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Calling all Bloggers...

DavidJacksonDavidJackson subscriber Posts: 143 Silver Level Member
edited February 2009 in Marketing
I have a question for all you bloggers out there.
 
Are you disappointed with the number of people who comment on your blog posts, as compared to the number of pageviews your blog receives?
 
I admit, I used to tear my hair out worrying about how I could get more people to comment on my posts.
 
But after doing some research on the subject, I realized regardless of your traffic, only a tiny fraction of the people who read your blog posts are going to comment on them. That`s just a fact.
 
Realizing that`s the nature of the beast, I`m no longer concerned about the number of readers who do or don`t comment on my blog.
 
I`m just grateful that they take time out of their day to read my blog at all.
 
If you own a blog, I`d like to get your thoughts on this.
 
David Jackson
DavidJackson2/15/2009 11:36 AM

Comments

  • DavidJacksonDavidJackson subscriber Posts: 143 Silver Level Member
    I wondered the same thing when I started out. My blog was started about a 1 1/2 ago and I am close to a 100 comments which seems low compared to the amount of visits. I average anywhere from 75-150 views a day.
    I have the same thoughts as you and glad they read my blog and don`t worry if they don`t comment.
     
     
     
    When I was doing my research, one of the blogs I checked out was Jack Cafferty`s from CNN`s "Situation Room" with Wolf Blitzer. CNN probably does the best job of encouraging interaction on their blog each afternoon. CNN has hundreds of thousands of viewers, yet they can only get a thousand people or so each afternoon to comment on daily topic questions. That`s a mere fraction of their overall viewership - and they`re a major worldwide news organization.
     
    So, I figured if a media savvy news organization like CNN can only get a tiny fraction of their viewers to comment on hot-button issues, my results aren`t really all that bad.
     
    David Jackson
  • DavidJacksonDavidJackson subscriber Posts: 143 Silver Level Member
    I recently opened up my blog to Google follows, via commentLuv, but haven`t seen any increase.  I wouldn`t say that I worry about comments, but I sure would like to get more.
     
     
    To me it`s all about subscribers. My subscriber ratio is right around 30%. I`m ecstatic with that number. As long as my readers keep subscribing to my blog, I could care less whether or not they comment.
    David Jackson
  • DavidJacksonDavidJackson subscriber Posts: 143 Silver Level Member
    I`d suppose that the purpose of the blog itself---the writer`s intent---would affect the commentary, wouldn`t you agree?
     
     
     
    Yes, but I`m not talking about the actual commentary, Craig. I`m talking about the actual number of comments, compared to pageviews. Those are two entirely different things.
     
    Based on the research I`ve done (and I`ve looked at a hundreds of blogs), only a tiny fraction of people comment on blogs, as compared to the number of  people who actually read the posts. My previous CNN example is a perfect illustration of what I`m talking about.
     
    David Jackson
    DavidJackson2/16/2009 5:07 PM
  • MattThomasMattThomas subscriber Posts: 2
    I, too was concerned about comments for awhile, however I received some consolation from an unlikely source: a WordPress plugin.
    The plugin was WP SuperCache which caches static HTML files of your pages, making the pages load quicker. The description of the plugin states that the files are served to viewers who do not comment on your blog, which makes up "99% of your visitors".
    This immediately made me feel better about not getting too many comments. For further reassurance, I checked the comment count on some popular posts on bigger blogs such as problogger, and I have found that the amount of comments these blogs receive are also extremely small compared to their viewership.
    Thus I became a lot more comfortable with a lack of comments on my posts and instead use other measures (such as hits) to gague my reach.
  • DavidJacksonDavidJackson subscriber Posts: 143 Silver Level Member
     I think we have historic examples prior to blogs showing that it`s normal and common for few people to actually comment on things.
    One example that comes to mind is letters written to businesses regarding either complaints or kudos. I can`t remember the percentage but I think it`s something like only 2% of people ever speak up in a tangible way.
    I`d assume that blog comments would follow those same percentages.
     
     
     
    You make an excellent point, Craig. That brings to mind  an age old proverb by french novelist Alphonse Karr...
     

    "The more things change, the more they stay the same!"

     
    David Jackson
  • babyboomerbevbabyboomerbev subscriber Posts: 1
    David,
    I started seeing a significant increase in my blog traffic once I became active on various social networking sites.  Twitter is a great site to advertise your blog.  You get instantaneous readers and comments.
    I encourage people to stop by and read my blogs and I also write them so they are engaging.  People will respond if you give them something to respond to---as opposed to just stating the facts as you see them.
    Also, adding your blogs to the various blog directories helps.
     
  • DavidJacksonDavidJackson subscriber Posts: 143 Silver Level Member
    I started seeing a significant increase in my blog traffic once I became active on various social networking sites.  Twitter is a great site to advertise your blog.  You get instantaneous readers and comments.

     
     
     
    Bev, I think you`re missing the point of this topic. It`s not about getting traffic. I know a million ways to get traffic. We`re discussing the fact that few people who read blogs actually bother to leave a comment. That seems to be the case with even the most popular blogs.
     
    Even StartupNation doesn`t get a  lot of comments on their blogs, relative to actual readership.
     
    David Jackson
    DavidJackson2/16/2009 8:21 PM
  • babyboomerbevbabyboomerbev subscriber Posts: 1
    Sorry for not reading the post thoroughly.  This may, or may not be, related but I would like to offer the fact that some bloggers write LONG posts and often times I will stop reading in the middle of the post if it no longer interests me.
     
    In the future, I won`t comment without thoroughly reading and UNDERSTANDING what it is you`re saying.
     
    Have a great day!
     
  • babyboomerbevbabyboomerbev subscriber Posts: 1
    Oh, one more thing...many bloggers don`t write "engaging posts"
    they just throw out a bunch of facts and their opinion without extending the hand of dialogue for their readers.  Asking the reader to offer their own suggestions about the topic is a good way to get responses sometimes.
  • DavidJacksonDavidJackson subscriber Posts: 143 Silver Level Member
    Sorry for not reading the post thoroughly. In the future, I won`t comment without thoroughly reading and UNDERSTANDING what it is you`re saying.
     
     
     
    No harm done.
     
    David Jackson
  • DavidJacksonDavidJackson subscriber Posts: 143 Silver Level Member
    Wow - you guys are a life saver.
    My blog is just a month or so old -- and although I`m getting the old comment, it seems more people were interested in posting comments like `cool name for a blog` (have since found out that such comments are spam) and I was beginning to think that no one liked me
    But now I know that it`s just a social media thing - i feel good...

     
     
     
    Yep, just keep writing and let the chips fall where they may.
     
    David Jackson
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