10 Reasons People Aren’t Commenting on Your Blog
If you read my blog, there is a good chance that you have a blog yourself, or that you’ll have one someday soon. As you know, blogging is a lot more work than you might initially think. One of these factors is the amount of time spent on commenting: approving comments, responding to comments, and commenting on other blogs. What if they aren’t commenting on your blog, though? Here are some reasons that might shed some light on the subject:
1 – You’re boring. Ok, maybe boring is a strong word, but if you are just putting something very general, late (we know who won the Superbowl by now, thanks), or beaten to death, don’t expect people to jump on board.
2 – You have no call to action. Consider adding the WWSGD plugin or ask people a question to leave in the comments.
3 – You’re greedy. Virtually any chance you get to link to others, you instead link either to yourself or worse yet, Wikipedia. Linking to someone is not only generous but extremely relevant at the right time. Not only that, but the blogger will get a pingback and quickly come back to your site, hopefully also to thank you 
4 – You’re haphazard. People like rhythm. When people expect you to post 5 times a week, once a week, whatever – at least they know what’s coming. If you fall off with this momentum, loss of commenters is often to follow.
5 – People don’t comment anymore, anyway. The blog reading community has fallen off in my opinion in terms of leaving quality comments, but I wouldn’t put all the blame on their shoulders. There are so many blogs out there, sometimes it is just easier to just retweet if you like a post rather than say something dumb like “great job!” Still, there is room for commenters – you just have to give the post your best shot (or at least the best that time will allow, please don’t stop blogging for 3 months to write your master thesis blog post ) and see the commenters come in.
6 – You’re slow in responding. Even if you do respond to comments, you’re doing it days and weeks later.
7 – Worse yet, you don’t respond. For shame. People spend time to give you their 2 cents. The least you can do is thank them.
8 – You aren’t making it easy enough. If you don’t do so already, make sure that you are giving people an option to subscribe to comments. Don’t bother people with unnecessary logins and captchas.
9 – You don’t comment on people’s blogs. Social media has a bit of an emotional bank account. People will remember when you comment and comment some more. Please understand that I am not asking you to do this in a self-serving manner (though some do this), I’m asking you to consider spending time outside your blog and really getting involved in other sites. You may work in social media, but when did it stop being fun? If you even hesitate in answering this question, start commenting more and rediscover yourself.
10 – You haven’t found your following…yet. If you are a new blog, it is very likely it will take you at least some time to build a brand for yourself. While the case can be made that people still do comment on popular blogs, many of the comments that you see on “normal” blogs are spam-like, or to put it nicely, people that are trying to get a link out of the deal. Eventually, people will start talking about you and your blog – if it is of interest.
Also, if you’ve never read Liz Strauss before, she has a classic post that’s still relevant from 2006 on the subject on why readers don’t leave comments, which by the way has 422 comments
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Tags: blog comments, Liz Strauss, retweeting, social media bank account, subscribe to comments, WWSGD
This is a great post. I didn’t know blog etiquette, so I’m happy that I’ve been doing a pretty good job. When I started my blog in September, I didn’t know if anyone would be interested. It took awhile for people to find, but it’s been steadily growing. I take the time to respond to each comment I get, usually within an hour or two. And I post almost every single day. Following blogs that interest me – especially other followers, has been helpful. Looking for blogs and commenting helps me be part of a community of people with similar interests. Isn’t that why most of us blog?
@Theresa – I believe that indeed is why most of us blog. We find something of interest to us and we become part of a community – thanks for stopping in!
I’m guilty of #1, “You’re Boring.” What can I say, but that real estate blogging is not very interesting. We primarily garner our business for folks searching for something like, ‘homes by chiawana high school’ or some other longtail search phrase. All of which are not particularly interesting reading material.
Thanks for the post, this is very helpful. I am a Public Relations student at Georgia Southern University, and currently enrolled in a PR writing course. One of the requirements for the class is to create and maintain a blog throughout the semester. The most difficult aspect of the assignment so far has been getting comments on my page. There are definitely some things I can do to make it a little more interesting. I also think you’re correct in your suggestion to comment more on others’ blogs. This is something relatively easy that I should get into the habit of doing. Thanks for the advice.
@Colleen: while I agree that real estate may be a bit more “fun challenged,” I would still say that just about any vertical has the ability for its practitioners to be fun and creative.
@Chris Yates: you’re welcome for the advice – good blog you have over there and good luck with your final year. What’s your plan for after college?
I like the way you exactly hit the point on why people don’t post.
But just like you said, you need to trigger people. Interesting post make you want to Hove à opionion. But some post are just share something with your follow men.
Keep up the good work.
@Robin: thanks! It’s a shame that more people don’t post.