One of the toughest tasks a blogger must face is how to get readers to stick to your blog and actually become recurring visitors and even subscribers. Here are some tips that may help with this task:

1. Make your blog interesting – This is probably one of the basic premises of blogging. Why would anyone want to read if your blog is uninteresting? An even tougher question is figuring out whether your content is interesting or not. To you, it probably is interesting or else you wouldn’t write it, but is it to your readers? Here are some tips on whether your reads are interesting or not:
   • Recurring Visitor ratio: When starting out, try to have at least a 10-15% returning visitor ratio in your traffic analytics. As your blog grows, play around with your posts and you’ll see what kind of action brings in more returning visitors than other things.
   • Latest and Greatest: If you’re writing about ANY kind of trend, no matter what it is, don’t write about what happened 2 years ago…all people will say is “that is soo 2006″. Keep up with the latest news of whatever niche you’re in. Not only will you look like you’re ahead of the game, but you’ll also have really great SERP results.
   • Social Bookmarking Results: Social Bookmarking sites such as StumbleUpon are a great way to see how your posts are doing. No, you don’t have to submit every single post you publish, but choose several you think are going to go big and see how StumbleUpon reacts. If it’s a good reaction with visitors coming in time after time, its a great post. If not, work on improving your technique.
   • Friends: If you know anything about the internet, you probably know how to access your email, chat with other internet freaks, and post on a forum. I really hope out of these three places you have at least a few so-called friends that you chat with regularly. Tell them about your blog or post and ask them if it is interesting. If it is, (and it’s their honest opinion). You may proceed to step 2.
2. Curiosity killed the cat, but it works for everyone else – You’ve heard the saying but now you need to put it into action. One thing people absolutely love is curiosity no matter what shape or form it’s in. If you put an effective hook, you’re guaranteed to get a very good clickthrough. That’s how the Rich Jerk did it, right? Here’s the catch though. He didn’t write “Did you know…”, he wrote “I know something you don’t”.
3. Uniqueness – That’s what blogging is all about right? People come to hear your opinion, your look, and your perspective. It might be the same story about the same Iphone or Ipod, but in order to be appreciated you need to make it unique. Uniqueness can be achieved through:
   • Criticism – Critique that old story that’s been going around for so long. But don’t over do it. Make your audience smile, not frown.
   • Controversy – Add your own opinion. Works every time. If readers agree, they’ll say so. If not, they’ll say it as well. But make sure it is controversial to the point where readers can’t resist the urge to respond.
   • Cosmetics – Give that old story a new look by recreating its appearance. My favorite is do the opposite idea of whatever you had in mind. If you’re looking to write about all the great things about being a PHP coder, write about all the bad things about a PHP coder.
4. Honesty – Be honest in your writing. Many readers cannot stand those who simply say one thing one day, and something totally different the other day. Sure, you can change your opinions, but don’t pretend your old opinion never existed. You’re not only not being honest to yourself, but you’re really disappointing your credentials and your readers.
5. Lists - People looove lists. For example, like this one. Now what is the secret behind lists? The secret is it revolves back to curiosity. Making a list of “7 thing you didn’t know” tells the reader that yes, there’s more to get out of whatever-it-is-you’re-talking-about than I already know!
6. Quickies – McDonalds is a great example of this tip. No, I don’t mean eating a hamburger and then running to the restroom as fast as your legs can carry you; I mean the whole idea of fast food. You get in, you get out, and you’re full. The same goes with blogging. Put up some quick tips to satisfy your readers and they’ll come back for more!
7. Logical Fallacies – These are more advanced, but work on many readers. If you’ve taken a logic course, you’ll know there’s about 40 various fallacies (or more – it’s been a while) on how people are tricked into one conclusion when it should be something else. These things work great on most people that have an education of a college student and below. See them all at http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/ and don’t be afraid of the long Harvard like names they have.

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