Nine months ago I had a fire lit under my feet about the whole system of engaging with people. I wanted people to be commenting on my website and recognized my inability of commenting on other people’s blogs and had a call to arms for other bloggers to jump in on the initiative to engage with others. The idea is not that we would then expect them to comment on our posts or karma would miraculously send others our way too. We simply wanted to show the love to others because it is what we expect with the blogging world.
What The Army Agreed To Do
For those of us that signed the proverbial dotted line to join this Commenting Army, we agreed to comment on five blogs every single week. It did not mean that I was limited to go and post on Dustin Stout‘s blog or meet a quota of comments with Ray Flores before I engage with other blogs. Instead, I believe that engagement online, networking with a group of people that care so much about a topic that I wanted to read that they wrote a blog article on it, is so important that I must comment on their blog to validate their great work and give them more than a pageview.
The reality is that I want comments, engagement from my readers, more than I want their pageviews. A couple of pageviews that validate the advertisement I get paid is not even close to the value I get when someone comments on my blog and I think that anyone that blogs, for money or as a hobby, deserves a couple of “commenting bucks.”
How Have I Done?
I am not going to lie, I have not hit the goal every time. During vacation in July and camping for work in June, I did not make one single comment on a blog. The week I transitioned jobs, I was lucky to even write for my own blog. And the last two weeks of writing more than a hundred page eBook, I commented a couple of times, but not the full five. But as I said in the three-month follow-up post to the Call to Arms original article, “the past is the past, regardless if we succeeded or not, and we need to keep at it.”
All of that being said, I am personally excited with the results that have come from the last 9 months. In that time, I have commented over 250 times on numerous blogs, found some amazing contacts in the process, and challenged myself to take blogging to a whole new level.
Other Stats on Blog Commenting
In doing some research for this post, I found some unfortunate statistics that have only renewed this drive:
- There are 500,000 new posts a day, but only 400,000 comments total, including the millions of posts the previous weeks. (jeffbullas.com)
- Viewer engagement is the third most desired impact, yet very few statistics and tactics are out there. (TheMainStreetAnalyst.com)
- There are many different ways to encourage viewers to increase comments like comment placement, make it easy for viewers to comment, track your progress to keep up with the conversations. (Moz.com)
- Let your blog articles be just the beginning of your discussion. Some of the best content may come from your comments. (Bufferapp Blog)
- Asking people to comment in a challenge at hte end of your post is likely to double your results. (Hubspot)
Want to be apart of the commenting army? Leave a comment with your name, blog, and favorite social media account. For those already part of the army, how do you feel like you have done?
Brad Andres says
Interesting statistics Jeremy.
I have made a similar personal resolve to engage more with content which resonates with me. The hard part for me is investing the time to check articles daily. We all have time constraints, the same 24 hours. I think the difference is for those of us who attempt to give back compared to those of us who just keep taking. So gratitude is being displayed by engagement – in an essence.
However, gratitude can also be shown through social shares and product purchases.
seventy8Productions says
Brad, I completely agree, but would also state that I think the value that we assign to comments needs to be different overall too. Life is not about a series of pageviews, but relationships.
I love that you note that we must make that attempt and would agree that we need to make it a priority, whether it is by purchases, social shares, or comments.
Brad Andres says
Yes. I agree life is about relationships. Thanks for helping shape how we value comments.