Okay, I’ll start off by admitting something in this post that I generally wouldn’t admit otherwise – I’m not the greatest commenter in terms of volume, but certainly make the effort when the time allots. However, I hate when I leave a comment and get no acknowledgement. Sorry to say but that’s quite shallow in my opinion. Especially when I see you’re responding to other comments.
Is my comment not good enough? Not cool enough? Not long enough? What’s up, talk to me playa! I bet you don’t even know why you didn’t respond to a readers comment, but now that you’re getting called out you’re not liking it.
If you’re really interested in building up a solid reputation and trust, what better way than to acknowledge someone’s effort with a reply? A simple formula that MANY bloggers fail to follow.
Nobody likes being ignored. Interact with your readers in the comments (quickly, not in a week or two when you get around to it), Twitter, Facebook, etc. Foster your tribe and say hello. People love hearing (and reading) their name. Use it.
Why You Shouldn’t Ignore
Your readers are your customers. Great customer service goes a long way, so take pains not to ingore your customer when they give their feedback.
If you ignore your readers comment, do you think they’ll forget? Nope. Do you think next time your new post hits Twitter they’ll promote it? Highly unlikely. Why would they, you ignored them, so they’ll ignore you.
Many bloggers strive to build up readership, yet one of the worst things you can do as a business blogger (and blogger in general) is to ignore your readers. In this case, your readers are likely your customer base as well – at least potentially.
When one of your readers takes the time to leave a comment, make sure you respond to them in a timely manner. When your readers see that you care about their input, they’re more likely to recommend your brand to others and help spread the word about your business. It’s free promo for your blog.
Few Reasons Why The Ignoring Happens
Blogging is a commitment on more than just writing blog posts. Blogs are probably THE BEST use of an blogger’s time when it comes to building the blog’s platform through reader engagement on the blog or via social media.
But some bloggers find that responding to every email, social media response or comment is a time suck that keeps them from their primary writing goals.
For most of us, blogging is fun. Having fun with words is good at any stage of your blogging career, but at some point we want to take blogging to the next level and possibly build a small business out of it. This is where you’ll rely heavily on your readership as you transition from a part-time fun blogger to a more dedicated serious brand building blogger.
But don’t feel pressured. Blogging is a commitment. Don’t start if you don’t have the time or discipline to follow through – including responding to your loyal readership.
Loyal Readers Grow Blogs
There’s a reason why I average over 22,000 visits per month. It’s all because of loyal readers. Excited, loyal readers will do more for your blog than you can and will. They’ll comment, share, like, and buy from you all while you’re not even blogging. That’s the holy grail of blogging and what you’ve probably tasted, at least to some extent.
Keeping readers on your blog and building relationships is the key to growth. If you’re not succeeding at this, your work might be phenomenal but it’s not going anywhere big. That’s sort of the bad news. The good news, is that you can improve. Surprisingly enough, you can retain readers and grow your blog more by changing the most simple things – replying to every email and comment you get for starters.
Social media will only take you so far. So, stop spending time on Twitter posting about the nasty greasy burger you’re about to eat or the fact that you got dumped and get real. Seriously! Your growth doesn’t depend on Twitter, or Facebook. Unless you have a massive following and use a media platform to tweet your messages 500 times a day, it’s not worth it. Even though I just signed onto Facebook recently, Facebook marketing if you haven’t noticed, is a bag of hot air waiting to burst. It’s leaking as you read this.
Bloggers, be honest with me, do you sometimes ignore your readers? Why?
Readers, how do you feel when you leave a comment and don’t get a response in return?
Thanks for stopping by.
Eddie
I try not to ignore readers and commenters, but it definitely takes time to respond to them, so I tend to do it in big chunks where I’ll respond once or twice a day to everything that has come in.
Mrs. Pop @ Planting Our Pennies recently posted..The Great Bar Soap Experiment
Yes it does take time, but it’s time well vested.
I try not to ignore any of my readers. I respond to all emails and nearly all comments. Takes a lot of time, but it is well worth it!
Michelle,
You do a fairly good job with your commenting on other blogs and responding to those on your own blog. A great example for the sometimes lazy folks like myself.
Feisty this this morning Eddie? I try very hard to respond to every comment left on my blog. There are times when some comments get lost in the fray, but that doesn’t happen often.
Grayson @ Debt Roundup recently posted..Change Your Lifestyle, Increase Your Savings
Fiesty? Not quite.
Just blunt enough to say it.
CF is great at responding to comments and I’m making more of an effort on the weekly update. It does make a difference!
Brian recently posted..How to write an awesome cover letter (or not)
That’s the way to do it. A little bit here and there, and you get through the comments.
I decided over a year ago to stop comments altogether at my blog. Between filtering out spam, and taking the time to respond in a timely fashion to legit comments, it was cutting into my time for blogging and doing business. I’m okay with Tweeting (though I cannot say it ever led to new business) and I’m iffy about my Facebook page. Even though Ross Taylor on Money Matters has over 2,100 followers, again, I have yet to see a payback for the time invested.
My website guru assures me my best strategy is to write as much as I possibly can – content is king! He was the one who first suggested I disable comments, and just be a source of information.
He says be smart about tagging and word selection, and the SEO engines will find me. Would love to have your stats Eddie though. Well done!
Ross Taylor recently posted..Debt settlement company created a big mess
That’s another strategy, and works for some, but I personally enjoy interacting with others and gaining feedback. Sometimes the posts require some life in them with posts, because outside of that, they’re just posts.
I agree that it is very important to reply to comments, but all of us have trouble doing that on occasion. Sometimes it is difficult to come up with something that makes sense, especially if their comment is vague to begin with, but it is important to try. Like you, I have noticed places where I have left long comments and the blogger never replied and it does feel like, hey, what the heck?
Tackling Our Debt recently posted..How to Stretch Your Travel Budget: Free Home Exchange Accommodation
I love your bluntness Eddie! I could not agree more on many of your points. Part of my view on blogging is that you’re trying to develop a community…how is that going to happen if you do not respond to what people have to say to you? I know it takes time, but it also took time for the reader to leave that comment. Not responding to comments because it takes time or something like that, over time, just comes off as rude. I know blogging can be a huge time commitment, but that is why you need to be disciplined with your time. I schedule when I respond throughout the day in order to be more efficient. I know I am not perfect, but I would say that I respond to at least 95% of the comments I get.
John S @ Frugal Rules recently posted..5 Fun and Frugal Super Bowl Party Ideas
That’s exactly it. As much as our own time is valuable, we have to value the time (even if it’s 30 seconds) that someone came by, read the post and decided to leave a comment.
I might not respond immediately but I do try to respond to most comments. If someone just makes a simple statement that doesn’t lend itself to a response that furthers discussions, such as “good job” then I wont always respond.
Lance @ Money Life and More recently posted..How We Lost Sight of the Big Picture
Lance,
I gotta say you’re one of the bloggers that makes a conscious effort in responding to comments on your blog from what I’ve seen.
Keep it up.
Cheers.
Callin me a fool, huh? Lol. I respond to reader comments because if someone took the time to comment, I should take the time to care about it. That being said, sometimes with a full time job and a family there isn’t time to always respond to comments. So I finally made a loose rule about how I’ll respond to comments made on the first day of a post being up, and then no comments after that. It’s allowed me to comment and interact with people, but not drive myself crazy or pull away from family time.
TB at BlueCollarWorkman recently posted..Lifestyle Carnival – 39th Edition
Not personal of course, but now that I think about it, maybe the title was slightly extreme! LOL
Either way, I agree with you, family time is important. Seems like you got a good balanced system in place.
I made a conscious effort this year to focus on my writing. In turn, I am trying to attract more readers to my site. It seems to be working because I am seeing an increase in traffic.
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That’s the spirit Larry. But I really thought your writing was solid even before hand. Thanks for stopping by.
I was annoyed like you at people not responding to comments but I realized I did skip some inadvertently. You see your comments listed in WordPress and say you have 20 to respond to. You start your list and then click refresh and your 20 comments show on the comment list. If someone left a comment while you were answering, it could be buried below your 20 own comments and you won’t see it. I often check my posts to make sure I answer all comments (except the “great post” ones).
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I used to get annoyed before, now I just don’t waste my time visiting those blogs.
I am with you, Eddie.. It is a giant time suck to respond to each and every comment, but I generally try to do just that. If someone took the time out of their day to respond to something that I wrote… Than I owe them the common courtesy to respond to their comment and visit their blog in return. That very thing prompted my visit today, actually! :-) Of course, I do love what you have done with this site, Eddie.. Reciprocation is not the only reason I visit..
jefferson @SeeDebtRun recently posted..What if You Fell Off the Roof?
I try to answer every single comment. I get behind, but once I actually got called out on twitter for not answering someone. It peeves me when I make a comment and get a generic spam email instead. Annoying!
L Bee and the Money Tree recently posted..….When You’re Talking in Your Sleep
If you don’t mind me asking, what was said when you got called on on Twitter?
Great point! I have been on both sides of the equation. I remember the first time a blogger responded to someone elses comment and passed over mine. I hate to admit it but I had an instant distaste for the author. Of course after a couple minutes I figured they only had limited time available and maybe my comment didn’t warrant a response. But I will also say there is one author who I know without fail will always respond to my comments or questions and that is a very trusting/comforting feeling.
I’d have the same distaste that you had.
It makes you think, am I not good enough?
But of course you are, it’s the blogger who’s arrogant.
Thanks for the advice Finance Fox! My blog is still in its early stages, so I found your advice to be very helpful. I agree that your readers are your customers, without them your blog will die.
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Hi Brett!
Thanks for stopping by.
Just checked out your blog. Looks interesting.
Responding to your readers is too important. Like you said, they’re the lifeline of any blog.
I enjoy interacting with my fans and am first to say they are very important. I notice though as I grow it’s getting harder and harder to try and respond to hundreds of FB comments every single day. I’ll admit I’ve not answered some comments, I’m not ashamed, nor am I perfect. Sometimes things get in the way, comments get buried on WP or I find them lost in spam (at least I check it) but for the most part I’ve got a great group that comes back to chat every day with me. I agree keeping the conversation going is important. I do my best and I’m working on a plan to keep up. I don’t want to have to hire people to do the job, what’s the point then. How will you handle it when you have 30,000 fans and hundreds commenting on your site every day along with Twitter, Facebook etc? I already see it with bigger sites, famous bloggers, comments don’t get answered at all. Will you hire someone to comment back? What’s your plan? I’d actually like to learn from those that have very busy sites what they do as I am still a young site. Would be interesting to know. Great post mate.
Canadianbudgetbinder recently posted..The Grocery Game Challenge #5 Jan 28-Feb 3~Will You Target Your Budget
I enjoy interacting with my fans and am first to say they are very important. I notice though as I grow it’s getting harder and harder to try and respond to hundreds of FB comments every single day along with the blog and Twitter. I’ll admit I’ve not answered some comments, I’m not ashamed, nor am I perfect. Sometimes things get in the way, comments get buried on WP or I find them lost in spam (at least I check it) but for the most part I’ve got a great group that comes back to chat every day with me. I agree keeping the conversation going is important. I do my best and I’m working on a plan to keep up. I don’t want to have to hire people to do the job, what’s the point then? How will you handle it when you have 30,000 fans and hundreds commenting on your site every day along with Twitter, Facebook etc? I already see it with bigger sites, famous bloggers, comments don’t get answered at all. Will you hire someone to comment back? What’s your plan? I’d actually like to learn from those that have very busy sites what they do as I am still a young site. Would be interesting to know. Great post mate.
Canadianbudgetbinder recently posted..The Grocery Game Challenge #5 Jan 28-Feb 3~Will You Target Your Budget
I can only dream about having hundreds of FB messages. Great job. However, I think you forgot to “LIKE” Finance Fox on FB.
That being said, the answer to your “how” is you expand. As your blog grows, so does the need to bring someone on board. It’s like any other business.
I wonder why it posted my comment twice.. hmmm. I’ll go check you out on FB! I suppose I could hire someone but it won’t be for commenting as that’s just not me. I guess I’ll deal with it when I get to that point but since I’m blogging for $0 I’m far from hiring anyone lol… Cheers Mate!
Canadian Budget Binder recently posted..The Grocery Game Challenge #5 Jan 28-Feb 3~Will You Target Your Budget
I am still very excited just to get comments. I try to respond to every one, although I’m sure I’ve missed a couple here and there. It is very exciting when you start to get comments from non-bloggers. I think most bloggers will leave a comment if I leave one for them, but if a lurker comes out of their shell to comment, that is really special.
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Great post Eddie, I love how you articulated that writing posts is just a part of the whole blogging experience, this is so true! I am still relatively new to blogging, but I seem to be getting some loyal readers, so I am going to make sure to respond and interact with them. Great analogy when you say those loyal readers are your customers, so true!!
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Thanks Jim.
When your run a website/blog, all the visitors are your customers whether you sell or not.