Dirty Sexy Comments

This is not a plea for comments for THIS blog. I talk about my  chronic commentitis here. I use my blog only as a reference point. Instead, this is a reminder that comments are like chocolate, really good if they’re rich and  have some substance to them. And that if you can’t comment, you can still help out the bloggers that you like.  A big shout out to Mommie Pie and Bloghernot 2008. I’ll be participating in a big way!

At the time of this blog posting, over 543 people receive this blog in their RSS reader (or via email). Another 2,000 - 4,000 come to the site directly, depending on the day and the post. Add those up, and let’s say that around 5,000 people come here daily to read my stuff. (Hey, don’t laugh,  I’m pretty jazzed about those numbers.)

If 1% of you commented, that’d be 50. (I’m bad at math. Did I do that right?) The average post on here gets a respectable 10 or so comments, but that’s about 1/3 of 1% then, of the folks who get a copy of each post.  Ok, enough of the math class stuff.

This got me thinking about the other great blogs that I love. (That Hotwire© List over on the side bar isn’t just there for looks. I ACTUALLY read those!)

I read several hundred blog posts a day. I comment on maybe five or six, if there is something I feel compelled to say.  So I’m in there with you. I’m not commenting much, either.  Does that make us bad ? Not really. If I’m able to leave a decent and thoughtful comment, I know that the other blogger will appreciate it. Sometimes, I even get a nice little email from them saying so. Comment Relish is a great little Word Press plug in that sends an e-mail message to users who comment on your website who have never commented before.

Sometimes, it’s a matter of time. I’ve read a blog post, and the comment I want to leave will take some time to phrase properly( I HATE TO LEAVE ONE WORD COMMENTS, Just as much as I hate receiving them) or I just don’t have the time to comment right then. If  that’s the problem you have, here are some other ways to help:

If You Don’t Have Time to Comment

• Bookmark the post in a social bookmarking site (so others might find it).(Don’t have a clue how to do this? Check here and for a comprehensive list of Social Sites check Blog Marketing Tactics. Another Word Press plug in Social Home adds a sidebar widget containing a subtle list of all your social homes as linked favicons.
• Share it in Google Reader.
• “Like” it in FriendFeed.
• Tweet about it in Twitter or Plurk it
• Stumble it in StumbleUpon.
• If it’s “really” really good, Digg it. (Note the emphasis on really)
• Note it on Facebook.
• Talk about it on My Space.

You get the picture. If you enjoy something, but don’t have the chance to comment due to time, another great way to be helpful is to move it along to others in your network. That’s why there are social software tools to begin with. Making better use of them can benefit us all.

And now that I think about it, because he has comments turned off (for his own reasons and don’t try to send him email either), how does Seth Godin know when he’s hit one out of the park? (Remember Seth? He’s the Purple Cow guy) Del.icio.us? Links? Hmmmm.

I love my comments. They’re how I know you’re really reading what I type here. They’re often better than the post, (don’t get me started on the spam comments) and they usually tells me when I’ve hit a home run!

I could probably list 100 blogs that deserve more comments without breaking a glow. (You know Girls Raised In The South don’t sweat, we glow) You probably could, too. One might even be yours. If you want to talk about your blog in the comments section here, what it’s about, and why someone might want to come by and comment, that might be fun. Give it a try. I promise I’ll try to respond to your comment. I’ve found that responding to comments, either by email or by response comment, gives the original commenter a little warm fuzzy. Which is nice, don’t you think?