5 Ways to Distribute Wealth Back to Readers

“Wealth” is a term that is thrown out a lot, especially during harder times.  It is a term that can have completely opposite meanings depending on who you talk to and the situation that they are in.  To the wealthy, it typically means having a lot of money and material possessions, while to the poor and needy, it may mean that they are able to purchase enough food for on the table.

Thinking about the way bloggers approach others and help (or hinder) the efforts of others, it is important to remember that to a degree, everyone is equal, and no blogger truly deserves to preside over others; nearly everyone has common goals, whether that may be to make money or simply provide an outlet for spreading their thoughts.

With the advent of social networking and other services, which have helped contribute to the growth of blogging both as a hobby and profession.  Today, communication between people through the social media sites (Twitter and Facebook, and StumbleUpon, to name just a few) has led to new advantages in blogging networks, as well as made the process of connecting to others for the purpose of blogging easier.

However, like in society, “social” classes have formed in the blogosphere - bloggers that don’t have much content/little revenue/few followers, up to those that make six figures a year with thousands of readers and content that dates back several years.  In most cases, these bloggers “stay” in their “sphere” and tend to only associate themselves (while I would likely do the same) with people they know are trustworthy and will only help advance and grow their blog, distributing traffic among each other.

There are a few ways you can curb this trend, while it won’t be to a large scale.  You can give back your earnings to your most devoted readers, gain traffic, and produce a win-win situation for you and the visitors that frequent your site.

1. Run promotions or contents that reward members for commenting.  You can put a percentage of your blog’s earnings or request sponsors for the contest, and offer an equal opportunity for all to get a chance to enter the promotion (spread over a month, make it simple to complete, etc.).
2. Join social networking sites so others can stay updated with new content that you produce, which will also allow you to grow from a small-time blogger to the path of an A-lister.   Even if you haven’t established a connection with people beforehand, it can be useful to create blog-only accounts to keep your blog and personal contacts separate.
3. Integrate tools into your site, ranging from social networking icons and MyBlogLog-type widgets, which help readers further connect with you and your site.  These can add value to your blog if used sparingly, and makes it easier for your content to be distributed (in good ways, of course) throughout the web.
4. Reward frequent commentators by placing “Most Commented” sidebar areas and be sure to respond/feature their posts in some way more often than people who have only commented once or twice.  These people have helped build your blog, so you are doing a disfavor to them if you do not reward them in the end.
5. Finally, make your voice heard that you appreciate the frequent visitors by providing an alternative or subscribers-only newsletter, which helps build an “insider” audience, further helping promote your blog (as you can promote your RSS feed by saying “Subscribe to receive exclusive posts”).