Blog comments - How to get more of them?

Dear Bloggers,

I would be stating the obvious when I say that in general bloggers would love to get comments for their blog entries.

However, I was wondering as to what makes a reader comment on a blog as opposed to just read and move on. I thought may be we all can discuss and find some best practices.

Just to kick-off the conversation, I did a quick math. I looked at the top 3 bloggers in our site and looked at the maximum and minimum comments their blog entries have received. And here is what I came up with.

AnandChitra
Blog Entries - 31
Max Comments - 40
Min Comments - 2

Sunkan
Blog Entries - 28
Max Comments - 27
Min Comments - 0

Meenloch
Blog Entries - 23
Max Comments - 12
Min Comments - 0

Question for AnandChitra, Sunkan and Meenloch -
What are your thoughts as to why certain blog entries of yours received good comments and certain ones didn't? Was there anything particular about the blog entries that got a lot of comments? Please share your thoughts and rest of us can build on it.

Bloggers, In general, what are your recommendations as to how bloggers can get more readers to comment on their blogs?

Great question Jey.
Sundari, Chitra and Vidya, I hope you dont mind putting your thoughts on this. We just singled you three out, since you are the most active in the group.

I did go through other blogs too , the trend is there. Some blogs receive a good many comments and some not any. So does this depend on the topic of the blog? I feel so. I think some topics are universally liked by people and they leave comments.

So what are your thoughts. Other bloggers, if you have something to share on this , please do. All thoughts welcome.

Vandhana

Hi Jey,
Jus came here to share some of my thoughts.
First when i started writing i did not have anything decided in mind.Subject,readers,comments.............nothing was there in my mind. This may be because i have never ever tried my hands on writing and was totally new to this blog world.But now,my mindset has started changing and i am taking in these points while writing blogs in order to get more readers and of course more comments too.

Subject: I see to that every week i blog on different subjects.I write upon travel in one week and the next week i share about a movie or something else.I also try to take topics which have universal interest.Only if i feel that am fully satisfied about the subject i post them in IL.
Time: Initially i was even posting two blog entries in one day.Then i understood that there should be a considerable time gap so that the readers get time to read it.This gave me results too.The more time i gave,the more i got views and the comments too.
Posting often leads overlaping of my entries and readers get to miss my entries.
Pictures: I see to that i post some picture realted to the blog.This gives a real feel to the readers.The readers get a better idea of what am trying to communicate to them.
The better they understand,more i get readers and their comments.

After writing 11 blog entries in IL and gathering around 90 comments,i feel its a great welcome note for me.As time goes by, i feel confident that i can get more readers and comments for my blogs.

My Heartfelt Thanks to You & Malathy for making this happen.

Regards,
Shantha Kasiarunachalam

Hi, jey, vandhana,
Basically a very emotional person that i am, anything that captures my attention comes as blog, it could be me sulking and fighting with god too.

I had to go through the blog to come back here with an answer, still at a loss, but many are like me i should say, while singing to the god, who is the best friend in the whole world and when lonely, and this loneliness does not mean u don't have anyone but u feel alone amongst many too.

the more u read the blogs of others u remember an incident in your life, it is like group talk, when someone was telling about how her father was forcing the nose ring on to her nose while watching the movie because they wanted that she wear one at any cost, triggered the ettukkallu mookkuthi pota edupa irukkum mookku , which is still popular.

anybody will love the heirloom, many amongst us would cherish anything given by my grandfather, this i thought about while sorting my old silver for daughter's wedding gift. which was a very popular thread.

when you choose food items there are a lot of followers, like what is getting ready in your kitchen this diwali, i think most woman in festive moods love to share what they make in their kitchen, but never got the same response in christmas.

so it is a blind shot many a time where one site praises it to the sky and indus not a single comment, but still we keep writing. like how pankaja madam has given advise on how to blog, very true, we need to read a lot of books to give reference like our mr sri, and remember them appropriately, no use reading and pondering away what was that and who said it, which yours truly to the full 10..

gardening, knitting, tailoring, photoshop, cooking, painting, numerology, astrology and many more are on my list of interest, so i am able to share it here and i think i have made a mark in their mind, so even if they dont comment,i know they have read.

many sometime send pm saying i love all ur articles but i cannot ask why then no comment, as long as they read and benefit, appreciate,applaud we are here.

I dont know whether you follow hindi but still i think this statement is apt, mai pal do pal ka shayar hoon, pal do pal meri kahani hai, pal do pal meri masthi hai, pal do pal meri jawani hai.
this song is from kabhi kabhi, he says i am a poet of a moment a story of a moment, a splash of personality of a moment,a flash of youth of a moment.
we all have our moments, lets sparkle and vanish away leaving a trail in the horizon of our life...sunkan

while on blog let me tell a few things here, i know it may not be the thread for it, still,
many bloggers go through this black hole of hybernation of the brain you may say which sometimes frustrates them not knowing what to blog about.

now if we have some stimulations here, like giving a photograph and one needs to either write an article or a poem which could be judged the best, this way it does not become each blogger an idea but many bloggers writing about one subject and which is best in them.

sometimes a word is issued or a sentence issued now this is to be used in one's blogging, and the general rule which does not apply here as ladies dont write about porno but no vulgarity is the rule, vulgarity does not mean only porno, but the language to express something could also be termed vulgar if other languages are used..

hope you would keep this in mind, as it has helped me too, sometime to get out of the hibernation ..sunkan

Originally Posted by Vidya24

Vandhana and Jey,

Jey- I saw your meaningful post on the blog comments recieved by our most prolific bloggers- Sunkan, Anandchitra and MeenLoch. It is a good searching exercise.

And to have a different classification, crunching numbers a different way. Could we identify the blogger with maximum responses or maximum average responses and run a similar analysis? I am sure the findings will be of interest.

regards
Vidya

dear vidya,
i am not counting the comment, but yes if it can trigger someone to write something else then really good ..sunkan

Hello All
Its so interesting to read everyones post here. Looks like we are headed towards building a very strong blog and IL community.

Jey: In answer to yur query as to why I feel some of mine recvd. poor comment numbers, I went back to look so as to be able to answer you. The language and content are difficult to understand in some Even I didnt know what some lines were about. Whereas in some where there was more clarity I did get better response.
Looks like I should give a little more thought into this.

While we are all on this subject, I think we should go back to the thread Welcome IL bloggers. I feel some of the sentiments expressed by Ilites there should be given more thought.Some genuine concerns were aired on that thread which could be relevant to this thread too.

Originally Posted by Vidya24

Dear Sundari,

I am extremely relieved and glad to read that you are not one of those who 'count the comment.' Many a time when I have seen your posts as to why your friends do not reply to your blogs or posts, or when I read your blog where you lament the lack of appreciation or mere response- I have been foolish to imagine that it made a difference.

And while on this, allow me to say that counting comments is not wrong. We are all differently wired and diverse things stimulate us. While to you, being a source of inspiration may mean more, to another a reply to the blog might mean more. The world is made of all kinds of people/bloggers.

It is always a pleasure to read your work.

regards
Vidya

dear vidya,
your last line nailed me..now this is triumph and i know you never praise when you dont appreciate..sunkan

Originally Posted by kasisheela

After writing 11 blog entries in IL and gathering around 90 comments,i feel its a great welcome note for me.As time goes by, i feel confident that i can get more readers and comments for my blogs.

Hi Shantha,

I just scanned through a few of your blogs. The content looks well thought through. Keep it up.

I find that a few members who comment on one of your blog entry don't comment on the other. While there could be a variety of reasons for it, you want to build sticky readership. Ask readers to subscribe to your blog so that they can read all your entries and you can build an ongoing relationship with them. One way to motivate them to subscribe to your blog is to give a sneak peek as to what is coming next..."next week, I intend to write about the top 10 reasons to avoid xyz. Please subscribe to my blog to make sure you get the update".

Sunkan, got to love your attitude! While I don't think bloggers should count comments as an end in itself, it is a great barometer of how well readers are engaging in a blog.

Your point on blog contest is also a good one and we have noted it.