, and a radio show wouldn’t last without its listeners.

Jason: Right, so you’re talking about blogging and readers, correct?

Ronald: Yes. Whether a blogger realizes it now or later, he is writing for an audience. This audience is his readers, and without his readers, his blog won’t be able to sustain itself over an extended amount of time.

Jason: But not all bloggers write for an audience.

Ronald: Well, I would argue that everyone who blogs is writing for some kind of audience, otherwise why not write in a diary and tuck it under the mattress? It goes with the saying that if a tree falls in the forest and nobody hears it, does it really make a sound? The same goes with blogging: if you write a post, and nobody reads it, did you really write it?

Jason: Gotcha.

Ronald: So bloggers need that audience to survive. Not only are readers necessary for advertisers, but many bloggers are encouraged by comments, e-mails, and growing statistics.

Jason: So where does reader appreciation come into play?

Ronald: When you’re online, it’s rather easy to forget that there is a human behind every comment, e-mail, and visit. Each subscriber to a blog is giving up a moment of his or her time to read your material. Every time a reader leaves a comment, that reader is focusing his or her energy momentarily completely on you and your words. And when that reader writes in that e-mail, the reader is attempting to interact with the author.

Too often, comments go ignored, e-mails get trashed, and readers aren’t treated as the humans that they are. Just like you wouldn’t want go to into a store and be ignored while making a purchase, neither do readers when leaving that comment or sending in that e-mail.

Jason: So reader appreciation is just giving attention to the readers then?

Ronald: More along the lines of giving back. Readers make up the foundation of a blog. Without them, bloggers couldn’t even dream of monetizing. A lot of time bloggers measure their stats in the terms of page views and hits, but there are readers behind every single web statistic.

Jason: So what are some ways a person can show reader appreciation?

Ronald: At its simplest? Responding to comments is a good start. Most bloggers unfortunately don’t even do that. But there are many, many other ways, which is why there are sites like the Reader Appreciation Project.

Jason: Alright, sounds like something I should look into. Thanks a lot Ron.

Ronald: You’re welcome, and good luck.

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