Oct 11, 2012 / Beginner

Quick Tip: Be the Perfect Guest

Yesterday, Elizabeth published a great post on moderating comments to encourage thoughtful conversation. But what if you have no comments to moderate? Many of us, new and not-so-new bloggers, still struggle to attract commenters other than our mothers.

There’s no magic button that turns your blog into a comment mecca (drat!), but there is one simple thing you can do that will have more impact than anything else: engage with the community. No one knows about you or your site? Get out there and comment on others’ posts. Add something substantive to the discussion (No “Great post, I agree!” comments, please), and before you know it, others will want to know what more you have to say and will find their way over to your site.

We’ll be doing longer posts on attracting an audience and being a good community member in the future, but wanted to drop this quick tip now. Get out there, and get talking! Use the topic listings in the Reader, visit other Writing and Photo Challenge participants, whatever—just go.

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  1. I am looking for some WordPress blogs written by writers who write creative fiction on their writing blogs not blogs about writing creative fiction because I want to read your writing and think about how you wrote it and why and then maybe write some feedback so that you can write better and I can write better and we can write better.

    Where to look? Who is out there?

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    1. Fiction blogs are a great idea for a future “Focus On…” post–we’ll add it to the list.

      In the meantime, have you checked out the “Flash Fiction” topic (you can add it to your topic list in the Reader)? There are tons of bloggers creating interesting short-form fiction, weekly challenges to follow, etc. Give it a read!

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      1. I have checked out the flash fiction topic yes, but most of those tend to be more “slice of life” than actual stories with characters and a plot. I am looking more for short prose, or even short stories.

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  2. If any of you are thinking that forcing yourself to comment all the time is going to be a drag it can actually be quite fun. WordPress feels like a community because people can engage in thoughtful comment based discussion — this is why I personally prefer it over other blogging platforms like Tumblr. Unlike most of the rest of the Internet comments don’t usually deserve to be herp derped.

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  3. Yay! The other side of the coin!
    Can’t believe you read my mind.
    “Great post” feels like inert matter.
    Not sure if I ought to say this, but sometimes nothing is a tad better than auto-responder. Why go through the anticipation of possible wonderful, just ot get the contents of an empty brain. Got nothing (for this one) share nothing.
    Ok, sometimes the anticipation is fun. So go ahead and comment. “Great post!”

    Great post, by the way.

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  7. Hehe. I visited a friend’s blog and was amazed at how she got strangers commenting on her posts, then I thought that maybe it was because she also comments to other people’s blog. And then, hey, I read this and find out that my theory is true.

    Thank you for the post! It’s helpful. 🙂

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  8. With the execption of one friend, I wrote my fifth post before I got a comment from a reader. This in fact came from someone whos post i had read and commented on. During the week I try to read at least 50 post and comment on as many of those posts as warrants. My “likes” have gone up greatly and now I am getting more comments. — Bill

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  9. I always struggle to write something ‘interesting’ or ‘engaging’ in the comments section other then ‘Great post! I agree!’ LOL
    But I have noticed that when I do write something ‘engaging’ on someones post, I do get a reply and they do come visit my page.
    Your theory works, I just have to write better comments I guess =)

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  10. Writing a bit longer comment is important, but I definitely don’t like to read, nor write, a mile long comments. I saw few of this type here and I prefer to skip past them. So be thoughtful but don’t overdo it :). Good post, though.

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  11. Wow i just started blogging for the sake of blogging but its true that it’d be great to have more traffic on your blog and it makes sense also whats been mentioned but just responding to comments doesn’t seem like enough and they do end up too long sometimes, Responses have to address the commenter in a way that they’ll understand what your saying at the same time not losing them in a block of text.

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  12. Ran across the Daily post while searching for something else. New blogger here, looking for inspiration and guidence…I have found some here. 🙂 Appreciate the thoughts you shared in this post about putting comments out there. I am looking forward to finding some fun blogs to comment on! Anticipate your upcoming posts on attracting an audience and being a good community member.

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  13. I didn’t read through all the commets here so I applogize if this is repetitive, but does this go for blogs outside wordpress? It always seems a bit weird to me when people leave a link to their blog in the comment section. Or is it okay as long as there’s a thoughtful comment preceding it?

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    1. This goes for all blogs. Typically, when you leave a comment, you’re asked for your name, email address, and URL; when your comment appears, your name will be a link to your URL, so there’s no need to leave it in the comment itself (which is usually frowned upon).

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      1. Ah, that makes sense! I sometimes see people leaving the link in the content itself. But you’re right, there’s usually a place to provide that info while commenting without being tacky. Thanks for the reply!:)

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  14. Reblogged this on AKANA IUMOLA and commented:
    Who? The Queen ? England II ? England Iumola ? England Junior ? Some blog group rubbishing up her good name in the world ? Elisabeth II ? Elisa Beth Iumola ? Eli Sa Beth Junior ? Wrong is WRONG . Will this change on the line ?

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  15. Who? The Queen ? England II ? England Iumola ? England Junior ? Some blog group rubbishing up her good name in the world ? Elisabeth II ? Elisa Beth Iumola ? Eli Sa Beth Junior ? Wrong is WRONG . Will this change on the line ?

    Like

  19. Hey there! This is such a great discussion! As a new blogger I am learning so much with every post from WP and with every comment you guys are writing. I just had to write about it myself on a post called “Will blog for comments” 😉
    Would love to see you around…

    Will blog for comments

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  21. I have to admit that I find it annoying when people leave a comment or press like just in order to have me go check out their blog.

    I am constantly looking for new blogs to read and follow, I find them thru friends, freshly pressed and StumbleUpon. I think that if you want more readers/traffic on your blog all you should do is just keep writing like there are thousands following you.

    I have had my blog for almost two years now and have managed to collect a following of 50 readers (+all my friends on FB and twitter were I publish links to my blog), something that I am very proud of. They have found my blog one way or another, sometimes because I left a comment on their blog, I only(!) do that when I feel like I have something to say.

    I guess it make a difference if you are writing for yourself or for others.

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