Nobody is commenting on your blog.
Why should you care? Because comments add value to your post and are social proof of your blog’s
worth. When insightful people write something in response to your post they make your post more valuable. And when you respond, you develop a relationship with them. Relationships build a business. Plus, comments are motivating. They’ll help you keep going down the sometimes lonely road of blogging.
Photo by scott1723 on Flickr
I’m not going to delve deeply into SEO here, but I will say one reason nobody has commented on your blog post is because they can’t find it. The internet is not a book. Creative headlines, or no headlines at all, leave your post in a lonely readerless cave. Give your post a descriptive title and make sure the permalink has those words in it. Click here to signup with SEOToolsCentre paraphrase tool. Pinterest has become a vital way for readers to find blog content that is of interest to them. Make it easy for people to pin your post. Use PicMonkey to add a little descriptive text to a photo, or create a graphic with Pinstamatic.
Make your comment system as easy as possible. This means one step (no login required and no captcha). People are busy. If it isn’t easy, you may as well close comments altogether.
Being the first guest at the party is awkward. The first comment is the hardest to get. Often people will respond immediately to a post when they see it on Twitter. There’s nothing wrong with Tweeting back and
asking them if they would leave a comment on the post itself. That can be your first one!
Respond to comments. When I write a comment on a blog post it’s because I have something to say to the author (more on that in a moment). I want to hear the author’s response. What do they think of my idea? If the author never responds, I’m not likely to comment again. Tied to this is being approachable. There are blogs that I’m afraid to comment on. I feel like I’m not worthy. This person is such an expert, why should they pay attention to me? A welcoming, positive tone goes a long way toward creating community on your
blog.
Say something of substance. Let’s say you went to a blogging conference recently and you’d like to write about it. You write a post about all the cool people you met and the fun workshops you attended. Visit marketixdigital.com.au to see the seo pricing in australia. Think about this post from the perspective of a reader who would like to leave a comment. The only response to a post like this is, “Wow! That sounds like it was fun,” or some other praise. And that’s okay! Some readers love you and just want to say “yay!”. Not every post needs dozens of insightful comments.
But what if you followed up the next day with a post entitled, “How to Get the Most Out of a Blog Conference,” in which you detailed five steps people can take to ensure they have a good experience at a similar conference to the one you attended. One point might be, “Make notes on business cards with a Sharpie. Follow up with contacts via email the next day.” You can tell a story in a few sentences about how you did this and what affect it had, illustrated with a photo of a scribble on business card. Now you’ve taken a personal experience and made it universal, and useful, for your readers. At the end of the post, ask for other suggestions on making the most of attending a conference.
Photo by C.P. Storm on Flickr
Don’t be afraid to take a stance. Not every post needs to incite controversy, and you certainly want to remain authentic, but I’ll bet you have opinions on particular topics. If you know a lot about something you
inevitably develop strong opinions on that thing. Trust me when I tell you, it’s okay to express those opinions on your blog. You can be professional and critical at the same time. In fact, if what you’re saying is well thought out, having the courage to say it shows leadership. Give your readers something to chew on. They may not agree with you, but they’ll want to hear more.
Nothing beats the excitement of hitting “publish” on a new blog post. When only silence follows it can be hard to accept. Think about the last blog post you commented on. What made you respond?
I know that I have a habit of not responding to comments. Sometimes there’s not much to say. I also wonder if people do come back to check out the responses too.
What I have done to try to foster a conversation is to have threaded comments. I’m hoping it’ll get people talking to each other instead of just at me.
Threaded comments are a terrific thing for promoting conversation. I was thrilled when Typepad introduced that feature.
I wish that Blogger had the option for replies in the comments.
It’s almost enough for me to jump over to Typepad after 5 years.
Thanks Abby! This is a great post. Your posts have really been helping me format my blog!
I’m so glad to hear that, Sacia!
Blogger now has that option too! 🙂
Thanks for the post! I found your blog a few weeks ago and have loved all your info. (I’m about a year into my own creative business and your blog has so much of the info I’ve been searching for).
I’m glad you mentioned responding to comments. Like Vanessa, I always wondered if people would ever even see the response. So then I felt silly responding- like I was talking into the phone after someone already hung up. You make me realize I’m going to have to try it out more.
I like your analogy! But I do think responding is important. Not everyone will check back, but other readers who happen by will also be interested to read your responses and will want to interact with you more as well.
Looks like Nicole is saying they do! Might be worth checking out.
Thanks for your post, and advice! My blog is only a month old and I’m hoping for more comments as I develop “relationships”.
I tweeted this question before, but I’ll ask it again in this comment. Is frequent checking of blog statistics common among new bloggers?
I'm guessing that you are checking your stats frequently. I think that's only natural. It's like weighing yourself everyday when you're on a diet. You don't need to do it, and it may not be ideal, but you can't help yourself! Growing a blog readership can take years, but bit by bit it does grow. Time is on your side.
You help a lot 🙂 Thanks
I comment regularly, just to say I love something or to give feedback or any thoughts that have been provoked by a post. Blogs are so different that there are many responses.
The main reason I will not comment is that I can’t. I don’t have an online identity and don’t want google’s as it is just so invasive – I’ve tried it. Ads follow you everywhere and it seems to know everything about you.
So unless a means is provided for me to comment easily, I won’t. I don’t mind word verifiers etc too much. There are many more blogs that I can’t comment on, than I can. Sometimes I am dying to tell someone how much I love their work, but I can’t! I am also more likely to comment if the blogger seems to respect their readers – there are a few bloggers with huge readerships that rarely comment at all on other blogs and sometimes I notice this.
If I asked a question that I thought I might get a reply to, then I would go back and check. Usually though, only if I know a blogger responds to comments. Otherwise I might not. I expect nothing extra from a blogger, they have already given a lot to me when they wrote their post. I understand if there is no further response.
I think some people don’t encourage me to comment because they are only interested in people who agree with them! I’ve seen situations where people have very politely put another view point and they are treated like they are trolling. Sometimes people won’t say what they really do think at all so the comments can look somewhat over indulgent and twee and then I am not inclined to add to them. Usually this is an off shoot of the style of the blogger. It’s funny but I really think a lot of the time blogs get the kind of comments you might expect – for good and bad.
Other people encourage discussion or just thank the person for their views etc in a polite way. That is what I think should happen on a blog, but some people greet any mild dissension with outrage. Some people manage disparate views very well. Many bloggers stay away from having opinions, which I find a bit bland, for fear of offending (by this they mean disagreeing with their readership). I think it is fine to disagree, it keeps you interested and gives you something to think about – and respond to. It doesn’t mean I don’t like them or reading their views.
I have also seen posts being removed because the poster didn’t mean/want to provoke discussion in the comments and got very upset and worried that they had. Even though it wasn’t heated at all. That makes me worried at leaving a comment in case it seemed critical and isn’t wanted.
Hi Sara,
Thank you for sharing your point of view. I don't particularly like having to sign into my Google account to leave a blog comment, either, and I certainly try to appreciate divergent opinions, although it isn't always comfortable. These are both great points.
That’s a very interesting post – I have noticed that comments on my blog have petered out over the past few months although readership has increased. Not sure why, but I am guilty of not replying to comments most of the time, usually as I wonder if the commenter will bother coming back to check. I do like to comment on blogs that have said or shown something that interested me, but sometimes I do get the ‘I’m not worthy’ problem and press delete rather than publish! Silly really, as I am always childishly pleased to get comments so why wouldn’t someone else be!
I am finding that currently while I am working on a couple of big commissioned jobs which require me to keep just about everything secret, it is quite hard to remain interesting!
Thanks Abby!
I didn’t realize that I had any control over the fact that I could change the settings on my comment section. Now, people don’t have to leave their email to leave a comment. Smooth sailing in my comments now! Don’t even get me started on Captcha on other blogs. It’s so frustrating and confusing and only works 50 percent of the time anyway. Thanks again,
Warmly,
Jenny 🙂
Good food for thought as usual, Abby. I certainly need to make my titles less ‘creative’ (*cringe* and I DID read your post on titles and you think I would have learned, but it’s a terrible habit and hard to break). I should also be more explicitly conversational in posting tone. But please, for the love of the internet, please, please everyone turn off those verification things. I’m a heavy commenter and I really like to engage with the things I read online, but I find those so frustrating. I do have some eyesight issues and I know not everyone does, but I have sometimes had to bring other people in the house over to help me figure out the blurry numbers or string of random letters. I just want to tell you I like your stuff and maybe ask a question! Why are you making it so hard?
Facinating post. I am a reader, not a blogger, I follow a number of blogs, which I really enjoy but do not comment on most of them, for the reasons you state above, i am not particularly computer literate and find it all a bit confusing and difficult to get through the layers of compliance to leave a message. Had I left a comment then I would check back to see if there had been a reply.
I am enjoying the way your blog is developing as a more business focussed resourse, particularly as there does not seem to be much of this done by others, where you can find things all in one place. Alot of the blogs are look at this I made today, which is nice but not amazing. thank you
I think even if the commenter themselves doesn't come back to check, other readers who come by later enjoy seeing your responses to the questions and comments people have left. I'm still mulling over the idea of remaining interesting when there's something you're working on that you can't share. That's the making of another post!
Hi Jenny,
Hooray for new discoveries! I'm really happy this post was helpful to you!
I agree! I get a few spam comments on my blog each week, but I just go in and delete them. It's far better that way than having an overly cumbersome spam filter in place!
You are so welcome. Thank you for taking the time to comment and to say thank you! That goes a long way in the life of a blogger.
You’ve made a really good point about not being easily able to leave comments without using a Google ID… I’d love to be able to comment more on the blogs I read, but I just can’t bring myself to go down that road of being ‘Google stalked’ if I set up a Google account. I’ve heard too much about it to put me off that route!
But the majority of blog users that I follow don’t “do themselves any favours” by making it possible for me to comment another way. Which means relationship building is a toughie for me – I’m shouting at people who have their fingers in their ears and who are singing tra-la-la! How can I hope for people to come back and visit my blog if there’s no good way to make friends in the first place?!!
I really wouldn’t mind wrestling with Captcha etc – just a valid comment box would be fine for me! That said, I certainly understand that it’s annoying for others – I personally don’t use it and just prepare myself for deleting endless spam messages in my filter (is around 30-40 a day what everyone else gets with no Captcha?).
All a bit frustrating…. Ah well…
Thanks for your points Sara, and for an intersting post Abby 😉
It's interesting how much the need to login with a Google ID prevents comments. I don't have any issue logging into Google, but I'm often attempting to comment from my phone and that step dissuades me. Thank you for your perspective, Ruth.
Ann, I totally agree with you regarding the captcha codes. Absolutely annoying. I have mine turned off but I do understand bloggers choosing to leave them on because, the fact is, they prevent a whack load of spam the blogger otherwise has to sift through daily.
Oh and regarding titles, I don’t know which platform you use but in Blogger you have the option to use those “creative” titles while giving your post a permalink that corresponds to the content of your post more precisely, making it easier for search engines to locate it. For example, I can title my post “How do I love thee, let me count the ways” but have the link to the post (or permalink) be something more descriptive like “15 Ways To Show You Love” which is potentially more useful for the search engine.
Abby, great food for thought this post!
This is great to know, Michele. There's a way to go in manually to change the permalink in Typepad. These things are worth thinking about! If nobody can find your post then they certainly can't comment on it!
Hi, Abby! How could I read this excellent post and not comment? So many useful ideas, and I got a ton of interesting things to think about from your readers’ comments, too! Thnx much!
You're so welcome! Yeah, one of my fears was that nobody would comment on this post! I'm glad people have, though, because the comments themselves have been really interesting!
Thank you, Michelle!
What a useful post, I am ashamed to say that I have had my blog for three years, and have found comments really hard to come by, so that I stop writing for a while. Your comments about the titles ets were really useful.
I have been foiled by capcha so many times in the past, it does put people off, and I like the thought of keeping the net as wide as possible.
Regarding keeping secret and interesting, what about giving clues about what is about to come, either written or visual ??? Just a thought.
Thanks again.
I think you're not alone in feeling disheartened times by a lack of comments. I think for a blog to survive in the long term there's got to be something about creating it that satisfies your inner needs. You have to love doing it in order to keep going because even if you follow all of these rules, there is no way to ensure comments will steadily flow in.
I’ve just discovered your blog and, after much searching, it’s the only one I’ve found so far that really speaks to me in terms of how to get the most out of my blog and increase readership. I’ve just subscribe via bloglovin and I’ll be checking back often (and I’ve just downloaded the Jon Morrow’s paper. If it wasn’t so stinkin’ late I’d read it right now!) Thanks for sharing.
Hi Laura,
I love your blog. I just read back many many posts and really enjoyed it! Thank you for commenting here and I hope you like the headlines book. I found it really useful, even if it's a bit silly. When you put as much work into a blog as you do it's worth it to make sure you're getting found!
Hi Abby,
a very interesting post and addictive blog. Since I discovered your blog i can’t stop dropping by!!! My blog has been dormant for a while but I realise that i need to get blogging to gain some web presence. What is a permalink and what would i do with it.
Hi Claudette,
Thank you so much and welcome. When I mentioned a permalink I was referring to the URL of the blog post. In other words, the stuff that comes after the www. Does that make sense? You want the words in the URL to contain keywords from the post so that the post will be easily found by search engine like Google. This is one element in SEO (search engine optimization). It's a complicated algorithm, but it is important to pay attention to in order for people to be able to find your blog posts.
Hi Abby,
Thank you for taking the time to explain (as I know you are super busy)and what a lovely explaination too. I will definitely be taking your advice and putting it into practise. It feels like a lovely experiment!!!
Well, Hi!
I just discovered you blog and will have to come back and read all the posts about increasing readership and comments. Thanks for posting about these things. I have a bit to learn, I needed to go to Wikipedia to find out what a permalink IS.
Thanks again!
Welcome! A permalink refers to the URL of a particular post. You want to be sure your keywords are in there so that people searching on that topic can find your post. Thanks for your comment!
Hi Abby,
thanks for this post – although I am a bit late as only just found your Blog…
I’m about to start my blog (she says , dithering)and I would be really interested to know what made you choose typepad? Why not Blogger or WordPress? And how far back would you go to check for comments? Would you reply to my comment or is the post too old to register on your radar? Do you get notified when someone posts a comment??
Hi Anya,
I chose Typepad in 2005 when I began blogging. There werent very many choices and I really just chose it because the few blogs I found that used it looked pretty. Now I would recommend WordPress. Its free and so flexible.
I get an email whenever a new comment is left on any post and I do try to respond to comments when I have something to say. I think you can choose to get notifications when you get a new comment on most blog platforms. I hope that helps!
Good luck to you with our new blog!
Abby
Hi Abby,
thanks for that!
I found your blog yesterday through Dirtsy link and have been reading it since! How amazing to see your journey – from a “housewife” 😉 to an artist/blogger/businesswoman. I’m really bowled over – a true entrepreneur in action AND still down to earth enough(even with all the success) to reply to a silly question… Thank you!
BTW, your blog is beautifully laid out and a pleasure to navigate.
Thank you so much, Anya. I just checked out your Etsy shop and you take fantastic product shots! So lovely.
This was really awesome information. Thanks! Have enjoyed having a little poke around your blog!
This is so helpful! I love the picmonkey and am already really enjoying new ways to create content based on your advice. My blogs’ sole purpose are to keep me from going crazy by providing me an outlet to do some writing and connect with other grownups. Love your tips for helping me do that better! I need to take more time to read your blog regularly even thought I don’t sew much! -Kelly Caiazzo
Thanks, Kelly! I totally hear you about needing an outlet for some grown-up thinking and interaction when youve got multiple little kids at home.
I’m not much of a commenter, but every so often I get really excited about something and want to comment… invariably to find that the blog is hosted on blogger and that name/url isn’t activated… and so my comment goes unwritten.
So I’m in total agreement with what Sara and Ruth have said!
Hi Abby, sorry for such a late comment on this post (I’m still working my way through your excellent content). I have a question about SEO. You mention the importance of the title and permalink in helping people find your content. Do tags help too? I use WordPress, and try to remember to always use relevant ones to describe what I’m writing about. Interestingly enough, I find most people who’ve found my blog via search terms have been searching for things that I’ve mentioned in my curated posts rather than my subjects! – Elisabeth
Hi Elisabeth,
I know that WordPress has excellent forums where you can go to ask questions about these sorts of things. I’m afraid I don’t have the answers because my blog is hosted by Typepad and we don’t have tags (among the many, many things Typepad doesn’t have…).
These are all great points, and I’ll add that I have switched to mostly reading blogs on my phone, through Feedly, which gives more barriers to commenting:
1) I need to leave Feedly to go to a site and leave a comment.
2) Commenting from a phone can often be a HUGE pain. The fields don’t show up correctly, I can’t remember the password to Disqus, the Captcha doesn’t work correctly.
3) Even if the site is mobile-friendly enough that it’s easy to leave a comment, I still need to contend with typing on the phone (or dictating and then correcting it).
I’ve had enough of my phone comments get erased during some error or validation check that I’ve become wary of doing it at all, I’m sad to say!
I feel like I should be working at my computer, so save blogs for down time, and the phone is just not a great place to leave long replies (though not too bad for telling someone via Twitter that you loved a post!).
Arianne,
I’m in a similar place. When I’m at the computer I need to be working so I also save reading blogs for my downtime. And I’ve had many frustrating experiences trying to leave a comment on a blog post from my phone only to have it erased during the publishing process.
Smartphones plus the ease and popularity of other social media platforms like Twitter have definitely had an impact on blog commenting. At the same time, there are still blogs that get 100’s of comments on every post (Posie Gets Cozy comes to mind) and there are blog posts that I will sit down at my computer and write a thoughtful response to because I really have something to say (maybe like you did here).
For me, it just means I need to work hard to create posts that draw people in and contribute to the online conversation about sewing, the craft and publishing industry, and entrepreneurship.
I’m in a similar place, Arianne. When I’m at my computer I feel that I should be working so I save blog reading for my free time which means I’m reading blogs on my phone. I’ve had many frustrating experiences of having my comment deleted in the publishing process and it makes me give up trying, unfortunately. That coupled with the ease of sharing via Twitter really has changed the culture of blog commenting.
That being said, there are still blogs that get 100’s of comments on every post (Posy Gets Cozy comes to mind). And there are blog posts that I will sit down at the computer to reply to because I have something I feel is important to say (maybe like you did here).
For me this means I work harder to create posts that really contribute something to the online conversation. That’s my goal.
Hi Abby
I haven’t been blogging long and so don’t have many comments. The thing that worries me is that all comments seem to go in the ‘spam’ setting first where I check them over, but unfortunately they never seem genuine responses. They are often very strange comments about nothing to do with the subject matter at all. Do you get this? I just delete them.
Then I also get some very gushy comments, such as its the best blog they have ever seen, blah de blah, but their name or email address is somehthing like ‘we love nicotine’ or something else that doesn’t seem very genuine, or the link takes you somewhere you don’t really want your other readers to go.
Do you get this? Is this what normal spam involves? And do your comments always have to be sorted from your spam folder? I am just not sure if mine is set up properly.
Thanks Sharon
Hi Abbey
Great article, I read it yesterday just before my iPad ran out of juice. I came back this morning to ask if you still recommended keeping your comment system simple (no login in and no captcha) Now I have my answer!
There are so many spammers out there that without some sort of login/verification system all we’d ever do is clear out the spam comments from our blogs and websites!
To further this post, how would you suggest going about the initial post and getting your first blog readers?
Thanks!
Great question, Jess. I would just dive in. Sometimes getting started is the hardest part because you have this blank page in front of you. It’s a relief, really, that nobody is reading in the beginning! So just write a post and publish it. The hard part comes in continuing to write and publish consistently over a long period of time.
Great advice. One idea after the other made me think, yeah, I could do that! I rarely leave a comment because I’m not into blogging as a business or trying to network. Usually I comment to be put into a drawing, or I really liked what I saw and wanted to let them know that I tried it, or enjoyed it. And it is satisfying when the person responds back.
One reason I do not comment often is because I read blogs in a BLOG READER and I often do not go to the original blog to comment… I read it and move on. Also when I read blogs it is usually in the middle of the night when INSOMNIA strikes … it is rare that I feel like commenting on a blog in the middle of the night.
Podcast listeners … often listen while doing other things…. ie CLEAN HOUSE, SEW, WALK, DRIVE TO WORK …. they comment in their heads but they do not remember to comment when they get to a computer or other devise.
Those are both great points.
Hello Abby, I have just recently started to follow your blog. This post has been very helpful to me. I will be reading many of your past posts to learn as much as I can from you. While I have been blogging for a couple of years it has been sporadically because of working many hours.
I’m now retired and need a small income to help SS. While I don’t want to place ads (etc ) on my blog, I would like to use my blog to help direct interest in my etsy shop eventually. Which I’m still learning about as well. It is all kinda overwhelming. I’ll be 70 my next birthday and some of the tech lingo is hard for me to understand. I’m finding I can spend hours online trying to gain the knowledge to run a successful blog and shop. In the meantime I’m not sewing, so there is not enough items to put on etsy. It’s like the horse and the cart. Where would be your suggestion to put most of my time in relation to the other two.
Thank you for the availability of some of your free patterns. The goldfish is absolutely the cutest.
Looking forward to a great friendship.
Hi Tonia,
I know that it can feel overwhelming at times. Kudos to you for going for it! I think it’s important to try to take small steps every day in both the production of handmade goods and the business side of things.