To Reply or Not To Reply That Is The Question
During my daily RSS feed reader time I came accross a post by Teen Blogger Kid titled Top 5 Critical Mistakes Bloggers Make. Mistake #4 on his list is: You Don´t Interact With Your Reader´s.
One rule of thumb I’m hearing (reading) around the blogosphere is that a blogger should reply to all comments left on their blog.
The theory behind that being it will acknowledge your readers thereby creating a conversational community. “This acknowledgment goes a long way and is one of the best ways of developing a commenting culture on your blog.” say Dareen Rowse of Problogger.net
Michael from ProBlogDesign brings to the table a question that I have been contemplating and is the reason for this post. “Would you reply to every comment though, even if your reply seemed contrived?”
My answer to that question is “No” I don’t want to come off as someone who simply replied to your comment because it is a procedure that must be followed. I realize you came to my blog either intentionally or you stumble upon it and I don’t want you to leave here thinking I am disingenuous. If your comment is closed ended and doesn’t need to be expound upon any further then a simple “Welcome to my blog. Thank you for participating in the conversation. Hope to see you again.” or something along those lines should suffice.
Just as one would expect and hope their readers leave quality and relevant comments, one should also leave quality and relevant replies to the reader.
Stay Genuine
“Do what you know… and love! It will resonate with your customers, employees, and potential investors. And make all the hard work worthwhile.” Susan Gregg Koger, ModCloth
What are your thoughts on this? Do you reply to every comment left on your blog?
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While I don’t reply to every comment I do try to reply to most comments.
Me too, I reply to those that are open to response…:)
[...] Normally I don’t return to this professional blog to read follow-up comments as it is a fact that this particular blogger does not reply to comments. (that’s a topic that has already been beaten to death on other blogs, so I’ll refrain). And my point of all this is not whether to reply or not to reply to Comments. [...]