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Your Blog And Podcast Are Not Enough – Start Adding Comments

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I’ve been watching the traffic to this Six Pixels of Separation Blog and Podcast. It’s not that things have slowed down. Quite the contrary. There seems to be more action in the comments section then ever before and, by the looks of our web-based analytics tools (which does include my favorite, Google Analytics), the traffic is rising as well.

But that’s not enough.

I was just listening to episode #291 of For Immediate Release – The Hobson And Holtz Report Podcast and they had a segment about commenting on Blogs inspired by a ProBlogger Blog posting entitled, The Power Of Commenting On Blogs. The big lesson? A simple way to drive excellent and steady traffic to a Blog is to comment intelligently on other highly-trafficked Blogs. While it seems simple enough, it was a huge slap in the face meets wake-up call for me.

When I think back to early days of this Blog – I’m going back over four years – I built the initial traffic by finding out others who were creating valuable Blog content, and by adding to their conversations… or by joining the conversation in general it inspired readers to come and check out my Blog. As our lives get increasingly complex with Podcasts, twitter, Facebook profiles and more, taking the time to be a part of the community has been usurped by expecting others to join this one.

Not cool.

While inspiration on other Blogs does inspire the content here (and trackbacks) – like that posting from ProBlogger, I’m becoming increasingly more aware that while the conversation on this Blog is deep and rich, I need to "be out there" to keep up with what’s going and, more importantly, to get my ideas out there. Having a Blog and Podcast is, simply, not enough. I need to encourage the conversation here, trackback to those Blogs that are inspiring me, but – more importantly – I have to get out of lurker mode and engage in the conversation that is taking place beyond my own RSS feed.

16 comments

  1. Mitch, listened to the Hobson & Holtz Podcast and read the Pro Blogger “Commenting on Blogs” post. It got me thinking. A year or so ago I think you, Michael Seaton and a few others were part of a series of posts about “Five Things About …” and I can’t remember exactly what it was.
    Anyways, with this in mind, here’s my “Three Things About Commenting on Blogs”
    1. You can’t fake authenticity.
    2. Reveal Yourself.
    3. Do the opposite of others as a way to differentiate your posts.
    Spread the word and let’s see what we get.

  2. So what you’re saying is, when you first blogged, people blogging on your blog helped your blog. Now, it’s important to blog not only on your own blog, but also on other blogs. No doubt the blogs you’ll be blogging on are blogs which blog about the importance of blogging on other blogs so as to get the most bloggers blogging onto your blog.
    And this all has something to do with marketing.

  4. Another thoughtful way of adding to the conversation is by getting to know who comments here. It seems like a no-brainer, then again sometimes simpler is better.
    The other consideration on making smart comments on high traffic blogs is that often many others are doing the same in an attempt to attract the attention of the blogger.
    How about engaging with great content on any blogs? It might be better to be on a peer basis with the blogger and other readers than trying to grab attention in a sea of competition.
    One last point — don’t try too hard to be everywhere with shallow comments. It’s noticeable 😉

  5. Yes I agree the comments thing is important. I was told about it but it took me some time to get going. There are always a few pixels to tweak on one’s own blog and so it is easy to forget that you need to get out there.

  7. Hah, just look at the comments that this one racked up! I wonder if the pattern will persist hereafter, however.
    I think, Mitch, that you just might have planted a seed that save blogging: you’ve shown others how it is in their self-interest to participate in discussions started by others instead of just trying to start their own…

  8. You’re right CT, the challenge is this: if the comments are not insightful and don’t add value, then it’s useless. The whole point would be that someone reads your insights on another Blog and enjoys them so much that they click on over to your Blog and subscribe.
    It’s a long road to winning a new reader, especially if the commenting that you’re posting on other Blogs does not add value or position you properly.

  9. “One last point — don’t try too hard to be everywhere with shallow comments. It’s noticeable ;-)”
    I have the same gut instinct or reaction to memes…to me it’s an obvious attempt (i.e., artificial “sharing”) to game Technorati, etc., with lots of links, to and from your online buddies’ blogs. Particularly if the same bloggers are always tagging one another.
    I rarely read mems posts. I certainly don’t comment on them. And if a blogger engages in this practice too often (particularly starting memes, repeatedly), said blogger loses credibility.

  10. Completely agree Mitch. It is a huge community, and in a community, there is give and take. I used to read blogs, nod my head that I agree, and move on. But when I started blogging myself, I realized how great it was when comments were left. I didn’t get to see that head nod, and yeah there are numbers there, but I, like you, want feedback. So it drives some traffic to your own blog, but adding to the conversation because you are in the community is where the value is, for you and everyone else.

  11. Right on, Mitch. What I find interesting is how the online world is really starting to “catch up” to what’s been going on in the offline world since the dawn of time.
    What I mean is, we’re becoming friends online (been going on for decades, but some genius thought we could do this online…and we fell for it!), and likewise with commenting to blogs, it’s a no brainer in the offline world (it’s called a dialogue or conversation – more sophisticated).
    Great point. And I’ll keep commenting!
    Dave

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