MEDIA
7 Tips to Encourage
Conversation on
Your Blog
by Edie Melson
B
logging is a great way to build relationships with your
reading audience. But there’s often a disconnect in
the atmosphere a blogger wants to create and one
that’s created.
It’s vital that we remember that—just like building
relationships in person—we must work at building
bridges online. It’s not a case of build it and they
will come.
Our blogs are a gathering place online and we’re
the hosts there. At a physical gathering, a good host
encourages conversation, makes others feel welcome, and
never uses the gathering as a place to make themselves the
center of attention. All these things hold true in blogging
as well.
To build reader loyalty people must feel welcome
and respected. No one likes to feel like they’ve been
invited to a place for ulterior motives, like hard-selling a
product.
While many of the philosophies of good hosting are the
same online and in person, there are things we can do to
make sure our posts encourage conversation and a few things
we need to try not to do.
7 Ways to Encourage Conversation on Your Blog
1. End every blog post with an open-ended
question. It’s not enough just to ask a question at the
end of the post. We must make sure the answer to the
question isn’t yes or no. A yes or no question will stop
the conversation, not start it.
2. OR Ask readers to share an experience that relates
to the post. Sometimes a blog post won’t lend itself to
a question. In those instances, we can encourage our
audience to share their experience.
3. OR Ask readers to add to a list of suggestions or
tips that have been shared. If we don’t want to ask a
question or ask readers to share an experience, asking
them to add to a list is a great way to encourage
interaction.
4. Make sure the question posed doesn’t have an
assumed right or wrong answer. This will shut down
conversation even faster than a yes or no question. If
we ask a question that has a definite right or wrong
answer, very few people will be willing to risk the
wrong answer. And after several have answered the
question correctly, we’ll find no one else is answering
because they feel like everything that needs to be said
has been said.
5. Avoid using the pronoun you. This is especially true if
the post is pointing out something negative. Using the
word you carries a finger-pointing connotation that we
want to avoid. For example, in point number 1 above,
I would never say, “you must make sure the answer to
the question isn’t just yes or no.” Instead, I phrased it,
“We must make sure the answer to the question isn’t
just yes or no.”
6. Share your own personal experience. I’ve found
that readers will follow my lead. If I’ve been
transparent and honest about my own answers in
the body of the post, they’re more likely to be
honest and transparent in their comments. Going
first rarely feels safe. So, I always try to make sure I
share my own experience before asking my readers to
share theirs.
7. Always try to answer blog comments. This doesn’t
mean every single comment has to be answered
individually, although I do try to do that. It’s
important that your readers don’t feel like they’re
commenting to nobody.
These are the main things that I try to do with every post
I write. I don’t always do it right, but my goal is to
make my blog fun gathering place to hang out with
my readers. n
Edie Melson is the author of the bestseller
Connections: Social Media and Networking
Techniques for Writers. She’s the co-director of the
Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference,
Social Media Mentor at My Book Therapy, and the
Senior Editor for Novel Rocket. Visit Edie on her
blog, Twitter, and Facebook.
Southern Writers 5