Do You Comment?
June 25, 2009 by Allison Boyer
Filed under Jobs
If you write online, you likely read information from tons of websites. I don’t know about you, but I’m quite the surfer at times, both for work and pleasure. And I leave comments – but that’s something that many people don’t do.
Comments are not always the best way to promote your own blog or other writing. Once, I did a blogging experiment where I commented on 100 different times on others’ blogs, using my own URL in the comment form. I didn’t say anything spammy or promoting my own work – I just left good comments on blogs that related to my topic area.What I found was that less than 15% of those bloggers and their readers checked out my website. I was actually pretty disappointed about those results.
So if not for traffic, why should you leave comments?
Think of your comments as a “tip.” Of course, it is better to actually leave a tip for the writer if they have a donation button and you have the means, but a comment tells the writer that you appreciate their work. Even when you leave a negative comment, it shows that you’ve read the post and found it interesting enough to say something.
I think I’m lucky here to have many regular readers who leave comments. I want to encourage you all to do the same on other blogs. If you’re a “regular,” say thank you by commenting! Trust me; bloggers like to know when someone’s reading their work, and no matter what the stats say, comments are a real indicaton of quality traffic. So, don’t forget to comment!
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Hi Allison,
I do comment on blogs that I read. Not all the time — I read a lot of blog posts without commenting at all. However, if I have something constructive to say then I post a comment. It’s not about promoting my website (though I do fill in my website URL if there’s a facility for doing so), but about being part of the conversation and making a useful contribution.
Thinking of it as a “tip” to the author is an interesting way of looking at it. Though as a blog author I appreciate it if someone says “thanks”, or “that was useful”, a stream of such comments adds little to the original post. I’d rather someone added their own perspective, or asked questions.
I don’t always comment for a number of reasons: I started to post a comment but self edited because my comment was controversial, the post was uninspiring, 40 other people already said what i would have said… but usually it’s because I have nothing of value to add to the conversation.
I usually do my blog reading while I’m feeding my baby, so typing is one handed. And yet I still manage to comment on a lot of posts every day. I just have a different standard the post has to meet to make leaving a comment worthwhile.
Allison -
I scan quite a few blogs and when there is a particularly inightful item I like to acknowledge them but many blogs make it VERY difficult to comment if you don’t have a WordPress account or don’t choose to provide what seems to be excessive amounts of personal data, just for the ability to leave a note…
(thank you for making this a straightforward transaction!)
Brian McLaughlin
I like to comment on blogs, but only if I have something meaningful to say. One time, I had such a strong reaction to a blog post and my comment went on so long, I ended up cutting it out and turning it into a post for my own blog. :)
I suggest you put the comment button beneath the article rather than next to the heading if you want comments.