A sure fire way to generate more discussion, sharing and page views on your blog is to celebrate your readers. While we have touched on responding to comments and questions in a timely fashion, there are other key areas that will show your appreciation and keep those readers coming back, retaining their valuable loyalty.

Here are some ideas of how to reward your dear readers:

Link to their blogs, even if they don’t ask you. If a reader happens to post their URL when they comment, or you see it on a forum or an email, its in your best interest to add it to your blogroll. Linking back shows the readers that their participation is rewarded and will also keep them coming back to your blog. They will also be more likely to return the favour.

Post their submitted articles, images and videos. If you receive any submissions, even if you never asked for them, you should post the best of the best. Displaying these works shows new visitors that you have other contributors and may encourage them to follow suit. The more submissions appear on your blog, the more likely discussion and feedback will take place there, as readers comment on each other’s entries.

Host a contest. Competition is a great way to draw people together in discussion and collaboration. This can also tie into the submissions point above. Make sure you are giving away a prize worth fighting for! The hype surrounding your contest will get your readers talking and be sure to incite some healthy (and hopefully friendly) rivalries between them.

Present a challenge. Ask your readers tough questions or get them to hunt for something and bring it back to your blog. Again, this can be tied into the two points above but they can also be exclusive. Even if you don’t know the answer, a challenging question or problem can get your readers to start talking to each other as they scramble for the answer or refute other suggestions.

Keep talking to them outside of your blog. It’s obvious that blogging kick starts many great friendships both online and off. To keep your readers involved with you and your blog, you may want to engage them outside of your site. Email correspondence is an obvious one but there are also forums, Twitter, IM Services and other blogs. You can go further and meet them offline at an organized event, be it a Meet-up group, conference, seminar or good ol’ fashioned keg party! Afterwards you can post all the great photos you took, showing that your readers are integral to your blog’s content as well as its commentary.

Sounds like fun doesn’t it? Starting a sizable community around your blog takes considerable effort on the part of the blogger, requiring them to present worthwhile challenges and opportunities for readers to act on. Forging a blog community will not increase your blog’s popularity, but can also create lasting friendships as well. And isn’t that what it’s really all about?

How do you create or participate in blog communities? We’d love to hear your thoughts.