Comments on: Give Your Readers Room to Participate in Your Blog

By: Robert

Robert — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 06:36:48 +0000

Thanks for the great post, i continue to learn from your advice!

Cheers Darren

By: samrat

samrat — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 10:42:36 +0000

This was really a very good information.

By: Michael Aulia

Michael Aulia — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 02:51:18 +0000

Hmm this is probably why not many people write comments on my blog even though there are quite a number of hits a day

By: prasanga

prasanga — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 19:43:56 +0000

Thanks for the info, I think presenting your self as a open minded person, who is willing to learn is great quality, which human being can posses. I totally agree with you Darren. Even the masters were once students.

By: waggdogg

waggdogg — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 13:09:37 +0000

This is something I need to try. I want comments even if they are negative. I’m new at this and the comments are hidden maybe this is my problem. I’ll go into my dashboard and see what I can do. Love your last sentence, it put your post into practice.

By: JohnD

JohnD — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 04:01:28 +0000

This post is a real mind-opener, and the example of the portrait is just right. As a new blogger, I’m clearly taking up all the space and only creating a small opening for the reader at the end. I think what I’ve been doing is more like writing parts of a book than a blog. I’m just beginning to get a sense of what people are looking for when they search on terms that might take them to my site (about experience with mental health issues), and it’s just a faithful few who read in depth. I’m sure a lot who bounce are looking for something easier to get into and participate. Thanks for this advice.

By: Kerrie

Kerrie — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 01:17:07 +0000

Very interesting reading Darren. I must admit that not many people leave their comments on my blog, but then I don’t often leave comments on other people’s either. Perhaps that needs to be my New Year’s resolution for 2008

By: Tara

Tara — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 00:58:38 +0000

Thanks for this Darren – I sometimes leave out the ‘engage the reader’ question at the end of posts because it usually is something lame like, ‘Please add your suggestions in the comments’. But your concepts in this post allow for a lot more scope than that and make reader engagement go beyond a token tagline.
Good food for thought.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 23:28:23 +0000

Wow, Darren. You’ve done it again. I am a very new subscriber but in the short time I’ve been on your site, I am very impressed by the great analogies you make. This post is yet another example. I am just getting into blogging after owning a pretty successful site over the past 5 years and your tips continue to help me improve. Great post!

By: Daniel Bates

Daniel Bates — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 22:56:49 +0000

I wondered where you were going with the photo lesson, but you brought it together beautifully. Great Info!

By: CatherineL

CatherineL — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 22:18:47 +0000

Interesting post Darren. But one thing is confusing me. Where is this forum and how long have you had it? I haven’t noticed any links to it.

Am now beginning to feel like I was the only one who wasn’t invited to the party.

By: Warren

Warren — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 20:49:19 +0000

I wrote a piece on Apple Inc. (link on my name) focusing on a very particular aspect of their marketing efforts and how it is working. Because it is a popularly debated subject and I only touched on it; it caused quite a stir in comments. It was also the second most viewed post and the most linked to and commented post for my first month of blogging.

By: James

James — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 18:19:49 +0000

Good tips..absolutely agree!! I’m really sure that it will work on the blog with huge readers like yours. But do you think it will work with a new blog with only less than 20 readers subscribers?

By: Anthony Lawrence

Anthony Lawrence — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 17:54:44 +0000

Similar to a rule I learned long ago about custom programming – always leave an obvious feature out. If the customer spots it, he;ll feel good about his participation in the design.. if there isn’t anything obvious, he’ll find something to pick and complain over..

By: Leighton Cooke

Leighton Cooke — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 17:18:41 +0000

Good idea and I think you are right.

By: Kylie

Kylie — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 17:00:40 +0000

A simple way would be – in addition to the 3 boxes of name, mail and website – would be to add a 4th box called “send this page to XXX – which could be either 1 or several email addresses.

By: Search◊ Engines Web

Search◊ Engines Web — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 16:00:57 +0000

Although Comprehensive Posts do not require much input from readers – they may be referenced more by others looking for complete information.

It may also get that post higher on the search engines.

The theory about generating links from other blogs should in fact work both ways. Complete posts are referenced, and controversial posts and comments are also referenced.

So perhaps some of the incomplete posts were controversial, and THAT is what got some of them linked to.

By: Sangesh

Sangesh — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 16:00:45 +0000

I also would try to give the readers of my blog more room to participate so that they become regulars to my blog as well spread the word of my blog as well to others too.

By: Scott Magdalein

Scott Magdalein — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 15:39:41 +0000

Sorry, didn’t read the final question. Here’s how I’ve helped myself to create some participation lately. I’ve been replying to comments on my own blog. I don’t have the resources or knowledge to get a forum onto my blog, so I try to create that atmosphere through comments. It’s worked nicely, but not as good as a real forum, probably.

By: Scott Magdalein

Scott Magdalein — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 15:36:01 +0000

Good stuff. It’s actually one of my blogging goals for ‘08 to invite some guest bloggers to ReadScott.com.

Do you have ideas of techniques that blatantly don’t work?