COMMENTS
While I think this is great, it doesn't address a phenomenon I've observed. I try to respond to blogs with a follow-up question or a clarification question. My (unscientific) analysis of the situation is that my questions often go unanswered because other responders are determined to demonstrate their grasp of the topic--either by agreeing or by relating their own anecdotes in support of the blog. Maybe it's just the popularity of blogs (like this one) that bury questions. Anybody else run into this?
@Michael I like how you threw in a question at the end there. ;) At the risk of disproving your point by answering it, yes I have run into that. In fact, I rarely comment because I feel it's a waste of time. It's unlikely people will even see it, much less read or respond to it. Seriously, who has time to read past 10-15 comments anyway?
Beyond the volume problem is the quality issue. It's not just that there are so many comments, it's that there are so many
bad ones. The return is going to have to improve if I'm going to start spending my time reading pages of comments.
It is a wonderful article which actually tells how blogs can help us not in making back links but also relations :)
@Michael and @Andrew - We read every comment that is posted to the Hubspot blog. We love them! We also do our best to answer everyone. I understand your concerns but I think commenting is such an important part of building a good blog community. Commenters on the HubSpot blog have a major impact on future content and reports.
Thanks for commenting!
Kipp
It is a wonderful article which actually tells how blogs can help us not in making back links but also relations :)
Thanks for this post. It's just what I've been needing lately, as I haven't posted comments on many blogs recently. One thing I find very frustrating is not just the volume of comments/useless comments but how many people have blogs out there. It's not always easy to sift the good from the bad without it taking more time than I have. I do use a reader to aggregate content but even then it can be an overwhelming amount of data. Any suggestions?
@Kim - I would recommenced picking 5-10 blogs that you want read regularly then it is likely through articles on those blogs you will discover a few others. This way you can keep the volume down.
Kim, one of the best resources I have found for locating high quality blogs is Alltop.com. They list the top blogs in a remarkable number of subject matter areas (truly remarkable -- check it out) and the blogs are actually vetted before they are listed. It's a great starting point.
And I hear your pain on the reader-overload. I currently follow about 350+ blogs in my reader. If I fall behind by one day, it gets out of hand VERY fast.
To those who are hesitant about adding their comments to pages and pages of comments, I'd suggest finding some less popular blogs to comment on! It's very similar to the longtail keyword strategy: while you certainly can comment on the blogs that get the highest traffic, you're likely to get more bang for your buck out of commenting on the more niche blogs that are specifically relevant to your field.
Finally, @michael, I agree that it is frustrating when you aska question (especially of the article author) and receive no answer. It may be that the author doesn't have email notification for their comments set up, but it may also be that they don't quite get how important it is to respond and create an actual conversation. I mean, that's the whole point -- blogs aren't broadcast channels, they're relationship- and community-builders, when done right. :)
It certainly more interesting reading comments left on a blog or site that actually bring up points in the post/article or asks for further explaination. Even reading the comments left on your own blog can get the creative juices going as to what topics to write about in the future.
Addressing Michael's comment about leaving a question, I answer the ones left on my blogs and always wonder if the person actually comes back and checks for the answer. Those of you that have the get future comments emailed to you feature, do you know how many people actually use that? Something I am thinking of adding to my blogs.
How are you keeping track of those comments where you had a question and they don't have the signup for replies feature. This one does so I'll be able to see if my questions have been answered. <wink> You can track your name or website with Google alerts and look at your Google Webmaster tools for incoming links as reminders to go back if you left a question but is there an easier way?
@S Emerson--Good thoughts. I think that's one of the toughest things about the "social" part of social media. If it's really a conversation, how do you keep it going...and when (if ever) is the conversation over?
It certainly more interesting reading comments left on a blog or site that actually bring up points in the post/article or asks for further explaination.
Well I'm back. Got my notification there was a reply.
The link doesn't go to where I submitted my question. Maybe the developer of the plugin you are using could include the comment number in the url? They do have numbers. Seems to be a easy way to keep track of questions left.
Hey some bot copied the start of my initial reply as a reply. <pout>
I also often wonder if anyone actually reads the comments. Your interaction adds credibility to Hubspot and shows how you can build community with the comments.
I also wanted to comment on the idea of checking out the neighborhood that Beth talked about. Haven't seen that before and think it's a great contribution to the discussion.
Thanks for the Alltop.com reference, I'll check it out.
Wow! The best article on this subject which I read. Blog comments are not fun ... it's science. Thank you for good reading. Sincerely EriM / Slovakia, EU /
Beth looked at it from a Very Interesting Perspective! When time permits and if its last paragraph does not
summarize the theme or otherwise not too obvious I tend to do it in my comment so that future readers can save time if he/she is skimming...
Gosh, I'm so sorry. I wrongly wrote the comment about this topic on the next post. Soweee... can you delete the other comment please? Thanks.
But I so loved this post. I agree that we do need to add something of value when we make comments. As a writer, it does make me feel good receiving real comments (and not spammy ones) and encourages me a lot to write more.
There are many aspects of business that I subcontiously do correctly most of the time.
However, as of late, I have been running into a lot of articles and posts that bring a good business practice that I subcontiously do correctly most of the time, to something that I contiously do every time.
This is one of those posts.
I have always known that making a good, creative, valuable comment is important. But, this post brings to my attention how important it really is to add, subtract, multiply, and divide.
Thank You-
Matthew Zinda
thanks for sharing technical information about inbound social networking blog, now public can understand its importance and its usage accordingly...
Hi,
I am barely infant in blogging among my busy school time. Although I don't blog about blogging, both 'math' and 'blog-commenting' is my current passion lately. So, "The Simple Math of Blog Comments" title easily grab my attention. And so, I won't adopt the 'substract' approach to your story [for I don't discuss about blogging].
Well, this story just opened my brain about 'commenting-best-practice'. I would rather call this story as 'the intelligent-art of blog comment', instead of 'the simple math of blog comment'.
As a publicity expert, I urge people who want to pitch a story idea to a journalist to do some research and find out if the journalist blogs.
If she does, you've just hit gold! A journalist's blog is a treasure trove of information and clues about topics she feels are important, and you can tie your pitch to something she has already written.
Better yet, posting one or more thoughtful and insightful comments at her blog over a period of several weeks will virtually guarantee that she will know who you are BEFORE you pitch.
I myself only comment on subjects in blogs that I am truly interested in.
I love the mathematical model, makes perfect sense to me. I did Chemistry at Uni you see, and am now a Social Media Marketer.
My pet hate is people who just say "I agree" without backing up why. As a blogger myself, I would rather have no comments than 1 of these.
I think responding to comments is important as well, but only if the commentor poses a question or makes a particualry relevant point. And I can tell you guys on HubSpot read your comments because Kipp acknowledged one of mine on a Twitter HubSpot post earlier today.
I agree wholeheartedly in the value of commenting in other blogs. I encourage my associates to do the same. Whenever I read a blog post that I believe someone at our company can add a valuable comment to I always send them the link with a request to read and consider responding. I do the same for our clients.
Thanks for this useful information. Since I discovered Google alerts I make great use of the facility to get daily blogs related to my area which is tourism in South Africa and make good use of the opportunity to add useful comments.