Blogs are supposed to be community endeavors. You write something. People read it and respond with their own opinions or experience.
But how to get people to leave comments? First you have to get them to your blog. I’m working on that. But once they’ve arrived and read what they’ve come for, how do you get them to comment? I consider myself a novice on this point. In fact, it’s something I’m still trying to figure out. What I do know: people leave comments when posts are on a universal topic everyone can relate to – like the day last week when I was too sick to work. People also leave comments when I use posts to share information they can use to improve how they do business, and as a result, make money, such as this post I wrote a while back on learning about search engine optimization.
With that in mind, here’s a list of the dozen posts on this blog that have received the most reader comments. It’s in reverse order, so you have to read through to the end for the winner – then leave a comment!
12. Even freelancers have to take a sick day sometime
11. A few words about writing short
10. 10 basic Web tools for freelancers
9. WordCount’s May blogathon begins
8. WordCount Blogathon: A post a day for the month of May
7. Promote yourself through your email signature
6. 6 simple steps for starting your freelance writing blog
5. Freelancers’ strategies for prospering in bad times
4. Tips for improving traffic to your freelance blog
3. What freelance writers should know about SEO
2. 10 ways to promote your freelance writing
1. Best blogs for writers – Even though I wrote this four months ago it’s still going strong, with close to 900 unique views.
Michelle,
I feel your pain! The number of comments you get looks mighty good to me from my narrow niche.
You’re a savvy blogger, so I’m sure you already know that people will sometimes reciprocate when you comment on their blogs. That has been the biggest source of legitimate comments on my blog.
I look forward to learning from you on this topic.
Michelle,
I agree with Susan. I think what you’ve been doing is great. I love when you post your updates at FLX. I’m not one to subscribe to posts. I have enough stuff that comes into my e-mail box to sort through. So your blog post notices are what brings me here. Keep doing that. Plus, I want to thank you for teaching me a lot about blogging in the first place. You refer back to former blog entries so that readers can stay familiar with your topic. You post on the FLX thread to keep us updated over there. You just really seem to have a knack for this, and I’m really thankful to know you. I’m enligtened about something new every time I come here. I’m grateful for that as well.
All my best,
Jackie
Michelle,
asking direct questions of your readers is sometimes a way to encourage comments — but in my experience, not always. equally true of commenting on others’ blogs — sometimes but not always. in addition to my blog Music Road, which is linked to my name above, I write a regular column for gather.com, where people are encouraged by the site mangement to comment. t I’m not seeing any pattern in comments related to page views or specific content on my stuff there. is this all a new model of conversation and community? maybe.
Thanks everybody. I guess on this blog I am the site management, and I’m definitely encouraging people to leave comments!
I’ve also tried directly asking for comments at the end of blogs and it works sometimes.
I wonder if blogs that have built up a large number of regulars get lots of comments because readers have signed up for an RSS feed so posts come to their emailbox. If somebody feels like they’re reading an email instead of a blog post, maybe they’re more likely to make a comment because it’s like replying to an email.
I am constantly amazed at how many comments bloggers like Penelope Trunk – at Brazen Careerist – get. Ditto the people who blog at TechCrunch, Gawker and Valleywag, although comments on those blogs are silly and quickly devolve into name calling and dumb stuff.
Thanks again for weighing in on this.
Michelle Rafter
One point that’s missing is you get more comments when you leave comments. It’s not necessarily a tit-for-tat exchange, but if you post comments on other people’s blogs, they’re more likely to post comments on yours.
As to the email subscription vs feed? My email subscribers often emailed me directly instead of leaving comments on the site. It was great to get the feedback, but other readers didn’t get the benefit of their remarks.
Interesting post, as usual.
I struggle with this as well. Some of my most involved readers prefer to email me directly with feedback. Once in a while, I’ll get a good discussion going, but not often.
I try to post comments most days when I visit my usual slew of blogs, but sometimes I’m racing through my clicks and reading, and I just don’t have anything (funny or informative) to add.
It’s funny, I get a lot of direct email as well on my home reno blog. People will ask me questions on how to paint a window, what kind of paint to use, etc, but they won’t post the comment on the blog itself. I don’t know, maybe you have to throw in some really outlandish totally over the top political/societal/minority rant and see what happens? 🙂 Honestly, I think people are just afraid and I think that the wider the net (the more visitors) the higher the comment count will be.
Thanks again for all of the input. I agree that I’d rather have comments on the blog where other readers can benefit from them. I also agree with the suggestion – that I got off the blog – to put aside time on a regular basis to visit and comment on other blogs, it just might raise the bar, so to speak.
And Claudine, I think you’re right. The blog posts I see that get the most reaction are reactionary in one way or another.
I think that blogs that cover politics, news and gossip probably get the most comments because they cover very broad topics that a lot of people are interested in, kind of like consumer magazines. Whereas blogs like mine are like more like niche publications, appealing to a much smaller set of readers – and the level of commentary is a result of that.
Michelle
Michelle,
I think any lack of comments on your blog could simply be because you write clear, thorough posts.
I often leave your site to explore whatever resource you’ve pointed me toward.
Of course, it’s bad manners on my part not to thank you, so…
Thank you!
Be careful what you wish for, Michelle, because all too often, the blog entries that receive the most comments are controversial issues that prompt responses that are filled with vitriol and personal attacks.
That said, if you want more comments, pose a question, preferably on the controversial side.
Over at Yahoo Shine, where my Good Housekeeping blog is syndicated, the blogs that get the most responses are along the lines of “Should you breastfeed in public” or “I gave my 9-year-old a Mohawk.”
While these are perfectly fine topics, you’d have to write more along the lines of a gossip magazine than, say, Time magazine, to keep that sort of thing up.
Jen Singer
Yeah, it’s been a challenge finding out what makes people want to comment on our blogs.
In one other blog we own, most comment we’ve had was a controversial topic about a doctor in our small town.
So I guess one way is to write about controversial topics!
People also leave comments because they use posts to share information they can use to improve how they do business, and as a result, make money, such as this post they wrote a while back on learning about search engine optimization.
Thank You! This is reaally useful!!
Any thoughts on leaving it so you have to approve the first comment by someone, but everything else from the same person goes through after that? That’s how I’ve always had my set, but I’d change it if you don’t think that’s a good idea?