The Reader Appreciation Project

There was this research some years ago which was showing that the staff of a company fully renews itself over a period of three years. People come and go, and if you have the curiosity to pay a visit to your former colleagues after a few years, you may end up with the surprise of not knowing anybody in that company anymore.

Thinking at myself as a blog reader, one of the things I notice immediately is that the list of blogs I read has almost completely changed over the past two years. Although I watch on average 100 blogs (or more), the ones which are still on my favorites list can be counted on one hand’s fingers only.

I don’t remember when I’ve lost interest in some blogs and how long it did take until I wasn’t interested in them anymore. However, I believe that for most of the blogs, my lifespan as a reader last some 4-6 months. I have no idea if those bloggers were starting to repeat themselves, or was it only that I didn’t care for those topics anymore?

How are you as a reader? Are you aware of your lifespan as reader of a certain blog? When you stop reading one, do you know your reasons, or it’s just that one day you discover that you completely forgot it existed?

After how much time the readership of a blog is completely renewed? I wonder if we could measure that. What do you think?

Do you still remember the moment when you published your first post? What were your feelings? Were you anxious and eager to see readers commenting on your thoughts? Were you checking on your blog 100 times a day, from fear of not answering a comment fast enough? How did you feel?

All these questions popped in my head when I discovered that a new blog was born, authored by Doreen, Jim Kukral‘s wife, and named Mom Goes Green. I liked the way Jim described what he saw in his wife’s eyes when she hit Publish for the first time. I liked this new, fresh blog, full of the energy given by the beginning. But what I liked most was the impressive number of comments.

Do you know why? Because this says something about Jim Kukral’s readers. And if I’m going to tweak an old saying, like “tell me who your readers are, and I’ll tell you who you are”, then you’ll see how much Jim Kukral respects his readers and makes them feel at home in his Daily Flip.

One of the most controversial topics in the blogging world is making money online. Actually not exactly making the money, but talking about how to make it. All kind of “experts” are raising their heads from the dark, claiming they have the absolute secret to the treasure chest, and giving it away for a measly amount of $47, or $97, or $147. What’s one second, compared to the Eternity? What’s one hundred bucks, compared to the millions you’d make if you read that book, or if you joined that membership program?

The Simple Theory Of Making Money Online

When I used to work in advertising, before developing a campaign, we always used to depict our target audience: we attached a persona to it, we gave that persona a name, a face, needs, desires… weaknesses… it was almost like we became friends. The dialog got much easier after we knew who we were talking to. Our campaigns were selling like crazy, the clients were happy, so that seemed to be a good formula for success. Was it really?

Since the summer of 2006 I’m playing with blogs. I like it. Whenever I manage to reach the top position in Google for some competitive keyword, I’m happy like a child who’s just got a new toy. However, in the beginning of this year, I’ve started a make money online project which was supposed to go on like this: write some beautiful posts to resonate with people willing to make money online, then create products (namely ebooks) which those people would either buy from me, or get them for free but stuffed with affiliate links all over the place.

How To Apply The Theory When Readers Are Looking Into Your Eyes?

My first ebook is almost ready. I’ve written it a couple of months ago. It is a decent read, but I’ll never release it to my readers. To make you understand what made me feel this way, I’m going to give you a quote from Grizzly, not the bear, but a guy who teaches people how to make money online, and who put this feeling into words I wouldn’t be able to express better myself:

Somewhere along the line I got sidetracked. I quite unexpectedly started getting readers – real people asking me questions. This threw me off a bit. It’s one thing for the conscience to slap up a page of links and collect commissions off of a nameless click. It’s another thing to make money off of “Bob” who has sent me an email asking for my opinion on the product I am flogging. At least to me it is. It turns out that Bob is down to his last dime, out of work, heard you can make money online and is willing to buy the product on my page if I say it’s a good deal. He trusts me. Oh man…

Please follow the above link and read the whole post: you’ll discover what reader appreciation really means. Reader appreciation means to be able to look your readers in the eyes. Readers are more than figures on a daily chart. Readers are those Bobs, and Johns and Janes whom you’ve just impersonated for your next marketing campaign.

Always impersonate your target. Then re-evaluate your ways. You might find a better one.

P.S.: my money making project has turned into a resources consuming one, but I’m feeling much better and so does Diana, my partner in this enterprise.

Two cannibal bloggers are chatting about their readers:

- How do you appreciate your readers?

- With pommes frites and a glass of good wine!

Two firemen bloggers are chatting about their readers:

- What kind of readers do you like most?

- The ones who set my soul on fire!

Two policemen bloggers are chatting about their readers:

- How was your traffic today?

- I’ve got a couple of readers who exceeded the reading speed limit.

Two fishermen bloggers chat about their readers:

- How do you catch so many readers with your articles?

- I always use fresh (link)bait!

Two kamikaze bloggers are talking about their blogs:

- What’s your biggest fear in blogging?

- Each day I fear I ain’t gonna live enough to answer all comments!

Two toddler bloggers are talking about their readers:

- Do you think they smelled my lie about my previous month earnings?
- No, but if you want to be honest to your readers you should disclose also how much money you’ve spent on diapers!

I hope you just had some fun. No real blogger was harmed while writing this post. Any resemblance to real bloggers is purely not coincidental.

What better sign that bloggers do care about their readers can be more eloquent than the increasing number of plugins which reward readers for being part of blog communities?

Some reader appreciation plugins offering direct benefits: Top Commentors or Last comments, or Ajax Edit Comments fall into this directly rewarding category.

Some other plugins offer indirect benefits, which are rather meant to help readers as bloggers, by offering them a small SEO help. This category includes the Do Follow and Comment Luv plugins, which are some of the “most hunted” and “most searched for” and which (especially the Do Follow) sometimes make people sign their comments with “purple lamp post” or “white beans soup with noodles”, or other thoroughly researched keywords.

Thanks to Stephen Cronin, the conversation between lamp posts, noodle soups and camping flashlights is coming to an end: The Keyword Luv plugin allows commenters to input both their name and their desired keywords, the backlink to their blog being anchored on the keywords, and not on the name, as it was before.

If you want to read a more detailed review of the Keyword Luv WordPress plugin, you can visit InspiritBlog, or you can download KeywordLuv Plugin and offer your readers a nice treat.

Due to the fact that this plugin is valuable only if it is used on Do Follow blogs, you will need to install a Do Follow plugin in order to be sure it works smoothly.

If you have a Do Follow blog, I’m sure you won’t miss all the “items” which used to leave comments on your blog. You can now offer them a name.

Several weeks ago I wrote about my thoughts on a team environment for multi-author blogs.

I argued that individuality (in the context of service) harms the customer, and the better approach is a team-based environment where customers (or readers in the case of blogging) are everyone’s responsibility.

I discussed this concept with a friend who is not familiar with blogging. He is, however, very familiar with customer service as he is a waiter at a local Mexican restaurant.

My friend is very popular among his customers, and his customers often ask for him by name. The other waiters do not like this, since waiters at his restaurant are assigned to tables on a turn-based basis. And since my friend’s customers tip rather well, the other waiters are green with envy.

This past week was a very popular holiday in America called Cinco de Mayo. It’s a nice excuse to grab some Mexican food and drink a few margaritas. My friend asked me to stop in, but warned me, “It’s going to be very busy.”

Indeed it was very busy. I was lucky to have found a parking spot, and I had to sit at the bar instead of my favorite table.

The waiters, whom often fought for customers, were scurrying around from table to table making sure everything was alright. That night, there was no set waiter per table.

I asked my friend about it a few nights later. He said, “That morning I came up with the idea. I told my manager that if we don’t work like a team, our customers are going to get slaughtered.”

When asked about the tip situation, he responded, “Even though I get the most tips, I felt it was better to share the tip revenue evenly that day. Everyone was pulling their own weight, and it worked out pretty good.”

In the end, Cinco de Mayo for my friend and his restaurant was a huge success. Many first-time customers came in to celebrate, and many returning customers came in to say hello. And, according to my friend, the day would’ve been a disaster had it not been for a team working environment.

Conclusion – How does this compare to blogging?

My friend’s Cinco de Mayo story is just a neat example of a person placing his customers’ interests first.

How do you think this example of a busy day at a restaurant compares to that of blogging?

When we talk about Reader Appreciation we generally mean appreciating the people who read, and comment, on our own blogs. In much the same way as a parent knows his or her child to be gifted, I am sure we all consider our own readers to be intelligent, personable, and much like ourselves, but what about the readers of other blogs?

The Bad

I’ve lost count of the number of sites I have stopped visiting because of the readers. I’m sure you can think of several sites off the top of your head where the readers routinely indulge in OS flame wars, sexism, racism, stupidity, or are generally unable to string together enough words to form a cohesive, or rational, argument.

So if readers can make such a negative difference can they also make a positive difference and turn their comments into an essential part of a site? I think they can, and I have a site in mind.

The Good

I am a big fan of Formula 1 motor racing. I never miss a race or a qualifying session, and there is so much to discuss that I talk about it, read about it, or think about it every day. A significant amount of this discussion happens at F1 Fanatic

When you open your feed list I imagine you do the same thing as I do: go straight to your favourite blogs and check out their content, leaving the rest for later, or at least after you have read the favourites. Am I right?

With F1 Fanatic, however, I found that I actually lose out by doing this.

If I come to a post late in the day I find between ten and twenty comments featuring extra thoughts, more information, and different viewpoints. If I get there first I miss all of that. The readers provide so much added value that it is better to wait.

For me this blog stands out for me as a prime example of how a blogger and their readers can work together to create something larger than the sum of its parts, how great the conversation with a blogger can be, and how a reader focussed blog can prosper.

The Contributory

Blog communities like these probably owe as much to the blogger for fostering the relationship as they do to the readers for coming back and commenting in the spirit that was intended. It may be that this is the natural result of great content, a great subject, and great reader appreciation.

As a reader in these communities, which sites do you value more because of the contributions of other readers? How much of this effect do you think is down to the blogger, and how much to the reader? And do you think it is possible for a blogger to achieve this without appreciating his readers?

As I read ProBlogger once in a few weeks or so, I found out about the Blogger Appreciation Day directly from bloggers who linked to my blog on April 13th or 14th as a sign of appreciation. The funniest thing is that they diverted a bit from the purpose of this celebration, and appreciated those bloggers for being readers rather than for being bloggers.

Nevertheless, appreciation is supposed to make people feel good, isn’t it?

Most of the times, it works that way. But, as in my case here, it can make you feel a bit embarrassed. The reason I felt that way was that I haven’t visited those two blogs since a couple of months ago and now they were appreciating me as a reader.

So, the reader appreciation resulted in getting one reader back, acting like a boomerang. For myself, and probably for many other readers. And because I didn’t stop reading those blogs on purpose, but I just got caught in some projects, you can be sure that at least for a while I’ll remember to check on those two blogs every other day and become again the reader they used to like. And this was due to one single reminder link.

Can you see how powerful linking to your readers’ blogs from time to time can be? How often do you remember to link to them?

I was in a local restaurant this week when I made a small observation. My Diet Coke was going on empty, and a person who wasn’t my waiter came up and asked, “What are you having, Sir?”

“A Diet Coke, please.”

“Sure. I’ll be right back.”

The guy brought a new Diet Coke back, and my waiter also returned and exclaimed, “Oh, you already got your Diet Coke. Wow.”

Working Individually Harms the Customer

The waiter that I had at the restaurant was relatively new. And unfortunately my drink went past the empty mark, and a fellow team-member came to assist.

However, what if nobody came to help? I, as a customer, would have been dissatisfied with the service.

What if the staff was okay with my dissatisfaction? After all, I wouldn’t be leaving the other waiter the tip.

The individual mentality only works in the short-term. Long-term, I’m a customer of that particular establishment. If I receive one bad experience, it doesn’t reflect badly upon that particular waiter — it reflects badly upon the establishment as a whole.

So if a waiter interjects and helps out another waiter, the customer will be satisfied. The customer’s chances of returning are high (long-term). And quite possibly, that first waiter could have the returning customer, who can now leave that valuable tip.

The Team Environment in the Blogosphere

Multi-author blogs are not so different when it comes to the restaurant mentality. Authors are in charge of their own section, and in charge of their own readers (customers).

If readers want to leave a tip, it’s through comments, ad-clicks, and links.

With a team environment, however, an author sees the entire blog’s readers as their readers. A reader who comments on one post might as well be commenting on their post. A reader who is dissatisfied with one author might as well be dissatisfied with all authors. And a reader who expresses love for the site, also expresses love for the individual authors.

I’ve been apart of multi-author blogs where each author worked in his or her own sandbox. I didn’t like it.

Now I’m apart of a few blogs were the authors are in constant contact. We make decisions together. We coordinate posts and schedules. And we answer the reader questions, even when they aren’t on our own post.

We work as a team. And I’m grateful to be apart of something like that.

Conclusion

With multi-author blogs, it’s easy for each author to work in his or her sandbox. However, a team environment is much more beneficial for both the authors and the readers.

An author’s article and comments represent the site as a whole. And if other authors jump in to assist, the reader and the site are the beneficiaries.

I was invited to the conversation, and I did my part. Did you do yours?

What I ask is a somewhat rhetorical question. Having the opportunity to transcribe Liz Strauss’s presentation, I came across some valuable gems of advice.

One of her points about why readers don’t leave comments was because readers notice when the author doesn’t respond.

Which begs the question: why would an author with no intention of responding to comments invite readers to be apart of the conversation?

Below is a quote from Liz Strauss’s presentation describing exactly that scenario:

A really good friend of mine who writes a great business blog was on a blog of a very famous author who asked a question. And she found the question so compelling, she went over to another blog and got a friend of hers to come back to this first blog and answer it. And the author did not answer the comment.

And so my friend went back over six months of the original best-selling author’s blog and found that at the end of every blog post, he asked a question.

But he had never answered a comment. And she ended up writing a blog post about it saying, “I don’t feel like I’ve been invited to be a part of the conversation and I don’t think I’m going back there.”

Readers pay attention to those kinds of things. If you rarely respond, then I don’t feel welcome.

My lone comment…

This week I commented on a post over at BlogHerald. The post was written by Chris Garrett, who usually does a great job at responding to readers.

He asked, who else upgraded to WordPress 2.5?

Several readers responded, including me. But where was the author? We (the readers) were invited in. But there was no conversation, which was unfortunate.

Why ask me to show up then?

It’s hard to respond to comments. It’s “labor intensive” as Liz Strauss would put it.

However, blog authors have no excuse to not respond to comments when they actively encourage readers to be apart of the conversation.

A conversation isn’t one-way. When somebody asks me to chime in, I don’t expect to talk to a digital wall. I never “expect” comments. I’m thankful for each one.

I’ll close with another quote from Liz Strauss about her efforts to respond to readers:

If a blog is a conversation, you need to respond. I respond to every comment on my blog. And believe me, it is labor intensive. Of those sixty-thousand comments, at least 25,000 of them are mine. That was a lot of hours.

Liz mentions that in order to have a conversation, a blogger needs to respond to his or her readers.

Here’s another rhetorical question: if the author doesn’t show up, then why should the reader?