Incentives – Pulling in a readership – Introduction

Roll up, Roll Up, free stuff available, just read the blog, answer a simple question and you too could own a wonderwidget. If wonder widgets really existed you may well be incentivised to read further, or from the title you may be invested enough in the topic to read further. I am giving two things away with this blog, a nonexistent prize, and a nugget of potentially useful information. Depending on your level of investiture, for example if you dearly want to own a wonder widget, or are looking for ways to incentivise you blogs, you will probably finish the article.

Incentives are an important part of writing a successful blog, be your motives for profit or pleasure, and picking the right incentives is an important part of any serious blogger. People are motivated by an almost infinite number of different things but there are a few general areas which motivates us all. The following cover the main reasons someone will invest time in reading your blog.

Gain

People will read your blog if they feel that they will gain something, hopefully as you are reading this you will feel a sense of gaining an insight into how to incentives your blog (If not then I apologise for wasting your time, you may go.) Or you may be really interested in a nonexistent prize (really, I made wonder widgets up, ok.) Gain is the enrichment, in terms of material possession or knowledge.

Similarity of Interest

I agree with you, your views and your world philosophy, therefore I am emotionally invested in what you have to say. We are drawn, by the basic grouping instinct to people similar to ourselves, and on the internet, because the medium ignores physical similarities; we are drawn towards similarity of ideas and philosophies. If you are writing in a niche the chances are, with the amount of material published daily on the internet, that there is still strong competition for readership. One thing will draw people toward you, the strength and similarity of idea that you share with your readership. Putting this into a personal context, as I am a libertarian at heart, with strong pacifistic beliefs, I am very unlikely to read any seriously right wing views, whatever the topic context they are put in.

Perspective

The most successful blogs (in my opinion) are ones which allow a reader to gain, or maintain a perspective. The incentive of providing a sounding board upon which others can layer their perspectives is one which work well as a style.

This is of course a very general introduction to the psychology of incentives and their effect on readers of Blogs. Coming up soon a more in-depth look at competitions (material gains) and Intellectual Incentives.

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