Why a Comment to a Blog is Better than a Re-Tweet

I have noticed the popularity of blogging has increased over the past year.  Why?  I am not sure, unless it has to do with more people finally finding out that the Blog is truly the center of social networking.  I have found you can hang out on Twitter and mill around Facebook for hours each day, but if you do not have something to direct your viewers to..like a blog site..what is the purpose?

The Blog is gaining power as the center of  gravity for everyone’s social media.  Even if the blogging is done as a personal endeavor there still is going to be an interest by viewers to learn more about who the person they just Friended on Facebook or Followed on Twitter really is.  Thus, is why blogging is gaining so much popularity.  Blogging is still the best way to show the world you can communicate with more than 140 characters.

There are a lot of great thoughts being posted in blogs on about almost everything imaginable.  With the increase of blog posts naturally comes an increase of readers, followed closely by the very valuable commenter’s.  Or, at least that should be the progression of logic for blogging, but over 80% of blogs go Comment-less.

There has always been a tremendous value to blog comments.  Not only does it mean someone took the time to read the blog but also offers feedback, input or debate on a subject of common interest. I value a comment a 100 times more than I value a ReTweet..for obvious reasons..more people would read the comment where as only .01% of Re-Tweets are read.  Plus, on the SEO side of things, comments carry a lot of clout in how a site is ranked on search engines.

So, why aren’t more Comments Made?

I have found it interesting over the years how some bloggers get a lot of comments and others none.  Some of what I found has to do with a person’s online followers.  No, this is not in the same sense of Followers like in Twitter.  Many bloggers have real people who follow them because they are interested in what they have to say.  Many of the bloggers I follow are on Twitter, but not active and yet get dozens of comments.

Of course there are the blogs that get comments as the result of the dark side of social networking…like paying people to comment.  Yes, that REALLY happens out here in La-La-Land but hopefully you are not concerned with those blogs..I know I am not.

Commenting takes time and is probably the leading cause for why more people do not make a comment.  What takes away from a potential commenter’s time are LONG drawn out blogs.  Yes, most bloggers are guilty of attempting to complete their Thesis online..I too have been know to get a little excited with words at times.

There are other factors that go against a blogger, like what platform do they use…WordPress makes it easier than Blogger to post comments..and other kind of debates rage on in rationalizing why someone comments and why they don’t.

My good friend, John Lusher, published a blog on Why Not Leave a Comment ,for which he did have a bucket load of info to pass on explaining what it takes to get someone to make a comment. Some of what he had to offer I can differ with, but..hey..that is what blogging is all about…telling everyone your side of things.

Bottomline: Don’t worry so much about getting comments on every single blog posted.  Concentrate on the subject that is being blogged. Keep it brief, ask a question and make it you.  To increase the possibility of getting a comment reach out to other’s blogs and make a comment on their blog.  That gives you a 100% better chance of getting a comment in return.  I have found all this to help..what have you found that gets people to comment on a blog?

Let me know how I can help.