Spontaneously on Labor Day Weekend, I decided to go back through my entire blog and see how many comments I’ve gotten over the three years I’ve had this blog. I had noticed that this year I’ve gotten more comments than I have any other year so I decided to analyze the data and figure out why. Views are great and all, but reader interaction is the key.
Here’s some of the data I’ve found put into handy dandy charts:
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| And I’m not even through the year yet. This is only to August 2015. I scheduled this in advance so plus the September 2015 comments it’s up to 479. |
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| September’s comment count is 103! |
So what in the world happen in April 2015? I went from having a crappy amount of comments per month to averaging sixty. (Maybe you other better bloggers have more but this is a pretty big leap for me. XD) What changed? Before the Great Leap of 2015, I was already blogging consistently, replying to every comment, staying on topic, gotten Blog Lovin’, and changed my commenting system to better one (Thanks for the advice Cait @ Paper Fury).
The trick was that’s when I started participating in a lot of blog activities. Link-ups, guest posts, tags, you name it. I did a ton of them and I’m continuing to do them. Why? Well, let me tell you.
1.) Readers Want to Get to Know You – When you run a blog like mine, which is a personal blog, like many people I know run, people need to get to know the writer of the blog. The blog is about you and if the reader can’t relate to you, it’s hard for them to like the blog. Tags and link-ups that ask questions about you help the reader get to know you and find common ground. I’ve had a lot of great conversations in the comments with people geeking out over a show or character I’ve mentioned in a tag.
2.) People See You in Tags, Link-Ups and Guest Posts – One of the things you do in tags is you link back to the place where you found the tag thus the line starts then the people you tag link back to you and so on. In a link-up, a bunch of links including yours are posted in one place for people to check out. Guest posts are more work, but you’re doing another blog a favor and in turn they link back to your blog. People can click on the links and find you.
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| They’ll hopefully not see you in a malicious Sauron-type way. ^ ^’ |
3.) You Can Find More Blogs and Interact With Them – Just because you participate in a lot of these and want a bunch of people to click on your links, don’t be a snob and not click on anyone else’s. Visit other blogs and get to know them. I’ve found so many cool people by doing this. I make it a habit to check out six new blogs a month who link up in Paper Fury’s Beautiful People link-up. A lot of the people who I’ve done this with comment on my blog regularly and I do likewise. I’ll give a few examples and use this opportunity to brag on my awesome readers.
Found through link-ups:
Sara Letourneau @ Sara Letourneu’s Official Website and Blog – I found Sara through Beautiful People. I love geeking out with her about tea and reading her writing advice and about her books on her blog.
Ely @ Teas and Titles – I also found this blog through Beautiful People (I find most other blogs through that link-up). I love her comments about my characters and her blog is really fun as well.
Found through tags:
Jamie Terry @ Jamie Talks Anime – I found her either through a tag or a the BP link-up. It’s been so long. XD But I love geeking out about anime with her and I especially love her Tuesday Tunes posts.
Sunny Smith @ Splashes of Ink – I also found her either through a tag or the BP link-up. I love reading her comments on my posts and I love her posts about how to use your camera.
Guest Posts:
Tracey Dyck @ Adventure Awaits – I found her through a guest post on Bryan Davis’ blog a while back. I decided to visit her blog and now I love reading about her deep posts and her writing journey.
Liz Brooks @ Out of Coffee Out of Mind – I found her through a blogger spotlight over on the Librarian Files
You’re probably thinking that this takes a lot of time and yes, it does. But if you want something to succeed you have to invest time into it. And hey, you may discover some really cool people and blogs like I have. In return, you’ll get some lovely comments, but don’t forget to give them too. Everybody loves comments. ^ ^
