Go out of your way to publicly (and privately) celebrate and acknowledge your readers and you’ll find the impact is twofold:

• The readers that you acknowledge will become more loyal to you. It’s pretty simple really – we like it when people value us.
• Other readers respond well to your acknowledgment of other readers like them and you create a culture where everyone feels valued even when they are not specifically highlighted. I find that readers respond really well when you take a break from writing on the news in your industry or generic tips and focus in on people.

Make your readers famous by linking to their blogs, highlighting their work, publishing their thoughts, sending your readers to comment on their work and praising them wherever you can and you’ll find the impact both upon others and your own blog to be significant.

Another way to make yourself more relatable to readers is to highlight your humanity by showing when you’re less than perfect.

One of the problems of blogging is that it can create (intentionally or unintentionally) ‘spin’ around a person that gives readers the impression of ‘super hero’ status.

Ask yourself - when was the last time you wrote about a mistake you made?

I find it very easy to write about my successes and strengths – but quite naturally avoid sharing my short fallings. The problem is – that I regularly mess up and make mistakes. If I never mention these and only highlight the good stuff the image that I portray to others becomes quite one dimensional and eventually un-relatable.

Share your some of your (relevant) short comings and the lessons that you’ve learned from your mistakes and you not only present readers with a great case study – but you show them that you’re actually similar to them also.

You might want to have some balance with this strategy of course – posting everyday about a mistake you’ve made might not be the best way of showing your expertise on a topic or build credibility but the occasional story of a lesson learnt through falling on your face can be well worth posting. The key is to not just highlight the mistake but to show what you’ve learned and how others might avoid it too.

Earlier today I wrote about how adding a Byline to a blog helped increase the personal interactions between blogger and reader.

At around the same time we added a photo the blogger I was working with to the top of his sidebar and wrote a one sentence line introducing who he was and what his blog was about. We also added a second ‘about page’ (so he ended up with an about page for his blog and a personal about page – similar to the way I’ve done it here at ProBlogger). His personal about page had more pictures of him.

Once again – the feedback from readers was immediate. Not only did they have a name to connect posts to but a face.

I noticed a similar thing on the few times that I’ve experimenting with video blogging here at ProBlogger. I was amazed by the number of comments left on video blogs and the way that people responded in very positive ways. I really need to find more time for more video.

A few months ago I was consulting with a blogger who was getting a reasonable number of visitors to his blog each day but who was getting very low levels of commenting and reader interaction.

Over time we made a number of changes to his blog with some success but one thing I suggested was to move his byline (his name) from the bottom of each post (where it was very small and buried among other details) to the top, just under the post title where it was more prominent.

The result was almost immediate and the blogger concerned reported to me a week later that he started getting much more personal feedback from readers in the form of comments and emails. His overall comment levels jumped by around 50% and they often included his name. It seemed that previously no one really knew who wrote his blog and that just by highlighting his name readers became more sticky and willing to participate.

I wouldn’t guarantee a 50% increase in comments on every blog that did this – but I suspect that it might help.

Perhaps one of the simplest ways of adding a personal touch to your blog is to share a little more of yourself than just your knowledge on your topic.

It is probably not appropriate to share every small detail of your offline life (boundaries are important) I find that readers respond very well to the occasional mention of the things you’re doing outside your blog.

I generally only mention these types of things in passing or use them of illustrations of a point I’m trying to make (example) but am constantly amazed by the numbers of comments and emails that I get when I do from readers who have had similar experiences or from readers at a similar life stage.

For example – simply posting that I’d become a Dad has had a significant impact upon the interactions that I’ve had with many readers. The day I did a whole new type of reader (mainly blogging dads) seemed to appear almost over night (I suspect most were already readers but somehow in sharing part of my journey they stopped lurking and made themselves known. In response to me sharing something more they too began to share more (both personally but also on the topics I was writing about).

While I’m sure I’d get complaints if I shared this type of thing in every post – the occasional (and appropriate) glimpse into your life can somehow add to your credibility, relatability and trust as a blogger.

How much of your real life do you share on your blog?