Readers Don’t Know What You Want Unless You Tell Them

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The reason many blogs exist is to convey a message. Your blog delivers your message to your reader, who are in fact your clients. You spent hours daily trying to get people to come to your blog and participate on different things. People find out about your blog and take use of the different resources you have available for them. They spend time on your site. Judging from their blog traffic, many people think they have done quite well in such cases and that their readers are doing what they are supposed to do.

Wrong! The same way you try to figure out what your readers and clients are looking for, your readers and clients also try to figure out what you are expecting from them. The mere fact that many people are visiting your blog does not mean that they will do what you want them to do. Imagine setting up a bicycle shop in your neighborhood. If you go around telling people “Hey, I rent this space at this address, visit me!“, you may get some curious people to visit you. But it would take extra messages and call to actions to make people inquire about what your shop is about, and to make people actually be interested in buying something from you.

Your blog is the same. Your blog readers do not know what you want from them on your blog unless you tell them what you would like them to do. Call them to action by telling them what you want!

Tell your blog readers what you want

While you can focus on writing about topics you like, you can also focus on letting your readers know what you expect from their visits to your site. It may be sound rude telling someone what you expect them to do, though if you tell someone what you want from their visit or what you are hoping for, you are more likely to get readers to help you or perform some action. You can periodically setup some rules or suggestions on your site that guide your users through some things that are important to you.

For example, some specialty blogs focusing on victims of sexual and hate crimes prefer that their commentors never talk about such crimes on their blog. According to many bloggers, such comments remind them of bad memories. Those bloggers are thus specifically requesting some action from commentors. You can apply the same principle to different areas of your site. If you want people to write comments that are at least a few lines long, let them know. If you want people to address you with your full name instead of your nickname, let them know.

Same thing goes for commercial blogs. Many blog readers think that the main purpose of a commercial blog is to sell something. You can let readers know whether or not you would also like them to comment on your blog, in addition to buying something from you. If you want people to comment on even one single post, you have to talk to them and express to them that you would love to hear their opinion on your post. Along the same lines, if you want your commentors to avoid doing something, tell them. Your readers probably do not want to assume things. You should not want your readers to assume things about your blog either. Let them know what you have on your mind!

Do you tell your readers what you want?

Go ahead, tell your readers what you expect from them. The next time your readers do something that you do not like, ask yourself one question before anything else: did the reader know in advance that their action was not something you would like? If the answer is no, then it is your responsibility to make sure your reader knows that you expect a certain kind of behavior from them, the same way they should expect some certain things from you when they visit your site. As with all expectations, be prepared to accept the fact that your wishes will not always be complied with, as sometimes the things you prefer may not be what others prefer.

What do you think about this? Do you tell your readers what you want? Do your readers know what you want? Have you ever been told or requested by other bloggers on what they expect from you or your visit on their blog?

Please share your ideas or experiences in the comments below. Thank you for reading.

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