To start my new plans off, I’m going to talk about comments on blog posts and how it can’t hurt you as much as some of you may think. All bloggers know that comments are mainly essentials to a blog because it’s a way to interact with the community, but through the tiny section below the blog post. Comments on your blog posts could be left by anyone reading your posts, but every comment is unique. The uniqueness of the blog post gives you different results.
Now what do I mean when I say that your comments depend on the uniqueness of your blog post. Well, let me tell you this. If you were to type up something write now in under 10 minutes, would you personally believe that the blog post is mainly crap and bullshit? I’m sure that answer is crawling somewhere up in your head because a blog post that only takes you about 10 minutes to type up means that you probably didn’t spend as much time to discuss.
Alright going back to comments here, I want to discuss how and why comments are left. To spice things up a bit I’ll also put in my personal experience of comments and how the comment count isn’t as important as some of you may think.
Comments are left on a blog for a reason, but a lot of bloggers don’t understand the reasons to it and think comments are suppose to be left on a post just like that.
Your Post Is Great - If your post is great, you would probably get a decent amount of comments. Most of the time a great post is something that has not been discussed much in the blogosphere yet. I mention it has not been discussed much because the blogosphere is huge and you’re bound for find a similar post to the one you published elsewhere.
Controversial Posts - These type of posts are best at stirring up controversial with your readers and fellow bloggers. Doing this right will gain you a lot of comments, but doing this wrong may turn a lot of potential and current subscribers away.
Frequent Posts - Too many posts a day or a week will not give enough time for your readers to comment. Posting a bit less, but keeping things scheduled will allow more casual reading.
A-Lister - If you’re a lister, you would be receiving comments on posts that are totally useless or off-topic. The point of an A-Lister is that he/she worked the way up the ranks to become a leader of the pack. You would usually see over 30+ comments on each post of these blogs even if the post is a YouTube video.
U Comment I Follow - I don’t recall of the site that has this movement, but there are movements out there for bloggers that wish to gain a comment back by giving a comment. These type of comments are mainly mandatory because the idea is to boost comments on the blogs that support the movement.
Ask A Question - Adding a question at the end of each of your post will give commentators a reason to leave an actual comment. It’s basically like an unfinished book and that is why there are more comments on posts that ask questions. A commentator would want to finish the book post their own way rather than having you come up with the conclusion.
I have now discussed on how and why comments are left, but if you’re one of those bloggers that don’t receive comments no matter how good your posts are, you’re not doing anything wrong. Some people cheat the system while some does it the honest way.
Some of you believe that having no comments on your posts would kill you, but you’re totally misunderstanding the concept of commenting. I also thought this and boy was I wrong.
One of the reasons why I have decided to lower the amount of words in my posts is because I don’t want to elaborate too much. Deimos told me that if I elaborate too much in detail, I would be answering everything, which leaves the commentators with nothing to comment about. If you’re a blogger that seems to type too much in your posts, you may be driving away comments. Even so, you shouldn’t knock yourself on the head for not having comments.
A lot of viewers including myself are just passing by and that means we don’t leave comments because we’re just reading the post. Your viewers don’t always leave comments, but you can’t assume that they’re not reading your posts. Now before you delete your blog, you should think about it and realize that your blog posts aren’t the ones to be blamed because you’re not doing anything wrong.
Haven’t some of you noticed that there are great content on blogs that receive no comments at all? This is because there is probably no need to comment and the posts are only being read.
Do you kill yourself when you get less or no comments on your posts?
Thanks for the mention and link love yo!
Some bloggers don’t comment on other blogger’s blog so they don’t get that much comments in return.
Perhaps it is not that they don’t want to comment, maybe they just don’t have that much extra time to do it. I dunno.
Folks sometimes prefer to reciprocate comments, like say if you left a sincere comment on a reciprocative blogger, they might probably return the favor.
Keep doing it on that same particular reciprocative blogger, you might end up having a reciprocative blogger commentating buddy.
Sometimes, a blog post may be really simple and short, but there is a decent amount of comments. Maybe that blogger has a habit of sincerely commentating on several reciprocative bloggers’ blogs, and it so happens that that they (reciprocative bloggers) have something to say about that simple and short post?
Okay I wrote a bit too much. Will stop here now.
My last blog post is..Dead Frontier Night One - Download - First Impressions
You’re welcome Deimos, you deserve the love because you help me all the time
As for having reciprocating comments…it isn’t that useful because if you think about it, you’re not gaining the comments honestly
-Mike
[it isn’t that useful because if you think about it, you’re not gaining the comments honestly]
Ah well, I think differently, a bit, I think.
Fellow bloggers sincerely commentating on each other’s blog is what I would say sincere bloggers networking?
It had worked out okay for me so far.
I think of it as an alternative way of rewarding my commentators, besides the link juice from the top commentators plugin.
Whether or not the comment is sincere or not, it is quite obvious, most of the time.
My last blog post is..Dead Frontier Night Two - Download - First Impressions
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I thought your point about elaborating too much was a very good one. Reading over my own blog I have quite a few posts that are disturbingly wordy and long
It completely makes sense what you say. Bloggers should leave some room for question and mystery. It’s a great way to receive comments.
I always thought that “You comment, I follow” meant that the “nofollow” tag is removed from the comment section.
But I do agree that reciprocal comments can really do wonders.
Yea, I made a mistake. What I meant was a team of “commentators” commenting on each other
-Mike
Good posting.
I have a website rather than a blog and it doesn’t have the facility to leave comments.
When I submitted the site for reviews this was regularly slated yet I find amazing the number of blogs I might visit and see a comment page with no responses from the blog owner.
Almost like receiving comments is a form of ego massage and responding demonstrates weakness.
Alternatively you see comments from people who are clearly skim reading their numerous blog rolls and are making a tokenistic comment to ensure they are still in the clique.
I find more liberating the people who have the comments switched off. Here are my views, take them or leave them.
Besides which one could always email the author if you genuinely wanted to contact them.
Thats why a lot of bloggers have the you comment, I follow sign…these are great topics on your blog..;)
I am gaining more comments every week, I have notived greatly. Probably about 2-5 everyday. I like advertising my blog in threads on DP forums, usually gets a few more than usual. Great post, loved many parts!
Love this post.
My geekified post gets lesser comments than controversial posts.
Bad thing is that my blog’s title is Build that Geek.
My last blog post is..The Swarm
not having comments is ok for me.. but not having them for a week or 2, that actually means nobody is reading my posts!! grrr..
My last blog post is..Bloggin-ads contest!
I do get a decent amount of comments asking for more information on the tips I post on my blog.Some say”Thank You” and so on…
I really get a great feeling when I see a comment on my blog….I simply feel excited and gifted!!
And I can’t agree more with you….that A-list blogs’ point is true.Most of the comments posted there wait for exposure and nothing else!!.
And yes,Deimos was right…you need to give a chance for your readers to add a comment…by avoiding too much description!.
My last blog post is..Upstart Blogger contest : Win a new 3G iPhone
“Folks sometimes prefer to reciprocate comments, like say if you left a sincere comment on a reciprocative blogger, they might probably return the favor”: I agree with what Deimos Tel`Arin wrote (the first comment of this post); the first thing on leaving a comment is: if u leave one, then u probably receive back another
I feel fine when I see that someone has left me a comment on my blog: I become very curious and anxious to see what’s written in it.
Interacting with the community in fact is important.
I often leave a question to the comment I write, and sometimes I create a sort of friendly relationship with the blog owner.
However, I think that losing comments will not kill me
My last blog post is..Win a Digital Camcorder