We’re told that blogging is great for our business, helps build traffic to our website, enhances SEO, and practically does everything except wake us up in the morning with a cup of coffee. And a lot of the hype surrounding ‘having a blog’ is true:
- It *IS* good for business – blogging about the things you are an expert in develops credibility and helps with branding.
- It *CAN* bring more traffic to a website – it allows you to share information on places such as Facebook and Twtter, that bring in new visitors, and gives good reasons for old visitors to return.
- It *DOES* enhance SEO, providing relevant and up to date content and links to the rest of your site.
(Sorry, I haven’t yet found a blog that makes coffee…)
But it can also be soul destroying – you write what you consider to be a great blog post, but no-one comments on it. You think your copy is great, your topic is fab and you KNOW that people are reading – but they’re just not commenting.
At NikkiPilkington.com, we know that one of the great ways to develop good traffic is by commenting on other people’s blogs. And by this we mean GOOD, RELEVANT comments, comments with content, not comments that are there just for a link back.
With this in mind, we’re always on the lookout for blogs that we can recommend to our clients, blogs in all sorts of industries that they can comment on and learn from.
It’s NOT about drive by comments and never returning visitors, it’s about helping blog owners by adding comments and spreading the word about their blog, and about helping our clients by giving them places to read posts, make comments and find out more about the world of blogging.
To help with this we’ve set up a separate Twitter account called BlogCrazy – aimed at encouraging people to post on each others’ blogs, and helping us all to help each other – please consider following, as we’ll be regularly promoting blog posts from followers.
[299 Web Steps] My blog has no comments – help! http://tinyurl.com/qxjx7w
RT @NikkiPilkington: [299Steps]My blog has no comments-help!: We?re told that blogging is great for business http://tinyurl.com/qxjx7w
[299Steps] My blog has no comments – help!: We?re told that blogging is great for our business, .. http://tinyurl.com/qxjx7w
OK quick lunch and reading this article RT @NikkiPilkington: [299Steps] My blog has no comments – help!: http://tinyurl.com/qxjx7w
Relevant blogs that you can lend a certain authority to the subject matter at hand are great for all the reasons you mention above Nikki.
What is annoying:
- People who blog about anything and everything. You get no sense of who they really are or what they’re about / stand for.
- People that put out great content that gets ignored.
- People afraid of responding for fear of disagreement with the blog poster and their reaction to your response. A bit like not calling anyone because you’ve been programmed to expect only rejection instead of taking a no as a good thing (you know where you stand – better than no response or a vague one).
The worst is being afraid because you feel people will mock your written style. I suffered with this for a few years. It’s not recommended.
Thanks again Nikki for raising a subject that affects anyone using the web as a marketing or promotional medium. If a slow learner like me can blog, well… let’s hear from the rest of you reading this.
Nice post. Blogging is all about stimulating conversations after all. But I’ve noticed that most bloggers don’t bother to comment on their comments, which i find quite frustrating as a commenter!
Great post Nikki. Completely agree with everything you’ve said. Looking forward to the recommendation on your new Twitter account.
If you ever find a blog that CAN make a decent cup of coffee, please let me know…!
I do dive into and out of blogs regularly and in the past have been as guilty as the next person for stealth reading; I gave that up some time ago though.
Dan makes a good point about commenting on comments, too many bloggers sit and think ‘…done that one time to move on, that’s VERY wrong’.
We should encourage those that have something to say to say it and if it appeals to you then why not shout it from the roof tops either as a blogger or someone who comments on blogs?
Being afraid to blog or comment is tantamount to self-supression of free speech and that ain’t good.
I have a new blog, of course it needs comments but right now I am more concerned with completing the site to give it credence, during this build stage the blog informs.
Cheers
Wicksie
I really can’t agree with the comment
made by Shaun Gisbourne.
People who write blogs about
everyone and everything aren’t
annoying, they’re simply diarists
writing about what catches their
interests.
Take http://corkscrew-balloon.com
It’s a very old blog about Corkscrews,
Ballooning, Building a School in
the Himalayas, Elephant Polo,
Phone Box Tart Cards, Good Eating
in Bangkok, Mild Pornography,
Anti Easter Missives, Over-Protective
US policies toward its ex-pats,
Bathing Beauties on Florida Beaches,
Thai Culture, and a whole lot more.
You can see EXACTLY what the
blog owner is about, and how they
have changed during the last 12 years.
BUT they write their blog for
pleasure, rather than profit,
something which many no longer
seem to understand.
Stephen
Blogging is great for raising the profile of your business and web site. Search engines like Google and Yahoo appreciate quality content, relevance and discussion. A great blog has those three key ingredients. This blog has those three key ingredients which is why people are prepared to give their time and effort to support its success. All the best and keep it up. Rgds Vince
Great post Nikki – and people are commenting!
I’ve been blogging since 2006 (well, did a travel blog back in 2001/02 but wasn’t called a blog then!) and it can be disheartening that more people do not comment.
Since leaving Blogger it has improved, and emailing people a once a day follow up on other comments that have been added has stimulated debate too.
What is heart warming though is to know that you are not only writing for lovely people, but also the robots from Google – they love fresh content and blogging delivers that – it has helped us a great deal – some people then find us and add comments – others settle for using us for work! Wait! That’s why we blog!
Perhaps a clear, uncluttered, blog layout would encourage more people to leave comments. Unfortunately I don’t find your blog layout to be either of these two things and having each line of text ‘centred’ is especially off-putting. Sorry, can’t comment about the content of your post as I didn’t stay around your blog long enough to read it.
[...] @blogcrazy – a bit of a cheat, as it’s us, but we’re trying to build followers to help promote blogs that get no comments – see more here. [...]
it seems that everyone is in a rat race to try and get their niche blog to the top of google and sometimes this can mean quality content is neglected. My blog site is a relatively new one, and I know it will take time to get where I want it to be, as it’s a very competitive sector. Yes it can be frustrating writing for just yourself and no-one appears to be reading or at least commenting. But, I think as blog etiquette is developing we will see perhaps a shift in focus to commenting and the importance of returning comments by the blog publisher.
if anyone wants to get in there first and comment on my posts please feel free to do so:
http://tinyurl.com/nn77dt
they love fresh content and blogging delivers that – it has helped us a great deal – some people then find us and add comments – others settle for using us for work! Wait! That’s why we blog!
htt://www.ispeech.org/api
I’m fairly new to blogging and confess to not having much of a clue…however, I reckon this is the place to come to learn. I will be following closely Nikki.
I’m also fairly new to blogging but its certainly useful for business.