There are over 100 million blogs in cyberspace now and the rate of growth is phenomenal. Indeed, if blogs continue to grow at their current pace there will be more blogs on the Internet than people on the planet, by 2010. If your blog is amongst all that noise, just how can you engage your readers so they return to your blog, ignoring the competition?

Here are five sure-fire ways you can get engagement with your readers:

1. Make your blog topical. Refer to something that’s in the news or connect your blog with a current theme.

2. Ensure your blog is relevant to your specific audience. Don’t write too generally, make it interesting to your audience. Don’t aim for large numbers of readers, aim for the type of people interested in your information.

3. Make your blog unusual. Have interesting facts, alarming statistics or information that makes people go “wow”. Don’t be too ordinary – make people think.

4. Avoid being “ordinary”. Have a viewpoint and be prepared to stir up some trouble. Controversy, conflict and turmoil will all help.

5. Write about people. The more you make your material human interest, the more engagement you will get.

If you take a look at these five ways of engaging people, they form a handy mnemonic to help you remember.

T – Topical
R – Relevant
U – Unusual
T – Troublesome
H – Human interest

So, just tell your readers the “TRUTH” in your blog and you will engage them.