Get Yourself Out There
February 11, 2008 at 2:30 pm by Chris
Brian Solis says that lack of comments means lack of influence, but I say don't expect a ton of comments unless you are approaching A-list (or even B-list) status. In fairness, Solis also says that "measuring the success of a blog based on the amount of comments is just lame," and I completely agree. In fact, according to Jakob Nielsen's study, 90% of online community users are lurkers, meaning they read but don't comment, while only 9% contribute a 'little' and 1% contribute actively. While this study is not specific to blog comment participation, it's likely that the principle is applicable though the numbers may have a "+ or -" factor. This means that the majority of your blog readers will probably not be commenting on your posts anytime soon.As is obvious to anyone who reads this blog, I don't get a ton of comments, so this isn't going to be one of those "I did it and so can you!" posts. Like Brian Solis says above, comments are not always going to be the best judge of the current success of a blog. However, there is always room for improvement, and as readership increases, so, too, should commenting. So, my blog has a way to go. There just is no magic wand to use to instantly get lots of traffic to your blog. There are ways to gradually increase the amount of activity on your blog, but to do it, you've got to get yourself out there. Establish Your Hub The first step is to give readers a way to find your blog. If you already have a website that gets some traffic, your blog can be integrated into your existing site's structure. If your blog is your online hub, you can use your profiles on various social networks to point readers your way (to learn more about this, see an earlier post titled Is that Really You?). Read Other Blogs to Stay Informed Next, you'll need to find and start reading other blogs that deal with the same topics that you deal with on your blog. Being familiar with the larger conversation is crucial to both gaining readers and being properly informed on those subjects that you plan to write about. Use a feed reader (we like Google Reader) to subscribe to the RSS feeds for these blogs and get into the habit of reading through your feeds daily. If you've come to the determination that blogging is important enough to your web strategy to actually create one, you'll also need to realize the importance for making time to read other blogs. Once you've done that, you'll probably find yourself asking how anyone could possibly keep up with the amount of information delivered via RSS to their computer every day. Here's how. Leave Comments, but don't spam. Finally, reading other blogs will help you stay informed, but it won't help you to get noticed. Remember, at this point, you're just lurking (not that there's anything wrong with that!). However, at some point you'll probably have something to add to the conversation that's happening in the comment threads of the blogs you're reading. That's a good thing, and you should do it. Most blogs allow you to add links to your comment, so if you have a blog post or webpage that is relevant to your comment, this is your chance to share it with the community. The more you participate by sharing insightful and valuable comments, the more you'll be able to share links without spamming the other readers of the blog. Participating in this way is crucial for developing recognized authority in regard to your area of expertise. (In the spirit of conversation, here's a link to a blog post which asks how bloggers interact with comments. The comments thread to the blog is a fairly good indication of people's varying opinions on how to interact with comment on their and others' blogs.) Then What? Once you're off and running, there are several other strategies you can employ to get a sense for how your blog is doing, including setting up an RSS feed for search results for your name or your company's name online. If your blog has become a significant part of your online strategy, being aware of your online reputation will become more and more important. It will also give you a chance to respond quickly to those blogs that have noticed and mentioned you (for positive or negative reasons). |
Tags: strategy software blogging google
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Comments 
 RickFi |
February 11, 2008 5:01 PM Thanks for the article. My clients just don't seem to get that their blog is pretty much hidden until they actually start talking to other people. Blogging in a vacuum doesn't work! |
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rainer |
February 11, 2008 5:38 PM Interesting article, I agree to write good posts, for example like yours, won't attract any readers. So thank you for shouting at me. I think one has to be patient to be successful. |
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Chris |
February 11, 2008 5:49 PM Rainer and RickFi, thanks for reading and for leaving a comment! |
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jgblundt |
February 11, 2008 7:08 PM This one (and the other about identifying your online 'hub') is right on! Thanks for tweeting. Blog on! |
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Alex |
February 11, 2008 10:00 PM I like what Solis writes in the post you linked- "The post is only the beginning of the dialog." There's lots of opportunity here if we can connect to it. |
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Able |
February 11, 2008 11:43 PM Chris, great post, and kind of a creepy image of you lurking about the interwebs! I thought you'd enjoy this little cartoon: http://tinyurl.com/3dbywv Keep up the good work. |
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Chris |
February 12, 2008 9:29 AM Able, where did you find that cartoon? I love it! Here it is:  |
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Able |
February 12, 2008 9:46 AM I found it on a friends' blog that had found it on his friends' blog. Go figure. After a little Googling, I found this: http://tinyurl.com/ynl7tw If you really *love* it, maybe I'll tell your wife to get a framed copy for you this Valentine's Day. ;) |