Blog Azeroth

I set up my blog but it's weird to think that I am writing for an audience but there is no sign of an audience. Is that just me? I guess the feeling that I am talking to myself makes me wonder if what I am saying is boring or stupid but at the same time I don't want my blog to exist for the sake of other people because it is my way of expressing myself. Is that contradictory?

When I started my blog I was 99% sure nobody was ever, ever going to read it. I wrote because I wanted a place to put all the thoughts in my head, mostly for my own benefit.

One and a half years later and I've got 600+ subscribers and over 1000 hits a day. I wasn't aiming for that initially, it just happened. I do sort of think a part of it has to do with the fact that I sincerely did not go looking for an audience. I just wrote what was sincere and interesting to me and I think people appreciate it.

Write for yourself. Read other blogs and comment often. The readers will come.

yeah I feel the same way as you at time iam. One almost wonders what they are doing putting this down, but then I think of the times I need to vent my frustrations or I run across something that I think would be interesting then I can't help but put em down. I can remember searching for stuff dealing with shamans way back when and not being able to find anything. So even if you don't have anyone actively watching your blog just keep pluggin away at it and you will get there.

Thank you everyone for your kind responses

I guess it is nice to know that my blog isn't a little island floating in the middle of nowhere but I suppose I have to cultivate it first! =)

I try to respond to posts when I think they are points that I need to clarify, agree with them, or add new information based on what they said.

I don't feel the need to spend too much time responding to them, but my blog is also still in the growing stage, so my responding style may change over time.

There's a good discussion on blog comments here, but essentially it boils down to two things: how many readers do you have, and how much are you engaging them?

Generally less than 1% of blog readers leave comments, so if you get 1 or 2 comments on a post, that doesn't mean only one or two people read it. Obviously the more readers you have, the more comments you will get.

But beyond that, there are ways to actively try for more comments. Write posts that engage the reader directly - ask questions, or ask people to comment. Sometimes the posts that get the most comments are just something simple like "What do you think about X?"

Dont worry about reader comment amounts till its been at least a few months of steady blogging. I remember in a couple of my older blogs (I used to run a blog about being a 17 year old web entrepreneur, lol), I would even write posts asking if people still read my blog!

Best of luck though, and don´t be disheartened.

Mac

Great post. I was just wondering the same thing about my blog.

I think I have 6 or 7 replies to my blog so far... and that's with 32 posts so far, and 4 of the replies have been from real life friends.

One thing that has bolstered my confidence about my writing was to install a hit counter. When I first installed it (late June) I would get 5-10 hits with every new post I make. Lately, with my posts, I've been getting ~20 hits. even if they aren't commenting, it's nice to know that folks are stopping by.

Also, I have been linking to, and posting in other blogs, as well as listing myself in communitites (like this one) as well as wowheadlines.com.

At the heart of this, I am writing for myself, but I *do* want to have readers (otherwise I would just be writing into a googledocs file and keep it private) But I know I've noticed that at times writing can start to feel like a job/chore, and that's counterproductive in a couple ways: my writing gets forced, and it makes me want to take a break (like I did in July/August)

Anyhow, good post & topic, and yeah, you've got a number of folks that feel the same way.

Old post but I spose while it's up I'd like to comment too about how I get around not too many readers. I have installed a stats plugin to see how many people visit a day, what they're reading most, searching for. I also check my feedburner once in a while, currently only have 2 subscribers, but I write for myself, because I enjoy writing. Might as well write about something I enjoy and spend a lot of time on. I like to think that eventually readers will come but if they don't, well I'll still be writing

Comments are the hardest thing to obtain across a blog. People are there for the content and if they don't see anyone commenting, they think "why should I?" Challenge you readers, not just with good content, but make them communicate with you, ask questions, ask for suggestions and their thoughts. Once you get some, write a post about their comments, they will see your are in touch with your readers and just not starting a blog to put ads on.

Comments will come, they just take time.

This.

I oftentimes post something as my opinion, then engage my readers by asking them for their opinions on the subject, and try to respond to each and everyone. I currently have 109 posts with a little over 1000 comments across the blog, so I guess it averages around 9-10 comments per post.

I often feature reader questions into its own blog post, etc.

Keep chugging away and you will build up your own loyal fanbase which will help stir discussion in your comments without you having to do too much

I asked Larisa at The Pink Pigtail Inn about starting a new blog. There is a post on that blog right here. This post basically talks about the steps you need to take to set up a thriving blog. One of the indicators that your blog is thriving is if you get a lot of comments. It's natural for you to feel better about your posts if you get a lot of comments on it.

There are two points that I suggest focusing on when it comes to increasing the amounts of comments that you get on your posts is to make your content engaging. Try throwing in a question at the end. Get your audience thinking and encourage them to share.

Secondly, you won't really get a ton of comments for the first few weeks, or maybe even months. But you have to persevere. It's not about how much people comment, its about you sharing your ideas with the world.