“So how many people visit your blog everyday?” is a question I get asked by my friends sometimes. “Um, about 5,000 people a day, 7,000 on higher days…” Then they all gasp and say something like, “Whoa! That is a lot! I would’ve never guessed….” and they trail off before I finish their sentence for them. “Because no one comments? Haha, I know.” and it makes me wonder too sometimes.
But then I don’t comment on other blogs either. Not even the ones that comment on my blog. I don’t really follow any blogs regularly, or read many of them so that’s a big reason why, but on the few blogs I do read somewhat regularly like once or twice a month(I feel like I spend enough time on the internet as it is with my own blog so I try not to surf the internet), I leave comments on because that’s my own blogging etiquette. I feel like I am not being fair to the bloggers’ time and effort if I read and enjoy their blogs on a regular basis but never leave a comment. So I leave a comment maybe every few times I read their blog to let them know I appreciate what they’re sharing. But that’s just my personal etiquette rule and by no means do I want others to do the same. I want people to comment when they want to! I don’t do any advertising or sponsoring of my blog, and don’t contact other companies for sponsorship like a blogger is suppose to do, or spend that much time on the blog or take it very seriously, so naturally, my blog isn’t as successful as it could be but I’m perfectly okay with that. But I have wondered how I could get more comments on my blog, because of course I love getting feedback, what blogger doesn’t?
But I am recently finding out about this “secret blogging etiquette or rule” and I’m wondering, am I the only one that’s been out of the loop? How come no one told me? How come no one talks about it, is it suppose to be a big secret between the bloggers?
So the “secret” I found out about is this: if you leave a nice comment on someone’s blog and/or say “I’m your newest follower and/or have their blog address below”, then you’re very highly encouraged/should visit their blogs and leave a comment too and/or follow back. It doesn’t have to be all three of them, some do leave thoughtful comments with no link to their blog, but they know you can click on their name and find their blog. It’s like this secret exchange you have between bloggers.
I’ve read before that commenting on other blogs is a great way to make your blog successful but I didn’t know exactly why. But now I know what they really meant! I come across a blog and think, WOW! How do they get so many comments when I’m literally getting 10x-100x times more people visiting my blog? They just started their blogs not long ago, what is his/her secret because I want to know! I just figured they’re better bloggers, better writers, better photographers, (and some) have much higher number of readers than mine, advertise their blogs, and some even buy readership/comments/traffic etc. And many times it is true of course, I don’t consider myself a great blogger and there are so many blogs that are better at all those things than me. But it intrigues me when I see start-up blogs that get so many comments(like 100) when the quality and content is similar to mine with readership less than 10% of mine. So I click on some of their comments and almost all the comments are like this. “Thank you for visiting my blog, for leaving me a sweet comment, for following me, I’m following you back!”
So that’s the big unspoken secret people. I hope no one’s mad that I spilled what seems to me like the-must-not-be-named secret in blogging. And those people that visit plethora of blogs daily to leave comments to engage with other bloggers and have them visit your blog too, I say good for you! That’s not for me but kudos for your dedication.
Did you know about this unspoken secret exchange between the bloggers? What do you think about it?
