Do you participate in #blogchat? Every week, this weekly discussion on Twitter focuses on a specific topic and bloggers everywhere are invited to join in. Because I often have more to say than what will fit in 140 characters, every Sunday night (or Monday morning), I post about some of the most interesting #blogchat tweets. Join the conversation by commenting below.
(Still confused? Read more about #blogchat here.)
This week’s theme: Blog Comments
A few months ago, I spoke with someone who was extremely discouraged about the number of comments left on his blog. For every post he wrote, he would get thousands of unique views, but only one or two comments. I asked him what he blogged about. His answer? Weekly round-ups of real estate news.
Well, there is your answer. No one was coming to his blog for the conversation. They were simply coming to read news they may have missed.
During #blogchat, one tweeter expressed this concept well:
idiot_girl: I think some bloggers should also realize that not all blog types invite comments.
Take a look at your niche. Are they a vocal group, inherently? Does your niche lend well to discussion? Are your readers comfortable with leaving comments on blogs? The answer isn’t always yes.
And that’s ok.
Most groups of people are vocal somewhere. It’s just a matter of finding them. That can be online or offline. For example, my friend with the real estate blog may not be starting conversations on his blog, but his target market is made of people who go to tons of conventions, expos, and other types of events every year. Another example – I know someone whose target market is made up of tweens and teens. They aren’t super comfortable with blog comments, but they definitely are vocal on Facebook. If you want the feedback, find where your community hangs out…and bring your blog to them.
But at the same time, you don’t need comments to be successful. I know someone who makes five figures every month from a shopping-based blog network where he’s lucky to get 5 comments per post. He has a different focus from a blogger who is talking about parenting, though. It’s all about understanding your niche. Sometimes, the lack of comments is no reason to worry!
Thanks to idiot_girl for a tweet during #blogchat that was definitely not idiotic!
WOW, thank you so much for pulling my tweet out as a nice little tid bit of knowledge to share!! I think when conversation topics turn to comments people are always plugging how to get them, when newbie bloggers in different industries are sitting there feeling less than successful because they don’t have them.
I know of one highly successful design blog that barely gets any comments yet is known very well and shared across all types of platforms by the community (http://design-milk.com)
A close friend who was probably one of the early adopters of blogging told me to be “unique and controversial” when I started blogging in 2005.
Good advice if you want lots of comment, not sure, though if your blog is for another purpose. Thanks for the post!
I think that’s a debate in and of itself about whether or not you should be controversial. I personally don’t like when bloggers do it just for traffic/comments, even if they don’t really believe what they are saying. It seems almost unethical.