I have kept an eye on Peter Rozovsky´s blog, Detectives Beyond Borders, for some time, and one of the things that singles it out in my eyes is his interaction with his readers
, both in his blog posts and in his comments. I asked Peter to write a post for me on how to enhance the number of comments (see my own post on the subject here).These tactics seem to have worked for me:
1) Be interesting. Have something to say, and say it well.
2) Pick your subject and focus on it. That will attract readers interested in that subject. It will also make the occasional off-topic post all the more fun because it will be unexpected.
3) End posts with questions that invite reader participation. If I've written about a particular novel's use of music, for example, I may end the post by asking readers what other books have used music in a similar way. This is especially useful for a blog about books, as it brings blog readers who have not read the book into the discussion.
4) Post comments on other blogs that discuss similar topics. Don't make these mere advertisements for your blog, throw yourself into the discussion . Suggest that readers might also enjoy related discussions on your blog. Include a link to those discussions in your comment.
5) Respond to your readers' comments. Make your blog into a forum for discussion.
Peter Rozovsky, Detectives Beyond Borders “Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home”
Gæsteblogger om kommentarer.
Skrevet af Peter Rozovsky, Detectives Beyond Borders. Noget af det der i mine øjne gør Peters egen blog til noget særligt, er den måde han kommer i kontakt med sine læsere, både via selve blog-indlæggene, og via kommentarerne. Jeg bad derfor Peter om at skrive et indlæg for mig om hvordan man øger antallet af kommentarer på sin blog. Se mit eget indlæg om emnet her.
Disse taktikker ser ud til at have virket for mig:
1) vær interessant. Hav noget på hjerte, og skriv det godt.
2) vælg dit emne, og fokusér på det. Det vil trække læsere til, som er interesserede i emnet. Det vil også gøre lejlighedsvise indlæg, som er udenfor emne, så meget sjovere, fordi de kommer uventede.
3) afrund indlæg med spørgsmål, som indbyder læserne til at deltage. Hvis jeg for eksempel har skrevet om den måde, musik bruges på i en roman, kan jeg finde på at afslutte indlægget med at spørge læserne, hvilke bøger de kender som anvender musik på en lignende måde. Det er særlig nyttigt for en bogblog, da det inddrager læsere, som ikke har læst netop denne bog i diskussionen.
4) skriv kommentarer på andre blogs, som diskuterer lignende emner. Gør ikke kommentarerne til reklamer for din blog, men engager dig i diskussionen. Foreslå at læsere måske også ville synes om en lignende diskussion på din blog. Læg et link til disse diskussioner i din kommentar.
5) Svar på læsernes kommentarer. Gør din blog til et diskussionsforum.
Peter Rozovsky, Detectives Beyond Borders “Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home”
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27 kommentarer:
So are you going to make any changes as a result of Peter's advice Dorte? I think you are already doing quite a bit of what he suggests. I agree with him about the blog posting being the beginning of a discussion/conversation.
I wrote some "blogging guidelines" last year at http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com/2008/10/further-to-my-good-blogging-guidelines.html
and
http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com/2008/10/kerries-blogging-guidelines.html
Kerrie, thanks for your useful links.
And I am glad that you can see I am trying to follow Peter´s advice :D
Sometimes it is easy for me; other days I am tired & have enough to do with working & posting on my own blog, but it is more interesting when blogger & readers engage in a meaningful discussion.
Peter's idea of asking questions is a good one. Ithink I could do a bit more of this myself!
Dorte, I have always tried to invite readers to join the discussion by posing questions, and I thank you for noticing this. That has got me thinking again, I hope of new ways to pull readers in.
Yes, I think it's a fine idea to end posts and comments with a question.
Don't you?
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Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
I think you are doing very well, Dorte.
You and Peter have the advantage of being very well read, and of also remembering everything you read.
I also think Peter has mastered the art of keeping his blog fresh by switching around his subject matter.
Martin, it certainly seems to work perfectly on Peter´s blog. And some of my guests do leave very nice comments & questions, but I cannot really compete yet.
Peter, I certainly knew what I did when I asked you to write on exactly this topic for me. I don´t know how many times I have written a handful of comments on one of your blog post.
Norman, thank you!
I may be relatively well read when it comes to British & Scandinavian crime fiction, but please don´t ask me questions about non-criminal Danish fiction!
Wonderful guest blog - nice to meet you, Peter. I love this comment, Dorte H:
'I may be relatively well read when it comes to British & Scandinavian crime fiction, but please don´t ask me questions about non-criminal Danish fiction!'
I could say the same about myself, only it would be:
I may love to read, and I may be 'well-read' when it comes to film, and I do love reading reviews about books - because I don't have enough time to read them all myself. So please don't ask me to identify those Bait in the Box quotes!
Dorte, I should mention that credit for the handsome poster you included in your post goes to the multitalented
Michel Basilières.
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Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
And thanks, Julia.
Julia, I thought guest bloggers would make a nice change for my ´regulars´;)
I have another one coming up on Thursday (a surprise).
And my professional reading is British & American literature & non-fiction while I mostly read crime in my spare time. I don´t know much about your genre or film either so if you made contests like my bait in the box I would be just as hopeless :)
Peter; I browsed your blog to find an interesting picture.
My son and I really liked the interesting poster, and I thought you would also see it as a suitable ´commercial´ for the post. I am sure people notice it as something different from my reviews.
My professional reading also mines the darkest reaches of obscurity, so crime fiction is mostly a nice sideline. I'm pondering whether to turn it into a research interest, but I don't think my current obscure project is played out yet.
And I may be Australian, but I think I've read about three authors from my native land in the last three years!
Dorte, since my university has a Scandinavian Studies programme, there's lots of Danish non-crime fiction in the library. It is, however, all in Danish, so any explorations are not likely to happen for a while!
Lauren, in that case I won´t be embarrassed that I have only read one Australian crime novel yet.
And I think it is quite interesting that you often read Danish crime - in German! But if one can read English & German, Danish can´t be that difficult. I forced myself to read British crime in English when I was 20 - I found an English Dorothy Sayers in the library which I had never read.
Great guest post, Peter ... lots of useful tips; Dorte, thanks for hosting this essay.
My blog is more of a dabbler of different bookish subjects, not nearly as specialized as yours. But there's enough consistency that people who connect with my style of blog posts enjoy the variety.
Dawn
She is Too Fond of Books
I've just come from Peter's blog where I've gotten a small taste of Danish and, of course, wanted to experience more.
Yes, Peter, knows what he's talking about. I've started blogging in May/June of 2008 and Peter was one of the first to comment on a short story I'd written. I think it was the title which grabbed him.
He's ever so gracious and forthcoming! And it helps that he knows what he's talking about!
Continued success and fun in blogging! Petra :))
Dawn, I also enjoy the variety of your blog. I just made up my mind from the beginning that this blog is dedicated to one of my hobbies: crime fiction. But even though I don´t blog about other genres, I certainly find inspiration many places, including your blog. I am glad you liked the post - I have seen how many comments & discussions Peter have so I knew here was an expert I could appeal to :)
Petra, nice to meet you. And if you are interested in Danish, you have come to the right place :D Your name does not strike me as English, either. Could be German or Scandinavian???
I agree that Peter is a helpful & inspiring blogger. I may not always know how to solve a blogging problem, but I soon learned to consult the experts. And I have found that many bloggers really like to give a helping hand so this is a great bonus of blogging.
Ah, shucks. I'm bashfully scuffling one foot behind the other here.
I should mention that bloggers looking for tips might look at Dorte's own approach on this blog. Several sites invite the same guest to post regularly the same day each week, but I can't think of any others that organize their posts by theme the way this blog does: blog improvement, reviews, guest bloggers "femkrimis" and "machokrimis" and so on. This will help her blog stick in readers' minds, I think.
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Detectives Beyond Borders
“Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home”
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Peter, I think it is great if we can inspire each other :)
Right now blogging is a new hobby and I find it easy to come up with posts, but when the everyday sets in, it will be good to know where to go for inspiration and encouragement.
To be my honest, the way my memory works, I find it much easier to answer bait-in-the-box types of questions than the ones Peter generally makes. If I've read a novel I can generally recognize a passage (even in a different language) while questions like "what other examples of x can you think of in novels you've read" generally draw a blank.
One thing about Peter's blog is that crime fiction is often the starting point to discuss topics various and sundry, as attested by his record-breaking Clive James controversy post.
Marco, I am glad that people´s brains are different. I would be very sorry to give up my Bait-in-the-Box feature; I really like the whole process of selecting the quotation and trying to come up with a suitable box for it (and waiting to see if people recognize it, of course).
I also like Peter´s little games, however. All in all, I think blogging about crime fiction makes me into a much better reader, because I notice completely new aspects of the books. Not bad, is it?
Great post! Combines having a guest blogger, and useful ideas for improving comments!
I love the fact that your blog is so specialized, but I have to admit that it does tend to exclude the masses sometimes.
I have no idea about any of your quotes, and a lot of your books are very obscure (only in that I've never heard of them). I don't want you to change, as this is clearly a great place for crime lovers, just trying to explain why I don't comment as often as I could.
Thank you, Jackie.
I think one of the ideas of guest bloggers is to ask people to write about what they are best at. And Peter is an expert on the art of enhancing comments :D
I know that my niche blog puts some people off commenting, but the fact is that though I have a wonderful family, many friends and nice colleagues, I missed people who really wanted to discuss crime fiction with me.
This does not mean that I don´t enjoy visits from other book bloggers, and I understand that it is as difficult for you to comment on my reviews as it is for me to comment on yours. - which is one of the reasons I enjoy the Blog Improvement Project and sometimes post photos of flowers or ´silly poetry reviews´. I know they give more people a chance to comment, and I really appreciate whenever you do it.
Dorte - Yes - this blog improvement project is great for bringing bloggers of all different fields together. I'm really proud to be a part of it.
I will continue to read your blog everyday, and make an effort to comment whenever I can!
Jackie, right now I am too busy or follow too many blogs to be able to visit them all every day. I try to be there 1-2 times a week, and I also try to comment so often that you will remember I exist ;)
Just dropping by to say hi and wish you a good weekend. I am still very busy and even though I am not too busy to stop by my own place from time to time, but I barely have time to read other blogs, let alone comment on them. And that is what I really want to do when I get more time. I really, really want to become more involved!
Louise, thank you!
It is nice to hear that you are alive, and I also wish you a good weekend.
And remember, I know you are busy with your thesis. Just make a good job of it, and you can be certain that I will be there when you begin to blog more regularly again :D
I do miss you, but your studies should come first.
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