If you never comment on blogs, you are missing out
When Scrivs introduced my blog on the 9rules network he described me as such:
"One of the rules of blog promotion is hitting up other sites and leaving valuable comments and this is how I got introduced to Christian’s site. You almost get the feeling the guy is inside the Matrix the way he pops up everywhere on the web…"
Now as I am a pretty busy guy I don't have a lot of time for making comments on other blogs, so it's hard to imagine that my habit of commenting is somehow unique. After all, blogging is a conversation, right? If you have a lot of readers and your comment form is completely open and you write interesting content and everyone is highly opinionated, you will get lots of talkback, right?
Well, that doesn't explain why just about any and every blog will get less than 10% involvement from their readers. I can point you to just about any blog on the net, especially the ones that pull in a decent number of subscribers, and I can assure you that no entry has as many comments as there are subscribers, or even anything close to that. If you ask me, this is a bad thing for a number of reasons:
- Blogging is not accomplishing its main goal
- Bloggers are driven by user feedback, but without that they are missing a key drive
- With so many passive readers, the negative to positive comments ratio can get really high even though a lot of readers may have positive things to say
I can only suppose a few reasons why comments are so scarce on blogs; maybe it is because many readers feel that their opinion is not valued, or maybe it is because RSS has really crippled blogging by making the act of reading blogs too passive. The reason really doesn't matter; the point is that while many blog posts may not invite any discussion, it's sad when you see a blogger end a post with, "what are your thoughts," or "please leave feedback on this," and no one responds. Really sad, like cry-yourself-to-sleep sad.
Have you ever been part of a discussion in a comment thread? Have you ever seen a blogger learn something from what a commenter has shared? Have you ever learned something from a commenter? Have you ever tracked a discussion from one blog to the next, following trackbacks and related entries and the like? Have you ever discovered a great blog through a great comment? If you answer no to all of these questions, you are seriously missing out, and there is so much more you could be getting out of blogs.
Now let me shift the discussion a little
I was looking at my stats today over at Liquid Designs (something I don't do very often lately) and this is what I saw:
This is the list of the current top 5 referrers and as you can see, 456bereastreet.com happens to be in at #5. You might think this is the result of a mention or quicklink from Roger on his site, but it's not… it's simply the traffic that I've received after leaving a link in a comment. Maybe it doesn't seem like a big deal, but 61 people came to my site through a link that happened to be all the way down at the #35 spot on the comment thread at Roger's post and that response happens to be more fruitful right now than much of the organic link traffic I currently get. It wasn't even a matter of spamming Roger's post, nor was this something I do often.
Is there anyone out there who doesn't think that comments are a valuable form of website promotion? If not for any of the other reasons listed here, you have to value comments for at least this much. Anyone who doesn't should be directed to this entry right here 
2 Trackbacks/Pingbacks
- Pingback: Blog Comments on December 4, 2006
- Trackback: Write State of Mind on December 27, 2006
You get what you give. You want some attention to your site you must first give. Yea, and commenting is just fun anyway.
What you are saying is that if you want attention for your site, you should make comments on other sites and attract attention, right?
The trouble sometimes is in getting people to take enough out of your comment to go and click on your name… Sometimes they'll have a look randomly out of boredom, but it's still a challenge to make someone take time out to leave the conversation they were reading about and go somewhere else. The easy exception, of course, are linkbaiting type tactics which allude to content at your URL which is of relevance. Tricky, tricky.
Comments are valuable for me both as a tool for improving by getting to to know my reader base and as the sort of social interaction I like to get from a personal blog. Depending on the topic or situation, I have tracked the discussions from one blog to another. It helps broaden the perspective of the situation which is a good thing.
As a website promotion, yeah it's invaluable. Of course, to comment for the sake of commenting doesn't really get you anywhere. It's the people who give a comment with a point in which I end up visiting and commenting back if necessary.
You have a point in saying that RSS has crippled the way we started interacting in blogs. No longer will we be tempted to leave a comment unless absolutely necessary.
On the other hand that would mean that if user feedback is that important, it would drive you to improve your content, which is both a good and bad thing. Good in the sense that you're improving. Bad in the sense that you're more likely to try too hard for no reason and end up creating sensationalists topics just so you you can see the feedback fly.
I personally like when people comment. Then again, it's hard for a personal blog to generate comments, not unless I start commenting on something worth thinking about. Uh oh…
Someone needs to figure out how to make it possible to comment via a Feedreader. It wouldn't be very hard, though it might involve some issues with security. I think if people had an easy way to leave their thoughts on a post through their Feedreader or a popup window in the post, they would comment more.
I think normal websurfing people don't comment too often or at all on weblogs because they're afraid of seeing their names and something written there like it's carved on stone. They may think of it like (I used to think) it's a big deal, like writing to the newspaper and getting a response in the next edition (not a big deal either). I don't know. Just commenting to get traffic to my site, which is in spanish by the way, and no one will visit ever again.
Now, I'm gonna go cry myself to sleep. Bye.
The only problem I find is that many visitors don't have anything all that valuable to contribute to the conversation at hand. Many may have an acute interest in the subject that is being discussed, but it seems that a lot of the people (coming to my site at least) seem to be unsure of what is really going on. I hate "dumbing down" posts about technical CSS, HTML and Javascript, but then that makes some people afraid to post a question, feeling that they may be ridiculed for not getting it. I think that I get more questions via my contact form than my blog comments.
I wasn't trying to say that you should comment purely for your own means (only for getting attention for yourself), just merely that it may be a way that you get some traffic back to yourself.
I do use RSS Feed Readers, but I always go to the blogs to read the post there. Something about going to the blog is better — new design, side links and comments already made is something I like to experience when I am reading a post.
Oh OK, that's what I thought. I agree with you, and I use my Feedreader like that too. Some blogs have more value than just the posts, and I always find something interesting in the comments. I say, read a few less blogs and make up for that with comments; it can actually be more rewarding.
hm.. it's hard to make posts for people to comment on, as Paul Amstrong says, there are some blog posts, that are some people who can understand it
and there is some that are meant just to be read, and not to be commented too
and i usually use feedreader on other blogs, and so far, i only visit the blog, if it was interesting enough, or alluring, for me to leave comments, otherwise, it stay on the feed
but maybe the trend will changed, since Yahoo! now beginning to stop feeding the reader (an irony if we remember that Yahoo! is the one who try to make RSS a trend)
I rarely get comments on my blog posts - maybe 3 or 4 maximum if I'm lucky. It is a bit dis-heartening, but it doesn't bother me. I keep going.
That said, recently I have been doing some photography themed blog articles and have been getting some useful technical comments back, which is always good
I was also inspired by something Julián Rodriguez Orihuela said in his reply - the bit about people not wanting their names plastered over the internet. So I "created" a random-name generator for people who want to remain anonymous in their comments (because it's really difficult to type a fake name)… Whether this will be useful or not remains to be seen…
Ha ha, cool feature!
I definitely think there is a market for embedding commenting mechanisms in RSS feeds as I attribute a certain amount of the lack of comment problem to RSS Readers in that it requires a few extra clicks to interact. Not to mention in an RSS Reader I am looking at several hundred feeds at once and to leave to comment distracts me from my reading.
The 'Leave A Comment' option in feedburner is nice but we need something more.
Andy, I know Wordpress has a popup-comments option. With Wordpress you can use popup-comments that open a custom page in a new window where users can leave comments. Blogger has this feature too. The trick would be to find a way to embed the popup-link in the feed without using it on the site; then it would be easy for users to popup the comment section from their feedreader and share their thoughts. It wouldn't be as nice as having commenting built into the feedreader, but it's a start.
Comments to me aren't about the organic linking - they are about creating more than one voice on my blog and that is key for me. The discussions that can happen delight me and are a major reason for me blogging - agree or disagree - I love the opinions / thoughts people have. You've always been a great commentor on my blog and as everyone that comments, appreciated for your involvement and taking time to comment.
One way I have found is a way to get people to read your post on the actual blog is setting it so the feed only shows summaries or an excerpt. That way, if the title or whatever they read is interesting, their going to go and see your whole page, with the nice comment box
I actually found out about you, Christian, through a comment someone else left on my site about you. Sort of six degrees of separation thing which I think makes us distant cousins half-removed.
Anyway, I was glad to get the link, else I might not have discovered this site at all.
karmatosed: Always a pleasure.
blin: I think some of my readers would prefer I stick with full feeds, but that is effective.
Charlie: It really is a small blogosphere!
Interesting entry. Like Daz, I don't get many comments, but that's okay. I blog because I enjoy it, and if people want to leave comments, nice or otherwise, I consider that a bonus. Up until recently I had only a handful of blogs that I left comments on, but I've been inspired to seek out some more. Good going!
Likewise, I get discouraged to comment when there are already a lot of comments, like here. I often feel like I haven't much to add anymore.
It is a given that commenting creates visitors - however sly that may seem. The danger of course is that your comments become hollow and your return visits don't generate much discussion either.
So, while I adore comments, I try to balance interest, compliments, advice etc. and hope that what I get back is equally interesting. The wows and the well dones don't do much good for anyone do they?
And yes, RSS is a comment killer, but it does drive us to keep writing better content and more poignant headlines. That way, blogging helps you improve your skills - one of the first ever motivations for me when I started.
I try to comment when I have time, and I'll definitely agree that that's where a large portion of my "proper" traffic comes from. Although, I've been a bit discouraged here lately.
There have been two recent cases where I have left a comment, that, while polite, was in disagreement with the post's content/opinion within; the blog owners apparently saw it fit to therefore not include my opinion. I found that incredibly offensive, not only to me, but to the whole equality thing that I tend to love about blogging–everyone gets his or her say, within reason.
If I had flamed someone, it would have made sense, but of course, I did not do that. In the couple of weeks since these incidents, I've found myself a little wary of commenting my dissent, as I figure why waste my time if I'm not even going to be given the opportunity to speak?
And RSS is a comment killer. That's why I've ultimately decided–after much inner debate–to use RSS only for sites that require no comment and/or do not have a commenting option (e.g., PostSecret). Otherwise, I've found myself using the live RSS bookmarks of Firefox, which is how I got here.
Jordie: No problem.
Nils: Yes, I'm certainly not jealous of blogs that get a ton of comments which are nothing more than "wow" and "yes."
Lelia: It's a shame that those blogs didn't accept your comments. My advice is, find which blogs are fair and stick to commenting on those. I wouldn't let a couple bad experiences ruin your chances of enjoying other blogs that would never do such a thing.
Like Charlie, I too found out about you, Christian, from a comment on another post.
I think commenting on blogs goes hand-in-hand to an extent with the outgoing nature of the reader. If they're a confident person in the real world they're much more likely to become involved in a discussion.
I don't profess to be an expert on any subject. Rather I prefer the thoughts of Socrates when he said he knew absolutely nothing, hence his questionning of everything. So by leaving comments with questions you're not just building traffic but hopefully also learning something along the way.
All the best.
David: right on, questions are meant to be asked! I especially enjoy following discussions via e-mail or just checking back now and then and seeing where they go. When a discussion in the comments leads to new ideas and new posts, that's the best part!
Hey Christian: Not hard to believe this has so many comments. I'm with you on the lack of comments across blogs. I know I ask for comments and feedback only to be one of those "sad" cases you mentioned.
Like David said above, I think it has a lot to do with the person themselves. I also think that comments used to be left a lot more than they are nowadays. With the widespread use of rel="nofollow" many people feel like comments aren't worthwhile. Sadly, they are missing out on the most important part of a successful blog… the people!
I left a comment over on the IE blog last week and received over 300 visitors from that link within 24 hours.
Yet, I think it goes beyond that. I'm reading your blog because you talk about thinks of similar interest. I think commenting is part of the personal nature of blogs that allows you to meet people you may never have met otherwise.
Have a great one!
Plus, comments are how I find new blogs, kind of how Scrivs found mine and I just found yours. It's like making friends, but in a nerdy social-networking cyber blogging sort of way.
Exactly! Well, pleasantries aside, it's good to meet you!