2 Steps to Convert Blog Readers Into Book Buyers and Grow an Engaged Audience

by Maria

how writers can get more blog engagement and traffic

It’s a gorgeous, sunny, birds-chirping kind of day here, I’ve got a big mug of Swing’s coffee next to me, and I can finally work without needing three layers of clothes to stay warm.

Sounds like the perfect kind of day to talk about engagement, right? (Humor me.)

As I was talking about last week, audience engagement is one of the most important (and sometimes overlooked!) aspects of successfully building a platform and launching a book. Your site traffic matters; your social media numbers matter; your publicity hits matter; but at the end of the day, what matters most is how many of your fans will actually spend their hard-earned money on your book.

So, as promised, I created a handy one-page printable that breaks down the two things you should be doing in order to increase engagement and convert more of your readers into book buyers. It’s fairly common sense–how close are you to your readers, and how consistently are you in contact with them? Yet I routinely see fabulous, smart, talented bloggers, brands, and experts not focusing on these two things. And it’s a shame, because you can touch so many more lives and spread your message more impactfully (I’m told this isn’t a word but let’s all ignore that) if you can connect more authentically and more effectively. Which is really what the two steps are all about.

Download the 2 Steps to Convert Blog Readers Into Book Buyers printable for free here. And let me know what you think–do you already focus on these things, or has your attention been focused on other things, like creating more content or boosting social media numbers?

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5 thoughts on “2 Steps to Convert Blog Readers Into Book Buyers and Grow an Engaged Audience”

  1. I think most people—writers, bloggers, entrepreneurs—focus on traffic and followers because it’s so much easier to analyze numbers than start a genuine dialogue with your followers. Traffic lets you gauge your progress at a glance and quickly show agents or brands that you have a following. Engagement is a tough thing to measure, especially since blog comments are declining as a whole. Plus there’s not an easy formula for gaining engagement. What works for one person’s audience may not go over well with another’s. It’s one of those things that takes a lot of trial and error, which may be why people overlook it.

    1. Oh, you’re totally right. It’s easier to focus on the numbers because they’re concrete and seem more scientific, but someone could have all the traffic in the world and still lack that dialogue and deeper connection that actually spurs action (like the action of buying a book). And that doesn’t really get anyone anywhere, right?

      Anyway, thanks for reading and stopping by, Ashley!

  2. I agree with Ashley in that it’s hard to measure engagement and it’s even harder to prove. Are you able to answer that question? I personally, feel like I do a really good job of engaging my audience but I’m not sure how to prove it.

    Thanks again for another great post!

    1. It definitely is hard, and I think that’s why the temptation is there to focus so much on traffic. Personally, I try to gauge engagement by looking at a few different things: the size of someone’s email list (and more specifically, the open rate and click-through rate), the quantity and quality of comments (are readers emotionally connecting to the writing?), and the quantity and quality of interactions on social media channels. So basically, any signs that readers are actually interacting with the content and connecting with who the writer is and what he/she is saying.

      Is that helpful at all? And of course, different agents look for different things, but we all want the same thing: to find authors who know how to get their message to the people who want to hear it.

      Thanks for the great question, Andrea! 🙂

  3. Pingback: Engagement for an Author Platform | cooks & books

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