7 Ways to Get Readers to Stick Around

You’ve done everything the gurus told you: you put your site in the directories, left some comments on popular blogs in your niche and you’ve built a steady stream of targeted traffic.

The problem is, no one seems to stick around. They read half a post and then head out, off to some other corner of the blogosphere, never to return again.

So how do you turn these quick clickers into multi-post readers who come back to read every other day? Here are 7 Ways to Get Readers to Stick Around.

1. Content will always be king. Provide fresh, original content that sparks conversation or controversy. Visitors will appreciate unique articles and often become engaged with the content. If you’re just regurgitating what everyone else is talking about then readers are going to head elsewhere for new thoughts and ideas.
2. Initiate a trade agreement. For instance, you could offer a free eboook or application when visitors subscribe to your RSS feed or share their name and email address with you. When they share their information with you, have them optin to your mailing list. This way you can contact them with offers and let them know when you add new blog posts.
3. Provide a resource on your site. If you have a list of free services, a web application or some other resource that provides a useful function, people will use it. They will hang out on your site for awhile and, if it’s very useful, they’ll come back to use it again.
4. Site design is very important when it comes to satisfying customers. Your pages should load fast so you’re not wasting users’ time. There should be clear, intuitive navigation. If you’re not sure what colors work well, find some articles on design in general so you don’t end up with colors that are overpowering or cause the wrong reaction for visitors.
5. Make your unique selling proposition (USP) clear from the very beginning. If you’re still working on a USP then create a short sentence or two that sums up the topic of your site. If visitors can’t figure out what your site is about and/or why they should be there, they won’t be there for long. Pajama Professional isn’t the clearest name so I add “Ditch Your 9 to 5!” so it’s clear what I’m going to be discussing here.
6. A combination of site design and content, a professional, grammatically correct writing style is important. You don’t have ot be perfect all the time, but if you are always throwing together last-minute, sloppy posts visitors are going to get annoyed. If you are going to be a blogger, don’t be half-a$$ed about it.
7. Provide a list of related posts at the end of each article. This gives readers a next actionable step and they’re less likely to head elsewhere. If they liked your article enough to read the entire piece, give them the option to jump to more of your orignal content.

Hopefully this list will help you to take advantage of all the visitors passing by. A bit off topic, but who is getting a lot of Blog Rush? Did I leave out an important tactic for keeping visitors? Talk to me.