3 Ways To Cross Promote Your Content And Get More Loyal Readers
- Image by thespotter via Flickr
So you write superb content on your blog, right? But have you ever asked yourself one simple question, perhaps had a poll hosted to discover…
How Much Of Your Existing Content Visitors Actually Read?
If you do I think you will be amazed! Blogs are known for a problems with presenting older but still relevant content to NEW visitors. You see – when someone arrives to your blog page, they assume that content is dated and in fact, people are used to that older content is holding less relevance!
I have seen many advices to battle this issue presented by prominent bloggers and even discussed my own ways to use email marketing to recycle your older content. And it works EXTREMELY well for me but right now I want to discuss 3 Simple Ways to Cross Promote Your Content And Get More Loyal Readers…
We all work hard on getting people to our blogs, get people to read what we have to say, get people to participate in conversations and finally – BECOME LOYAL READERS!
Because loyal readers is the group of people that form your core community and help your blog become popular. But if you have actually asked the question I have outlined in the beginning – you might be surprised to learn just HOW MANY new visitors leave your blog either after reading just one page or post or even right away!
It is called Bounce Rate in statistic packages, such as Google Analytics. Just go ahead and take a look at your now!
You do use analytic’s, right?
If not, you might as well stop reading now because you have no clue how people interact with your site or blog anyway!
OK, perhaps I’m being too harsh… go ahead… indulge yourself and read it 
but I cannot stress it enough that YOU MUST implement some form of analytic’s on your blog. So lets discuss 3 ways I have personally implemented on this blog to retain MORE of new visitors
1. Related Posts
I use a plugin “Simple Tags” (available in WordPress repository) that does the work for me and presents a list of Related Posts at the end of each blog posts based on tag similarities. Not the most advanced method but it does 2 things for me:
- Creates great internal Links structure
- Helps people find related posts – get them stay longer on my blog!
See image below:
And yes, I used a bit of custom coding to present the posts in a specific location but your Don’t Have To! Plugin comes with an option to Auto Insert Related posts for you in both – blog content and RSS Feed. Just use it and enjoy!
2. Readers Who Read This Post Also Read
This one is similar in functionality to the first but actually quite a bit different! I use a plugin called “Where did they go from here” (can be found in WordPress repository) and it simply tracks a readers pattern, such as which OTHER posts people before you read after they were done!
See Images Below:
As you can see above – plugin simply tracks post ID’s that other people read and then displays them at the end of post! Simple, effective and based on concept tested and proven to work by Amazon and many others. People love to KNOW what others are doing!
You simply provide what they want!
3. Pushing Your Content Via Sidebar
This one is the most obvious and you can do it by using Latest Posts widget available by default or using one of the custom widgets, such as one that comes with WP-PostViews plugin and allows you to display most popular posts on sidebar!
On this blog I have chosen to take a bit more custom route. If you take a look at my sidebar I have a Tabbed Widget that displays Latest Posts and Last 10 Comments. But because I want to present different option depending on which page a new visitor landed on I did a bit of custom coding.
a) When a person lands on Single Post page – I want to present the list of Last 10 Posts first and have Comments as option, because I want them to be aware of other content available.
b) When a person lands on any other page, such as Home Page, archives or anything else – I want them to see the Last Conversations (Comments) to get them involve deeper into content and go from a Summary Page into a Direct Post Page.
Idea behind that process is EXTREMELY simple – engage people and invite them to read more of my content, get people to participate in conversations and finally – BECOME LOYAL READERS!
Let me know if you find this post useful! Your comments as always greatly appreciated!
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25 Responses to “3 Ways To Cross Promote Your Content And Get More Loyal Readers”
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Whenever I visit a blog I try to leave a comment if I do not have to join the site or look for a long time to figure out how to leave the comment. When I do this I am hoping to establish myself as a quality contributor to the blog, and see where that can go.
Leaving quality comments is also a great way to drive traffic to your own blog. Most times they will leave a comment, too.
Rocque´s last blog ..Internet Coaches Series ~7
Thanks a lot Alex for the tutorial. From so many days I was searching plugin “Where did they go from here” and unable to implement in my blog. Now I can install it. It really makes visitor to read more post as I often see all your blog post shown by that plugin.
Chandan´s last blog ..15+ Red Hot Tips On Getting FREE Traffic To Your Blog
Glad I could help – and remember – all you have to do is ask
As Rocque mentioned, I don’t hold any secrets. Just don’t necessary releal everything right away
Hi Alex,
Great tips as always. I’m using “Yet Another Related Posts Plugin” is that similar to “Simple Tags”. I like to read what others are saying so your tabbed widget – latest posts/comments is one I visit when I come here. Is there a plugin for that or is it you own creation.
Thanks for pointing out “wher did they go from here” plugin. I’ll be installing it.
Thanks again Alex
Luca Di Nicola´s last blog ..3 Steps to Creating Your Online Sales Funnel Plan
Listing your popular posts in the sidebar can help too.
Rob´s last blog ..Boss Cart Contest, Final Reminder!
Excellent way to make your blog more interactive and “sticky”.
I’ve landed on your blog a few times through Doug’s and am always impressed with what I find. Thanks for making the web a better place.
Warmly,
Nicole
Nicole Dean´s last blog ..Weird Niche: Cruises & Clothing-Challenged People
Thanks Nicole!
This comment is only a proof to me that commenting on right blogs brings some great people in
Alex, that “readers how read this…” plugin is SO cool. I am guessing that you don’t use it with the related post plugin right?
I think I might exchange the “related post” with this new plugin.
Thank you,
Mikael
Mikael @ Retire Rich´s last blog ..Get Professional Help to Make More Money Online For Free
Crap, it doesn’t work on my blog. I get an Ajax error
Mikael @ Retire Rich´s last blog ..Get Professional Help to Make More Money Online For Free
I need to get such good plugin from you. Very nice Alex, really mighty cool work.
And Mikael i would like to know Ajax error.. even my friend had problem with such error and she asked me someday back…
(Sun shine in ecommerce web design )
Sun´s last undefined ..If you register your site for free at
Thanks for another great post. I’ve personally tried the first and third methods and they work quite well. I’ve yet to experiment with “Where did they go from here” plugin. Thanks for reviewing that:D
Nami´s last blog ..Watch One Piece Episode 411 English Subbed Online
Thanks to all your strategies my present bounce rate is around 69%, most excellent.
Bob Ratcliff´s last blog ..Promote the Product or Affiliate Hub, Surprise!
I’m using options (1) and (3) although I also use (3) to drive traffic to my main site through little mini product reviews in the sidebar. I love the number (2) option too as it’s true we’re always interested to see what other people have done before us so I think I’ll give that a go. Thanks for the info.
Cheers, Chloe
Chloe Alice Wilson´s last blog ..VTech Kidizoom Digital Camera Review
It’s important people note your recommendations about putting the plugins in the sidebar, Alex. Too often newer marketers for get that you have no say in which page a visitor first encounters your blog – depending on what search term was used at the search engine, or which link they followed from which blog or site, they could hit any one of your pages as their first impression of your blog.
Doug Champigny´s last blog ..Free Clickbank Affiliate Marketing Guide
Well writen Blog post! I will check out and test the two plug ins you are talking about, I think they will be useful for me!
Go on with the great work!
Benjamin Hübner´s last blog ..Bookmarking Services with dofollow tag!
The very good post, congratulations! Keep it.
Thanks for the great plug-in suggestions, Alex! I always wondered how the listing of “Readers Who Read This Post Also Read” got there, as I have personally followed many of those links. If you have an interest in the topic being discussed, you will naturally click on them, and adding that to your blog provides a further service to your readers.
Jacque LaMantia´s last blog ..Internet Marketing Success Requires More Than Just Technical Support
Hey this was a helpful post (as all of your post are) I am new at this blogging thing, but it looks like I am using all of the tools you mentioned except the plugin called “Where did they go from here. I will have to find it and get it active on my blog. thanks
larryj
larryj´s last blog ..“The Insider Secrets to Selling on eBay”
You are welcome Larry. That plugin works like a charm
There you are again, Alex, always simple FREE solutions that actually work… and work well! And of course, as always, I’ve learned about another plugin I’ll be trying out tonight!
Mike Riley´s last blog ..How to Find A Favorable Debt Negotiation Service
I hope that best way of getting more loyal readers could be writing good posts, but I know that this is not enough. There are many web marketing methods that must be used to achieve some visible results and to earn anything. But there are also some methods that could kill your blog, like email spamming for example. I’m always worry that I’ll to something wrong (unintentionally) and Google will start see me as a threat to other web users.
Thomas Catmark´s last blog ..Bird’s Nest
Hi Alex, I have been a consistent reader of your site. I like the ideas you mentioned above to cross promote content to get more readers. I will indeed add the plugin, “Readers Who Read This Post Also Read” to my site. Thanks for the information…
Dave
Dave Osmonson´s last blog ..Search Engine Optimization And Why You Gotta Use It!
Thanks Dave!
Glad my ideas help other people as well.