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Nearly 1,600 hits and My Mom is the Only One Who Comments...Is My Blog Lame?

  1. rf05
    Member

    Good morning WordPress world,

    I started a food blog in Nov. 2011 and I've really enjoyed sharing and posting. I'm discouraged however, because I feel like no one cares! LOL. I try to write interesting posts, even asking questions to boost interaction but I never receive comments. Yes, comments are enabled. When I share to social media sites, my friends tend to comment on the social media post and not my blog (not necessarily a bad thing, at least they're reading it!).

    For those of you who've had a blog for a long time and have many followers, how did you get to the point where folks commented? I see these blogs featured on Freshly Pressed and they have 50 comments at a time. Is there something I'm doing wrong? Would you be so kind to check out my blog and provide feedback? I would love an honest opinion!

    Rebekahacarr.wordpress.com

    While I'm grateful that my mom, family members and close friends like my posts, I'd like to reach a larger audience.

    I've promoted my blog on all the social network sites, read and comment on other blogs often, am using the Follow widget, filled out my Gravatar profile and I'm trying to be patient. I've also tried to focus my blog to gain an audience that has the same interests. I've read all the information on promoting my blog that WordPress has to offer.

    Any other ideas on how I can increase traffic, get interaction and new followers would be awesome. Thanks for your support! Much appreciated.

    The blog I need help with is rebekahacarr.wordpress.com.

  2. auxclass
    Member

    @raincoaster gets about one comment per 700 visitors, my main site gets less than that. Not a lot of people comment on regular Posts. Good for your friends that visit and comment even if the comments and such are not on your blog.

  3. timethief
    Member

    I suggest you click this link > increase traffic

  4. kothea
    Member

    all good advice above, your site seems to superficially tick the right boxes to me.

    create a fb page as well and link to your wordpress blog
    some people are more inclined to comment on fb than

  5. isadz
    Member

    I have a comment per 5 visits yet 99.99 percent of them are spam. And I'm not cautious about that at all.
    Make your visitors to say something by posting some interesting stuff or by making some good friends here on WP. Latter is the better one.

  6. tandava108
    Member

    Another thing is comment on other people's blogs. This has a double benefit. A lot of them will comment back, and your comment serves as a link back to your blog bringing more traffic

  7. timethief
    Member

    Here are 25 basic steps to take to increase traffic to your blog:
    1. Structure a reader and search engine blog;
    2. In blogging content is king create unique, high quality content so publish fresh content frequently;
    3. Learn basic SEO so you can use keywords effectively and apply basic SEO to your headlines, blog and posts;
    Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in search engines via the “natural” or un-paid (“organic” or “algorithmic”) search results.
    4. Make your blog posts look professional;
    5. Create at least 4-6 pillar posts and continue to create pillar posts;
    Pillar posts are also referred to as flagship content. Pillar posts are comprehensive posts that offer great value to readers as the contents are timeless in nature. They define you as having authority in the niche you blog in.
    6. Select and link to appropriate anchor text;
    7. Leave meaningful comments on related blogs and encourage comments on your own blog;
    8. Develop relationships with other bloggers so you can build a blog readers’ community around your own blog;
    9. Support the blog centered communities on related blogs by commenting on them and promoting posts from them;
    10. Link to authoritative sources in your posts;
    11. Deep link to your earlier related posts in your new posts;
    12. Assign appropriate categories and tag your posts with care;
    13. Link to related authoritative blogs in your blogroll;
    14. Provide RSS feeds for subscribers;
    RSS (Rich Site Summary or really simple syndication) is a format for delivering regularly changing web content. Many news-related sites, weblogs and other online publishers syndicate their content as an RSS Feed to whoever wants it.
    15. Having a well designed theme is important, evaluate your theme for effectiveness, and if required, create a new header, make improvements or replace your theme and reduce page loading time;
    16. Avoid cluttering your blog with widgets that lack reader value and slow page loading time;
    17. Buy your own domain and domain mapping;
    18. Verify your blog with the three big search engines.
    19. Get organized, use an online to do list by developing a blogging workflow;
    20. Join social networks and social media sites like Facebook and use Twitter, Friendfeed and other Free RSS directories to promote your blog posts;
    21. Promote your blog through social networks, online groups, and selected directories;
    22. Develop a social media time management strategy and stick to it;
    23. Submit your latest pillar article to a blog carnival;
    24. Become a guest blogger on sites with higher page rank than your own site.
    25. Create newsletters and/or ebooks for your subscribers.

  8. passiveaggressivepaul
    Member

    Dear rf05,

    Try shamelessly plugging your site on to the board comments, as such:[Link sig redacted by -sl1k due to forum policy]

    Love,
    Paul

  9. teamoyeniyi
    Member

    @iphonist1 - please do be careful about spam, as approving those comments can affect how search engines look at you, I believe.

  10. rosewillow
    Member

    I think it's good if you go and visit other people's blogs and leave sincere but positive comments for them. This is how you make friends in the blogging community. They will visit you in turn, and people who read their blogs will also visit you. The circle continues to grow larger, and before you know it, you will have lots of comments -- and also lots of blogland friends! Good luck! :)

  11. dribblingpensioner
    Member

    @ rf05, when i click your link i am taken to your welcome page, i think this is not right, it should go to your front page. If people want to read welcome they will click it.

    As others said, comment and comment some more in blogs.

  12. sl1k
    Member

    @rf05 I recommend liking a post via the like option but only if you truly liked the post and the reason I recommend this is because if someone clicks your avatar they will be taken to your Gravatar profile assuming you have added your blog link to your profile at some point you should start to see refers from your profile even though it might not bring much traffic it's a start...

  13. timethief
    Member

    @sl1k
    Hi there,
    I noticed that strange gravatar phenomenon too.

    P.S. Will you please move this thread into the Off-Topic Forum?

  14. sl1k
    Member

    @timethief

    Hello to you as well!

    Sure thing I will move the thread to the off topic section... = )

  15. messymusings05
    Member

    Can someone please explain about the spam comments? I get comments there all the time, and they seem like regular people commenting. Should I be cautious of these comments that land in spam?

  16. robrubin
    Member

    I agree with @dribblingpensioner. I'd rather be taken directly to your posts. If i find your blog interesting, I'll click on the About page.

    As for comments, it does help if you comment on other people's blog. Also, a lot depends on the content you write. I write a saracstic, humor, blog so people tend to want to write sarcastic, witty comments in response.

    I even did a whole post about commenting here:

    http://themainland.net/2012/01/12/if-you-like-it-then-you-should-have-put-a-comment-on-it/

  17. timethief
    Member

    @messymusings05

    I get comments there all the time, and they seem like regular people commenting. Should I be cautious of these comments that land in spam?

    That's not surprising as the vast and overwhelming majority of all "information" on the internet is spam. Also note that over 80% of all comments submitted to blogs on the WordPress.com domain every day are spam. As well as bot spam there are people who are hired to generate spam comments. Approving an posting spam comments to your blog does have a negative effect on your blog. Matt Cutts of Google has confirmed this.

    Can someone please explain about the spam comments?

    This may be helpful for learning how to spot spam > Trackback and Pingback Spam: What to do?

  18. messymusings05
    Member

    Wow Timethief, good info. I will be especially careful of spam. Thanks!

  19. timethief
    Member

    When I have time I'll post the link to the Google video that says what I said above ie. that posting spam comments has a negative effect on your site's authority and page rank.

  20. raincoaster
    Member

    Back to the OP: With 1600 reads, you can expect three comments. That's the ratio.

  21. lettershometoyou
    Member

    I've had more than 415,000 hits and my Mom NEVER comments. You're lucky.

  22. raincoaster
    Member

    Comment baiting is not exactly the same as clickbaiting.

    Use polls. Quizzes. Ask questions in your posts.

    And if nobody answers, log out, make a sock puppet account, and seed the comments section. Nobody wants to be the first comment, just like nobody wants to go into an empty restaurant.

  23. lettershometoyou
    Member

    But... that's cheating!

  24. raincoaster
    Member

    It's ENCOURAGING.

  25. lettershometoyou
    Member

    I was referring to the sock-puppeteering. It's pretend blogging. There's a whiff of desperation about it.

  26. dribblingpensioner
    Member

    Now please explain, and give a link please about sock-puppeteering.

  27. lettershometoyou
    Member

    Say you're in a forum discussion and nobody is backing you up. You create a new account in that forum, and "add" to the discussion by supporting your own position with the fake account. So you've now got back-up, only it's fake.

  28. tandava108
    Member

    Even worse is the "straw man" sockpuppet, that comes up with a really weak argument that you then show to be wrong "proving" your point.

  29. teamoyeniyi
    Member

    I'm sorry, but those techniques are not for me. I'll stick with the comments I get. I'm not going to calculate my ratio, but I think it is pretty good. Also my bounce rate is about 23% according to alexa.com so I'll just stay with my one account that replies to comments I didn't make!

    OK, the kids comment, but they are real people, just live in the same house as I do!

  30. timethief
    Member

    Comment baiting is not cheating. It's effective blogging. > http://onecoolsitebloggingtips.com/2011/03/21/blogging-comment-baiting/

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