7 Tips to Let Your Readers Know Your Listening

June 6, 2010 - PRLog -- Do you have your methods to let your listeners know your paying attention to them? If not, here are some that you can use, and even if you do, I hope these ideas strengthen your initial thoughts and help you expand on them.

Ok, let's check these out.

1.  Reply to emails (minus spam and bogus requests)

I would say if any of us display a way of letting our readers know we are listening, email tends to be that method.  It's a great way for one on ones with questions they have, or a way to engage with your readers.

The only thing I may suggest is to lay down the ground rules for emails, such as what you reply to and what you ignore.  This way you’re open and transparent and readers will understand why you’re not getting back to them.

2. Quote them in your articles

If a reader presented you with a great resource or offered you anything in general for an article you are writing, give them credit and quote what they offered you.

So for instance, if Chris offered me valuable advice that was worth mentioning you might say something like.......

"Chris, a regular reader on Working At Home Knowledge had some great advice on this topic, he stated that (His Comments)"

3.  Respond to comments

If your readers are taking the time to leave in-depth meaningful responses to your posts, you should be taking the time to respond back to at least some of them.

One great tip to help the reader know your responding to them is to start responses as @ (The Persons Name).  So for instance it would look like this.

@ Chris - Great comment on understanding how to listen to readers.

4.  Conduct surveys

Providing your readers the ability to choose an option for your blog can be quite a powerful approach.  For instance, you’re giving them the power to speak their mind which is a huge thing in the blogging world.  Using this interactive approach really keeps your listeners coming back for more especially if your living up to what the survey is about.

5.  Respond via Twitter

Twitter is a very powerful and simple tool to utilize when it comes to letting everyone know what your doing or your thoughts.  Well it just so happens to be a great way to communicate also.

Look for direct messages to you and get back to the reader asking the questions.  Maybe as well, ask a couple open ended questions back to them and see where this ends up going.  You may really spark up some good conversation.

6.  Follow up to questions

Try to make an attempt to follow up to questions that your readers have asked you, for instance you could see if they need additional help or just touch base to see how it's working out.  What you’re doing here is by far exceeding expectations, and gaining a loyal reader for years to come.

Tip: Consider setting appointments up in your Gmail, Outlook or other email client, this takes the work off of you pretty much.

7.  Turn questions into articles.

I love articles that start out with " I was asked the other day by a reader " , these articles just seem to grab my attention just due to the fact it was picked out somewhere and the blogger is taking the time to cover it and explain his thoughts, opinions & knowledge on it.

So I turn to you now and as you what your thought process is to let readers know you’re listening, do you use any of these?  Do you find certain ones work better than others?