Leaving Your Mark Behind

Okay, so today is Day Two of The Awesome Blogging Trifecta. Check your parachutes. Jen, Alex, and I are attacking COMMENTS. Be sure to check out their posts/opinions too. (Note: Alex will post on this tomorrow.)

So comments. We all want people to appreciate our words enough to leave a comment. We think it's a sign of our success, a way to indicate the worth of our blogs. But is it?

Quick Answer: YES.

Here's why. If you don't inspire something inside of someone, they won't feel like they need to leave their name behind. And if they feel obligated, it's not the same as genuinely evoking something inside of someone. Those comments you can feel.

So, how do you do that? How do you move someone to comment?

1. Comment--sincerely--on their blog first. I'll admit that my own comments are the first stop for me. I open my comment box and click on your name to get to your blog. I really try to get to everyone. Sometimes I make it, sometimes I don't. (See Special Note below.)

*small personal aside*

I refuse to feel guilty if I don't make it. Sometimes I don't get on my own blog until 8:30 or so, and the post has been up for 3 1/2 hours, and I'll have 35+ comments. What would your first reaction be? Mine is usually: holy-overwhelmed. There's no way I can keep up.

I might make that an email day, but not everyone has allowed blogger to show their email...and you should. Just sayin'. I might try to work through my comments ten at a time. I do as much as I can before I run out of time and/or I just can't do any more.

One more thing: When I was actively building my blog (and I still am, I'm just not as Nazi about it), I probably left 75 - 100 comments/day, Monday - Friday. I steadfastly refuse to blog on the weekends. I don't read, I don't comment.

*end personal aside*

2. Ask questions. If you give someone something to answer, they might be more willing to leave a comment. I almost always ask a question. Some of you answer it, some of you don't. Either way is fine with me, I'm just trying to give people something to respond to.

3. Share something personal. People read my blog for me, not necessarily what I have to say. (We're talking about "What to Blog About" on Thursday, so stay tuned!) People want to make a connection with another person. I don't want to wax poetic what to blog about here, but consider letting some of yourself show on your blog. I generally get more quality comments when I do this, even though it terrifies me to let you inside my head.

How-To-Get-More-Comments-Tip: POACH. When I was actively building my blog, I had a goal to get to 10 lesser-visited blogs* every week. How did I find them? I poached from other people's comments. You should poach from mine. It A) gives you a new blog that maybe you don't follow and B) if you make an effort to comment regularly on that new blog, they'll probably come to yours.

Tip #2: Visit a new blog every day for one week and leave a comment. Then make an effort to go back at least one/twice a week until they're yours.

Do you have any tips about getting comments that I haven't covered? I know I've asked this before, but what inspires you to leave a comment here, or on another blog?

*lesser-visited blog: A blog that has great content and a great author, but has none or almost no comments. If you're the only one who leaves a comment there, do you think that person's going to remember your name? You betcha.

**Of Special Note: You must only do what you can do. No more, no less. If you don't have time to open a billion blogs and leave a comment, don't. And don't waste a single second of your life feeling bad about it. You can only do what you can do. That's it. I'm merely sharing what I did, and what's worked for me. If you have the time and inclination, you might try it.

Special Note #2: Tomorrow I have a special launch with a killer giveaway, so I won't be blogging about blogging. But you'll wanna be here anyway so you don't miss out of the frawesome!