I can hear you all now telling me that I’m crazy. What does listening have to do with what is predominantly a textual medium? A lot more than you may think.
Despite the textual nature of what we do here on the ‘net, we still have a lot of listening to do. Each and every one of our readers has something to say. In the case of a blog, they say it through your contact forms and your comment forms. If you’re reading each and every comment but not responding to any of them, you aren’t listening effectively.
Listening effectively to your readers entails much more than typing away at your keyboard writing posts. You’ve got to hold a conversation with them. Without that conversation (your part is about 80% listening) you won’t get very far in your sale. Nobody likes talking to a wall.
Respond to your readers comments. Participate in the conversation that ensues. Show that you’re “listening” to what they have to say. While you don’t have to write hundreds of words in response, a simple one word response might not do it. Having effective listening skills comes in very important when you need to listen carefully to your customers to discern what it is that they want.
What is the best way you’ve found to really listen to your readers?
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