Make Your Visitors Feel At Home
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So, if your blog is a sample of your brand, you certainly want to make a good first impression. Think “first time visitors“, but always keep in mind the regulars. For what reasons should people read your blog? How do you greet your first time visitors?
The Way You Write Plays A Big Part
My blog is like my home on the internet, where I write about stuff I like, my experiences, or my business/company, and I share my ideas and thoughts with people.
See, this sentence is written in the 1st person. While your blog may be about yourself or your company, always writing in the 1st person can sound like you’re always talking about yourself (me, myself, and I). While it’s really ok to write this way, a blog is also a place where people can discuss and share their thoughts. People learn from you, you learn from them.
Have you tried writing a couple of posts in the 2nd person? I’m sure your readers would like that, as they would probably feel more “at home”, and have the feeling you’re talking to them, instead of talking about yourself. At least give it a shot, those posts will most probably receive more comments. ;)
People Will Judge You By Your Looks
Just like in real life (not that blogging is not “real life“, but you get the idea), people judge you by the way you look. There are many things you can do to make your blog a more friendly place.
How do you welcome people? Meaning “visually” welcoming people. Your design will makes a huge difference. People coming from search engines, other blogs or social networks will see your design first, and then your content.
Welcome them with something that is eye appealing, something that won’t repel them. As we know, people coming from social networks will spend less than 2-3 minutes on your blog, so make sure your blog looks fine in all modern browsers. Design your blog so that people will wanna dig deeper
Make them feel like they belong on your blog, that they are welcome, invite them to subscribe to your rss feed (there’s a really cool wordpress plugin that will take care of that, which can be found on Richard K. Miller’s blog). Put a sticky note or an about blurb in your sidebar somewhere, so that first time visitors will know what to expect from your blog right from the start.
Your Turn To Talk
If you were to visit your blog for the very first time, what would you want to see? How would you want to be greeted? When you visit other blogs, what is it that makes you close your browser window and move on to the next one?
Try to see your blog through the eyes of a non-blogger or first-time visitor.
So, how do you make people feel at home on your blog?
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37 Responses to “Make Your Visitors Feel At Home”
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to make reader feed at home at my blog? i wrote my post as if i am talking to them.
I agree on the first person stuff Jon, it makes a difference, adding that little extra personal touch will make your visitors feel at home.
Keep the good work mate, take care and cheers.
Very good point . Writing in 2nd person is something I rarely think about.
Hey Robin, yep, it ddoes make a big difference, and it sounds like you’re more “authoritative” too :)
Anthony, if you try it lemme know what your results are :)
that is true, appearance does play a big role with blog design layout etc. It is always first appearances and never the content at first - it is what we are use to - “never judge a book by its cover” agreed but when someone reaches your site and sees there are too many ads? I think they might just divert away
greeting new readers and showing readers that you care from the start is crucial - creating that bond of trust
I think my blog is lacking a bit in eye appeal, but it isn’t ugly and I don’t think it repels the user. I’m thinking about a custom blog design in the coming months to work on my visual appeal.
Ian, totally, sure it’s fun to make money with our blogs, but if people leave cause of ads, it ain’t good.
Erik, your content is great, and your design uncluttered, so it’s all good I think. You’re right though, maybe a graphical header or something would be nice ;)
I agree Jon. A website has to look good pleasing first and can’t look like a ton of other blogs out there. It’s true that if you have good content, people will find you and come back, BUT what if your design is below par and the people that have found you never get to your content because your site is just thrown together in a ho-hum sort of way?
Obviously as the saying goes, content is king, but if you have good content with a good design, then you’re rolling.
I read statistics about pictures somewhere…don’t remember where, but more popular blogs are ones with pictures. So I always try to have good looking pictures..you process those before words anyway.
The other thing I do, especially for newcomers…I always thank them for coming, for commenting, for adding to the discussion and I encourage them to post again. I really like the idea of creating a community…so I try to encourage them on their first comment to keep coming back!
Deron, good point there, when you have both you’re definitely in business (well to me a blog is like a business) ;)
Robin, having pictures is great (I have to work on that), and you’re doing an awesome job, your pictures are beautiful! ;)
Most bloggers make their weblog too crowded and visitors feel nervous when they come to such weblogs.
great point vahid. too much crowding gets in the way of a pleasant experience.
jon, your blog has really grown up over the last 3-4 months. new look, but same good writing style like you mentioned that welcomes readers.
i’m impressed and draw inspiration from your blog often.
Hi Vahid, I totally agree, I’ve found blogs where content was incredible but rarely visit because they’re cluttered and too “busy”.
Hey Bryan, thanx a lot bro, I see you’re back in the blogosphere and rocking! (about that new look, wait I have a new design in the making :) )
Hey Jon,
Design helps, but readability and load time are really important to me when I first visit a blog. If the content is littered and fractured all over the page or there are so many widgets that it takes forever to load, I’m outta there.
I still find myself “talking to myself” occasionally …
It’s difficult to keep it conversational sometimes when you’re trying to expel key points about a topic, but it just takes practice (sure wish JCP would finish that eBook on conversational blogging haha).
Shane, haha the ebook is coming, soon I hope ;)
You’re right it ain’t easy to keep a “conversational” vibe while writing with authority, it takes practice that’s for sure, I’m not there yet, but working on that :)
This brings things to a new, more interesting level for me. Just the kind of post I’ve been looking for today. Truly eye-opening.
I like to see blogs that have a positive tone. You see a lot of posts that are predominantly just bashing other people or their ideas. That’s a big turnoff for me. If I visit a new blog and I see too much of that it’s unlikely that I’ll be back.
Steven,
You make a really great point. There’s a few blogs that bash everything in sight and it’s kind of a turn-off.
It’s important to make a blog a place that people want to be. My personal policy is “the worst review I can give is no review at all”. I try to stick to that.
Scot, hey I’m happy you liked the post ;)
Steven, I so agree with you!! It’s ok to give opinions, even if it’s negative, but when someone crosses the line and end up bashing someone else, I’m outta there.
Shane, hey I like that “the worst review I can give is no review at all” ;)
My design is a standard template but I have customized it so it doesn’t look like that *I hope* My header is an important part of my blog the lambo represents what I am working towards!
Hi Marc, that Lambo is gorgeous! :)
Hi there,
I’m fairly new to blogging so it’s great to read intresting advice like this. I’ve just started a personal finance site in the UK so I can pass on some of my experience (as a journalist) in this field to help people save a bit of money. I’ll be using your advice to improve my content!
Alex
Shane: If load time is important and you dont want to see the widgets why dont you use a feed reader ?
(p.s i’m not having a go or antying :)
Jonathan, this is a great little “kick up the bum”. As they say, first impressions last. Well, on the Internet, that’s not quite true.
First impressions could be their last. :) Thanks for the reminder.
Alex, thanx a lot, I’m happy you found this post useful! :)
Paul, hehe yep, first impression can be their last, it’s a lot easier to judge a website since we’re in front of the computer looking at tens/hundreds of websites.
Marc, I don’t know about Shane (where are you Shane? :) ), but I’m a bookmarker, I do have around 150 blogs in my RSS reader, I read about 20-30 everyday or so, and the others more on a weekly basis, but I do bookmark a lot :)
Usuallly when I don’t bookmark, and don’t read through RSS, it’s a pretty good sign, that means I really really like the blog, and visit many times a day :)
A great article, Jon. Should the title not read as ‘Make your visitors feel at home?
- Martin Reed
Hey Martin, yep you’re right, I changed the title, my bad. Thanx for pointing that out.
(*note to self: don’t just spell check your posts Jon, but make sure you check your titles too)
[…] shares yet another great article on his redesigned blog, Smart Wealthy Rich, entitled ‘Make your visitors feel at home‘- ensuring your visitors feel comfortable and relaxed on your website is key to encouraging […]
[…] Make Your Visitors Feel Like Home by Jonathan-C. Phillips […]
[…] Make Your Visitors Feel Like Home by Jonathan-C. Phillips […]
I recently left a comment on a blog i’ve never been to before, and the person sent me (and a few others) an email thanking me for the comment. It also included like a blurb on what the blog is about and a little info on the author. I though this was pretty cool and thoughtful, and am sure it is some sort of WP plug-in. Will do some checking around to find it, i likes it alot. That is definitely one way to make folks welcome on ones blog.
sidenote—I sure wish there was like a Wordpress theme class, workshop, or something, i would definitely take it. (as my design/code skills are lacking, but u already know this) hehe.
Missy.
Hi Missy, that’s is a really nice way of saying “hello”, it’s actually a wordpress plugin called “Comment Relish”, here’ the url:
http://www.justinshattuck.com/comment-relish/
I tried it some time ago, but it was acting funny and slowed down my blog (database), I have around 3500-4000 comments but I thought it would be ok, guess I have to optimize the database :)
you can read about the plugin on JohnChow here: http://www.johnchow.com/misbehaving-comment-relish-plugin/
Lots of great information on this blog. Seems to be popular too. I like the idea of typing in 2nd person.
Hi Matt, thanx a lot, make yourself at home! ;)
[…] SmartWealthyRich - Make Your Visitors Feel At Home […]
[…] Make Your Visitors Feel Like Home by Jonathan-C. Phillips […]
Great article …..nice