Comments Or No Comments

Like many bloggers I prefer to thrive on feedback, than wilt in silence.

Blogging - Comments Or No Comments?

The feedback for bloggers comes in the forms of:

1. Visitor numbers.
2. Income generated via pay per click adverts (or in the case of commercial blogs, leads or sales), and perhaps more excitingly ...
3. Comments.

Sometimes a post on a blog will collect one or two comments. More often times none. Occasionally, if your lucky, a post will strike a nerve, and you get a handful of readers to say something, or even converse with each other, or you. However, the reader is not obliged to post a comment, and so they have to be enticed into a writing a response to your writings.

So why do bloggers need comments? Well without comments, it can be argued that a blog isn’t really a blog .... but the fact is that you can't ever guarantee ever getting comments. Getting people to comment creates an engagement between the blogger and their audience. Feedback creates motivation in the blogger, whereas writing in to a complete silence can make the blogger feel like they are dumping their work into a big black hole ... A blogger can give up, not because their work isn’t good, but because no one is telling them it’s good.

But in any case, you need to prompt that first comment, in order to get that buzz for you and maybe start that dialogue ..... So how to do that? How to get that first magic feedback? I was forced to think of this recently as for whatever reason or other, my posts have stopped attracting many or any comments, although visitor numbers have remained largely steady.

So I can't say that I know the trick .... in fact apart from one fairly regular commentor, I also have only occasionally attracted comments .... So if your a blogger like me, who occasionally frets about comments, or rather the lack of them, then I have taken the trouble to trawl the web for tips and advice, which I have collated below:

1.  Have An Audience In Mind For Your Posts ... For example you might be writing about your family life, or being a new parent, or maybe about a film genre, or supercars. Specialism can capture a specific group of readers.
2. Close Each Blog Post with a Question ... e.g  What do you think?
3. Ask Readers to Add to Your Numbered List .... e.g. Feel free to suggest other examples.
4. Write Something, Interesting, Insightful and Thought-Provoking ... Self evident, but hard to do.
5. Be Controversial ... Confront beliefs that are commonly held, but which you think are wrong. But be careful here, 'controversy' can attract an audience you weren't expecting.
6. Reply to Your Comments to Keep the Conversation Going ... Self evident.
7. Make it as Easy as Possible to Comment ... e.g. Place comment box under post and don't restrict who can comment.
8. Comment on Other Blogs ... The idea is that they may visit your blog and post comments (a bit incestuous really).
9. Create Blog Posts Around Top Comments .... If a comment prompts a new post subject do it asap to engage the original commentor.
10. Ask for Feedback on Social Media Channels .... Link your blog to a social media account.
11. Try and Engage readers Emotionally with your posts ... Try and make posts inspirational, or a tearjerker, or maybe very honest .... emotional commitment from readers may attract comments.
12. Don't publish posts too often ... Once posts are off the landing page, visitor numbers drop, and chances of comment fall in line with the lack of visibility. So once a week is a good idea.
13. Offer subscription by email rather than RSS - Emails tend to be read more.
14. Offer Linking on Your Posts ... Visitors via links are much more likely to comment than visitors who stumble across you on search engines or social sharing sites.
15. Linking Archived Posts in relevant New Posts .... This will not only help your current readers with context to your opinions, but it will get those old posts more comments as well.
16. Find a Style - Make your posts easy to read and navigate ... not too dense.
17. Try And Avoid Adverts On Your Blog (At least initially) .... I have never tried to monetate my blog via pay per click adverts. I think it makes sites look messy, distracts from content, and for small blogs like this rarely makes real money.
18. Don't Allow Spam Comments - It makes it look as though the site is unmoderated and auto-published. Always delete spam comments (note: If your blogging for cash clicks, then the argument might be different).

All fairly obvious advice, but are these tips guarantors of success? No of course they aren't. I offer them for the new blogger, who may be looking for inspiration, or considering giving up because of the silence.

As an example, I believe that my blog has followed many of these tips for years, and yet, comments are often few and far between on many posts. I have been fortunate in having had at least one reader, who was engaged often enough to comment regularly on posts for a long period of time. However, that was something a lucky break for me, rather than any innate ability of mine to attract comments, and that is not a guaranteed event for any blog. So don't be discouraged by the sound of silence ... its the norm, as a look at my recent posts will show.

Exchanging Views Is Part Of Blogging For Many .....

So unless your lucky and attract a Boswell to your Johnson, then you probably have to accept that blogging is a solo activity, and take solace in the fact that at least a few people have read your thoughts .... and if you do get any feedback by way of a comment, then so much the better. Remember, many commercial sites, as well as lone blogs, disappear within a year or two, and even fairly successful blogs may not attract many comments, so don't feel too despondent if you get few yourself.

In the end, blogging should be only for yourself (like writing a diary - think Samuel Pepys), and staying power is still definitely a virtue .... but remember that nothing lasts forever. As stated most individual bloggers give up with in very short periods, so if blogging with little feedback comment is not for you, then maybe you look to micro-blogging via social media, which can offer better comment satisfaction as its targetted to your friends and acquaintances, and who are often more motivated to comment on or like your observations, as you do for their posts.

But if you stick to blogging, then good luck, and chin up. In the end, even this blog, which has become part of my life, and which I will try carry on with as long as I feel I can offer valid posts, will eventually wither on the vine sooner or later ..... That's Life.