You Never Comment On My Blog

It was a simple email. You never comment on my blog. I was a little nonplussed by this. I wasn't exactly sure how I wanted to respond. I have blogged about comments and written about how many blogs I visit. I came up with a goofy word for what you need to retain and expand your readership.

I have also blogged about how responding to comments is among the most time consuming parts of blogging.

When you write to say that I never comment on your blog I have to ask why are you blogging. Perhaps the problem is that your blog is not user friendly. Perhaps it is just bad blogging. Maybe you should read my list of ways to build traffic to your blog.

Or maybe you just have blog envy.

The thing is this. Begging for comments is not a good strategy. It doesn't play well and it tends to be uneffective. You probably have a fair number of lurkers. Some people just don't like to post comments. There are endless reasons why and if I were you I wouldn't spend any time trying to figure out what they are.

What you really need more than anything else is passion. If you don't blog with passion you are going to have a tough time gathering readers. Readers flock to passionate posts and passionate bloggers.

It doesn't have to be a particular topic, just blog passionately and you'll see things change. At least I think that you will.

In any case, the real point of this is emailing me to complain that I never post on your blog isn't going to make me do it. It might even chase me away, or maybe not.

11 comments:

AS said...

Pleeeease comment on my blog with a cherry on the top! There how's that?

Robbie said...

You don't bring me flowers anymore...

Ezzie said...

:( you never comment by me either... (sniff)

Back to important things... have you seen Jameel yet?! :)

StepIma said...

I still want to know how you found me to comment on my blog in the first place... I was only online for maybe one day and had never read you before...

I'm still flattered by that - my very first comment out of the blue (!!!) - and still kinda spooked



(looks over shoulder)

Jameel @ The Muqata said...

Nu..Jack...why havent you decided who you want to parody?! :-)

We're WAITING....

Jack Steiner said...

JB,

I'll think about it. ;)

Robbie,

You don't hold me anymore.

MN,

Java is a wonderful thing.

Ezzie,

I comment all the time, or maybe that is around the blogosphere. You always seem to be there.

SI,

It is magic.

Jameel,

Good question, I don't know.

Ezzie said...

Jack, I was kidding. :)

Jack Steiner said...

Ezzie,

I know, just like you pretend that cleveland is a cool place to live. ;)

StepIma said...

meanwhile, speaking of comments, I believe my boyfriend just hit on the answer to the word verification boogieman who takes what you were sure were perfectly-matched letters and says they don't match and sends you back to reenter them... (you posted about it here )

There's a time limit! If you wait too long to finish writing your comment, it times you out! So no matter if the word verification word was "cat," it would probably still tell you you were wrong and send you back to put it in again.

We haven't been able to put this through extensive testing yet, because we're both extremely lazy and unmotivated, so we could be wrong. But I thought with your much more extended readership (or spare time, or healthy sense of curiosity), you might like to know.

StepIma said...

btw, he thinks this only works on some blogs, not all of them -- which is why it's not a more widespread occurrence

Jack Steiner said...

Makes sense to me.

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