How Important Are Comments? How Do You Get Them?

 Last night Liz Strauss of Successful Blog and SOBCon fame had an Open Comment Night, as she does every Tuesday night. Subject: How do you get comments on your blog?

It was a lively conversation touching on different plugins we use, types of posts that attract comments, how we can start a conversation with our readers, how to handle nasty comments and flame wars just to name a few of the topics covered.

I don’t want to steal Liz’s thunder (not that I could), but I think it is a topic well worth continuing to explore. After all, if you blog, you want comments and want to build a community around your blog.

Business or Personal, I think the reason we all blog is not because we have something to say, but rather because we have something to SHARE.

For those of you who missed OCN last night, I usually do a synopsis of the conversation in the form of a (sometimes hokey) poem as a sign off and to say good night to everyone.

I would like to share the little ditty from last night with you.

We all want community
On the Blogs we run

The way we measure success
Could be many comments or none

We should put more value
On what readers write

Than the numbers of comments
Community is what gives us might

So comment away whenever you can
Add to the conversation, don’t just look

After this gathering in comments
Maybe Liz has a New e-book?

Burma Shave

Nite Liz
Nite All

So, join in either here or over at Liz’s house (or both) to continue the conversation. Or if you’d like, write your own post on the subject and share it with other bloggers who are as hungry as us for comments.

I’ll be here all day, as always. So, let’s talk.