Are You Able to Influence and Persuade?
Starting a blog to make money is one of the biggest mistakes that anyone could ever make. Just because you think you can imitate the popularity and success of others doesn’t mean that you will be successful at it or be recognized by others, including those you tried “copying.” Blogging is so much more than that – it is being able to create the community, the driving force, and the knowledge factor behind the name that help influence others to continue returning to your blog even after thousands of other blogs have popped up hoping to see the same achievements as you saw.
Simplified, you want to be able to persuade and influence your readers. Most think of this as marketing, although there is more to it than that. When you persuade your readers to do something, you are either getting them to change the way they think about how they carry on their life (new ideas, how they blog, or in other subjects), respond to products, or view your blog (which you want to remain as positive as possible). It isn’t necessarily a negative thing. As you may know, the average person sees hundreds, if not thousands of various advertisements each day, each of them trying, in some ways, to convince us that Company A’s product is better than Company B’s. Even though blogging might be different than that, you have to view it in a similar respect.
Readers typically see your blog as just another website. When they begin reading your content, they form judgements on your writing style, your viewpoint/stance on issues, and finally, your ability to transform their mindset – whether or not you have brought new ideas to the table. Beyond this, they look at your blog’s appearance – how many of the advertisement spaces are filled, how well your site is constructed in terms of content distribution, and other smaller areas. Finally, they will, more discreetly look at the number of comments and how others have reacted to topics addressed on your site.
What Influence and Persuasion Do
Not only does persuasion help readers/visitors get a better idea on a product, leading to a higher success rate for you, it can also lead to:
- More readers – when someone sees the number of people who have subscribed to your blog, they are more likely to respond by subscribing themselves.
- Higher traffic – when your site reaches social networking hubs and people see the number of others who have enjoyed reading it, they are more likely to promote and spread your ideas (linking).
- More comments – people like to share their thoughts with one another. If you are able to attract more comments of equal tastes (a similar audience), they are that much more likely to continue reading or commenting.
- Help increase revenue through more clicks, advertisement purchases.
How to Appear as a Better Persuader
- Never appear as though you don’t know something. Don’t lie in the process, either.
- Be sure that everyone is viewed as equal, in order to have the greatest affect on your blog’s entire visitor base.
- Never make mistakes. [which in itself is unattainable]
- Do “reviews” that help others, not just yourself.
- Be sure that all elements of your site are complete.
- Tell your readers what you think they want to hear.
Now, I don’t want to come off as a deceiver, as these techniques can all be used fairly on your blog to gain more influence versus other blogs in your niche and in the market, but you have to know how to use them properly.
A level of influence is required in order to have people return to your site. Otherwise, they will continue visiting “random” sties and never come back. It is the level of authority, trust, and form that you need to have that instills in the minds of the people who have visited your site.
