Should a blogger care about building trust with their audience?
I’ll admit to not thinking about this much when I first started Luke1428. The only care of my infancy involved getting my ideas into print. That was stressful enough. Who had time to think about whether or not my audience would trust me.
The deeper I go into this journey though, the more I’m realizing the importance of this issue. Trust is the basis of all relationships. Without it, relationships disintegrate.
Don’t believe me? Then think about the last time someone you trusted and believed in took a misstep.
Your teen who broke curfew.
Your significant other who cheated on you.
The pastor who became involved in an indiscretion.
A co-worker who threw you under the bus to save their own skin.
How did that make you feel? Betrayed? Cheated? Disappointed? Wary going forward?
Whether we like it or not, we are developing a relationship with our audience, whether that is in a business setting, in a non-profit organization, in our families and yes, right here in a blog. And I would suggest that the more trust we engender from others the more potential for success we will have.