Question: do you hope, or do you expect your readers will comment on your blog?
This should be a fun question to ask yourself, just like the last question about whether or not you would skip some activities to blog instead. When it comes to getting comments, do you expect your readers to comment on your site, or do you hope your readers will comment on your site?
Expecting a comment should be like paying a person for a car and expecting that person to give you the car. Hoping for a comment would be like talking while standing on a busy street somewhere, and hoping that some listener nearby would interact with you.
Hoping for comments vs. expecting comments
Expecting comments : You feel that readers have an obligation to comment on your blog.
Hoping for comments : You feel that readers do not have an obligation to comment on your blog.
So, do you expect your blog readers to comment, or do you hope that they will comment? Or do you combine the above two feelings together and come up with something different when it comes to blog comments? Why and how did you arrive at those conclusions or views related to reader comments?
Please let me know, thank you. 
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( May 13th, 2007 at 1:12 am )
Bes,
I expect you to write a post writing about hoping or expecting comments.
I do hope for comments, but I do my best to encourage them as well.
( May 13th, 2007 at 3:51 am )
Ronalfy, see, expectations can sometimes be good!
I like that approach; hoping for and encouraging comments. Maybe the three can be mixed: hope, encouragement and expectation?
I am guessing a person will feel good/better the need to comment if they are made to feel that they should comment, instead of being forced to comment?
( May 13th, 2007 at 7:21 am )
I hope for comments on things that I think are serious and potentially important.
I expect comments on throw-away posts that don’t really mean much to me.
In general though I don’t expect comments in the way you have described.
( May 13th, 2007 at 8:01 am )
Andrew Rickmann, thanks for commenting, and thank you also for coming to the site. I really appreciate it.
Interesting point. What kind of posts would you consider “throw-away posts“?
About not expecting comments the way I described them, that is really interesting, since what you hope for is not comments but quality comments, combining the hope for comments with the concept of quality content/comments together. That is really nice. Thanks for sharing that tip [I think it's a great tip], Andrew!
( May 13th, 2007 at 8:14 am )
I used to expect comments, back in the days when I commented on probably 50 sites per day (because I believed that if I commented on a blog entry, that entry’s owner had the duty to return the comment). However, I now only hope for comments. I feel that one shouldn’t comment on an entry unless he actually has something useful to say, and I apply that. No entry will interest everyone, I so I cannot expect everyone to would ordinarily comment on blogs to have anything to comment on from mine.
( May 13th, 2007 at 8:31 am )
Lara, thanks for the comment, and long time no see [vice versa also about "long time no see", I am sure]!
You have a good point. Posting comments on many blogs can get return comments, but like you said, one should try to comment when there is something to say, instead of commenting all the time just to get return-comments. You are also right about entries being interesting: it is really hard to write an entry that everyone will like, so one should not expect everyone, like people who comment regularly, to comment on every entry unless they like it.
Thanks for sharing, Lara.
( May 13th, 2007 at 8:47 am )
Hmm, for me, I expect comments on entries that are, uh, I don’t know how to say it, but… important to me? There aren’t many of those lately, and I expected many to comment on those, since they have in the past(the people who usually comment on every entry besides those)… But most of the time, I’m just hoping for comments.
( May 13th, 2007 at 1:18 pm )
SP, good point, and I am glad you hope for comments, otherwise I would have to go through all your posts and find those without my comments, so that I can comment on them [I might do that anyhow soon ;)]. Your point applies directly to personal blogs and a bit indirectly to other blogs also. Sometimes I spend days, if not weeks, planning an entry and when it is done, I get no comments.
From a marketer’s point of view, I should continue onto other things since that post can bring in more traffic and if I keep writing, I will sometime hit a mark when every post will get dozens of comments.
However, as a human being, I am saying things on this blog for others to understand something from, and if one post does not get comments, it feels as if that point should be revisited somehow so people understand it better. Maybe there should be another way of recording people’s reactions, as people do not always want to comment to everyone, as Lara pointed out in her comment. The star-rating system can measure something like that?
Thanks.
( May 13th, 2007 at 2:26 pm )
I guess what I mean is that I want people to be interested in the posts that most interest me. I am really interested in concepts and ideas and often it can take a lot of thought into these, sometimes months worth, before I even write a post.
I never write to generate traffic, or comments, and I don’t focus on what is popular; I just write what I want to write about, so to that end I have no expectations.
However, what I have found is that the posts that I think are my best, and expect people to be really interested in, often get the least comments.
My real expectations then are that it is the other posts that will get commented on, the posts that perhaps are the shallowest in terms of substance and where other opinions are of the least value (But never no value).
( May 13th, 2007 at 2:57 pm )
Andrew Rickmann, thanks for clarifying that. I think it is very good that your writing is not influenced by the idea of writing differently to get more traffic, but to probably write in order to get the message across.
That is a very interesting observation, that the post you put the most effort in gets less comments compared to other posts. That happens to me many times also, like the following posts which I spent a time thinking and writing, and yet I have not received any comments on them so far:
1 : Thought: On Online Copyright Laws
2 : Jumping to premature conclusions over Vizu Blog Readership Report
3 : Female stereotyping
4 : The flow of offline discrimination onto the internet
5 : Two simple steps to offer stress free shopping
All of these posts took a lot of effort, and yet they received no comments. I like how you said “But never no value“, as every post one writes probably has a value and meaning or a message after it, or it probably should in many cases. I am not sure what the exact reason is for such a behavior; maybe it is the topic that certain commentors are looking for, and that desired topic is a bit different than what the blogger has in mind? The posts that get a lot of comments or more comments can probably show us that the readers who are coming to the site want to engage in certain kinds of topic, or writing.
Thanks again for sharing and explaining. Your comment should help many people, including those who are blogging for the first time and not getting any comments.
( May 13th, 2007 at 4:01 pm )
Wow, adding onto what Andrew said, “what I have found is that the posts that I think are my best, and expect people to be really interested in, often get the least comments”, is often true for me also! Well, more of not the “best” post, but the most interesting/important post to me. That’s actually exactly what’s been happening, and Andrew’s comment made me realize that…
And Bes, the star-rating system is a very good system, but that’s not for me. LOL. I’ve considered it before, but nah, I don’t think it’ll work well with my site.
( May 13th, 2007 at 4:51 pm )
SP, thanks again, and that is so true. I have noticed that on your site a few times. Again, I am not sure why some posts get no comments when other posts, on the same topic, get a lot of comments within the same [approximate] time frame.
The star-rating is good, I think so too. I have to post some explanation of that rating system soon. I am also thinking of moving the rating-system into individual pages instead of the homepage [still thinking].
( May 13th, 2007 at 5:24 pm )
Hi Bes,
This is such a good question. I am a new blogger (3 months) and am not too sure what to expect. I would hope that people read my posts and would like to comment on them.
I don’t know too far in advance what I will write about. Sometimes I will expand on another blog topic and sometimes an idea will just pop out or a recent experience like my visit to San Francisco, will take control and I want to share it with everyone.
When people comment it is like having a real conversation. When there is no comment I may feel like the little child who feels ignored by her mother.
I am looking into how I can monitor how many people stopy by my site, but I won’t be able to tell if they read more than the headline. But that’s ok.
( May 13th, 2007 at 5:31 pm )
Carma Dutra, thanks for visiting the site Carma! I am glad you came here and decided to post.
Wow, I did not know you were blogging for 3 months. You write so well on such interesting topics, I was under the impression that you had been blogging for years.
So basically, many of your posts go with the flow, focusing on having the quality depend on your actual feelings and experiences, instead of methods that force one to write only to spur traffic. Yes, commenting is like real interacting, only online.
Many stats programs like Mint will actually track how many people read actual posts, and some plugins like WP-Stats will also do the same. Maybe you can try them out and see. I see that your main blog is on blogspot, however. I am not sure what would work on that other than Mint, probably.
Thanks again Carma.
( May 13th, 2007 at 5:34 pm )
I often expect comments on my most interesting posts, and if I don’t get them, then I hope for comments.
Sometimes, when I don’t expect to get any comments, I get plenty of them, and when I do expect them eagerly, I get none. Other times, I do get comments as expected.
In general, I need comments to get some feedback on what I write, so I could evolve as a blogger and make my blog more useful and interesting to read.
I don’t belong to that category of people who like “talking to walls”, I don’t like hearing no sound of the stone reaching the bottom of a deep well.
On the other hand, getting no comments when usually I do get comments tells me that this particular post didn’t really resonate with my readers.
( May 13th, 2007 at 5:41 pm )
Vivien-Inspirationbit, thanks for sharing!
I like how you express clearly which posts raise expectations, and which posts raise hope. By your most interesting posts, do you mean the ones you spend the most time on, or some specific topics you are passionate about, or something else?
Yes, comments do provide feedback. Some posts with no comments, as Andrew and SP noted above, probably show what the readers are looking for. If no one comments on a site, and a blogger gets no e-mail or any kind of response/communication from readers, it will be hard to figure out what readers want other than to look at the blog stats and see which things attract people and which do not.
I also post my posts with the hope that each post will get the message across. If something does not get any attention, it can be an interesting feeling that something that is important is not being recognized well, though there could be many reasons for that, like the post not being clear or people coming to a tech site looking for tech articles, and instead reading about soft drinks being better than water or something.
Thanks Vivien, I really like the “talking to walls” label. That is what many bloggers do, doing it again and again hoping that some day traffic or attention [or even money] will start flowing in.
( May 13th, 2007 at 5:43 pm )
I don’t expect nor do I hope for comments. But it’s different because I keep a personal journal for myself, and not really for an audience, whereas you are writing for an audience.
Actually, I do expect comments, but in a different way. I don’t expect comments in that I think everyone who stops by should comment, but I expect that if someone has something they want to say, they should say it.
(i owe you comments to a bunch of your other posts from the last ~20 days, but that’s going to have to wait till i have the time again.)
( May 13th, 2007 at 10:11 pm )
Stacee, thanks for sharing! I think that blogging may be both personal and non-personal [because of the job], so you probably have more experience on this than me. I also try to make sure that if someone wants to say something, they will face no/fewer obstacles when commenting. Your tips and suggestions before about the layout, the commenting and font sizes on this site have helped a lot, and I am still working on some of the other things you suggested before.
Also, do not worry about owing me any comments. I am glad you took the time to post this comment.
( May 13th, 2007 at 10:12 pm )
I feel that I expect it more instead of hoping because of the do-follow plug-in. You have to provide good content or a reward to get a comment from what I have seen and hopefully I am getting better at both.
( May 13th, 2007 at 10:21 pm )
Thanks Cade for your input on this. For people who are not sure, the “do-follow” plug-ins and initiative allows you to remove the “no-follow” attribute from your site, which results in search engines not indexing links in comments.
Good content and a reward are usually the most common ways, and probably extremely effective ways also, to spur interest and comments. From what I have seen on your site so far, you are so far already good at having good content.
Thanks for the comment again, Cade.
( May 13th, 2007 at 10:28 pm )
Bes, I’ll be posting an article on my blog tomorrow that will provide you with the answers to your question: “By your most interesting posts, do you mean the ones you spend the most time on, or some specific topics you are passionate about, or something else?”.
So stay tuned and don’t forget to check out my blog
( May 13th, 2007 at 10:53 pm )
Thanks Vivien-inspirationbit, I am looking forward to the post.
I will try to see if I can update my comment [this one] to include a link to your post tomorrow so others can know also, or maybe post a new comment to notify others of the post.
( May 14th, 2007 at 2:02 pm )
Bes,
Thanks for pointing me in the direction of finding a way to count visitors to my blog. I will let you know how it all turns out and thanks again for your kind words.
( May 14th, 2007 at 4:47 pm )
No problem Carma. I hope one of those services fits your needs. Also see if the free Google Analytics works for you.
Please let me know either via this contact form or through e-mail if you need any more info or help on any of those scripts/services.
( May 16th, 2007 at 8:09 am )
I hope they will comment unless they are family or close friends, then I expect their presence to be made known lol
( May 16th, 2007 at 11:36 am )
Heh, that’s interesting. So you would not want close family or friends to lurk around your site anonymously?
That should be an interesting topic to consider or discuss also: treating online visitors vs. treating online people who are family members or close friends.