I hear this complaint frequently from new and long time bloggers.
“I don’t have any comments. How can I get more comments?”
First of all, let me explain something and I want you to read closely.
You don’t want comments.
Yes, that’s right. You do not want comments. At least not comments from anyone.
If you just want comments, be content with comment spam.
If you want good comments, be specific.
What you want is a discussion. You don’t just want comments. You want interactivity. You want the social intercourse, to share your thoughts with others and have them reciprocate. You want dialog.
Now that you know you don’t want comments, how does that change things on your site?
Your blog exercise today is to get clear about what you mean when you ask how to get more comments on your site.
Your goal in this exercise is to be specific, very specific, about defining not just who your audience is but the type of conversation you are really seeking on your site.
- Who do want to comment? What do they know? How much do they know? Do you want to interact with people who know more than you or those who want to learn from you?
- What would they sound like? What stories would they have to share? What questions do you want to ask them to answer?
- What would the conversation look like? Would it be yes/no, A/B responses or true dialog? Or supportive comments and at-a-boys – pats on the back to reassure you that you are on the right track?
- Do you want arguments? Debates over a topic? Do you want people to challenge your thinking or statements, or do you just want to hold hands and walk through the garden in harmony like old friends?
Write out a description of the ideal person(s) you wish to talk to on your site. Follow this with a clear description of how the conversation would look.
Compare all of this to your site’s mission and purpose, then against your goals. Do these descriptions stay inline with your site goals? Do they keep your site on focus?
If not, you need to realign your vision of the perfect reader or your site purpose and goals. If yes, you are on the right course.
The more precise you are, the more likely you are to write for and attract those individuals.
Blog about this? Remember to include a hat tip link back to this post to create a trackback, or leave a properly formed link in the comments so participants can check out your blog exercise task.
Related Articles and Blog Exercises
- Blog Exercises: What Do You Do?
- Blog Exercises: Define Your Target Audience
- Blog Exercises: Polls and Surveys
- Blog Exercises: Comments and The Blog Bullies
- Blog Exercises: Backlinks
- Blog Exercises: Trackbacks
- Blog Exercises: What is Your Posting Response Assessment?
- Blog Exercises: Trackback Check-Up
- Blog Exercises: Polls and Surveys Follow-up
- Blog Exercises: How to Respond to a Trackback
- Blog Exercises: Do You Teach or Lecture?
- Blog Exercises: Comments Policy
- Blog Exercises: Become Your Own Fan Blogger
- Blog Exercises: Are Your Comments Open for Business?
- How NOT to Comment on Comments
- Editing Your Blog Comments
You can find more Blog Exercises on Lorelle on WordPress. This is a year-long challenge to help you flex your blogging muscles.
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7 Comments
It’s great how you make clear what I only suspect or what lives in my subconciousness without ever surfacing. As it is, I already have trouble keeping the content itself aligned with the missions and goals of the blog. Well, missions and goals is overstating it a bit. It’s more like a goal period. Anyway, the more awareness I gain from reading your posts, the better. Thanks again.
Glad to help. You are so right. We often get confused with what we want to share and what our purpose and goals are, especially when it comes to comments, both receiving and delivering. We make wide assumptions and judgments that may or may not be based upon reality.
It’s important that we blog with clarity, for ourselves as well as our readers. If we are confused, they will be, too. It’s a mutually shared experience. You get what you put out.
Glad it is making sense to you. Thanks!
I absolutely loved this. I’ve closed comments on my posts completely while only keeping it open on my pages. I did this because my blog can, at times, get very personal, and if I am thinking about being judged or what someone might think of me then I feel like it interferes with the purpose of my blog which is to get raw and real about my life. So far, on the pages, I have received a very welcoming response and a lot of encouragement which has been great. Thank you for posting, once again, another great post on blogging! I really enjoy stopping by here 🙂
Thank you.
Remember that you control the comment box. You can edit and delete any comments that violate your rules and boundaries. Clearly, the responses you have gotten so far have been supportive and I bet you that they will be across all your posts. There will always be trolls. I hate myself and have to slap some sense into myself when I get one nasty comment and I forget that it is one in thousands. Don’t let the fear of the one or two trolls block you from connecting with your community.
Thanks for this, Lorelle. I’d been coming to this conclusion recently that I am A-Okay with my little gathering of regulars who grace me with thoughtful and sometimes rather deep comments. Quality over quantity.
Good for you, Sue. You are so right!
Great way of dealing with the spam masters undercover, You are right its not easy to find good comments unless you define a certain criteria of what would you regard and who you want to show up at your site.
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