Why Do Readers Subscribe To Your Blog?

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Here are some reasons I think why people subscribe to various blogs:

1. Enlightenment. The blogger comes at issues from a different perspective and in the process imparts upon us new knowledge that was previously hidden in plain sight. I would like to think that my article on fool-proof brainstorming is an example of a post that is enlightening to my readers.
2. Confrontation. The blogger holds views that are controversial to the mainstream thinking and uses a combination of imagery and words to get their point across. The allegations in the posts are so shocking that they compel the reader to come back to the site time and time again to find out more. Examples of sites that confront its readers include Michele Malkin’s Hot Air and Matt Drudge’s Drudge Report.
3. Entertainment. The blogger who wants to entertain its readers blogs about gossipy news. Examples include both celebrity paparazzi sites like TMZ and The Superficial, and tech news sites like Gizmodo and Engadget.
4. Motivation. Readers in this case read the blog because it motivates them to do more for themselves, whether that be to lose more weight, earn more money or become a more well-balanced individual. John Chow’s blog is an example of a blog that motivates its readers to earn more money from blogging. His hidden message is if an evil person like himself can make a lot of money blogging with little startup, why can’t you?
5. Affirmation. We seek friends who share our beliefs. The blog becomes a medium that affirms our beliefs and comforts us knowing that there are others who also share the same beliefs. The blog becomes a medium that allows us to commiserate and discuss our beliefs. The most obvious example of an “affirmation” blog is a blog centered around a religion.
6. Titillation. These types of blog readers are obvious. An example of a titillation-themed blog is Gawker’s Fleshbot (link is NSFW).
7. Vicarious Experience. Celebrity-gossip blogs are blogs that offer vicarious experience. A reader experiences what it is like to be a celebrity through the blog postings that follow their daily living. Another example of a blog that offers a vicarious experience is a travel-log keeping periodic entries of a traveler or a climbing blog following the exploits of a group of mountaineers scaling Mount Everest (e.g., www.mounteverest.net).

There can be more than one reason why a reader visits a blog repeatedly. Thus, it’s important to identify as many reasons as possible and use those to guide our posting. Does this advice sound strangely familiar? If you read my post on fool-proof brainstorming, it is the foundation for the Visitor Grid method of brainstorming outlined in that post. As probloggers, it is obvious that if we know why people are coming back to visit time and time again, we can focus our posting and make sure we post only what our readers want to read.

Want to read why people unsubscribe from blogs? Read Darren’s post on that subject.