A Point About Commenting On Blogs
Posted by Mitch on Nov 1, 2008
Here’s a regular conversation I have with most of my friends:
Them: “Did you see what I wrote on my blog?”
Me: “Yes, I read it; very nice.”
Them: “How come you didn’t comment then.”
Me: “Because you’ve never commented on my blog.”
Them: “I don’t have time to read other blogs, let alone comment on them.”
That, plain and simple, is one reason why there’s so many blogs without comments, and so many people deciding that they’d rather give up the ghost, rather than participate in the process. As I write this, I have at least 10 friends who have blogs. I can count on three fingers how many of them have ever written more than one post on any of my blogs, and my other blog has been in existence at least four years by now. Those without blogs; I can’t even count how many of them have been to each of my blogs more than once. I think that’s a shame.
And it’s not that my friends don’t know about my blogs, or my websites. In each regular email that goes out, all of my websites are in my signature line. In each of my business emails, my business blog is on each one. And for most emails for my other sites, I usually have one blog or the other tucked in there somewhere. On Facebook and Ryze, I have both blogs listed. On every forum that I’m a member of, I have my blogs listed.
Do you notice that little red, moving button on the side there? Basically, it says if you comment, I’ll follow back to your blog and, hopefully, I’ll be able to comment. That’s what CommentLuv does for you also, and if you comment, and your previous blog title looks intriguing, people will follow you to your blog, and comment there. You know, I thought the CommentLuv concept was very easy to understand, but I’m finding that my friends don’t get it, and if they don’t get it, then maybe some of you don’t get it either. If you have a blog and leave your blog address in the little box underneath your email address, CommentLuv will go back to your blog and select your last post to broadcast for folks. And, if you sign up at CommentLuv, then you’ll have the option of selecting from one of your previous 10 posts, in case you’re looking to spread some of your posts around in different places, or if you happen to comment on a particular post on someone’s blog more than once. I even talked about it here.
This post isn’t about pimping for comments; it’s about fairness and balance when it comes to comments of some kind. Sure, the big time bloggers don’t comment much these days, but if you’ve gone back through their archives, back to the days before they were getting tens and hundreds of people commenting, they regularly responded to everyone who posted on their blog, and of course they visited other blogs and commented on them, trying to raise awareness of their own blog.
So, if many of you believe that commenting on other people’s blogs is beneath you, or you don’t have time for it, or you only want to concentrate on your own thing, you’re missing out on a good thing. And, if you’ve read this post, I’m not only happy, but now I can say that you understand what it’s all about, this commenting thing; no excuses anymore.
But don’t leave junk posts like “nice post” or “good job”, and leave it at that. That kind of thing doesn’t do you any good, and it stinks; just ask Chris:
I'm Just Sharing is a blog about sharing my thoughts about internet marketing and other things. Read, enjoy, and buy! :-)
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Mitch Reply:
November 1st, 2008 at 11:20 pm
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Mitch Reply:
November 2nd, 2008 at 12:07 am
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Sire´s last blog post..The Parable Of The Employer, The Employee And The Blogger
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What you say is so true.. by the way I have been summoned to serve the army for 2 weeks and thats why I haven’t been able to read through your blog.
No wonder I haven’t seen you around mine! =P
Ben Pei´s last blog post..The Basics On How TO Start Making Money With Adsense
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Mitch Reply:
November 2nd, 2008 at 10:59 am
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Ben Pei Reply:
November 2nd, 2008 at 8:27 pm
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Mitch Reply:
November 2nd, 2008 at 9:14 pm
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Mitch Reply:
November 2nd, 2008 at 11:04 am
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Simon´s last blog post..Speciality WordPress Theme Released
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Mitch Reply:
November 2nd, 2008 at 11:05 am
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btw.. the link you provided above doesn’t work for me
Andy Bailey´s last blog post..A collection of Last Suppers
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Mitch Reply:
November 2nd, 2008 at 11:05 am
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Dennis Edell´s last blog post..Oct.’08 Post Round-Up for Direct Sales Web Marketing
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Mitch Reply:
November 2nd, 2008 at 11:07 am
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Dennis Edell Reply:
November 2nd, 2008 at 11:27 am
Dennis Edell´s last blog post..Oct.’08 Post Round-Up for Direct Sales Web Marketing
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Mitch Reply:
November 2nd, 2008 at 11:53 am
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Dennis Edell´s last blog post..Oct.’08 Post Round-Up for Direct Sales Web Marketing
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lately i realize, though, that i even do that less, and i know it’s a result of two things: getting away from the content side of things at work, and my lack of home internet access (so i’m not browsing as much).
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Mitch Reply:
November 2nd, 2008 at 11:12 am
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Marelisa´s last blog post..Use Creativity to Double Your Way to a Million Dollars
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Mitch Reply:
November 2nd, 2008 at 11:47 am
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How wrong was I less than a day later.
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Mitch Reply:
November 2nd, 2008 at 2:57 pm
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What more can I say with this post? You just voiced out the problem bloggers are facing. All they want is people dropping by their blog and leaving a trace of visit by commenting.
But yet they are not willing to contribute to others’ blog just because they “think” they don’t have the time. People are missing out on the power of comment marketing.
Wei Liang
Wei Liang | ABloggerBlog´s last blog post..Lesson 16: Comment Marketing
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Dennis Edell Reply:
November 3rd, 2008 at 8:28 am
Dennis Edell´s last blog post..Do You Use eBay to Grow Your OTHER Businesses?
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Mitch Reply:
November 3rd, 2008 at 8:45 am
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Wei Liang | ABloggerBlog Reply:
November 4th, 2008 at 3:42 am
Wei Liang
Wei Liang | ABloggerBlog´s last blog post..Lesson 16: Comment Marketing
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Mitch Reply:
November 4th, 2008 at 9:46 am
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Dennis Edell Reply:
November 4th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
Dennis Edell´s last blog post..Do You Have Good Follow-Through?
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Mitch Reply:
November 3rd, 2008 at 8:42 am
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Paula´s last blog post..Do Not Get Antsy Over Delays
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Paula´s last blog post..Do Not Get Antsy Over Delays
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Mitch Reply:
November 3rd, 2008 at 8:43 am
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The two are separate. If you have the latter problem, then contact the individual blog owner.
Dennis Edell´s last blog post..Do You Use eBay to Grow Your OTHER Businesses?
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Rodney Smith´s last blog post..WordPress Roles and Capabilities
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Mitch Reply:
November 4th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
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Rodney Smith Reply:
November 4th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
Rodney Smith´s last blog post..WordPress Roles and Capabilities
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Dennis Edell Reply:
November 4th, 2008 at 6:29 pm
Dennis Edell´s last blog post..Do You Use eBay to Grow Your OTHER Businesses?
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Althea Garner Reply:
January 1st, 2009 at 12:18 pm
Firstly, Mitch, thank you for including this blog in your **18** for 2008, otherwise I would never have found it (shameful, I know!)
I have read, with great interest, the comments above and thought I’d throw my hat into the ring, thereby putting a slightly different spin on things:
A couple of things you need to know about me before we start:
1) I am in Real Estate
2) I am an avid writer
3) I taught technology for 23 years but now only teach Real Estate and Blogging for REALTORS (R)
One of the things I teach my blogging students is that there are two types of REALTORS(R) ~ those with time and those with money. Those with time (also those who have no money) blog themselves and those with money (because they used their time to sell property) pay others to blog for them!
99% of REALTORS(R) have either never heard of blogging or take the escape route of ‘I don’t have time’. I can relate to this because my own day is 16 - 17 hours long and I work a 7-day week, so not even my own blog is added to on a regular basis!
One has to examine WHY we blog. What is the goal and what is the reward (or, simply put… what’s in it for me?)
Blogging, in my opinion, is intended to drive traffic to one’s web site(s) so as to attract more business. Therefore, the indirect purpose of blogging is to increase ones bottom line. SOOOoooooo many people can’t see this!
In order to make this work, one has to tailor ones blog to ones target audience - ie. drop your pole where the fish are, because in many industries (not all), creating blogs of random content, will garner many replies, but can drive the wrong kind of traffic to ones web site.
For example: Responding to this blog might well drive many of your readers to my blog and in turn to my web site, but how many of those readers can become clients of mine? The answer is: less than 1%.
There is a forum called ActiveRain, which is geared specifically to Real Estate and is populated by REALTORS(R), their affilliates and prospective clients. THIS is dropping the pole where the fish are, because the audience is far more targeted. Other blogs include (for me) California Association of REALTORS(R) and National Association of REALTORS(R) on LinkedIn.
Why would anyone want to blog in an environment where there are so many competitors? To build a network of referral REALTORS(R) in other States, as each one of us (or most of us) are licensed to sell in only one State, so what do we do with clients who want to relocate? The answer is that we refer the business to a professional in our referral network. By sticking to industry specific blogs, we are able to build rapport with other professionals in the industry and select the best ones to refer our clients to.
My blog is therefore centered around real estate and home maintenance, the propety market etc and my responses are placed in real estate related blogs. This way, I am driving a target audience to my web site!
This concept must be working, because although I am not high in the SE rankings, I derive at least 4 new clients a week - I know this, because I can contact them via phone and I can see view their searches.
See? … it’s pointless driving meaningless traffic to ones web site - you might get a lot of hits that way, but how many of those hits result in real business - ie dollars in the bank? Do the math: Compare your bank balance today, to your balance before you started blogging - THAT’s where you’ll see if your blog is working or not!
Another thing: It DOES get lonely if people don’t respond to your blog - no doubt about that, but my blog, as an example, is designed to be informational and people go there to be educated. In my business, 80% of my effort goes to educating the client! The fact that I don’t get responses on my blog is sad but doesn’t mean that my blog is not successful.
Reference has been made to the fact that people read blogs but don’t comment. Lack of time is not the only culprit here ~ in order to obtain comments, one has to ask questions. Try ending your blog with a topic-related question directed at your readers. In order for this to work, you must have created content so that your readers can say ‘Yes, that’s ME!’
I understand that much of what I have written here, could come under attack and I ask only that your readers understand that I have chimed in purely and simply to offer insight as it applies to MY industry.
Know this: just because a blog has no comments, does NOT mean that it is not good in content! Some of the BEST blogs have no comments at all!
You’re the best, Mitch!
–
Althea Garner
REALTOR (R) MBA, MCI, e-Pro
Executive Real Estate
House Of Homes Online
(714) 264-3458
Search over 50,000 listings at my web site:
http://www.HouseOfHomesOnline.com
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Mitch Reply:
January 1st, 2009 at 12:51 pm
I’m glad you’ve made it here, and I hope some of the folks here do visit your blog. Of course, you should know that if you’d listed your blog address my CommentLuv program would have picked up your last post title; that’s something else a blog can do, help others get more publicity for their blogs.
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[...] Mitch - A Point About Commenting On Blogs [...]
Just saw your recent comment on my blog and wanted to check out what you had going on here. Loved this post, it is a shame that some bloggers get trapped in their own world and don’t take the time to embrace the community.
I am definitely guilty of it at times. It can be pretty time consuming running a blog, as I am sure you know. Spending the the time to converse with your readers and fellow bloggers is essential though.
Thanks for checking out my blog. Hope you are doing well and keep up the great posts!
- Jack Rugile
Simple Sapien
Simple Sapien´s last blog post..Video Post: What Do You Wish For On Your Birthday?
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Mitch Reply:
November 6th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
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