July 16, 2008
The Power of Personal Contact and Invitations to Action on a Blog
Filed under: Blogging Tips -- Darren Rowse @ 10:09pmThis week I learnt two things about blogging:
- Getting your readers to DO something on your blog is a powerful thing.
- Personal contact with readers makes a real impact
Last week i ran a quick and small competition on ProBlogger to promote the ProBlogger Book.
The competition was simple – leave a comment on the competition post that told me why you wanted the book in 250 words or less.
The competition ran for 24 hours and at the end of that time there were 193 entries (more than I expected). The entries were so good that I felt bad just giving one book away so selected three submissions to get a copy of it.
At this point in running competitions I usually send the prizes, make a quick post announcing the winners and then do nothing else – but this time I decided to do something different.
I felt bad that so many had missed out on the book after going to the trouble of entering so on the spur of the moment I emailed each of the 190 entrants who didn’t win. It took me a while to pull all their emails into an email but I wanted them to know that I appreciated the effort that they’d gone to.
The email thanked them for their comment and told them that I was said that there couldn’t be more winners. I also pointed out that the book was on special at Amazon and said that I hope they’d be able to get a copy at some point.
I was a little hesitant to mention the book on sale as I didn’t want it to come off as a sales technique (the primary purpose of the email was to thank them) but decided to do it on the spur of the moment.
I sent the email.
What happened next was surprising.
I started getting emails from the 190 that I’d sent my email out to. Over the next 24 hours I had 70 emails!
There were two main themes in the emails:
1. They appreciated and were surprised by the personal contact - quite a few readers emailed that they’d been taken aback by the follow up email.
2. They’d bought the book – most of those who emailed said that they’d just bought the book (or were about to). Whether they all did or not I’m not sure but the book’s ranking on Amazon leapt up that day by 600 spots – so something happened.
In the days since my competition I’ve noticed a third flow-on effect of my email.
3. More Reader Interaction – a number of the people that I’d emailed had never commented before on ProBlogger before the competition – they’d been lurking but never active on the blog. However in the last few days they’ve been commenting like crazy.
Take Home Lessons
I’ve been reflecting upon this experience over the last couple of days and two ‘lessons’ have struck me.
- Getting your readers to DO something on your blog is a powerful thing – this hit home on two levels. Firstly the act of getting readers to write why they wanted the book to play a big part in them actually buying it. I guess when you invest a few minutes into thinking about why you want something and then go to the trouble of writing those reasons up you ’sell’ yourself on actually buying it. Secondly – the act of making a first comment on a blog can often be enough to make a lurking reader an active reader. I’ve noticed this before – people often feel shy about commenting but once they take the step to do so they open the flood gates.
2. Personal contact with readers makes a real impact – this is something I’ve known for a long time but have had to re-learn many times. It can be difficult to interact with all of your blog’s readers but when you do it can really impact them and help them to become more loyal to your blog.
Read more tips like this from Darren Rowse at ProBlogger Blog Tips
July 16th, 2008 at 10:18 pm
They are two great lessons. Kudos to you for taking the time out to respond to that many emails.
Congrats with the Amazon spike too!!
July 16th, 2008 at 10:20 pm
First of all, this is a great post. Interacting with your readers, your fans, is powerful. Don’t hesitate to contact them, with honest heartfelt feedback. But never spam them, or do anything that looks like spam. I appreciate the confirmation of many of the things I already knew intuitively.
Second, I love scribefire. Greatest blogging tool yet. I can’t live without it.
July 16th, 2008 at 10:22 pm
And it shows you have real loyal readers who care about you and what you write. Great post Darren
July 16th, 2008 at 10:23 pm
I’m always trying to look for ways to attract users and readers to comment on my site, and agree that the personal contact with readers makes a real impact plus establishes a trust. My problems are actually getting people to leave comments.
Great learning shared, cheers James
July 16th, 2008 at 10:35 pm
It’s great that you can connect with so many of your readers on a personalized note. I am one of your many readers/subscriber to the Problogger blog (haven’t bought the book yet) your great content and insights keeps me coming back to your site for more.
July 16th, 2008 at 10:37 pm
Ooof, thanks for this link. I didn’t email you back, but I was one of the first commenters on your post announcing the winners. Does that count?
On the subject of the 193 emails, how did you extract the data? I guessed some Yahoo Pipes or Perl script did it, but maybe there’s a tool I don’t know about. Like ScribeFire; never heard of it before, so thanks again!
July 16th, 2008 at 10:48 pm
Great post!
I believe that there are different levels of relationship with readers. I don’t have a lot of readers, but I try to treat each and everyone as if they were personal friends. On the other hand I get really disapointed when write to the author of a blog I like and get no answer back.
July 17th, 2008 at 3:51 am
It is the whole point and I get stronger on it everyday. The internet is know different to any other business/communication tool we have. Dialogue polite and useful makes all the difference. Successful communicators and business people in the “real” world have always worked that way. Nothing really changes in the virtual world.
July 17th, 2008 at 7:12 am
You have sparked a new idea….Thanks a bunch for this info. I never really thought about this deeply and I’ve entered two contest like this. They weren’t selling a book, and I didn’t win, but I did join affiliate programs from each site through their links…. So your post gave me several ideas for contest, and reminds to pay attention to contest that capture my interest.
Thanks again and Happy Blogging
July 18th, 2008 at 5:02 pm
test comment
July 21st, 2008 at 6:20 am
It is a very good idea to give contest but make sure that those contest really attracts people.
As what you have done, you enticed people through a commenting contest and was able to produce more and more loyal readers. Actually, i am one of problogger subscribers. And i am greatly amazed by the posts that Darren is making.
Maybe i can contact him sometime to get personal comment and suggestions in improving my site.
Thanks again for giving us this idea.
Charles
http://www.resourcesandmoney.blogspot.com
July 21st, 2008 at 9:06 am
Great Post – the more you can communicate with readers the better!
July 21st, 2008 at 8:48 pm
This is a very useful post, thank you for sharing this grate tips. It’s really wonderful to see how much effort you put in to your work e-mailing 190 people. I know I would never do it just to say “thanks” but now I see it’s probably worth of the time spent.
July 27th, 2008 at 7:55 am
I’ve just discovered this blog – and only recently, Scribefire. Good post, good journal and most excellent (and powerful) software. Thank you.
And yes, personal contact is so important, as the web has ballooned into such a monster, especially. Kudos for the initiative.
July 30th, 2008 at 7:35 pm
I don’t get a lot of traffic to my blog (yet?), so consequently not many comments. But since I appreciate blogs where the author does respond to comments I usually make it a point to respond to the ones I get, too. And I appreciate what you shared, something to keep in mind!
September 10th, 2008 at 10:56 am
I’m a first timer, to this blog, I have not post a blog as of yet but look forward to doing so. Interacting with your reader is key to reader retention. The why? and because touch on the emotional side of the reader and the benefits keep them reading. for more of what you are asking them to do. Good luck fellow bloggers