Since I started blogging early last year, I’ve noticed that I tend to get more feedback on my posts on Twitter (and now Google Buzz) than I do on my blog itself. Comments come rarely and are far outnumbered by the number of spam ones Akismet blocks for me. Now, I don’t blog for the sake of getting comments, but I’d like to encourage discussion on the blog from people who are working on similar problems or could use some help, but I’m not quite sure how.
One thing I’ve thought about before is turning off the “nofollow” attribute in my comments to allow people to get a link that counts for something when they post on my blog. Obviously I’d need to monitor my comments more closely, but I can only see that as being a good thing. It could also spark “shallow” commenting that is designed purely to get a link out from the blog, rather than to promote actual discussion, which is definitely not what I’m looking for.
What sparked this post is a video Matt Cutts just posted, here’s what he has to say about the idea:
I’d really appreciate some feedback on this one, what do you think about the idea? Is it a bad way to encourage commenting? Would it work? Have you done the same or done it and changed back?
Personally, it’s just about getting the content out there.
You mentioned Buzz, which is funny because that’s how I noticed your blog entry here.
I’ve no problem joining into a discussion, but you have to find said discussion first. Of course, I’m also not a model netizen because I generally don’t follow much of what anyone has to say. I stay within my “comfort zone” and do what I do, without experimenting much.
On my blog, which has 0 comments, I don’t really care so much what others have to say about what I write, but do want to share what I’m saying with the world. Basically, the comments don’t matter to me, though I’d like to increase my audience. I suppose that’s generally the end goal for most bloggers, though.
Hey Brandon,
I don’t think you’re as unusual as you think, when it comes to having to find a discussion first. I’ve noticed in the past that blog entries that already have comments tend to attract more than those without, even if the latter is more discussion worthy, which does imply that people are more willing to join in than to create a discussion. That also fits with what I’ve seen with forums, thinking about it.
Like you, I’m not writing for the sake of getting comments, I don’t want to end up writing things just to attract more comments than previous posts. What I would like, though, is as I suggested in my post – when people are doing similar things, I’d love to know about it, or if they’re stuck with anything related to what I’ve done before, I’d like to try and help. That kind of thing.
Also speaking of your blog, I didn’t know you had one… I shall have to start following it!