The Secret of Building Interested Readers

I met Basil's sisters through his blog and it made me wish I had about six sisters. Brothers, on the other hand, I'm not so sure I'd wish for, considering what Basil's sisters have to contend with. He writes about them - and other things - referring to them as:

"the Little Sister, who's 6'0",  the Mean Sister, who's 5'6" and the big Sister, who's 5'4""

What does this have to do with what I do? Or what does it have to do with blogging? I feel as if I "know" Basil better because I read these family snippets in the pages of his blog. And a feeling of familiarity between reader and logger is one way to encourage interest in the writer's blog.

Contests, images, links, news content and creating community are all tools that help us encourage readers. But besides that, stories and fascinating tidbits add cachet to blogs. And this is just one reason I could be tempted to adopt sisters. I think they add a lot to Basil's blog,

Do you have favorite ways that blogs you enjoy reading create this kind of connection? How would you feel if blogs you like didn't allow comments for example? It would be very nice to have your comments here.

And since it's Blog-tipping day it's a perfect time to visit Basil and company, perhaps including his entry about two sisters titled Sending Headlines The Hard Way.