There are many important things to think about when you start blogging. A blogger would usually have to think about the content, how to market the blog, and how to sustain the even growth of traffic. You must admit that the only way to actually get your blog out to the rest of the blogosphere is if you are famous, have the money, or you know someone in the blogging business. If you’re not any one of those, then it would be quite difficult for you to gain attention unless you communicate with your blog’s subscribers and readers.
Some of you may not think it is important, but I really think communication given to your readers, commentators, and subscribers are the key in marketing a successful blog. Lets say someone sends you an e-mail asking you to review his/her blog, but you decide not to do it since the blog mentioned seems kind of new and unprofessional. Not only do you not cater to the request, but you also leave that particular blogger hanging without a single reply. I agree that some of it may be spam or hate messages, but some are legitimate concerns or questions waiting for your reply.
There are many different ways and places where a blog owner receives these sort of messages. The most popular place that you would receive a message is through your e-mail inbox. Other places includes social networking sites, instant messaging, and even snail mail. I believe that it doesn’t matter where you receive a message because as a blogger, you should still reply to everyone that has a question or concern.
Besides replying to comments, e-mails, and other messages, I usually reply to trackbacks that are out of the ordinary. A trackback is basically when a different blog or website links back to your blog. If you use Wordpress, you would usually see it in your dashboard and know where it is from. Replies aren’t necessary for all trackbacks since some are coming from spam blogs, but I usually leave a quick “Thank You!” when I receive a link from a fellow blogger. This is only polite 
The other day I received a very very rude e-mail from a 14 year old blogger that barely just visited my blog for the first time. I won’t be mentioning his name or blog.
” The first thing you should do to your theme to make it perfect is remove that photo(of the boy and girl) from the header. “
” But it is really not beautiful and i don’t like looking at it. Better get a good picture. “
That message I received did hurt and it definitely pissed me off a lot, but I take all concerns and opinions and I do not reply with rudely. What I did was reply with the following:
” I appreciate the opinion and I don’t ding anyone for leaving a negative comment, but I’m going to stick with the picture. “
What do you think you can learn from the e-mail I sent back to the sender? I basically took in whatever he said and instead of yelling back at him, I basically sent back a nice reply. This guy even unsubscribed to to my RSS feed because he disliked my header picture. After my simple reply to him, I was able to gain him back as a reader without asking it directly.
The next popular way to receive a message or concern is through your blog’s comments. I don’t know about you guys, but I read all my comments one by one and not just because they need to be approved. Comments are essentials in keeping great communication between the blog owner and the blog reader. It tends to create a connection where you’re able to discuss and gain ideas from your readers. As a blog owner, you don’t have to be the one thinking of all the ideas because others are willing to help as well.
Since there are quite a few very big bloggers in the blogosphere, some of them don’t tend to reply to their messages. I have personally sent John Chow and Shoemoney a few trackbacks or messages through their contact form, but I’ve only received one reply and it was from John. However, it does seem like Mr. ProBlogger, Darren Rowse, replies to all his messages even though he works a lot more than both Chow and Shoemoney. It just goes to show who is more concerned about us smaller bloggers and who is not.
I’m sure you guys understand where I’m trying to get at by now. As long as you suck in all the concerns, comments, and messages from your readers, you’re able to learn and change from it. Of course there are some things that you can not change, but it’ll give you an idea of what your readers look for on your blog.
Do you get back to your readers?
I think even rude comments can sometimes be constructive, but in that case it was just plain uncalled for. I understand why you wouldn’t want to link to his blog, but I can’t deny being extremely curious about what that kid’s blog is like.
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There you go!.
While gaining readers is hard work,keeping the existing is a challenge!.And in that process communication plays a major role!.
Readers feel credible when they see that their comments and emails are getting replies.This makes them stick to your blog!!.
Regarding the email-that should be painful.But,you got back to him in the most polite way anybody could get!.
Your politeness is one of the reasons that made stick to this blog,commenting on every new post and growing!!.
Great post,Mike!!!!.
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Well for right now I don’t have a whole lot of readers, only one that I know of, lol. He leaves a few comments every now and then on some of my posts but I always respond back.
Like you, I will always at least read every single comment on my blog and most likely will reply back with either a quick thanks or something more appropriate. I completely agree with the way you respond and act towards your readers.
Now to work on getting me some readers
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hmmm… im not sure I could be a nice, especially if he talked about your wife.. at 14 maybe he should have been taught a lesson… but well done for being the bigger man. I do like how you respond to comments.
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LOL… that comment is rude but kinda of funny if you read it with an open mind… BTW, he is just 14… What do you expect?
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This is very good advice. It just makes the place feel impersonal when the author doesn’t reply. It makes it feel like your input is unappreciated. If an author has no intent on responding to comments, he should turn them off.
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I always come back to blogs where the blogger shows in interest in his readers,like you said replying to every comment clusters the comment box with the bloggers comments well as i reader i don’t really mind that.
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I don’t understand how on some sites where the readership is small the authors will not reply. :/
I mean why lose the little readers you have?
Perhaps 14-year-old’s perspective is just different? Glad you decided to stick and be firm with the photo, it is your brand. I’ll start to be concerned when you decide to change your header every time you receive a negative comment from a ‘concerned’ reader…
I personally think your blog layout is good and ranks above average.
about getting back to my reader, I only do it when it is necessary, like when their comment or email requires response, otherwise I might delay in getting back to them, there are other priorities around.
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I’m 14 years old but I would never send an eMail like that. Anyway, what you’re saying is very true, and it’s not only a problem with the famous bloggers.
I have previously sent some medium sized blogs a request for a guest post, and still have gotten no reply.
I know that it might be hard for them to answer all their eMails, but when they should at least reply to you to assure you that they read you message.
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Perhaps Darren Rowse pays attention to his comments and replies, but emails and messages through some social networks may be getting neglected. Perhaps not, dunno.
I was trying to help him out by letting him know of some bugs. One of which he may have been losing potential referrals through a particular affiliate program. I messaged him through a social network to give him the heads up. Maybe this was a social network from which he doesn’t check his messages, dunno.
The other was just a day or two ago, his sidebar on his main page was not displaying properly in my browser so I emailed him this time and let him know about it, my browser and OS info, and somewhat detailed info of what was happening. Maybe my email ended up in his spam filter, dunno.
Also while using entrecard he accepted my ad for which I paid like 2048 EC. A few days before the ad was supposed to run, he declined it without even giving reason. After a week of wondering why, he announced he was dropping Entrecard. I figured he must have known this and decided to remove all advertisers set for this month, dunno.
Needless to say, that while I know there are potential reasons for my messages to go unanswered or without a nice reply saying “hey good lookin’ out.” or whatever… I am still a bit disappointed. I mean, what if he did get them messages? I like Darren, and I read him almost everyday. If I miss a day I go back and read what I missed. This type of behaviour doesn’t seem much like him, but at the same time I know he is a busy guy and I respect that. So I just ignore it for the most part.
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I am a 14 year old blogger too. I am wondering why the guy became that rude. And the picture is not that bad.
Doing good and being polite to readers always works in a positive way and doing bad to them and cheating(or lying to) them do the opposite, right?
When a few people like a post I have written and comment on it I usually will answer all of them in one comment but I make sure I address all of them. I also always like to go and visit those who have left comments and out of courtesy I will leave comments on their posts. Like I said before my blogs are not popular and my readers are few but they keep coming back and this means alot to me, maybe as time goes on and I get to get better at blogging I will get alot of more visitors and make alot of new friends. Everyone is welcome to stop by and visit me,
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I never receive a rude comment yet because my blog visitor are very mature and polite blogger…but if I get a rude email like yours, maybe I just want to remind the commenter to leave a comment more politely and respect other taste…actually, he is commenting on your photo there, right? I think that boy just need a time out…
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Comments are always constructive..be it kind or rude.