Why commenting is good for bloggers

When you start out in blogging you write and write and write, day after day until suddenly, you have A COMMENT! Someone is actually reading what you have written on the internet. What a wonderful day. It makes you really happy a feel that all the writing has finally paid off.

Then you read someone else’s blog and you see that one post has had 143 comments! Reality hits like a thunderbolt. That one comment does not seem so great after all. Still, it was exciting, and it is the start of greater things. All bloggers start this way. First – nothing. Then a trickle of comments – then more nothing. Eventually they start to come in fairly regularly. We all like comments but bemoan the fact that we don’t get many.

The truth is, very few readers of blogs actually leave a comment. The percentage varies depending on who you are reading, but it is generally believed to be about or even less than one percent of readers actually leave a comment. I’ve not done an analysis of my own stats but as a ball park figure it seems about right.

How to get more comments on your blog:

There is one simple way of doing this. Go out and read other blogs – and leave a comment. Try to do this every day on a number of blogs. You may only have time for three or four comments a day. Fine. It’s a start, and others start to notice and start clicking the link back to your blog – and many of those leave a comment. You are starting to develop a community. They soon turn into loyal readers and away you go.

I also make it a policy to send a personal email to every person commenting for the first time, thanking them for their visit and comment and inviting them to return. This has proved very beneficial.

10 Reasons Why Commenting is Good for Bloggers

Chris Garrett has written a list of ten reasons why commenting is good for you and your blog. His list makes a lot of sense and is something we could all do.

Now over to you:

• You can really make my day and leave a comment OR
• You could help me by commenting on how you get more comments.