works for you, not against you.
You have the sourpuss that takes your words and regurgitates them with disgust, the sweetheart that will agree and comment on most of your entries, and then there is always the guy that says “That’s great, now checkout my blog at www…” What should you do about these comments? Encourage the first two, at least.
A blog is public, meant for anyone interested in that niche to see. Your viewers have the right to access your info, so long as you don’t make it private. Give them the option to comment on your posts. Not only will you see much more success in your blog, but it opens so many doors along the way. What are some great reasons to allow comments on your blog? I was just about to tell you…
- Gain criticism
- Get to know your readers
- Open further discussion
- Networking opportunities
- Receive suggestions for more blog topics
Gaining criticism and getting to know your RSS subscribers go hand in hand. Without your subscribers, your blog is just another one of the millions on the net already. Know who you are writing for, and what your audience wants and expects from your writing.
Comments allow for further discussion on your topic. You can either let your subscribers ask amongst themselves, but the blogger should involve them self indefinitely. Try not to leave a question unanswered. Stimulate people to comment by asking them questions or posting a poll. Tell them to criticize you. Dare them to challenge you.
The networking opportunities are limitless. Visit the blogs that comment yours. If they are in a similar niche, you may want to contact the blogger. If nothing else, say thanks for commenting, or answer any question they have. If they comment often, give them a little more sugar and scratch their back. They may end up sending you some link love, and if their blog traffic explodes, you might as well feel some of the aftereffects of that, too.
Comments might gain you valuable blog topics. If someone asks a question that takes more than a sentence to answer, jot it down and save it for a near future post. You might even want to question a commenter with a blog entry. The opportunities here are limitless, you just need to take advantage of them and be creative.
Don’t be scared of comments. Besides the spammers, (which there are many solutions for) a commenter will be your blog’s best friend. These are the people that truly enjoy (or hate) your blog, and you should let them know you are listening.
Enjoy the post? I did, so I subscribed.
