| | Have you ever tried to figure out one surefire way to drive traffic to your blog? NEWSFLASH: There isn't one.  Have you ever wondered what makes someone leave a comment on one of your posts, but then fail to leave a comment on another? (This can be particularly frustrating if a subsequent post you feel was even better goes ignored. ) Has it ever crossed your mind that there may be something external to all that you do that affects the flow of traffic to your blog? I know I've asked these questions before. Maybe you have too.
I got a lot of wonderful comments one of my posts a couple years ago about a favorite blogger of mine "Leaving". One of my favorite comments was left by BohemianLotus who plainly stated, "you can't hold it against someone else if they don't comment on your blog. No one should judge the quality of their own blogs in terms of being worthy of feedback. It either is, or isn't, and it's up to the people giving the feedback to decide on that." I've found that to be true 100% of the time. We don't know what goes through the minds of those who read our posts. There could be a thousand different reasons why they do or don't decide to leave a comment. Here are some of mine:
- WORK: 90% of the time I'm blogging while at work. During that time, I visit a lot of blogs on which I plan to leave substantial comments. I'm not in the habit of leaving comments that consist of one or two words like "I agree" or "Well said". I try to offer people a little more than textual evidence of my visit. But, my workload fluctuates (meetings, deadlines, etc.) and that affects my ability to get back to those posts. Sometimes I'll have a post open for hours before actually finding the time to read it and then leave a comment.
- READING: Before I leave a comment, I read the entire post. This should be a given. But people usually comment for three different reasons. And I know of more than a few people who never read an entire post. Some posts are painfully tl;dr. But if it's by one of my favorite bloggers, I'll push through it anyway. This takes time and may affect whether or not I get a chance to comment.
- CONTEXT: Some posts just don't lend themselves to comments. I mean, if you're pouring out your heart in a way that is just meant to allow you to vent, it may not be necessary (or appropriate) to say anything. In some of these cases, I might follow up with a message if the blogger needs someone to talk to.
- FAVORITES: If you're one of my favorite bloggers, I will most likely check out your blog first before going through my subs to see if you've posted something new. I will actually do this before writing my own posts, since I don't usually check out my subs until I've posted for the day. This doesn't necessarily mean I'll leave a comment, but it certainly increases the chances.
- TITLES: I will check out your post if the title is interesting. This is especially important if you're a new blogger, or at least someone I'm not subbed to who has been REC'd by people whose opinions I respect.
- CONTENT: This should go without saying, but what you write is probably themost important factor. If it's controversial purely to stir up drama, I'll avoid it. If it's incoherent and seems like you were asleep when you wrote it, I'll avoid it. If it's antagonistic to another blogger, I'll avoid it. But if it's witty, provides insight into your character, discusses things that are passionate to you, or asks for feedback, I'm all over that.
 This is by no means an exhaustive list of reasons, but these are definitely some of the more important factors that affect my ability/willingness to comment on your posts. You shouldn't take a lack of commenting as a reflection on the quality of your blog. A lot of times I'm far more aware of people who happen to be active on any given day. So if you don't post one day, I may not get back to comment your post that I missed the day before.
Can you relate to these factors?
Does anyone feel the same way?
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| | Posted 9/20/2012 2:16 PM - 738 Views - 48 eProps - 40 comments
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Even though I just did. 
