Comments Curiosity
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I’ve encountered quite a few blogs that enthusiastically invite readers to comment, and when a readers does, their contribution isn’t acknowledged or responded to.
On one occasion, the blog author actually asked his readers what it was he was doing wrong, and why people weren’t leaving comments on his site!
Witnessing a lively discussion taking place on a website encourages readers to get involved, a blog author who doesn’t engage in the discussion does the opposite, and discourages participation.
I find this lack of communication difficult to comprehend, but that’s probably because I’m a control freak for whom it’s impossible to ignore a comment — I have to have the final word!
Do you treat comments to your own site like you’d treat a real-life discussion? Do you respond? Or perhaps your site receives comments in such high numbers, it’s impossible to respond to each of them?
Do you expect a response when you’re the one commenting?
How often would any of us engage in comments and responses, if we didn’t all need back-links to our own sites?
Reward Rebel
Filed under Writing, Link Building, Blogging | Comments (61)
How To Write A Popular Post
Peoples’ reactions to my posts constantly surprise me. So often the posts that I expect to generate a response will lie dormant, and the posts that I’ve hurriedly thrown together become the most popular.
Why is this? It suggests that my spontaneous and intuitive posts are better. If this is so, is it because they are spontaneous and intuitive?
Could I practise reverse psychology on myself? Ya know, deliberately don’t prepare a post, brainstorm at the last moment, schlap together a quick article, and I’ll have a winner.
Nah, I don’t think that’ll work.
The aptly titled Spring Surprise is a recent example of a successful last-minute posting.
Because it was snowing hard when I got up that day, I quickly nipped into the garden, pointed the camera in a few different directions to ensure a good picture, downloaded the shots and saved a couple of versions in Photoshop, uploaded to my server and — Bob’s your uncle.
The post was ‘live’, and receiving comments a matter of moments later.
[I was glad that I’d taken the photos, because by the afternoon all evidence of the snow had been completely eradicated!]
But why did that picture generate so much interest? There are articles on this site over which I’ve laboured to find the right word and phrasing. Disconcertingly, they just sit there, all lonely and unloved.
Nope, I’ll never understand it.
I don’t know how you organise writing your posts and articles, but fortunately, my very nature guarantees that there will always be a generous sprinkling of spontaneous, intuitive, last-minute items!
Reward Rebel
Filed under Writing, How To, Blogging | Comments (17)
