How to Increase the Rate of Returning Visitors to Your Blog?

There are very few bloggers who realize that most of a popular blog’s traffic consists of the returning visitors. Of course, new visitors is something that will consist of over 85% of your daily traffic, but it is very important that you take utmost care to make sure that a one time visitor should make it a point to visit your blog again. Plus, if you have an RSS feed/newsletter, then your loyal viewers will look at your new posts and the posts that he/she missed earlier in the month.

spinning top, toy, top, Returning Visitors

Getting people to come back is what is going to power your blog. I'm sure you are not writing each post so that only new blog attendees view it, right? Here are some of the ways that you can implement in order to increase your return visitor rate:

Make sure your blog always has a happy theme

As weird as it sounds, researchers found out that lots of people do not watch the news on TV because it makes them feel sad. Avoid this pitfall with your blog and keep the tone positive so that people feel happy as they visit.

Start a comment section and encourage a lively debate

You can get people to return by engaging them in the comments section. This is something that I have noticed in the past. First of all, a visitor who is an active Facebook user would prefer using Facebook comments to express his views because the manual commenting system demands him to enter his name, email, etc. which he might not like to do. Also once he comments, this gets published on his wall which is accessible by his friends and even they might join it, you never know. This can help kick off a lively debate. You can be the “pot stirrer” in the meantime.

Make your domain name and blog easy to remember

People will return if they easily remember your domain name and/or your blog’s name. If you make it easy to remember, people are sure to enter your URL on the address bar on regular basis in order to find out the latest developments on your blog.

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Add an RSS feed to your blog

Visitors will definitely return to your blog if they subscribe to your RSS feed. It tells them when you have a new post, and reminds them of how many they have missed. It also reminds them that you exist at all. Alternatively, you can try offering them a newsletter too.

Offer them something of use when you write

The most popular blogs are the ones that have a use and look to serve the purpose at hand. If you are looking to find the most recent movie review then you can look through the millions of movie websites, or you can log onto the blog of the person who has just been to see the movie.

Brand your blog and imprint it on your readers’ minds

Blog branding is here to help you keep your blog imprinted in the mind of your reader. It helps them remember you at certain key moments. For example, you are probably aware of car branding, to the point where you remember brand qualities when buying a car, e.g. Volvo for safety, etc.

Offer people weekly updates or results

People will visit you weekly if you give out weekly updates or results of some kind. For example, you could give updates of the points table of the latest sports league or the progress of your local political party.

This is not as difficult as it sounds, as all you need to do is find a personal issue and exploit it. It can range from very broad, such as money savings, to very specifics such as new diabetic developments or party political progress.

Give them new things to share with their friends

Give them something that is both personal and that they can use. Things such as a joke/quotes to tell at a wedding or dating advice are something that people can use personally.

Start a newsletter for your blog

This will allow you to send monthly/daily/weekly emails to your readers to promote your blog and remind people that your blog still exists. It also allows you to remind them of all the benefits of using and reading your blog posts.

That's all I think you need to pull your visitors back.