22
2010
How accessible are you to your readers?
An article by 
Recently I wrote an article about how I make my readers feel valued. In this post I wrote about methods I use to engage with my readers using some free methods. These included blog commenting, twitter, guest posting and Skype. Whilst making your readers feel welcome to your blog is very important, one point I didn’t touch upon is how accessible you are to your readers. By accessible, I mean, are you easy to get in touch with?
Being accessible is something that I believe is particularly important when it comes to anything in life. In blogging in particular, networking and social engagement is a fundamental part of becoming successful.
There are many methods of being accessible to your readers – the most common being through the use of blog comments. However there are a number of other methods which can be exploited successfully. These include,
- A contact page
- Skype
- Email contact
- Facebook Group
- Blogging directories
- Social Bookmarking
- You Tube
Each and every one of these methods allow your readers to drop a comment for you. It’s important that you can be reached by your readers, and even more important that you exploit these to the fullest.
Why should I be accessible?
Accessibility to your readers is a very good demonstration of your openness and willingness to help and engage with them. Many of the blogs I visit are run by people who are very accessible. I feel that because they integrate themselves fully into the community they have established, I am inclined to participate.
This naturally leads to you getting recognition from your readers. You will slowly start getting free leads through methods like re-tweeting your articles.
Benefits of being accessible?
There are many benefits of being accessible to your readers. Of course there are equally as many pitfalls – however we can address those later. I’ve mentioned already that the core benefit of being accessible is engaging with your readers. But what else is there?
When you are trying to establish yourself, you want to prove yourself, and the best way is to allow people to get in touch as easily as possible. Following this up with prompt responses soon builds up a reputation. Of course – you have to be working your ass off creating useful material at the same time.
For me, the benefit of accessibility has allowed me to network with other bloggers, and forge good working relationships. I’ve recently started a blog networking group with the help of some very good people in the blogosphere which I have found to be particularly useful contacts. Ultimately, if I wasn’t as accessible, such a feat would not be possible. The same can be said for my fellow bloggers who are involved in this project.
Pitfalls of being accessible?
As much as being accessible is excellent for improving your reputation, it can also be a real pain in the neck. With sufficient methods of contact, you can soon become overloaded with numerous people getting in touch with you about all sorts of weird and wonderful things. Whilst this can be incredibly flattering, you soon cannot tend to your readers as you would have previously desired.
To work around this, I try to visit their blogs, and keep abreast of what they are up to. I can then relate that to something they have said. Often the best place to do this is through blog commenting, which I personally find is the easiest way, beyond Skype, to keep in touch with particular topics. Of course, I’m not going to post random garbage in the middle of an awesome set of comments – but I hope you get what I mean.
I think I’m quite accessible to my readers, and really enjoy engaging with them whether its through Twitter, or Skype or however else. How accessible are you to your readers? What methods do you use? Do you prefer a few quick tweets, or using Skype? Have you any suggestions on how I could make myself more accessible?
I look forward to your feedback,
Mark
Image Credit – courosa
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About the Author: Mark Bell
Mark is a research engineer by profession, with a passion for helping people succeed. He is a self-taught web developer. At his Bloggers Journal, Mark writes openly about his efforts to realise the "internet lifestyle".
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How accessible are you to your readers?…
Being accessible is something that I believe is particularly important when it comes to anything in life. In blogging in particular, networking and social engagement is a fundamental part of becoming successful…
Accessibility is very important it you are a social blogger over a search engine blogger – but it is important to value your time.
I could imagine that bloggers like Darren Rowse would get contacted a heap of times during the day from every angle and I am guessing that he just has to pick and choose how and when to respond.
But personally I believe that making yourself available to your readers is important because it builds networking opportunities and also builds your credibility with the people who contact you.
Hey Tom,
I like how you have differentiated between a social blogger and a search engine blogger.
I would say Darren has a serious amount of mail – I can’t imagine. But yeah, I’d say he has to choose somehow to respond to some, if not all of it. Maybe I should ask him!
ok there is a lot of difference between a social blogger and search engine blogger…but you can be a good social blogger but to be a popular social blogger you have to do some kind of search engine blogging…
Hi Mark,
This is a great post and demonstrates your own passion to engage in the proper way with your readers.
I also personally find that having them as a reader is one thing using the system you mentioned and having them comment on your blog actively is another skill set.
Hey Dan,
I hear what you’re getting at. People will read, and be comfortable with that. But as you say, getting them to comment on your blog is a whole new level and different breed of reader.
I think the hardest part is converting a reader to an engager.
Totally agree Mark. I recently tried to get in contact with about twenty bloggers. Most were easily accessible, but some seemed to have gone to extra lengths to be unaccessible… strange. It doesn’t build community. And in response to your above comment, I completely agree… converting a reader to engager is the “hardest part”… (and in some cases it will never happen!) People are inherently consumers… developing a contributor mindset doesn’t come naturally.
Hey Daniel,
I can understand people’s wishes to some degree of anonimity – but by participating in what is essentially another form of social media, why hide yourself to the degree of being unaccessible?
I like to think I’m quite accessible, and I am always striving to improve that because like everyone who has commented here, engagement with our readers makes us better bloggers.
Ask yourself why would you want to go to London?
There are many reasons. There are lots of things to do in London like visit: the London Eye, Big Ben, Dowling Street, Buckingham Palace and The London Tower Bridge just to name a few.
Hold that thought for one moment and compare that to your blog. A great blog should have lots to do like interact with others, learn great new concepts, add video, add audio, RSS feeds and even opinion polls.
Think of all the ways you can get to London. You can go by: bike, plane, train, Eurostar, coach, walk, car or if your very rich use helicopter.
There are hundreds of roads that lead to London, you have the M25, M1, M3 and M4 tro name a few. In the world of new media your Twitter, FaceBook, Linkedin, guest posts and content creation are the motorways to your blog.
Blog comments are small roads you may get one or two visits. However, my point is how many paths can you get to a city or town and how many ways can you get to a blog?
James, that’s an awesome response, that should really be expanded into a blog post in its own right!
You are exactly right however, there should be many ways to reach the destination, or your blog. It’s hard enough getting recognition without casting a wide catchment.
The problem with commenting on blogs is that it’s only the start of building a relationship. Most bloggers never get over that start because they never try to reach out further to their readers or bloggers.
I have made the mistake myself. In order to build a relationship with other bloggers you need to some other place to talk to them other then through their blogs. Email and Skype are my favorite ways to build up on that relationship and to take it to the next level.
Julius, thank you for your comment – this networking group really is working brilliantly!
Your comment sums up really well how I felt a few weeks back when I was pondering over a networking group. Comments are great, but there’s just something still missing.
I guess you could say that comments are the ice breakers, the way in, so to speak. Other methods, like Twitter, Facebook, Skype, even email, are much more personal and allow for a much deeper interaction with people.
Thanks for point this out!
Julius, I agree you need more than simple commenting, but like you pointed out there is a dark side.
I have made plain a few times on my blog that Steve Scott is a pen name. The reason for this is that with one of my previous eBusinesses I let a lot of my personal information hang out there. I enjoyed taking calls from people, interacting..all that good stuff.
Until one day a genuine “crazy person” showed up at my doorstep. To be honest that freaked me out a little bit and made me a tad cautious of being too personal.
I may have gone too far creating a pen name for blog. I really don’t fear that any blog readers will stalk me again. But I just bring it up to say…there can be a dark side outside of time consumption.
That being said I do take some steps to provide genuine interaction, not only because it deepens your message, but because I genuinely like to hear what people say.
And if they say “you are great” all the better.
BTW thanks for the nice post and you are great!
Hey Steve,
Thanks for sharing your experiences. I can respect your decision to use a pen name. It’s unfortunate that there is the dark side, but still, at least it hasn’t put you off being a blogger and having an online presence.
Thanks for your kind words – I really enjoyed your article on the myth of overnight success!
What a brilliant post Mark!
Holy crap man, who are you?
You said on your last comment ‘the rose amongst the thorns’ and originally I thought you were one of them, but now I am thinking you are a weed, ’cause damn you’re growing at a rate of knots. Glad to be on board – if this post is anything to go by… andthe URL!!
What the?!? How did you manage to score THAT! Brilliant – you are really on your way man, and I KNOW you are actively walking the walk on this post too.
(I need to talk to you more, anything to slow you down
)
Hey Alex,
Lovin’ the use of the keywords! Glad you enjoyed the post – I really should get my ass in gear and do that post for you!
Got the domain a while back – I probably should do some sort of blog post on it.
Thanks for your encouraging words – I’ll probs catch up with you on Skype later
Hi Mark,
I think that Accessibility comes down to your being at your “Post” every day and letting people know your there. Let’s call in visibility.
By the way, I thought I had a premium name. Congrats on “Bloggers Journal”. That’s a smokin’ hot name!
Hey Jeffrey,
Thanks for your awesome comment on the new domain name!
That’s an excellent way of putting it. Visibility. That’s just it – you need to be seen to be approached. I like this, cheers mate
I think it is very important to be able to communicate and connect with your readers. It helps you learn about their personalities and shows you who you are writing for. Great post!
Hey Mandeep,
That’s a great point you make. If you can learn from your readers about their personalities, you can also tailor your posts a little – hopefully producing some comments and great networking opportunities.
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How accessible are you to your readers?…
Being accessible to your readers is important – it’s good to network. But how easy is it for your members to get in touch with you?…
I assume it is extremely important to have the opportunity to talk and connect with your readers. It assists you understand about their personalities and reveals you who you are writing for. Good post!
Hey,
That’s it exactly. Knowing your readers is fundamentally important
Hi Mark,
You wrote this on August 22nd and are still (after 2 months) receiving comments. Talk about engagement with your readers. I like your article. Thanks for sharing it.