Blog Improvement Project # 7.
Kim [Sophisticated Dorkiness] has linked to three useful articles about the art of commenting on blogs. She asks us to read, think and choose 3-4 techniques to try out over a period.
1) count your comments
Over the last 10 days I have written 10 posts, and my 400-450 guests have left 66 comments (including the comments in my crime and mystery fiction room).
2) select 3-4 techniques from the articles
a) invite comments (remind your guests that you really appreciate their comments, questions, ideas and suggestions)
b) give your readers direction e.g. by asking them questions at the end of the post
c) interact with the comments which people leave (I know someone who is excellent at this and I have invited him to write a blog post for me – so watch out for my next guest blogger)
d) leave better comments on other people´s blogs (not quantity but quality – I leave quite a lot of comments, but often boring & uninspiring remarks)
3) do it! (me, I mean – but I´d certainly appreciate it if you take the time to write to me)
NB: Have you visited my little Wednesday game, DJs Bait in the Box?
Blog Improvement Project # 7
Denne uges opgave fra Kim, Sophisticated Dorkiness, går ud på at forsøge at øge antallet af kommentarer på min blog. Kim henviser til tre nyttige artikler, og beder os læse, tænke og udvælge 3-4 gode råd, vi vil afprøve i den nærmeste fremtid.
1) Tæl dine kommentarer: i løbet af de seneste ti dage har jeg skrevet 10 indlæg, og mine 400-450 gæster har efterladt 66 kommentarer (inklusiv kommentarer i mit forum ”crime and mystery fiction room”).
2) vælg 3-4 teknikker ud, som du vil afprøve
a) invitér besøgende til at kommentere (mind dine besøgende om, at du virkelig værdsætter deres kommentarer, spørgsmål, ideer og forslag)
b) hjælp dine besøgende på vej f.eks. ved at stille dem spørgsmål ved slutningen af dine indlæg
c) gå i dialog med de kommentarer, du får (Jeg kender en blogger, som er fantastisk til netop det, og jeg har bedt ham skrive et blog-indlæg for mig – så hold udkig efter min næste gæsteblogger)
d) efterlad bedre kommentarer på andre blogs (ikke kvantitet men kvalitet – jeg skriver mange kommentarer, men tit kedelige og uinspirerende bemærkninger)
3) og gør det så! (mig altså – men jo, du er også meget velkommen til at skrive til mig).
NB: har du besøgt min onsdagsleg: Gæt en bog?
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16 kommentarer:
Well, I'll start off - I'll tell you I've given you a Splash! Award (see this post).
CoversGirl: wonderful comment! You have certainly understood what it is I want :D
Wow, those are beautiful daffodils! Also, I love how organized you are with the BIP. All I did was make a post-it of the stuff I wanted to try this week -- much less pressure :)
Kim
Kim, some people work best under pressure. If people know what I am trying to do it is easier for me to stick to it. I am not quite sure Easter is such a good time to begin, but we live and learn, don´t we?
I put the daffodils there because they are called Easter Lilies in Danish, by the way.
This is an interesting project (the Blog Improvement one)you've got yourself into Dorte and I'm learning lots just by reading your posts.
In the last 10 days I have published 16 posts (too many I know!), and I have 3 others sitting in draft. I've had 1050 visitors who've left only 52 comments.
The comment thing is something I'm working on. Lots of people come to my blog to catch up with a book review, and then they go off to sites I've referred to in the review.
However I've also run polls where 20+ people have voted, so I guess that counts for soemthing
I find it's my regulars who comment. Sometimes one-off visitors.
I have two blogs, and on Bookwitch lots of people are regular readers and they comment. On CultureWitch I get more one-off visits, and hence fewer comments.
And in similar discussions elsewhere, I always conclude that people don't comment because they feel they need to be very knowledgeable about the subject, rather than just saying 'well done' or 'interesting thought'.
I blogged about the film Flammen & Citronen yesterday, so any Danes here, feel free to visit http://culturewitch.wordpress.com
Comments can be made in any language, though I do find Russian is beyond my capabilities.
This was very helpful reading! My blog partner and I are looking for ways to increase our blog traffic (and comments). Thanks for the tips.
Kerrie, thanks a lot!
I know that serious book review rarely give many comments. In a way that doesn´t matter to me, because they are what I made my blog for, and I know that they make a difference to some of my blog friends, just like I buy or borrow books based on what you and all my other crime fiction friends think about it.
Still, I will try to remember to make some of the other posts more inviting to give people a chance to say hello even if they haven´t read as many crime novels as I have.
Ann, I know this dilemma myself when I visit e.g. your blog. You often write about books I haven´t read, and then it can be difficult to say something sensible. I think you know I like you and your blog, though, and try to say hi now and then to tell you I am still around :)
Hi Kate.
I am glad you found my comments useful :) We´ll have to wait and see if it works, but at least I feel I have done something now.
I checked out your blog, and I really liked this quotation: “America is now wholly given over to a damned mob of scribbling women, and I should have no chance of success while the public taste is occupied with their trash--and should be ashamed of myself if I did succeed.”
Dorte - I haven't yet written a post for the current BIP, but reading your post has got me thinking that I should catch up on this one!
One of my goals when we started BIP was to leave more meaningful comments. As you say, it's quality, not quantity.
I do like to visit your blog, and am impressed that you take the time/effort to translate your posts. I don't read much crime fiction, so I often don't comment on your reviews :(
I do love the "bait in the box", and it seems that other bloggers are sending you box pictures to use (is that right?)
Dawn
She is Too Fond of Books
Dawn, I think this week´s task is a really useful one. I even have an extra post for this one as I asked a blog friend to muse over how he got so many comments.
And I am glad so many people enjoy my Bait in the Box. 2-3 bloggers have been so kind as to send me boxes (so if you have any, it would be much appreciated). Whenever it is possible, I use a box from the right area or period.
As a comment-leaver, I always wonder whether it's better to leave an uninspired comment than none at all. But on my blog, I know I love receiving every single comment, so usually I don't worry about quality! :)
Eva, I am pleased whenever anyone visits my blog, and even more pleased when they leave a short comment so I know who some of you are :)
The idea was not at all to discourage my visitors from leaving short comments, but that I would try - if possible - to encourage ongoing discussions on my own blog as well as on others now and then.
And like everybody else, I find it difficult to say something clever when people review books I have not read. So far my solution has been to leave a short ´hi´ of some kind, but I am trying to learn from some of the blogs that inspire me how to engage people by inviting comments (you might want to see what my latest guest blogger, Peter Rozovsky, wrote yesterday - he is an expert at opening a dialogue by writing the right kinds of questions).
Hi Dorte,
We basically did the same thing for this one! I am trying to learn to put a question in my posts. Have a great week end!
Sherrie
Hi Sherrie.
I think many BIP bloggers did more or less the same thing as we read the same articles. I also try to follow my own ´rules´, and sometimes it works, but I find that when I am tired it is difficult for me to come up with good response to the comments people leave.
What is most important is probably that our readers can see we really appreciate that they take the time to leave a comment.
And a great weekend to you too.
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