Building Community: Post often and give your readers something to talk about

A few months ago traffic at my Freelance Writing Jobs blog had stalled at about 1500 visitors per day. I wasn’t getting many new visitors and hardly anyone on the weekend. Page views were way unimpressive. I had been so busy blogging for others; I was neglecting my flagship blog with only a few posts per week and a poor design. After assessing the situation, I realized my problem: sporadic posting.

As its name indicates, Freelance Writing Jobs provides leads to freelance writers. Every day I offer a list complied from as many different job boards I could find. I only posted on weekdays and as I got busier, only several times each week. No wonder my traffic was so stagnant. I decided to act in an aggressive manner.

Before I changed my format, I changed to a more pleasing design. Because I’m not a techie, I let an expert handle that. Now I pay someone for periodic adjustments and it’s worth the investment. The biggest change is in the format. First, I hired someone to update the job list every day. This leaves me with little profit, for sure, but it’s a worthy investment because it ensures the daily flow of traffic.
I also added something else: daily “roundtable” discussions. Prior to that I had the occasional weekend blogger or rare post on issues affecting writers. The past few weeks have seen a surge in traffic and a rise in revenue. Here are some things I learned:

• That I have a huge, intelligent community. Some posts have had 80 plus responses.
• That if you title a post with a question, your community will answer.
• That by posting every day, preferably two or three times each day, you will increase traffic and revenue.
• List posts are great linkbait.
• Controversy is great for traffic.
• My community truly wants to take part in the discussion.

I always knew I had a great resource. Now that I added a way to get my regulars (and even some irregulars) involved, I have a great community. Post often and give people a reason to visit your blog. Involve them in the discussion and watch what happens. Trust me, you won’t be disappointed.