Top Tips for Maintaining an Online Audience

A lot of people think the most difficult thing when making content for the internet is attracting their initial following in the first place – but this is most of the time, not the case. If you have the urge to start posting online content, chances are it’s because you’ve either had a great idea for some content, or you’re at the very least feeling inspired to write at the very least. But what happens once you’ve posted the initial content, people love it, and you feel the pressure to maintain it? One of the most challenging thing is recreating a level of content without repeating yourself, so how can you maintain that online audience that you attracted in the first place? Well, here are some top tips to help you along the way.

Think About the Visual Format

First things first, think about what it is that your readers see when they open up your page. If your content is extremely wordy, and is set out without sub-headings, then chances are the average online consumer is going to skip straight past it. As much as we may be willing to read a long piece of online content that interests us, if all we’re faced with is a giant wall of text, chances are we’re going to look elsewhere to read our information. It might sound lazy, but it’s just the way that 95% of us are.

So even if your post is rich in content and contains a lot of words, think about how you can disguise this effectively. As previously mentioned, separating your content into sub-headings is a great way of doing this. A lot of the time when people are doing their reading online, they like to be able to skim to get to the parts they’re most interested in, and by providing them with sub-headings, you actually make this a lot easier for them. Likewise, consider shortening your paragraphs. Even if you have a lot you want to say, lay it out in a more snippet-like format. Once they get reading, chances are they’ll eat your content up, but you have to keep draw them in to keep them coming back.

Aim to Inspire People

A lot of the time when people make the effort to go online and read about something, it’s because they either want to learn something new or feel inspired by the content. This can literally be regarding just about anything related to your content. Whether your online content is solely about different charities people can donate to, or whether you’re a make-up blogger and you’re advertising products, make people want to DO something by the time they’ve finished reading your content! They should either want to donate to the charity, or buy the mascara! Use hyperbolic and emotive language in order to make people feel as if the words they’re reading either excites or resonates with them. Of course these are just examples, but the point still stands for whatever it is you’re writing about. Keep people excited, and they’ll keep coming back for more content, simple.

Never Stop Expanding

As well as maintaining your already loyal following, look at expanding it. After all, the more people you can bring to your content regularly, the better, right? So just because you already have a decent following don’t get lazy – you can always improve on numbers. The more loyal readers you have, the better for your online presence.

A really great way to maximise your audience, is by optimising your content. Using search engine optimisation can make such a huge different to the flow of online traffic that is directed to your content, that you’d be crazy not to get on board with it. It’s as simple as using relevant key words throughout your content in order to build your links and heightening your page in the search engine ranks. Websites such as are perfect if you want to get a little more in depth information on how to make this work.

Always be Respectful

Last but not least, remember to always be respectful of your reader. Of course, you’re trying to inform them further about something and educate them to an extent, but never ever patronise them. People can pick up on this tone easily, even through a screen. Chances are a lot of the time if you’re doing this it won’t even be intentional, but be careful not to slip into it. People aren’t likely to come back and read something that makes them feel patronised, so try and keep your readers sweet at all times. It’ll only benefit you in the long run!