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I'll take the bait. I think my new site, MarkTzk.com, might be worth leaving comments on because I don't know everything about the topics I write about. I have tips, ideas, advice, some of which I hope is helpful to some readers. But I'm pretty sure there are readers who have additional, or better, ideas that they could contribute in the comments. And that helps create a better site (dare I say community? my site doesn't have that yet) for everyone.
I'll also add two more suggestions to your list of ways people who don't leave comments could help spread the word:
1. Email the post's permalink to friends/colleagues.
2. If you blog, link to the post in a links round-up or in a longer post you might be writing that touches on the subject.
I know I've written a good post when readers send me thoughtful email! I don't know what I'd do if I got as many emails as you get comments, though.
On the flipside, I have a blog that I co-author with my teen son, may not have a huge interest base but would love to see some comments on ways to improve it. We're at http://tennis-misfitmom.blogspot.com
I'm sure that's the norm now, but it would be great if they would take the extra 2 minutes to leave the comment along with the original post.
But as I write this I can see issues. But there has to be someone out there you can figure out a solution and allow those Twitter replies to appear.
By the way, check me out at www.gonzoblogging.com
Yes, Comments help, they allow people to realize what needs to be done in their blogs, and what can be done even better. Thanks for the great post!
Good point about hesitating to comment as a not native English speaker. I am not one myself and this used to be one of my major concerns - until I realized that some bloggers actually prefer to receive a comment with a couple of linguistic defects than no comment at all.
This post greeted me this morning and perked up my half closed eyelids (I'm a morning person but for some reason am getting off to a slow start).
Comments. Hmm....
Here's what I've learned in the year and a half of blogging, almost two years:
1. If you write with the mindset of encouraging comments, you will attract them if you leave open-ended questions for the readers to ponder
2. Sometimes you elicit an avalanche of responses and not really know why except that whatever you wrote touched a chord inside the readers
3. I try not to cover all the bases in my articles to leave room for comments b/c if you do (cover everything), your readers won't have anything to left to say
4. most of those who comment are usually your hard core fans - the rest of them don't bother b/c like you said, they're too busy (or don't feel compelled enough to stop and write a comment
5. and finally, those who don't leave a comment can very well be "shy" about airing their thoughts - I've had a handful of loyal subscribers who took forever to come out of hiding and finally leave a comment - it took some coaxing.
One more thing Chris - I've had several people send me private emails telling me how much my articles inspired them and in turn I would ask them if they wouldn't mind cutting and pasting that email to the comment section. Several of them did so with a little bit of encouragement from me. Others didn't.
Hope this was helpful.
Today is my 100th post since my return to blogging in late March, and I'm having more fun at it than ever. I think Client Service Insights...(CSI/Season 2) is worth reading because through its content and conversation, it offers a broad range of perspective regarding how we can better serve our clients and how we can better select clients that are a good fit for all of us and our respective firms. It's both serious and humorous at times; academic as well as practical, and it looks outside the PR business for best practices. We've got special guests, contests, polls, videos, you name it.
I know I put a great deal of myself into each and every post, but for me it also helps to know that bloggers whom I respect are regular readers and contributors. It's who, not how many - although I'd love to have more readers. The people who do come to CSI enjoy the content, and I enjoy and engage their comments. The "insights" are everyone's, not just mine.
In fact, comments on other peoples' blogs are one of the most common ways for me to discover new people and new blogs.
For me, as a blogger, it's not about how MANY comments I get - it's about what people say.
As one who blogs from the UK I have to say there is evidence that a lot more people in the US comment on blogs.
In the UK, people seem to visit a blog, consume what they want and move on.
For that reason, I don’t read too much into the number of comments a blog receives. It’s more about the quality of the comments.
Having said that, I’ve been pleasantly surprised by those who tell me they enjoy my company blog. In person.
Good content is good content whether or not people comment.
It also occurs to me that though I read your blog in a reader, I almost always click through to *read* the comments -- the comments that you manage to garner are always high quality adn thought provoking in themselves, and that's also something to strive for.
I wrote a post last night and this morning woke up to my most-ever overnight comments. It's a good and useful post, I think, and hopefully means that I'm getting better at reaching my audience.
And if the rest of you want to come over and add your comments, it would be much appreciated :) We write about books and reading, and try to talk about books in interesting ways rather than just reviewing. We both work for a major book publisher (in the interest of transparency) but this is an independent project and we talk about books we love no matter who publishes them.
I'm now going to go comment on some of the blogs listed here.
Now back to the original start of my comment. I wonder if there's a way to look at the comments issue as a simple function of time available in the day.
I find myself reading more and more blogs, news feeds, etc. Each new thing I add to my regular reading list takes additional time from my day, and since time is of course finite, I must allocate that time from somewhere else. Given that I'm already sleep deprived, comments are one of the few areas that can easily be scaled back on.
Further on that note, just like a good blog post takes longer than what many people might expect, so does a good comment. A "keep up the great work" comment is easy, and quick, but doesn't really add anything to the conversation - as noted above. Providing insightful comments on multiple posts on any given day can eat up a lot of time.
(this led me to the thought I bumped up to the top)
I think that's what CoComments was trying to accomplish, but did they get it? Not sure.
Thanks for the heads up on Cocomments... I hadn't heard of it. While I've only played around with it a bit it does seem to enable what I was talking about. Guess I should spend some testing out the user comment widget!
I find it very useful to have reader comments. Otherwise I feel like I am just talking to myself. Along with analytics I can tell what interest people have in different topics. Also, my blog posts are often questions that I am hoping readers will take the time to answer.
In such way I suppose that I side with Svetlana above (it would be great to be able to anchor link her comment in this case). Although I'd like to vouch for a good post I also would like to contribute to the idea myself. Else I could spare pixels, energy and readers time by simply reading.
I await the coming of "blogs 2.0" (with fangs) featuring enhanced possibilities to communicate and share ideas starting with a blog post; that the blog format itself would support the building of micro communities around one single topic. Perhaps that functionality is already out there and I havent seen it. If so perhaps someone could kindly point me in the right direction.
Btw I really enjoy you entries Chris.
I plan to set up my own social media blog very soon (currently I am operating my personal blog which focuses on traveling). So I wanted to add that for people new to the blogoshpere commenting is useful not only for the blogger but also for the 'commentee' in terms of networking. I plan to comment on any blogs I find of interest to me to help establish myself and my blog - and after all the blogoshere is a place for conversation is it not?
--MT
Similarly, feedback gives me a reason to keep on writing and producing additional content.
I've noticed lately that it's easier for me to comment on other people's blogs than write posts myself. It's actually a great way to blog without blogging, ;).
My site has been up for close to nine months now and has been a great for me. I started the blog to keep people up to date with my thinking, and then *hopefully* write enough interesting stuff to have them comment back. I am really keen to build a bit more of a vocational community, and I saw the blog as a way to do that.
I agree with @stephen hopson - I find my posts have been a bit to constructed, and so don't leave enough room for people to comment back with thier own thoughts...but this in itself is great. It is helping teach me how to actually draw feedback and questions out from people regarding my thoughts and ideas.
www.thesquigglyline.com/blog if you're interested :)
I'm not sure musicians always play for tips. Sometimes they just play for the music. Doesn't blogging work the same way? Commenting to? Sometimes a blog hits the right notes and people love to just sit back an listen as @Stephen Hopson said. Other times a blog hits other notes, or misses others, and that's when people want to play along.
Sorry for the mixed metaphors.
As for my blog, well it's only a few months young, and it's still tuning its fork. Comments would certainly help my tuning, but I know it can take 3-5 years to get that tune set down in the right key; and even then, I hope it's more like Jazz or Rock than Muzak.
I must be special, I made it into the 1%.
I find that I am more inclined to post comments on blogs where the blogger truly engages in conversations with their readers. I understand that some bloggers simply can't respond to everyone individually. With that said, I tend to prefer less popular blogs for that more personal attention. Compliments work both ways. Do what you can to thank your readers for participating, they will continue returning the favor.
It´s very interesting today to read about statistics of "readers X comments", and realy I find that exists a virtual timidity ;))
in my blog the visitors do comments when the post is more about my work or my experience in fashion. Another my day brother sent me a link that I was stayed very impressed in 24 hours had more then 2000 comments in an ONLY post, is a Cuban blog that speaks about the difficulties that they should live in Cuba... well curious... http://desdecuba.com/generaciony/
if any readers are hesitant, by the way, you tend to draw loads more traffic, if you comment...
Commenting is an integral part of joining the conversation, but the other side of the coins is that it's ok if you don't get too many comments on your own blog - you may have a more passive audience than others - but it doesn't mean they aren't there, reading your stuff!
Bravos on another fine post. Count me among the guilty. You're in my reader, enjoy your posts but have never offered a comment until now. An old school rule of thumb from broadcast states popularity is the inverse of unsolicited response. Happy viewers watch but don't take the time to reach out and say "Thanks, love your show." We witness this phenom when a show is canceled and the crowd of fans suddenly appear to protest. My thought is you are probably getting read by far more people than your stats suggest. Keep up the good work.