Getting More Comments Follow-Up

Happy Labor Day to my American Friends! If you're stopping in from Karen's BBQ Party, welcome - my post for the event (complete with recipe and cats who cook) is HERE 

Last week I posted How to Get More Comments with Matthew, Talli, and Alex offering tips. Nicki suggested that that another great way to get comments was to feature those three superstars! LOL She was right - that was the most comments I’ve ever received on a post. The guests did a fantastic job replying to comments, and I’d like to feature some of those comments today and get feedback from my readers.

“Since I started with Facebook it's harder to visit as many blogs as I used to.”
There are so many social sites now. It’s almost impossible to focus on more than two at a time. Is blogging still a priority to you? What social sites pull you away from blogging?

“I feel guilty if I keep posting and generating comments without being able to return them promptly.” 
With the exception of The Weekend Sillies, I won’t post if I’m gone. I don’t believe in presecheduling a bunch of posts before leaving on vacation, because it’s not fair to expect comments if I can’t give. (That’s also why I now only blog three days a week.) What do you think?

“A certain sci-fi author once told me to keep it short and be myself. Best blogging advice I ever got.” 
After blogging for seven years, I can attest - keep it short. I cap my posts at 1000 words, although most are shorter. I know people are crunched for time and I respect that. What do you think about length of post?

“I like comments, of course, but many of the blogs I visit I'll zip over from a tweet and scan quickly, get the info I need, and move on.” 
“Personally, I would never read a blog post and not comment on it. It doesn't make sense to me not to take 30 seconds to say something that shows: I came, I read, I enjoyed, and I care.”
Do you comment on every post you read? I know how much comments mean, so I always comment. A post with 1000 views but only ten comments is big failure to me.

“I follow a lot of blogs that have never even visited me… An unexpected side-effect though, that I've only recently noticed is that people who comment on those blogs have been coming to visit me…”
 People seem notice those who comment in many places. Do you?  Are you putting yourself out there for others to find you?

“Blogs which have more than 50 comments for each post have owners who… visit up to 100 blogs daily. I find it a bit weird since you can't really leave quality comments and do some quality reading on so many blogs.” 
“It really does take about two hours to visit 100 blogs...I've timed it.” 
Is it strange to comment on that many blogs? All three of the guests visit 50-100 blogs a day, and when I was actively promoting my YA series, I did the same. It’s building relationships and building a platform. As the second quote states, it is possible to visit that many blogs in a reasonable amount of time - AND leave meaningful comments. Do you think it’s possible? Especially if blogging is your main social site?

“I follow and comment on far more blogs than do it in return, but that doesn't matter. I value the real connections I have.” 
And isn’t that why we’re all here? To make connections? It isn’t the hits or page views. Sometimes it’s not even the total amount of comments. It’s the close connections with people we know and trust. Right?

Thanks again to Matthew, Talli, and Alex!

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?