The power of commenting
So you want comments, everyone wants comments as well. So you love to post comments on others blog, so does everyone wants to post comments on your blog (provided that you are well received). Suituapui made it very clear that the comments he received will give him some feedback as to how he is doing. This I have to agree with him. Tell you something (secretly), our STP has a whopping twenty-one thousand visits and two thousand comments in just three months, terrific!
With my recent decision to exclude the chatbox function which I used to have, I am expecting you to leave comments in my comment section which is made available after each post. I noticed that a lot of overseas bloggers do not include the chatbox function, be it professional bloggers or ordinary bloggers.
On the contrary, most Malaysian bloggers who are hosting their own site or using blogspot have a chatbox fitted to allow others to “chat”. I choose to set those overseas bloggers as my reference or benchmark when it comes to developing contents and layout design. I am not following the Malaysian footsteps for my layout design but the contents I write will still appeal to locals.
As Problogger suggests, the power of finding readers for your blog still goes to “Leave Comments on Other Blogs”. However, he stressed that the strategy of building traffic to your blog by leaving comments on other blogs only works when your comments add value and are relevant to the post.
In one of Problogger’s article on ten ways to hurt one’s blog’s brand, I found that the one or two word comments, not reading posts before commenting and not adding value to the comments are the types of comments I dislike most. I do not mean that I dislike you in person but just that when others read your comments they will not bother to drop by your blog because you are hurting your blog’s brand.
To make it a win-win situation, well first you have to watch the video, let’s build our reputation by writing comments which add value and are relevant to the post. I am sharing this tip with all my wonderful readers.
Gee! Tnx 4 the special mention! Some may comment ONCE, ‘nice blog, interesting bla bla bla…’ to get u 2 go 2 their blog & comment and they never bother to come again. I wud still go and read and comment though if the posts are interesting…..
Reply
daniel
reply on June 18th, 2008 9:31 am:
suituapui,
Your posts really made my day, especially my gloomy days. Reading your posts reminds me that life does not have to be serious all the while. Cheer up and live life to the fullest. Seeing you always writing happy stuffs make me feel happy as well.
Reply
suituapui
17 Jun 08 at 9:13 am
I like your idea of taking down the chatbox but sometimes someone just wanna leave some notice like “send you the files”, especially if live messenger is not functioning. Right now I’ll still preserve it. =p
LOL, at least you have more people commenting at your posts, 我的少得可怜，也不懂得我的读者是谁，他们希望看到些什么。。。
Reply
daniel
reply on June 18th, 2008 9:36 am:
ColourfulWorld,
There is still the Contact Form to leave some notice which will be delivered to my email. I check my email more than I take a look at the chatbox.
Well, mybloglog provides a good reference for me to know who is reading my blog. You can always check mybloglog to know who visited yours.
Reply
ColourfulWorld
17 Jun 08 at 10:26 am
Ahaahhah…
yeah i have to admit commenting is the effective way to hook traffics…
I would only comment, when I see that there is something I want to say, and I will tell my side of stories. I like to get my voice heard, and engage in meaningful conversations.
Reply
daniel
reply on June 22nd, 2008 8:44 am:
Robin,
“I like to get my voice heard, and engaging in meaningful conversations.” One thumb up for you!
Reply
Robin
17 Jun 08 at 9:22 pm
STP always comment on my blog. He’s a loyal reader and no wonder he got some many readers and comments.
Reply
daniel
reply on June 22nd, 2008 8:32 am:
gaTO,
STP is sure always commenting around. We’ll be able to do that when we retire. STP always travel here and there, showing the food which he makan, and always reading blogs. So nice.
Reply
gaTO
19 Jun 08 at 12:16 am
Thanks, Daniel. U say the nicest things! I dont like depressing, negative blogs. Life’s depressing enough so l try to be happy and make others happy too. Yalor, gato…but people come 2 comment in my blog once in blue moon only. LOL!!!
Reply
suituapui
19 Jun 08 at 11:24 am
I threw away my chatbox as well for the same reason. I must agree with the following statement:
“However, he stressed that the strategy of building traffic to your blog by leaving comments on other blogs only works when your comments add value and are relevant to the post.”
Too many people commenting for the sake of commenting. Dropping one liner, hoping people will click on his/her link in return. Some of the comments are irrelevant to the posts, sometimes it annoys me especially when you think you wrote a good post then people came in and wrote something like ‘wah.. so long ah??’ I mean.. what’s the point of telling me my post is long?
Not reading the post careful before commenting will make the commenter looks like a fool. Commenting is an effective way to hook traffics, but I prefer value added, good comments anytime than 400-500 hits a day but only 10 comments. Still, we need the traffics before we get good readers, provided you have good contents.
Choose carefully the blogs where you drop comments. Simple guide will be, go to blogs have average number of comments, so chances of your comments to be seen is higher. Check out those blogs where the blogger takes time to reply to your comments, those normally yet to be ‘too busy and famous’ to reply comments haha!
having a group of 10-20 blogger friends is enough to ensure your blog is not dead, because friends help each other 
ps: I love your blog man
Reply
melbie
reply on June 21st, 2008 1:38 am:
Oh so that is why you removed the chatbox.. I’m thinking of removing the chatbox in my blog too, I hate the popup adverts every time some one click on the shoutbox.. it’s annoying.. still thinking though…
As for commenting, I’ll leave comment when I really have something to say that is related to the post hehhe .. otherwise, I’ll just be a silent reader.. just like the saying that say “it’s better to stay quiet and look like a fool rather than opening the mouth (in this case – typing away) and removing all doubts” or something like that… hahaha ..
Reply
daniel
reply on June 22nd, 2008 8:31 am:
melbie,
Silent reader is beautiful. They are beautiful in the way that they read through the entire posts instead of just catching the few keywords and then jump ahead to the comment section. So are you going to remove the chatbox?
Reply
melbie
reply on June 24th, 2008 8:45 am:
Yes, removed the chatbox.. thinking of other “adornments” to remove from the sidebar … keep getting complains that it takes forever for my blog to load… I definitely do not wish to chase away my visitors with that!
Reply
daniel
reply on June 22nd, 2008 8:29 am:
bongkersz,
I agree with you. That’s why I only comment when I see the need to comment, meaning expressing my point of view. Even in my blog I only reply to relevant comments although I try to attend to all of the comments. But sometimes I really do not know whether to reply those comments with a LOL or ROTFL.
PS: I love your blog as well.
Reply
bongkersz
20 Jun 08 at 11:49 am
Guys, I just decided to re-introduce the chatbox function. =)
Reply
daniel
30 Sep 08 at 6:45 pm
[...] The power of commenting [...]
The heat is on
5 Jun 09 at 8:38 pm