Why Comments are the Life Blood of A Blog
Your blog post is the beginning of a conversation. It is a long letter written with care.
So the most wonderful compliment we can get is a letter in return – in the form of a comment.
This is why we have the comments section. Don’t ignore this section – it is of paramount importance to the health of your blog. It is the breath. The life blood that pumps through the veins of the blog.
Independent bloggers can be Entertaining. Educational. Engaging.
But above all good bloggers want to connect. You and I write so we can connect.
A blog post is like a door opening. An invitation to come in. Have a cup of tea. Sit a minute. Engage.
A comment is the most joyful word-hug for a blogger.
Which is why I call my comments section The Lounge of Comments.
Here are a few of my tips about comments:
Be Real
I read lots of blogs when I am looking for information and I wonder whether many of these blogs (not yours by the way) are written by teams of content creators. Businesses that employ other businesses to write these blogs with the express intention of trapping a Google Search and selling stuff. They study SEO’s and Keywords and Long Tail keywords. They study the stats minutely. They check for trends and market changes.
All that stuff is useful (and quite an interesting study).
But they forget about the comments.
I believe in being real in my Lounge of Comments.
I believe in being honest.
I believe in writing my own blog posts.
And I believe in commenting as myself.
Because I believe real and authentic are the most attractive of qualities in a comment and in a post.
And your comments are more important to me than an algorithm.
Use the comments to Engage.
When you make a comment on my pages. Or I make a comment on yours. This is an engagement.
For me Engagement is the Objective.
I know they say that the content of a comment is useful to a Google Search and I want to help elevate your blog with my comment but also I want to engage.
I want to share a little of myself with you along the way.
We empathise.
Someone said to me the other day – I have been reading but I just could not think of anything interesting to say so I did not comment. That was the saddest thing to hear. So hear me now: I don’t care what you write in your comment. You can tell me something totally unrelated about your day. Totally unrelated to the post. You can even write: I don’t feel like writing because I feel like shit. That is a great comment.
I totally get that comment.
You have engaged and I can engage back.
The Lounge of Comments is safe. Pop in.
Enter a Call To Action
I am a member of a large network of professional writers in Linked In.
And there they are all about using a Call to Action to increase engagement. Just one apparently. One sentence that directs a reader to take an action.
I want to say: you do know that I know what you are doing right?
How do YOU encourage people to engage without using a clunky CTA.
Do you find a question at the end of a post useful?
How do I encourage you to comment without looking needy?
oops that was three and I am only meant to write one CTA – failed again! Laugh!!
Answer Every Comment
Blogging is about trust.
You trust that it is me writing. You trust that this is honest. You trust that I write it on the day I post. (not the weeks before) And the photos are from the last 24 hours. (These are my promises).
And you can trust that I will answer EVERY comment.
If you take the time to write back to me, I will respond to you.
I will answer every comment that appears on my page.
Then I hope to visit you! I go visiting first thing in the morning. Without even doing my hair!
Comment on Comments
I love it when my readers talk to each other and answer each others comments.
I love it the most when I come in from the farming and find that you are answering each others questions or have gone totally off thread and are talking amongst yourselves. I love that!
By commenting on comments in a blog you are engaging, you are connecting and as an experienced blogger I love it when that happens.
Like. Comment. Share.
If you think somebody else needs to read the words you are reading please share.
The biggest compliment for a blogger is if another blogger shares their page.
Or provides a link on their page.
I try to do this as often as I can.
And I also try to visit you as often as I can:
SO If you posted something this week that you think we might like to read – SHARE the link in my comments today. We will come! And we will comment!
Do you think comments are important?
Love,
Celi
PS I hear that some of you are having problems commenting on the kitchens garden site – we hope to fix all that when we navigate to the new platform. As you know this blog has been swinging through the internet galaxy for over a decade now and the spaceship need maintenance and a new motor! So if you cannot comment send me an email celima.g.7@gmail.com.
Engage.
76 Comments on “Why Comments are the Life Blood of A Blog”
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Welcome to The Lounge Of Comments! Pull up a chair. Have a cuppa. Watch the birds with me.
I often have comments but I cannot be bothered connecting because it takes so long—and sometimes does not work at all. And sometimes i write a comment and then it just wont go through…I get a message ‘unable to post’. So annoying.
That is horribly annoying – I know exactly what you mean. This happens to me a lot when I read blogs from outside WordPress – there must be an easier way! Thank you for persevering today and popping in! Lovely to see you!
It’s usually easy to comment on your posts, especially the ones about pigs and ducks!
I’ve got a stray mallard staying on the fishpond below my balcony. He’s been there for two days and looks reasonably happy, though I think really, he should be with a larger group on a duck pond. At least the fish don’t seem to mind.
Do you think he got tired and behind as they flew south? Do mallards migrate?
Yes, I wonder if he landed on the wrong pond. Some do migrate – I think they go north this time of year, but in England they are a fairly permanent fixture in parks and gardens. I saw three or four having a great time in a muddy puddle nearby yesterday.
They have spread out!! Funny!
They are indiginous and totally unthreatened.
We can see why!
I have a very small pond down a steep slope in my backyard. This year I have three pairs of mallards-a first and they arrived earlier than usual. I think they migrate as they aren’t here in the summer but do return in the fall. I’ve never seen ducklings. In southern New England.
I’d love to have 3 pairs on my pond! Some Mallards migrate. But in the UK, some come south from Northern Europe for winter, but there are British birds that stay put (according to the RSPB). There are definitely ducklings in all London parks each spring.
I had no idea comments were so valued! But if course they are. It’s a conversation of sorts. Reminds me somehow of pen pals back in the day. It was such a thrill to know your pen pal was going to write back after you sent a letter. I remember going to the mail box downtown and checking Box 314, Okotoks to see if she replied. A happy dance when she did.
Letters were so important for so long – hundreds of years really – I do hope that they have not gone. I love getting a letter but am so hopeless at writing them! And yes ! I love to read comments and get to know the people who are reading about the farm. It is a dialogue and an important one in this faceless world we live in. Thank you so much for your comment too! Very much appreciated.
I read in the Reader function of WP on my laptop and am finding that your blog notification does not show up until hours after you publish? Like today- 6 hours! Anyone else have this issue? I know that I’ve missed posts from TKG because they sneak in my list way after I’ve read everyone else’s for the day. Frustrating and you are only 2 time zones away I believe- I have folks from South Africa posting and I get those instantaneously almost. Who knows if it’s WP or something else!
Anyway, enough whining for this morning. I saw your bucket with the glove, which I mistakenly thought was an old cowboy boot at first (!) and was going to suggest (because I also thought it might be recycling, even though I have never known you to wear cowboy boots C) that used up old boots make useful bird houses if anyone is into hanging such things around their place. This is the blog (Wynne lives north of me about 40 minutes away in Washington state) and she saw this on her neighborhood walk: I thought it was clever.
https://wynneleon.files.wordpress.com/2023/03/img_6685.jpg?w=768
As to commenting profusely: YES! What is the point of blogging if no one shares?
I have noticed that sometimes my notifications switch back to a weird publication time. Usually it is set to immediately so I have no idea how it can log as being posted in the past.
This was only just posted then I went to collect eggs and feed the plonker so certainly within the hour.
This boot bird house is awesome!! A prefect landing place for an old boot – and the number plate! Most excellent. Thank you for the share Deb!
Thanks C! I will keep my eyes open for posts, knowing that things may be “off” somewhere along the line. Maybe with the new site it will change.
It will.
Well, hopefully. Otherwise I don’t know what I am spending my money on!
Just love the repurposed boot Deb!!! Another great way to repurpose them is to slit them, or use shorter boots to make flower pots and plant in them. They work great with succulents! Such fun!!!
I have seen this idea many times too with the shoes instead of boots!
Oh I have seen those – do you need to put in drainage holes Diane?
Yes! After my John died his middle daughter, Liza, took his workboots and planted succulents in them. I wish I had a picture. They sat on the porch of the ‘up north’ cabin that John loved. A sweet reminder.
Sherry, did you put drainage holes in yours? I don’t remember doing that, but put small stones to help with drainage before putting in the soil and planting the succulents. Hens and chicks, a succulent, work well in the repurposed boots.
She couldn’t get through the thick soles so she made slits on each side, about where the ball of the foot would go
PS love the barn and bale photo
I truly dislike questions at the end of a post. More often than not, it seems a way to disregard my actual response while demanding that I subscribe to the writer’s agenda. I guess they sometimes seem intrusive. That quibble aside, developing a healthy comment section is simple. Let people know that comments are welcome, respond to every comment, and visit the blog of everyone who comments. The more I know about my readers, the more I can tailor my responses to them as real individuals. Granted, if you’re someone who’s playing the numbers game, that approach has its downside: primarily time. But if you’re willing to accept fewer readers as the price of real engagement, you’re all set.
You already know that I eliminated ‘likes’ on The Task at Hand, and while I accept them on my photography blog, I have a healthy comment section there, too. And, in order to foster real communication, I insist on words in my comment section. I’m firmly anti-emoji, and edit them out. I never criticize anyone for using them, but I have a real fondness for words, and prefer to stick with them. If civilization ends up back in the caves, scribbling on the walls, I may have to reconsider, but for now I’ll pass on their use. I know. Quirky, and certainly behind the times!
You do have a very healthy comments section! I love that –
It seems to me though – if a commercial blog hires writers they should hire someone to respond to comments.
Indie bloggers like us LOVE comments! Have an excellent day!
PS love you barn and bale pic
I know!! Those bales are so good!
I soooooooooo understand. Comments on my blog are the lifeblood of the blog. They make you real to me and me real to you. Over the years I have made so many wonderful friends (who are still my friends to this day). And I fell in love with a pig–do you remember. It’s almost Spring. YAY!
Hello. I went over to your blog but was unable to leave a comment. I love hearing how different people spend their lives. I’ve never been attracted to a small farm or a large farm come to that.
I don’t know why. Darn it. But I’m glad to see your comment here.
Where does a reader make comments, Dayphoto? I did see ‘T-post’ but that isn’t the same, is it?
Allow people to submit comments on new posts
Individual posts may override these settings. Changes here will only be applied to new posts.
Other comment settings Other comment settings Comment author must fill out name and email
I don’t understand why you are having trouble. There is box on the right hand side of the blog, with a bell looking pull it down and comment Anyway that is where I see the comments
Thanks, it doesn’t look anything like that to me but I tried one of your other posts and there is a ‘leave a comment’ box at the bottom!
Good! 🙂
There is also at the very end of the post a blue line that says Leave a reply. Click it.
Or you can click the balloon and it will let you comment.
Yes – you have bern friends on here for years and years! Did you get that storm coming in yet?
Not yet…it is all around us but not on us
Sometimes, I wonder if I am driving the blogger mad with my comments. Never the less, I continue to comment. And I love reading watch my readers have to say on their reaction to whatever bit of nonsense I have posted that day. And yes, many of the blogs that I follow I have found from their comments on other people’s blogs.
Finding your people in other peoples comments section is such a joy! I think we really have a chance to get to know people when they are casually commenting. You certainly don’t drive me mad with comments! I love it when we get into a conversation right here!
I think the comment section was made for people like you and me to communicate with others, many of whom we will never meet. Some of the bloggers I met early in my blogging career no longer blog but some have become longtime friends.
I love the animal photos best of course, but also your gorgeous food shots & now & then some glory like the delightful Green Man fencepost. (Am I remembering that right?) & also the wondrous wide horizon prairie-land shots & your fabulous skies & clouds & dramatic sun dogs…. I guess you could say I love your words especially, but also your beautiful photos, Celi. Thank you for your return to home & blogging once again & your beautiful humane & human philosophy of life on our planet in these challenging times in modern America.
Yes! I am back – and I remember that green mans face in the fence post – I wonder if we could find that post!!
Those sundogs were amazing – that was a terrible winter. Nothing like that for a while thanks gods.
Exactly! Ditto what you said jmcheny!!! 🙂
Well, I don’t have a blog but I do go to a number of them (but they are becoming scarcer and scarcer as the days go on). I have always been a letter writer and you know how those are almost nonexistent now so blogs are a fairly good substitute for that. The two people that I do still write letters to though, really don’t write back much—-just short letters that really tell me nothing about how their lives are going—-at all and only in response to a letter from me. So I end up feeling that maybe I’m just boring them with my letters-sort of being a blabbermouth (something that I am not at all in real life) and that they would really rather that I just stop so they wouldn’t have to reply and could just forget the whole letter-writing thing. These are old friends from way back—— elementary school and college—–and I really would hate to lose touch with them altogether but letters aren’t helping in that regard.
Well I’ve blathered on long enough about something that probably only aggravates me. You don’t have to reply, I know you read these.
I think real blogs are going to make a comeback (leading the charge on that one) and we have to be really careful not to allow letterwriting to disappear. Though for the last two weeks I have been totally determined to write some real letters and have not got around to it. How did that happen? We used to write letters all the time. I love that you still do. I bet they are well received. Maybe your friends are just not good at letter writing.
Now I am feeling bound and determined to write those letters!
When above mentioned step daughter, Liza, was in the Peace Corps in Bolivia I wrote here a letter every other week for four years. Lord, sometimes it was hard to think of anything to say! She has always said how much she appreciated those letters.
When above mentioned step daughter, Liza, was in the Peace Corp in Bolivia I wrote her a letter every other week for four years. Lord it was hard to think of something to say. She has since told me how very much she appreciated those letters.
It is fun commenting on others’ comments! I feel like I know so many of the Fellowship as we have been coming together on this wonderful blog for a very long time! 🙂
Yes! I love it when a dialogue happens!! Did you start planting the garden Diane? Are you having this cold snap?
We covered all the brassicas, kale, beets and onions we have planted for this last 3 day cold snap with temps in the low 20s. The covers will come off today as it looks like we won’t have freezing temps again…(ha ha ha) fingers crossed!
That sounds familiar!
Our ground was still frozen but should thaw out a bit today.
You are preaching to the choir with me on this one. I always leave comment to let the write know I dropped by and I appreciate their efforts and writing.
On my own, I light up some whenever I get a comment. Such as small thing yet it makes me feel the center of the sun.
I agree!
And you have a very healthy commenting community on your blog. I need to pop in more often!
I love comments! On my own blog posts and others which I read. They are how years ago I connected with irl people who I now consider my community and friends. And of all the things we aim for, community is the most important thing ever. We can make a difference alone. But we can make a difference together. I love what you do ♡
Absolutely- we are on the same page – community is what it is all about. In almost everything we are stronger together!
I enjoy reading others’ blogs; they inspire me. My WordPress blog is a bit quirky. The unusual tags remind me where my writing mind was at that particular post. Comments/Likes are not necessary; I enjoy writing and would continue to do so even if I had no readers.
That is fantastic Henrietta. So your blog is really a library for your writing. That is really wonderful.
Oh, I hadn’t consciously thought about it… but I like that, thank you!
I just want to say, I love the pictures, growing up on a farm and having many family members that were farmers just imprints somethings that are such good memories.
The text is also good to read although I did nor get through it all.
Yes! Farms make for great memories! Thank you so much for the comment.
Where was the farm that you grew up on?
Good morning, c. Here’s the link to the A.I. interpretation of the recent FreeBee and the rooster photos. Explanations and three versions of each are based of my favourite artists’ style, and briefly described in the text. https://misky.uk/2023/03/20/20-march-an-a-i-gallery-for-cecilia/
YAY! Thank you so much! I will be by just as soon as my teaching day is over! I am so looking forward to it.
You’re so right as always. Nothing nicer than knowing a real person is reading, and is interested enough to join in! A real word hug.
I’m commenting, on this spring equinox and new moon, the beginning of the solar and lunar new year in the northern hemisphere.
It’s a propitious start for the upcoming year, I believe.
I want to say how much I enjoy your blog, including the one I read earlier today about a de-peopled planet. I like to take time to think about what I read, so it takes time to respond, so I write thoughts down in my journal, and I used to write letters, too. My blogs have gotten shorter, primarily because of technical dificulties and the fast-changing pace and rhythm of modern technology. Also, re-reading my previous blogs, I decided they were too long and attempted to cover too much.
It’s easier to read what other people have to say, and to comment, as I’m doing now.
Happy solar/lunar new year, from a loyal follower and intermittent commentator.
Thank you Katherine. I am really impressed at your routine of journaling a response – thinking things through then coming back later to write in the comments. This gives such intention to your words. And such value.
I too suffer from trying to say too much – letting my mind and words run too free. Forgetting that I may be overwhelming my readers. Thank you for the reminder to tighten up my own posts.
Have a wonderful day . C
I like how your blog allows you to directly respond to comments. There is a setting for that on blogger, but when I turned that on, so many people complained about having trouble leaving comments at all that I turned it back off. Maybe I’ll give it another go.
Speaking of comments, I’d asked about single use plastic bread wrappers on a previous post. Did you address that somewhere and I missed it?
I remember reading that – thank you for the reminder – what I do is store those kinds of plastic bags in my refrigerator drawer. (To mitigate microbial activity) Then reuse them.
We dont get too many because I bake our bread. But I find the bags quite useful – I have outlawed plastic cling film. So these bags are a stand in.
Actually I will make a blog post about this soon. It is an excellent question.
Thank you!
My word, you threw down the gauntlet, and they all took it up, loads of lovely contributions. I have one thing to say about comments: Try and stop me commenting. Far more of a challenge than getting me to comment! I’m so happy you’re back and blogging regularly.
Yes, I believe comments are very important to the blog writer..even though I don’t have a blog. I also think it’s equally important for the author to answer her/his follower’s comments/questions when possible. I had stopped commenting quite some time ago as you were absent from your blog for a very long time and hadn’t really answered that much when you were blogging so that’s my excuse. 🙂 You had also wondered where all the other bloggers had gone, as did I. I think I asked you a couple times if you could remember the name of blog of the couple who had moved to France to start a cattle ranch on a very old property that they bought several years ago. They have 4 children. Do you remember them? If so, do you remember the name of their blog? If you’d rather not say here you could e-mail me at christinalfrutiger@comcast.net
PS. I still wear my I love Sheila t-shirt. 🙂
I am so sorry that I let you down – I simply burnt out. And took to the hills. That was remiss of me and will not happen again.
I hope.
As to the French family – was the dad a New Zealander and the mum American? He is on Instagram as grasspunk. I am not sure if they still have a blog/ I will ask.
Oh I think we all get burnt out from time to time, then check out, then come back to what’s really important in life..our connections to each other. At least some people do. Over the years I really became disheartened with people that the only time I heard from them is when I reached out and sometimes not even then.
So, I decided to stop banging my head against the wall trying to keep these connections and I thought that the ones that really cared I would hear from anyway. Well, as you can guess, once I stopped reaching out I never heard a peep.
But then again..what makes me think I’m so special? LOL.
Life is strange, is it not?
Thanks for Instagram link..yes, that is them but for some reason I thought they were both American. I didn’t realize he as a 🥝! ☺️
I do understand how that feels. Social media is like eggshells sometimes. But I did not mean to ignore you. You are right. Life is strange and beautiful. We just roll.
And you are special.
Oh, I wasn’t referring to you specifically Cecilia..I meant friends, well people that I thought were friends and some that I’ve known for years..and some relatives as well. I certainly don’t expect people that I only know from blogs or other social media to respond to my every comment, e-mail, etc.
Yes, we roll..we have to! 🙂