The Mob Mentality Aspect of Readership
March 28, 2007 | Comments (4) | Filed under: Blogging
Ever wonder why some blogs just seem to skyrocket to super stardom in no time, while others, with great content, toil in obscurity forever? I’ve been thinking a lot about that fact lately, especially since Bookmark Bliss is so new to the game. Obviously there are many ways you can promote your blog in the beginning, that will dramatically increase visitors to your site, but what is the key to keeping them coming back?
One thing that people often don’t think about is the physical presence their blog makes on the web. When a new reader stops by to visit your site, are they impressed by what they see and if so, do they take the time to subscribe to your feed?
I think that one of the main reasons blogs crash and burn is that they fail to properly consider the mob mentality aspect of readership. What this means is that if your site looks popular, many people will visit on that aspect alone. Popularity implies a sort of expertise in an area of knowledge, and many readers take this to be true, even if it isn’t. Think about it yourself, if you come across two new sites, both in similar niches and one has 1000 readers and 10 comments a post while the other has 100 readers and 2 comments a post, which are you more likely to subscribe to?
Now most people will tell you, it depends on the content of the sites, but the truth is many of those same people don’t actually take the time to really read more then one or two posts before making a decision about a blog. In the end, the popular site wins out time and time again. This is human nature. If you see that someone else has taken some of their hard earned time to contribute to a site, the first thing you think is that there must be some reason they are doing so. This leads to more readers and more comments and the effect just blooms from there.
So what can a new blog do to satisfy the mob mentality?
If you’re new, one of the biggest mistakes you can make is to load your blog with widgets that require user contribution to fill, like “Top Commentators” or “MyBlogLog.” These will just show new readers how few contributions you get from others, and result in less subscribers. You also want to be careful about adding things like FeedBurner Chicklets that show your number of subscribers. The number shown in the chicklet can turn a would be subscriber into a one time visitor in no time at all. All of these tools are great, once you’ve gotten yourself established a bit, but right away you can easily live without them.
Another aspect to be conscious about is the comments you receive on your posts. If every one of your articles is showing no comments, you’ll find would be responders are reluctant to comment themselves. One way to sidestep this issue is to remove a comment count from the main page of your site. If a reader has to click your post to see the comments, you increase your chances they might respond. Also, try to encourage comments by asking questions and actually following up yourself when people respond. You’ll find it goes a long way. If all else fails, get a few friends to stop by on a regular basis and help liven the place up.
If you’re aware of the mob mentality aspect of readership, you can quickly and easily make small changes that will improve your chances of gaining more subscribers and repeat visitors. You don’t have to hide from your initial growth, but it doesn’t hurt to keep the flaunting to a minimum…
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4 people have left comments
Agreed, a new blog doesn’t get too many chances to impress a first time visitor, so don’t turn them away
your site being newly launched has 3000-4000 visits as u said is a good thing…
I disagree. I (personally speaking) rarely visit/comment on websites that already have a large amount of comments/subscribers because I feel that my ‘voice’ will simply get lost in the crowd.
Case in point: this post only has two comments. I am commenting because nobody else has said what I want to say, not because you have a high alexa rank or because you list top commenters in the sidebar (if anything, the clutter is putting me off coming back).
I still believe that content is king. Write effectively, passioniately and stir up other people’s feelings and those visitors will come.