August 17, 2008

The Power of Comment

Two days ago I posted a simple unchallenging question at Mom Bloggers Club involving commenting adapted from my own experience.It was an innocent consensus to document other bloggers own experiences and what they think about the scenario I presented in the discussion board. I didn't expect it to get that much attention. Yet the amazing thing happened.No sooner did I hit submit, when instantaneously, responses started coming in rapid succession and began to fill my inbox with alerts coming from the website. I was sitting in my office thinking "I must have struck a chord on each and everyone to create such instant reactions". All I could manage to say was "dang!"...The rest of the day went on and I continued to get response alerts up until it just stopped yesterday. I just shrugged my shoulders thinking the discussion must have been auto-closed for the day and left it at that.

Tonight, I went straight to check My page at Mom Bloggers Club to accept friend requests and be done for the night. I took a quick visit to the main page just to get updated and voila! As I was scrolling down to check the discussion forum - this is what caught my eyes:


  • You leave a comment but the author doesn't give a hoot, do you visit that blog again? What do you think?

  • What do you think about children blogging? Chime in.

My discussion post got featured as a Great Conversations item on the main page and even made it to the top of the list. I was featured! I was Featured! I'm gonna do the Happy dance now! Wow, I didn't know it was that good! It was good! Something that I least expected to make an impact has created enough buzz that gave itself this recognition.(Thanks Jennifer!) It also shows that the question I posted, as seen above, presents a lot of relevance that can't easily be ignored. Comment and acknowledgement translates to interaction between bloggers and their visitor/commenters and without this handy tools, I think that this will be the death of a blog especially when you're just starting out to establish readership and dedicated followers. Others who have already established a niche and big following are technically exempted and can easily get away without constant interaction with their readers. They've already proven their worth and their readers have a more understanding of their situation.

According to an article from Darren of Problogger, to increase comments and readership for your blog you have to:

"start visiting other blogs and making comments on them. You should also approach bloggers who run blogs that are approximately the size of your blog or bigger, and offer to write guest posts for them. This will expose you to new readers, and some of them will end up as new subscribers.Perhaps one of the most important things you can do to build a community around your blog, is to participate in social media sites."

Or you can be a Comment whore: Yes a whore with a cause!

"a comment whore...when you leave comments on high traffic blogs just to gain traffic yourself. I'm a comment whore on one blog and that's because I really don't like her but I get tons of traffic. My readers probably know who she is"... Lori
"a way to increase traffic is to leave comments on the popular blogs.It just seems insincere to me. Leaving a comment in a blog just to get traffic to mine? Maybe some of the more popular bloggers have figured this out and think people are just fishing for readers?"...Mutha Mae

I admit, I too, is a sucker for comments, more so with being acknowledged (I dare you to tell me who isn't?). And you being like me (don't deny it?! because I won't believe you!), here's the secret to unlimited comments, go to The Secret is in the Sauce and be a part of the community. (Here's a quick link on how to join). Everyone there loves comments and support each other with comments. I assure you, you'll love being one of the SITstah! - Occasionally, you'll find fellow SITstah that don't keep to the rules but don't let that deter you from joining. It is a cool group to belong to. You're lucky I'm telling you, No one told me - bummer really! I found the group by being curious.

And If you're a mom looking for a place to meet mom bloggers like you and I, join Mom Bloggers Club today. It is a great hang-out place for moms and a wonderful venue for finding new friends, meeting and finding fellow bloggers living in the same state as you are. I know I am grateful for meeting all the moms I connect with now. And who knows, your discussion topic may be the next featured item in the main page.

Another Mom Blog site you can go to is MomDot.com .They always have cool giveaways and they also offer free listings for either your personal blog or Online Boutiques. So go visit them and tell them you found them through me! :) I don't get commission, promise!

For more help and useful tips on blogging, check Problogger - Darren's got tons of great idea! He's so popular, StumbleUpon banned him from their site. He was getting more traffic than the site itself literally.

To recap, the Power of comment and acknowledgment does have a relevant impact on the success of our blogs (of course, you already know that, don't you?). It is something that we need not take for granted. Quoting some popular adages : "You reap what you sow"..."You comment I'll follow"...Need I say more?

Yes I do. I wan to take this opportunityto Thank each and everyone of you who took and will take the time to leave comments on my posts. Like what izzy says a lot in Dragon Tales - LOVE IT, LOVE IT, LOOOOOOVEEEE IT!!! - Thank you. You are the one who makes my blog worthy to be here. So please keep the comments coming! And we shall do the "Tango" together!

At this point, imagine me entertaining the idea of being a comment whore...sounds distasteful but hmmm...it doesn't sound too bad...wanna be one? I think I wanna be a Comment Vampire - sucker !!!



P.S. Go visit my discussion at Mom Bloggers Club and add your two cents in! Salamat-Thank you!

36 comments:

  1. hey visiting here you don't have a shout box? anyway thanx for the visit linked you already c: i have an Award Tag for you. Posted it in my other blog http://wow-legs.blogspot.com/

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  2. Hey...yea...I love MBC. You know I love comments and I always try to comment right back. I will have to check everything you have listed.

    Have a great week.

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  3. Look at you go girl! Of course you were featured, you rock!

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  4. I am going to look for you on Twitter....nice site!

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  5. Hi!Wanna say tkx for stopping by!
    I'll be adding you into my blogroll ok?
    Take care.
    ~Sandra~

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  6. Thanks for stopping by my blog and leaving such a nice comment! I appreciate the kind thoughts. :)

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  7. Maricris, kumusta ka? I am sitting in Redding, Ca, and am thinking my Zen adventure is starting to begin.

    After the headaches of battling my own ego, I see how many conflicts I can created with my own self-righteousness. Sigh.

    I( watched a ceremony on youtube. It was some Tibetan monks preparing to destroy a sand mandala. Perhaps detachment is the only path of reasonableness

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  8. Thanks for all the links and Congrats on being recognized it is so cool!

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  9. dang, girl! congratulations! that sure is worthy of a happy dance :-D

    i'm bookmarking this site and i'm coming back here when work starts to settle down. thanks for all the tips :-)

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  10. Your post made me smile! I am glad that you got such a great response from your topic!

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  11. now that is really cool! Congrats to you! It really is a good topic! I agree about needing to acknowlegde those who comment on your blog. I can't imagine not going to thier blog and thanking them. It's hard when they comment anymously...but what can you do? I also think it's important to comment back when you can on your own blog so that people who comment and visit your blog can see that you are involved and paying attention to what they say. I've read that too..in a few different places.

    You are doing so good with your blogs...you will do just as good with your beautiful jewelry in your etsy shop too! And thanks for the info you shared!

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  12. This is excellent. Informative, interesting and thought provoking. I believe commenting is an integral part of blogging......:)

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  13. LOL...Nice excerpt you chose for me there;) Great post and happy you got featured!

    Lori aka A Cowboy's Wife
    http://acowboyswife.com

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  14. I love getting comments, they really do make my day. And I love meeting new people thru their blogs and reading what they have to say about life. I love the whole interactive aspect of blogging.

    Your jewelry is beautiful!

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  15. I thought that was a great question on MBC and truly worthy of being featured. Yeah for you!

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  16. Hi Maricris, I love meeting new people and I'm awlays amazed to see the new people who have enjoyed reading "Killing a fly." About my blog title - it was just the sort of sentence I thought a Mum would say! That's all! I couldn't work it into a blog post, so I decided to rename my blog with it. It's a cool title because it makes people interested and they come over to see what it's all about!

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  17. Great tips that I will use so thank you! I love to view blogs and leave comments! I will have to check out Problogger. He sounds like he really knows his stuff. Love your site!

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  18. That was a great conversation starter; and something I have thought about also. Thanks for sharing! I got some great tips!

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  19. Hi! maricris, kamusta din po? you have a very nice site and your jewelries really looks great! i love getting comments and i like leaving one too. Godbless!

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  20. that was a great question on MBC, glad it was featured :). I have heard of SITS, I need to check out the rules b/c sometimes it's a day or so before I get time to go back and visit the people who commented but if that's ok then I'd love to participate :).

    thanks for stopping by my blog! I'm enjoying reading yours.

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  21. Thank you for stopping by my blog...I hope to see you again.

    See, I am one of those who show the bloggy love...Great post...Love your title too

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  22. NY po ako..with my family...been for 3 months palang..coz i went sa pinas to continue college and then now I have to be back here kasi lapit na ako mag21... thankyu for the comment..the pic was taken in some province di ko maremember but its malayo kaysa sa Davao

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  23. I clicked on the conversation because I was very interested to read it. I had never thought about the topic before. I do try to read the blogs of the people who read me. Then again, my readership isn't that large.

    I do try to comment on other blogs, but lots of times I don't have anything to say. Another thing I do is e-mail a response to others. That's if I have their e-mail address. Even if someone is an anonymous blogger like me, it's easy enough to share a g-mail or yahoo! e-mail address so that others can more easily respond or reach out to you.

    Although that also leads to issues.... like you being unable to find my blog after I left a comment. That happened because I was accidentally signed into my g-mail e-mail account instead of my blogging account. Oops! Thanks for investigating further. :)

    But e-mailing a follow-up comment is definitely my favorite form of response. So... do you have an e-mail address you share? LOL.

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  24. I just learned so much from your post. Being a new blogger I am quickly learning that visiting other blogs is the best way to both meet people and to encourage them to visit my blog, so you are right on with that one.

    Thanks so much for visiting me and I am so glad that I was able to come visit you, which I plan to do again thank you very much =)

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  25. Very thought provoking...thank you!

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  26. Thanks for the commenting tips Maricris and congrats on the sudden surge in comments you are getting. You deserve it!

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  27. GOOD FOR YOU!!! That was a fabulous post. I'm proud of you!

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  28. Thanks for stopping by!! I love your blog and will be back!! Congratulations on your question being featured! That is great!

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  29. Yay, I was quoted! Thank you! Thanks for letting me know. You are a pro at social networking. You know how to work it, girl! Keep up the good work. Look at all these comments! I have comment envy!!

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  30. Thanks for the shout out! Great post. Your question was really good and very heart-felt. That's why it got on the homepage. I'm glad it also resonated with other moms.

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  31. What an interesting topic! I always appreciate people commenting on my blog and like to return the favor.

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  32. I'd probably stop blogging if nobody would leave comments on my blog. But as a blogger, I am responsible for how to gain commenters by not sitting and waiting alone.

    And yes, I've read about how to become a comment whore. Good info!

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  33. I will have to check out your discussion at MBC! Isn't that a great group????

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  34. Thank you for the much needed advice. I found you through SITS Site!

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  35. This is such a great post! Especially for those new to blogging.

    No major rules for SITS, come when you can, and keep the language clean, that's about it!

    We started SITS just for the reason you mention: comments. Which to us, equal support.

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  36. Hiya! :) Haha! I agree with you - definitely commenting is a big part of blogging. It lets the blogger know people actually are READING and it is a interactive form of 'communication' too!

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