One of the biggest questions a lot of new bloggers ask is this:

How the heck do you get people to read your blog consistently?

For many of you, you’re so fed up and bored of feeling like you’re writing to no one, only to publish another post and get radio silence again.

This used to be me when I first started blogging and it was a tough old ride for a while.

But you want to know a secret? It’s not as tough to get consistent readers as you think. I’ve found this to be true especially over the past year as I redefined my purpose, and now my readers are more consistent than ever. I remember one of the first ever consistent readers I got - she used to comment on nearly all of my posts and tweet me all the time. From then on I picked up more and more readers.

CUT OUT THE GUESSWORK

It can become so easy to start doubting yourself and wondering why your community and readership isn’t growing.

It might be that you aren’t creating the right content for your audience. It could be that you aren’t promoting yourself enough, which means you also might not be interacting as much as you could on social media (and believe me, engaging in the community is KEY to growing your audience as a blogger, which we’ll get onto later).

If you’re a new blogger and you’re not sure how to take that next big step, here are three things you need to do in order to make sure your readers keep coming back time and time again.

#1 | OVER DELIVER

This one is a no brainer - under promise and over deliver. If you can do this in each and every blog post you publish, I can assure you that you’ll start to get consistent readers.

But how do you over deliver when you think you already do enough as it is and you don’t want to waste anymore valuable time?

For me, I like to include a pinnable image, provide plenty of other images and screenshots (readers like to consume things in small chunks so this ensures my posts are easy to read), and above all, make sure they can take action.

When you include a free download in your post for your readers to access, it provides them with so much value. It’s exactly what I did in this post, How to keep your blog running when you go on holiday, so readers could access the most important information directly from a file they could save to their computer.

I also provided readers with even more value throughout the post by including examples of tweets and emails I’d sent. This means the headline isn’t clickbait - it delivers on the promise which has been made.

#2 | FORMAT YOUR CONTENT PROPERLY

This really gets on my goat, guys. Seriously. I love going to a blog and knowing what I can expect from their content, not just in terms of the topic but in terms of their style.

For instance, for every post I publish, I have a set format that I go through each time:

Main headline
Subheadings
Internal linking
Lists
Visual elements throughout (screenshots, embedded tweets)
Newsletter signup box
Related posts

Another thing new bloggers might not know is that there are key things that make a blog post easier to read. And this goes back to formatting. If you’ve got big blocks of text with hardly any images and no internal linking, your readers won’t pay attention to it.

Hell yeah! I bet you knew I’d have already written a post about this in more detail 😉

Why is this so important? It’s because these are the things that will impress your readers, helps them understand what you’re trying to say and will keep them coming back.

That means consistency and growth.

#3 | ENGAGE

Guess what? Readers are busy. They have more than one blog they like to read and they may miss your post and move onto the next one.

I found this out when I only used to tweet about my latest blog post ONCE on the day it was published. Now, I tweet about it four times on the day it’s published (each time with a different message), the following day, the end of the week, the following week and the next month. Oh, and I also promote it on Instagram and Facebook.

But wait, do they really need to see the same thing that many times? And how do I stay on top of this when I’ve already got so much other work to do?

I say, create a social media posting schedule. Find your optimal times, get scheduling and get all your content out there in front of your readers, whether it’s old or new.

Usually, by doing this, you’ll not only be increasing traffic to your blog, but you’ll also be freeing up more time so you can actually engage.

Is that it?

Well in a word, no.

There is a lot more you can do to develop consistent readers, but these are the three things that can help you out right now. I’m sure you’ve published some posts over the past few weeks. Go back to them and ask yourself:

Is there anything else I can add to this to give more value?
Is this formatted correctly and easy-to-read?
Have I interacted on a social platform today?

The goal is to turn every reader into a consistent reader, and THEN, a subscriber. You can even set yourself some goals if that’s going to make it easier for you to achieve.

Blogging doesn’t have to be like a fairground ride with loads of twists and turns or humps and bumps. With the right mindset in place along with your promotional strategies and your content, you can make it as a successful blogger - I believe in you!

Now it’s your turn - how do you make sure your readers remain consistent?