Lorelle VanFossen offers some insight and tips into why you might start losing blog readers of time:

A commenter on my blog recently blamed closing down her blog on her readers abandoning her. She said that was the only reason she gave up on her blog.

I believe the theory that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Blogs are not immune to that theory. Her readers didn?t just abandoned her. Something happened to drive them away.

While I don?t have the facts in her case, it got me thinking about what bloggers may be doing to lose readers.

It?s true that there is more competition than ever among blogs. Readers have tons of blogs from which to choose. With the vast numbers, it?s natural that there will be some attrition as readers have more blogs to read.

However, let?s address the issue of what causes readers to leave and not return. Source: Are You Losing Readers? Why? : The Blog Herald

Building and maintaining blog readers is almost as much art as it is science.  For me the key is to publish regularly (like couple times a day) and try to stay on topic.  It really does pay to post everyday and as you post more you get more readers, unless you drive people batty and flood their RSS readers.

Sometimes though, no matter what you do, your readership will fluctuate.  Maybe the best advice is that if you’re just blogging for other people to read you, you shouldn’t be blogging.  I still blog after all this time because I love it.  I write to express myself and say my piece.