How to Create a Community with your Blog

The human instinct is to herd - people naturally like to be part of a community, mix with like minded folk and live near others like themselves. For evidence look at how the different races in a city tend to live in one district or how often a group of people with a common interest will form a club.

In order to make your blog successful, and therefore to help you make money from your blog, you need to create this same sense of community. This post is going to explore how you can achieve that sense of inclusiveness, which will not only draw new readers to your blog, but also help to keep them coming back to read your work and buy your products.

Writing Style
This is where it all starts and is the most important factor in creating a community on your blog. Your writing style needs to suit the subject matter - both in terms of the words and layout you use, and also in terms of the way you address your audience. If you are writing a blog aimed at the snowboarding fraternity, for example, it's no good using a stiff, formal approach, with big words and convoluted sentences. Snowboarding is laid back and cool - your posts should be peppered with appropriate buzzwords. On the other hand if you're blog is about knitting patterns and your target audience is middle aged and older ladies, then using the word "dude" at the end of each sentence would be a mistake! So you need to get the language right. But you also need to develop the technique of speaking to the individual, and this is all about how you address the audience.

A great way to do this is to create an imaginary friend! Give your friend a name and endow him or her with the typical attributes of the type of person you would like to be reading your blog. Now you need to go into some detail here - know what they look like, know when they read your stuff, try to put as much color into their existence as you can - you can do it, you're a writer, after all - imagination comes easily to you. Now when you write, do so for your new friend, as though you are writing specifically for him or her. You'll find this makes your posts more relevant, and much more personal.

Get Busy on Comments
Respond quickly to comments and use people's names in the replies. Although people are sometimes primarily commenting for personal reasons, a response will bring them back for more, and if you can get a debate going on a topic, it will help to create a feeling that it is their site as much as yours. Encourage comments by posing questions to your audience and asking for their feedback or advice.

Newsletter Contact
If you don't already have an opt in newsletter, then you need to create one now. People who sign up to be part of it have already decided they want to be part of your community, and you need to give them some additional value in the form of content they can't get just by visiting the site.

Be Visible off your Blog
You have to be "seen" on social media sites like Twitter, Digg, Facebook and so on. This helps to make you a part of your own community and regular readers will be pleased to see you using other media in the same way as they do.

Visit your Reader's own Sites
Pay them back by spending time on their sites and adding comments. You'll find that their readers will then visit your blog, and as you all get to know each other the community of like minded people will build.

Tune in to your Readers
By following them on Twitter, by reading the same things they do, by staying abreast of what's important in your topic area, you'll be able to "tune in" to what matters and write content that is topical for them. If you're on the pace with what matters to people, it's an easy step for them to feel a part of your community.

Have a Stance in your Community
In relation to the community you are trying to create, what are you? A guru? An expert? A gifted amateur? A novice learning about it? You need to give your posts an appropriate voice based on your stance. So once you've decided what you are, you should write your posts based on that premise. Don't make the mistake of setting yourself up as an expert, then admitting you're learning along with your readers. Over time, you can develop from one stance to another, but not from day to day.

Let your Readers Guest Post on your Blog
Invite your readers to submit to your blog - there is nothing more inclusive than allowing them to actually write the content, and in fact some of the most successful sites have as much content written by others as by the "owner". Not only will this make them feel a part of your blog's community, but it will also help to promote your blog to their readers as well.

Have you found other ways of creating a community of people with your blog? What attracts you to join a blog's community?

Please join my community here at Mike's Life - just put your details into the form at the top right of this page.