Here are the top ten reasons I haven’t left a comment on your blog yet. (See below for a slideshow that’s more fun.)
10) I’m not an acrobat. I refuse to jump through hoops including multiple layers of logins, captchas, checkboxes, and anything else you require to prove I’m human. Are there really that many aliens hitting your blog comments?
9) Your post was 5 screen lengths of solid text. I don’t have that kind of time at the moment. It’s been a long day and I still haven’t finished everything on my to do list.
8) I don’t think you care. Yeah, this does matter to me. If you aren’t reading your comments why should I bother sharing my brilliant thoughts?
7) “Great post” doesn’t really cut it — someone else already said that. It’s kind of like me telling you I love my MacBook. I don’t want to chime in like another fan boy.
6) I’m not about to admit an addiction, crime, or other personal flaw with my name attached. Big brother’s watching so I probably don’t want to talk about politics or the government either. Give me something else to talk about or an anonymous way to share my feedback with you.
5) I couldn’t find the comment box with all the other junk on your blog page. I’m sure it’s probably buried there somewhere under all the ads, cross promos, newsletter subscribe box, and other things blinking and talking at me but honestly I’m scared to keep looking. I feel claustrophobic.
4) No one else is commenting. If someone else jumps off the bridge first, my mother always said I’d follow them.
3) I’m afraid of your commenters. They’re tearing each other to pieces! I’m not up for that kind of challenge.
2) You didn’t ask me to. Great post, you said everything, there’s nothing I can think of to add and you didn’t ask me any questions.
1) I’m no detective. I haven’t discovered your blog yet. Are you promoting it and leaving REALLY obvious clues?
P.S. If you like the slideshow, feel free to share it on your own blog. Slideshare makes it easy: http://www.slideshare.net/michelleshaeffer/top-10-reasons-i-havent-commented-on-your-blog-yet
This is not a comment.
;-)
LOL – love it. :)
Great points. Although you have to captchas on everything now a day. That one I don’t mind so much.
I may be “fuzzy letter” reading-impaired. :) It sometimes takes me 3 or 4 tries to get some of the captchas and at that point I give up and don’t usually try again to comment the same place. Maybe this is something that only some of us struggle with.
There are alternatives though to the captchas like the anti-captcha plugin: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/anti-captcha/ It’s invisible to real people but it catches robots and they can’t leave comments.
I love love love this! And I’m happy to say several of these issues I learned about at the WordPress WordCamp recently. I hope you’ll have a chance to stop by our Vineyard! Hopefully you’ll find it easy to comment and a short read worth your time!
Blessings to you – and thank you for doing the challenge! What fun!
Debi
Hey Debi, thanks for stopping by from the blog challenge – it’s a blast isn’t it? I’ll wander on over. :)
lol Great post.
I could have went a lifetime without seeing the picture on the first page of your slideshow :)
These are good points. It’s important to create an atmosphere that allows an WELCOMES comments. I agree.
My kids and I were totally cracking up laughing over that one as I put the slideshow together. I just couldn’t resist… :)
And yes! That’s one of the most important elements of a blog–welcome comments.
I love your posts and your emails. Always so simple and practical . Finding the comment box is one of my biggest frustration on some of the blogs I read. The other is the need to log on to Facebook to like a blog
Thanks Roberta. And yes, mine too! So many times bloggers don’t realize what’s keeping people from commenting, so hopefully a slightly funny take on it will help. :)
This is a great post Michelle, and I especially loved the ability to skip down to the bottom and watch your slideshow first, and then come back to read the content. It’s a great technique. And, I’m afraid I’m guilty of several of the “offenses” on this list. I’ll add them to my every growing ‘to do list’ and all in good time, my website will be all bright, shiny & welcoming.
Thanks for the great reminders! ~ Loralee
I think of my website (and heck, every website out there) as a work in progress. :) We’ve always got things we can improve. One step at a time. :)
Michelle,
Great points here and I’m proud to say I make sure I do many that you mention.
As for the many of the same topics OMGosh I see that all over the place that I’ve actually unliked the Fanpage, stop the “newsletter” or I ignore and go about my day. BUT what if those two are in the same line of business with NO connection meaning you aren’t “friends” with, you don’t “like” their page and still manage to blog about the same topic? While someone like yourself is “like”ing of both their sites and see their blog topics being similar? Personally I think it is wrong for them to be judged as “copying” one another’s topics. Even though their topics are alike each may have a different view of said topic.
Other than that I like many of the other reasons…too long, having to go thru so many whatever to comment & so on.
Hey Leona, I had to go back and look at my slides. :) Did you mean point #7 about “Great post?” – where I said “Someone else already said that”? I think I worded that poorly. I was referring to someone else already saying “great post” in the comments. :)
You know, how some posts (that really are good) the comments just look like this:
Person A:
Great post!
Person B:
Awesome!
Person C:
Really great post!
Person D:
Great post, thanks!
That’s what I was referring to. :) I don’t want to be another “Great post” commenter and just post the same comment someone else already did.
As far as topic, there are only so many and we’re all going to be blogging on similar topics as others. I don’t have any problem with that. :) We all have unique perspectives and valuable insight to add. :)
Hi Michelle!
I really enjoyed this blog post and others that I’ve read – you have a very clear and simple way of presenting your points and they make a big impact! I’ve even signed up for your daily emails – see? :) Thanks for some great information… I am looking forward to more. If you ever have a blog challenge coming up, can you let me know? I’d love to be a part of that.
Thank you!
Suerae
Hi Suerae, thank you! :)
For blog challenges, the Ultimate Blog Challenge runs every 3rd month so Michele & I will be hosting it again in October. :) We’d love to have you jump in and blog along!
Suerae! So happy you decided to stop by and take a peek at Michelle’s blog and introduce yourself. I told you she was awesome. :) You’re going to fall in love with the Ultimate Blog Challenge!
Great stuff here and I agree with almost all of them. Number 9 is dicey because sometimes I tend to write some fairly long posts, but I’ve started adding some images throughout the post, or at least in the middle, to break things up just a little bit.
I have to admit that when it comes to #4 I will comment on a blog that has no other comments if it tickles my fancy enough to want to say something. Truthfully, I’d rather comment on a blog with no comments than one that has 100 or more by the time I get there. However, that person had best respond to me, or else I’m never going back.
That’s a really good point–the chances of actually *connecting* with the blogger are higher when there are fewer comments, or no comments. I tend to look for blogs with fewer comments. I read Copyblogger, ChrisBrogan, etc but rarely comment because there’s 100+ there.
I’ll sometimes read a long blog post – and sometimes write them – but key for me is that I know it’s going to be worth it. So if it’s a blogger I read regularly and know their content, I’m way more willing to stick around and read, though still less likely to comment since by the time I’m done reading my kids are probably after me wanting something. :)
Oh you kooky little gal – this was great. I especially liked the slide show – the man in tights – awesome.
Do you really take off captcha? I used to get so much spam so I turned it back on. do you approve each message then?
I’ve got to be pretty motivated to comment somewhere with a captcha. I’ll do it sometimes but I’ve got to REALLY want to comment. LOL
There’s no captcha here on my blog. I use the Anti-Captcha plugin and a few others running to kill spam and they work nicely. When I enabled captcha or any other login type requirements my comments go do overall (less spam, less real comments, too). So it’s trade off. Personally I’d rather get more legit comments and have to delete a couple of spam than get neither. :)
I only approve the first message from a commenter. New commenters get their first message moderated, and after that they’ll show up instantly as long as they haven’t used any of the words my filter looks for or included more than 1 link in their comment. So it’s mostly unmoderated here. I can always delete if needed. But I figure if you’ve posted a non-spammy comment the first time then I’ll give you the freedom to comment without moderation and I can always take it away later.
Thanks for getting back to me. I’m going to do a little experiment then with taking that off. I don’t mind the captcha or the check box as much as having to register to comment though. But if the captcha phrase is too difficult to read or won’t accept what I think it is I end up leaving.
What a great idea with the slide show, Michelle! I’m going to have to steal, er, borrow with full credit, that idea. :-)
LOL You’re more than welcome to, Cathy. It was pretty easy to put together – and fun. :)
I couldn’t agree more, especially with captcha…or anything that requires me to register, for that matter. If I have to go through all of that, you had better have a prize waiting at the end. Or snacks available for refueling along the way. :)
Love that – a prize! I’m going to see if I can set up a prize for commenters… that would be cool!
FANTASTIC POST (ok I said it!)
Really I love your style; you are fast and quick witted and get the point across. I can see some things that I am doing to keep people from commenting.
I love that you comment back to your comments (I do that too!) I love the prize for commenters too!
LOL – thank you. :)
I try and most days I manage to catch all the comments with a reply. I appreciate everyone who’s taken time out of their day to read and comment so replying seems a good way to show that, so long as I possibly can. :)
Yeah, I’ve got to figure out how to do that. I have a couple ideas in mind of plugins that could work. And then I’ll have to randomly switch up the “prize”…. I could have a blast there!
Hi Michelle,
The jumping through hoops like captcha and other stuff is a real chore. Also I don’t like having to login to comment.
I don’t mind being the first or only commenter though.
I’m not very likely to create an account for just one blog so I can leave a comment. That’s a big hoop to jump through.
A lot of people (especially other bloggers) aren’t bothered by being the first commenter. And then of course we’ve got those who their goal is to always be the first commenter. :) So I think that one is a personality thing.
Nice work Michelle, Love your ‘spin’ on this.
I’m am humbly proud to say that (as you know) you have commented on my blog (more than once – thanks very much!) so I must be circumnavigating these criteria with some success.
Woohoo!
Yes, and I need to do follow up on this post – Top 10 Reasons I Comment on Your Blog – and I can tell you #1 would be great content. :)
Michelle
I was especially drawn to #8.
I truly appreciate individuals who take time out of their busy day to read and comment on my blog.
They offer encouragement and insight and let me know that I am not “blogging to myself”. :)
Once again, thank you for sharing a valuable post.
It makes such a difference, doesn’t it? Knowing people are reading helps us keep blogging. :)
In #2 are you saying that you should ask people to comment or ask questions to stimulate comments? I enjoyed the blog.
Definitely! It makes it so much easier for readers to comment when we ask them a question or ask for their opinion on something. I noticed a HUGE difference in how many comments I got in response to posts when i started making sure I’d included a question or two at the end of the post. :) I think many times readers enjoy a post and want to say something but they aren’t sure what to say. By giving them something easy to reply to, they’re more likely to comment.
I certainly agree with the jumping through hoops one. Who has time? But the nobody else is commenting? Really? Some of the new bloggers aren’t established and so need that first comment. I would never withhold a comment just because nobody else had left one. I was surprised by that being on your list. Anyway, all the others were legit! LOL
I think there’s a couple of factors in play for that one, Martha.
One is personality – I’m not the type to ever jump into a conversation first (I’m VERY shy in real life, we’re talking would rather hide under a table than speak to a group shy) and some of that translates online. I’ve gotten better at it as I’ve been working with blog challenges and bloggers and I’m much more likely to step out and leave that first comment now than I used to be exactly because I know how much it matters to bloggers. But I think many bloggers would be shocked how many readers who aren’t bloggers themselves hesitate to leave a comment if no one else has yet. I think it’s also one of the reasons that having a few regular commenters really helps a blog take off and snowball — they need someone to start that conversation.
The other reason I’m personally less likely to comment on a blog with no comments (and this is just me) is that I HATE it when there’s no date listed and no comments because I have no idea if that blog post is from this week or 5 years ago. And if it’s an older post, my comments might come across as looking really stupid for various reasons (changes on the internet, technology, the person is no longer even in that business anymore, the question they asked doesn’t matter now, etc). So I guess I should have noted that as a reason I won’t comment first – if there’s no date on your posts!
That was good Michelle and i will leave a comment. Like the way you lead into this one. Long a boring is why I don’t leave comments some times. Or if a blog is set up like you say, “Jumping throw Hoops” not so much.
I did love the way you presented this subject. It put a smile on my face.
Blessing to you,
Debbie
Happy to share a smile. It’s more fun that way. :)
Right – it’s tough because I see so many bloggers writing great content but not getting comments because their readers get frustrated trying to leave a comment.
Captchas be gone!
They’re a pain in the patootie. And my eyes get enough of a daily strain as it is. I don’t need to come down with a nasty case of captcha-itis.
Have you ever had the experience of writing a lovely (and maybe lengthy) comment, entering what you BELIEVE to be the captcha, hitting the submit button, and then …
Here’s the best part. Are you ready? …
Because you guessed incorrectly, your whole entire comment is deleted and you have to start from scratch again. But guess what? I don’t. At that point, I’m gone.
Like I commented over at Blokube, this post deserves an academy award! Best performance in its category! :)
Love you stuff,
Melanie
Yes. More than once. I hate that, especially when it’s a lengthy comment like you mention. Frustrating.
First the title caught my eye, Michelle, good one! AND then it was my good ebiz associate friend Melanie Kissell that is sharing your post in one of my groups on Linkedin. So now I love the title and I know anything that Melanie shares is going to be awesome!
Then I read your post …. Amazing! Michelle! This is so good and really hits on all points of this topic! Bravo for you to put this out there. So many people just don’t get why they spend time building their blog and then are dissappointed when no one comments or worse, you get the “great post’ comment blues!!!
I can’t wait to share this with all my fans, followers and clients. Well said and also LOVE the slideshare and that is a really good idea to add to our blogs. Thanks again Michelle! (and Melanie!)
Melanie finds the coolest stuff, doesn’t she? I know when I start seeing her sharing in my Facebook stream I’m in trouble. LOL Because I follow the links and end up all over the place — but with good things added to my list to share and change in my business. :)
Thanks for sharing this — I hope it helps bloggers just take a few minutes to consider what we can do better to encourage comments. There’s always room for improvement. :)
Thanks, Lynn and Michelle — what a wonderful way to wrap up a week! I’ll be heading off to work with a smile on my face. :)
No. 2 jumped off the screen and hit me in the face. Thank you!
You’re welcome, Michelle. :)
Michelle, I thought I should give you feedback on why I read your post. The catchy cheekiness of the title, and the promise of a clue as to why people ignore perfectly good blogs made it compelling for me. Well done!
Jonathan
P.S. And hey, please leave your comment on my blog. I have asked you to!
Thanks Jonathan, great feedback. :) Headed over to your blog now. :)
Thanks Michelle for stopping by my blog and leaving a comment. I greatly enjoyed the YouTube video you pointed me to. Thank you!
You’re welcome. Thought-provoking post.
I don’t care for long posts myself, but it really depends on the blogger and their previous work. Sometimes you can’t always judge a book by it’s cover because sometimes those long posts have some great points, but I will agree if you put me to sleep I have already moved on. I am glad I haven’t ran into blogs related to #3, but I am sure they are out there.
I’m much more likely to read a long post if I’m already a fan of a particular blogger. :) But only if it’s got decent formatting in there — paragraphs, sub-headings, etc. One big screen of text with no breaks is tough to read.
Michelle,
Who said now that I commented on this site?
Enjoyed some comments
Loved #10. FUNNY
I used top ten list for first brochure as to why to try my services.
Very interesting post. Gives me better idea of how to make people comment more on my posts.
Excellent advice! I am but a humble pilgrim in this vast and foreign land of blogging and bow to the expertise of those who have gone before me…but seriously…good advice in a very enjoyable format!
Thanks.
Hello!
I’m so glad I found you, you have a post on just about everything I have ever had a question on. I just started my blog on Sept. 8 (it’s doing Ok, I guess) Anyway, I have it in my head that no comments means no one is reading it (but 6800 pg views in the first month), I have only had 5 comments so far,so I am a bit disappointed about that. I imagined my blog being a little community for people living in mobile homes where everyone comments and sends in their remodel photos. I think I have done everything you have suggested, even a “call to action” at the end of every post, yet still no comments…should I put a question at the end of the post to instill a reaction?How do I get them to send in their photos? Thanks so much!
PS I thought you would like to know that I can’t reach your site through your email newsletter. I get an error message on every link (and I tried them all)! 404 was the error #…Could just be on my end but I’ve had no other problems. Thought you’d like to know…
Honestly, I am so glad I found you! I am learning so much from you.
LOL! Those reasons are quite funny! Oh dear it is really very interesting to know the reasons why you don’t leave a comment. :)
Hi Michelle!
I enjoyed reading this blog post. I’m here for the first time. Your blog looks nice.
I’m going to make a blog post with your slides. And will read more of your posts. I ended up here from ezinearticles. :)
Regards,
Armi Niemi
Finland
I love your article. Especially that part reasons “Great Post” Its so annoying when people make such comments without adding any real value to the discussions being made. Some blogs also require you to jump past so many requirements just to share what you have in your mind.
I love commenting and speaking my mind. It helps to also know what others are thinking on different topics. The world is better when we share and talk!
I click out of blogs all the time because I don’t have time to figure out all the hoops. Yesterday a blog had me do a math problem and I got the answer wrong. This is a great Top Ten List. I know it’s an older post, but I just tweeted it because I was just rambling about some of the issues you hit. It does also give me good points to measure in my own blogging.
When I started blogging about four years ago on a personal blog I would have so many comments. I regret to say that just a few month ago I noticed that I could actually reply. Lame but true.Thx!
Great post! ;) i had to say it…
I’ve found that readers tend to comment more when I include a question, whether or not they answer it. It’s like inviting people to speak their mind.
I try to include several different questions, sometimes from different topics or items I mentioned in the post.
And yes, I dislike captcha so I’ve turned it off. I haven’t gotten any spam since I did, either, which is odd, but nice. :)
I’m so glad you put this post up as it is great information. Just today I was going to comment on a blog but had to sign in so I did not bother. When people make you sign in to post on their blog it is very discouraging.
I definitely fell into the not advertising my blog category. I love your 51 tips to an awesome blog. Now I am commenting on other peoples blogs, have networked to Twitter and Facebook, and set up a Pinterest board. What are some other ways of promoting your blog that you would suggest?
Thanks for giving me some great things to consider, Michelle! Question for you about your #8: in your opinion, how long should a commenter have to wait for a reply (that is, of course, assuming the commenter provided fodder for a reply) before assuming the blogger “doesn’t care?”
Thanks,
Erin Larson, Socialot.com
Fantastic and informative as always! I think the biggest one for me i not being able to find where to comment! that is so annoying! I mean, really, if it isn’t life or death, I’m not going to spend more than 5 seconds looking for the comment box.
I definitely see where I can improve, too! Sometimes I still forget to ASK for input, thoughts or feedback! I only learned this in the last few months and it definitely makes a difference!
thanks again, Michelle!
Gina~
Mindset Queen for Weight Loss
I really am enjoying your blog. Thank you for taking the time to develop these posts for bloggers. I really appreciate it and plan to g+1 you. .My tip would be to put a comment link on your home page, since you have to scroll through 70+ comments to make it on posts. Thanks again, Debra Seiling
The number one reason I don’t get comments on my blog: I have blog comments turned off. I don’t want comments on my blog, but hey, that’s just me… :)