I have Shy Blog Readers :( Need your feedback!?

**hitboxnow** · 10-10-2009 09:24 PM

As you probably have seen my posts. I pushed a new blog out the doors about 9 days ago. Things are going great and we have great results in newsletter signups/membership/reader rates. However, I cannot seem to stir my readers in commenting or taking advantage of my discussion board.

Soon, I am taking a different approach with the discussion board, but I still have shy readers.

Any ideas? Has anyone had a similar experience?

**christophercloud9** · 10-17-2009 09:05 AM

Why don't you engage readers by asking questions/having polls, etc. Most people are adapt to polling online now and will answer a question rather than take time to write out their feelings/ideas/beliefs.

**feint** · 10-18-2009 03:09 AM

At the end of each post ask them a question "what do you think of this concept?".

Another easy tactic is commenting on other peoples blogs that are related to yours.

**cookiecrane** · 10-22-2009 12:15 AM

Originally Posted by hitboxnow

As you probably have seen my posts. I pushed a new blog out the doors about 9 days ago. Things are going great and we have great results in newsletter signups/membership/reader rates. However, I cannot seem to stir my readers in commenting or taking advantage of my discussion board.

Soon, I am taking a different approach with the discussion board, but I still have shy readers.

Any ideas? Has anyone had a similar experience?

What is the niche of your blog? Start a interesting discussion, a topic that appealing to your visitor.

FirmMonster.com the source of web information

**Goldnote** · 10-30-2009 05:48 PM

Your screen names gives a clue(now). You want results NOW. Give it some time it's only been 9 days. Sounds like your thinking about making the same mistake a lot of others do. You give up too soon and move on without giving it a chance.

**andrewlm** · 11-02-2009 11:30 PM

Make it little bit colorful so that visitors find it attractive.

**gitdown09** · 11-24-2009 10:02 AM

Something that always works is stirring up emotion in readers. Find a topic that your visitors are highly interested in and make some bold but honest comments in your blog. You're sure to find that not all visitors agree with you and will ultimately let you know it in the comments.

**nonrate** · 11-24-2009 10:08 AM

I just interviewed someone for my podcast on how they built up their own podcast. They said they "faked it". That is, they made up a bunch of posts to seed participation. It may sound a bit cheesy, but the reality is companies actually charge for services to post comments to seed participation.

You don't have to fake your own comments, but one thing that could really help is to find a few people you trust that will be regular contributors. Once other visitors start seeing action, they'll be a lot more likely to post.

Lastly, remove any obstacles to participation that you can. If you require registration to post, change that and put a cpatcha challenge on for anonymous posters. Also disable comments that must be approved. If your volume is low right now you can afford to preview them as they come in. Best of luck.

**David Jackson** · 11-24-2009 12:40 PM

Originally Posted by hitboxnow

I cannot seem to stir my readers in commenting or taking advantage of my discussion board.

Any ideas? Has anyone had a similar experience?

Evan, I wrote about this exact topic on my blog. You can read it here. Believe it or not, most bloggers have the same problem - even though of us who are marketing experts. It used to bother me when people didn't comment, because I have some truly great content on my blog.

But now I don't worry about it. After doing some research, I discovered most people simply DON'T comment on blogs, unless they're trying to get a link back or something.

I also discovered that whenever I write something controversial, people comment. But I refuse to make a habit of writing controversial topics just to get a few comments. And I refuse to cheat and post fake comments on my blog.

Getting comments just isn't that important to me anymore. It really isn't. I'm just grateful that people bother to read my blog at all. That's good enough for me!

David Jackson

**bestill** · 11-24-2009 01:19 PM

Why do you want comments so much? What is important is that you have readers. Maybe people are not interested in commented, especially since you only started nine days ago. The people that are currently on your site are just "investigating". Let the site grow and more people and comments will come. But notice, even on many big blog there are not a lot of comment. You may see 100 comments on a site that gets 10,000 views a day. Consider that.