In our day to day life, appreciation and acknowledgment are the two virtues that we look forward to be showered with frequently. As passionate bloggers we are also hungry for the above virtues. We love the idea of giving birth to thoughts and then we wait eagerly just as parents do. We feel appreciated when we receive comments just as parents feel when their kids are acknowledged. Readers are like the pillars of our blog and they provide the much needed fuel in the form of comments. Respect, appreciate and acknowledge readers if you want your blog to be alive and kicking! What can go wrong if you do not reply and engage your readers or be choosy in replying? Here’s what can go wrong…
Community will Shrink
It is our community and the onus is on us to respect it. As a blogger we invited our readers to read our thoughts and to react on it. So acknowledge the comments that are shared by readers. It’s not necessary to shower extra love but a ‘thank you’ will justify the start. There may be instances when one may not agree to his/her reader, don’t try to act like a candy and try to impress because readers are not blind. We should express your opinion in a cordial way and keep our ego away. Acknowledgment and Respect will convert readers to loyal ones. ‘Blog is not just a ranting place but a platform to build a community.’
Community will become Dormant
A reader makes a comment on our blog post and we say thanks and forget it. Did we try to engage with our reader? As a reader, he/she made an effort to comment but as a blogger what is our responsibility. Respect reader’s effort and time. Reply to a comment should be meaningful and more engaging and shouldn’t end but start with a ‘thank you’.
For e.g.: If a blogger has written a post on how to use ‘LinkedIn company pages’ and a reader comments on it. As a blogger go to his/her profile and find out what he/she does and now when you comment you will start with a polite thank you but try to leave a small tip/thought on how he/she can benefit from LinkedIn company pages. The idea should be to engage readers so that they appreciate their time being respected and it will invariably excite others to join the party and start discussion threads. If you notice all successful bloggers have two consistent features on their blog- an exciting post and an even more exciting and engaging comments section. It doesn’t matter how many comments you have on a particular post but do appreciate even if you have a single comment. As a blogger that should be one of our visions otherwise we are not motivating our readers to visit again.
You will be extinct
Content is the king but readers are our army and without our army we can’t conquer new heights. Internet has 158 million approx blog’s so everyone out there is writing something interesting. What will make you stand out is creating good content and appreciating your readers. If you do this you win hearts. If you don’t, it won’t take them more than a second to hit the close button of the browser. The choice is ours, ‘Fight for survival or get extinct’
We tried listing couple of thoughts, why not respecting and engaging through comments can make you extinct gradually.
What do you do when you get comments on your blog? Do you ignore, reply or engage?
This
Why is it Wrong not to Respect Comments?