Cats and Blogging Humor

Just some light humor for you guys this weekend!

How to Get More Comments

Recently I did a post about Hits, Followers, and Comments. Overwhelmingly, you all said comments mattered most. After all, blogging is different - if you just want hits and pageviews, build a website.

Several asked how to get more comments.Since I do not excel in the area, I asked some experts to offer their advice. These bloggers get 35+, 60+, and 100+ comments respectively.

First up is a cheery young man on a mission to help others perfect their query letters.

Blog comments. The number one way to earn comments on your blog is to leave them on other blogs. I know this is obvious, but it's true. Most bloggers try to visit the blog of every comment they get, to return the favor. Most, but not all. But not all comments are created equal. The best comments show that you read the post, are a mixture of humor (when appropriate) and thoughtful honesty, and answer any questions that are asked in the post. Even better is if you can add new information to the conversation. 

The best part though, is that if you've established a pattern of leaving great comments, you can sometimes leave quick jokes, or even just stop by to say hi. If a blogger knows you, and knows that you actually read their posts, and usually leave thoughtful comments, no one is going to be offended if you leave a shorter one sometimes. In fact, if you've built a rapport with someone, you can even skip their blog from time to time, and not offend them. For example, I spent over a year reading 50-100 blogs a day, and building some great friendships. Lately I haven't had time to read any blogs (for like a week or two), but no one has given up on me, because they trust that I'll be back. 

The only other way to earn comments, besides being some kind of celebrity, really, is through your own content. The best posts are those that get readers involved, by asking questions, or holding votes, or asking them to chime in on something like a critique of some kind. Images are also extremely important. The most popular posts in the history of my blog are those that had universal images that many people would find in Google searches. The caveat to this, of course, is how much you care about having random visitors who may or may not care about the actual purpose of your blog. Personally, I don't have adsense, and I don't care about selling anything to anyone, so for me, connecting with readers and writers is the only thing that matters. 

- Matthew Rush at The Quintessentially Questionable Query Experiment

Next up is a blonde who simply bubbles with enthusiasm and a positive attitude!

There’s no secret to getting lots of comments: all you need to do is comment consistently on others’ blogs. Of course, keeping your posts short and posing a question at the end always help, but the real key is interaction. If you visit other people’s blogs, they’ll come to yours. Keep that up, and before you know it, you’ll have a steady stream of visitors coming your way. Besides getting comments, you’ll build up great relationships with bloggers from around the world. I’ve also discovered that the more genuine the post, the more you’ll connect – blogging is like real life that way. No one wants to see a mask you’ve put up; people want to be let into your world. While writers still need to be professional, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with getting personal about challenges you might face. So, to boil it down to three things: comment on other blogs; keep it short; and keep it real!  

- Talli Roland

Now, for those of you who said you’d take 100 comments, here’s someone whose average is just that per post - 100 comments.

How do you get more comments? You don’t - you encourage more comments. 

Encourage more comments by commenting on other blogs. Relationships are two-way streets. You build them by visiting other blogs and getting involved in the lives of other bloggers. And you do this by commenting. 

Encourage more comments by posting interesting stuff. People like information. They like to be entertained. They need to connect with the blogger. If you post about your passions, others will connect. Ask questions to spur discussions. Get involved in blogfests. 

Encourage more comments by making friends. Get to know you fellow bloggers. Let them know you understand. Support and encourage your blogger friends. Feature them on your blog. Shout out their accomplishments to the world. Get involved and give back to this community whenever possible. 

Now, go make some friends!  

- Alex J. Cavanaugh

Any questions for my wonderful guests?

Hits, Followers, and Comments

The success of most websites depends on several things: the number of visitors to the site; the amount of people who sign up for a newsletter or more information (acquiring potential customer details); and the number of sales and repeat sales.

Now a blog’s function is a little different than a retail website, even though items can be sold through a blog. Since the purpose of a blog is more networking than anything else, those three items can be translated to hits, followers, and comments. And they seem to fall in line with a similar level of importance.

Think of your site like a restaurant - there is a big difference between someone driving by a restaurant and someone coming inside - and an even bigger difference if that person actually orders food.

Hits

As I discovered from the detailed stats on my two websites, there is a big difference between hits, page views, and visitors, and most stat counters are inaccurate when it comes to actual visits to a site.

Here’s some definitions from Wikipedia:

Hit - A request for a file from the web server. The number of hits received by a website is frequently cited to assert its popularity, but this number is extremely misleading and dramatically over-estimates popularity. A single web-page typically consists of multiple (often dozens) of discrete files, each of which is counted as a hit as the page is downloaded, so the number of hits is really an arbitrary number more reflective of the complexity of individual pages on the website than the website's actual popularity..

Page view - A single page view may generate multiple hits as all the resources required to view the page are also requested from the web server.

Visit / Session - A visit is defined as a series of page requests from the same uniquely identified client with a time of no more than 30 minutes between each page request.

Hits, page views, and visits are good, because that means people are looking for us or what we have to offer. But they may or may not add up to much in the end.

Followers

On a website, these are the people who leave their contact information. These are the ones that come inside and pick up a menu.

These people are curious enough to leave a contact and may return. They are potential friends and networking opportunities. Unless they interact with us though, that’s as far as it goes.

Comments

These are the people who are buying! They are the ones who interact with us. They care enough to leave a comment and build a relationship. In life, we are ultimately selling ourselves, and those who comment buy who we are - they believe, they understand, they can relate. (And if we’ve sold ourselves as a person, then selling ideas and physical items is easy.)

So, which would you rather have?

5000 hits/views/visitors?

1000 followers?

100 comments?

Discussion - Length of Blog Posts

Another blogger contacted me this weekend about post length and what is too long. That got me to thinking, so I decided to open it up to everyone here for discussion.

I think a lot depends on a blogger’s style, format, and topics. That said, anything over 1000 words is generally too long in my opinion. Some bloggers have a small group of friends they visit and have time to read longer posts, interviews, and writing excerpts. Most of us follow a larger circle of blogs though, and we don’t have time to read really long posts. It’s a shame, because I follow a couple excellent writers and rarely get to read their posts due to the consistent long length.

On my own blog, I try not to go over 1000 words, and usually my posts are in the 300 - 600 range. During the A to Z April Blog Challenge, they were under 200. I know a couple bloggers who masterfully hit 500 or less every time. (And I know them because I have time to read them!)

But that is just my opinion! What is yours on the subject of blog post length?