“I am in a terrible mood since the Vikings lost again tonight, but its time to get to Part 2 - Promoting a Blog. Wait… did I just say I was a Minnesota Vikings fan? Yes, I do admit to it. I know they haven’t had the best luck in the past couple of years, or ever for that matter, but I am not a bandwagon fan. I have watched the Vikings my whole life and will probably watch for the rest of my life”.

It wasn’t a mistake to include this first paragraph in my post for today on promoting a blog. I know this isn’t a sports blog and I have no business posting my feelings of the Vikings loss to the Cowboys. I included this first paragraph to try and prove a point. I think a reader should know a little about the person behind the blog. It allows you to connect with your readers on a whole new level. The reader doesn’t just see you are all about making money with a blog, but you have other interests and goals which could be similar to their’s. Now a Cowboys fan reading my post can give me a little crap in the comments section or mention my humiliation on his blog. This kind of reader will come back next Sunday to give me some more crap about the Vikings loss or Cowboys win.

Connecting with readers goes way beyond posting generic comments on each other’s blogs just to get traffic. When you connect with other bloggers and readers you know things about each other and you care about those things. If you’re in this just to make money and not care about your readers it will be very difficult to succeed. Blogging with the idea of truly connecting with readers will ensure you a loyal readership.

Now, there is no way you will be able to connect with all your readers, but make an attempt to build some type of relationship with as many readers as you can. Find out about their favorite sports team, the state they live in, their favorite restaurant, ect. You are not going to force these things out of your readers, but as you continue blogging you will learn things about the readers who regularly comment. I think it would be an intelligent idea to stay away from certain topics like religion and politics. These topics almost guarantee differences in people’s opinions and would be bad for your blog.

I am not telling a blogger to write about their personal life on their blog all the time. But, I think some bloggers make a huge mistake when they don’t put a personal touch on their posts. I could write about trying to make money with a blog and only about trying to make money with a blog. However, I refuse to do that and I think it is extremely boring. I want to connect with my readers and I want them to know certain things about me so they can connect with me. So, don’t be scared to point out your disappointment or excitement of your favorite team winning this weekend on a blog about making money.