MackCollier.com

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How to Write Great Blog Comments

Writing better blog comments
Are you a commenting superhero?

Blogs are sexy again. As we move away from social media sites and toward a more decentralized social web experience, people and businesses are devoting more time to their blogs as a way to connect with readers and potential customers. If you’re devoting more time to your blog, don’t forget to focus on writing better blog comments. Whether you are replying to a reader on your own blog or leaving a comment on someone else’s blog, commenting is one of the best ways you can connect with new readers/customers, and build exposure for your business. Let’s talk about how to write great comments whether it’s on another blog, or on your own.

 

How to Write Great Blog Comments on Other Blogs

One of the best ways to grow your blog, is to leave it. What I mean by this is leaving comments on other blogs is a great way to create value for others, and ultimately grow awareness for your own blogging efforts. This is especially helpful for new bloggers that are looking to build a readership or following as compared to established bloggers.

But not all blog comments are created equal, and here’s some of the tips I’ve learned over the years for writing great blog comments:

1 – Add something to the conversation. Often I will read a post and think ‘wow, great post!’ But go past that, highlight issues that the blogger addressed, and add your own take. You don’t have to agree completely, and you don’t have to stick with their point. If one example they mentioned reminds you of another instance from your own experiences, mention that. But try to avoid simply repeating what others have said. And this is easier to do when you…

2 – Comment early. Sure it’s nice to let a few people comment first, so then you can build off what they say, as well as the blogger’s post. But what if you wait too long and everyone has addressed the points you wanted to raise? Don’t be afraid to put your thoughts down and to share your opinions. This is how you generate conversation and attention.

3 – Don’t over-promote yourself. No one likes reading a comment that’s blatant self-promotion.  We’ve all seen these comments, “Hey Mack, really great thoughts on this topic, I recently blogged about this as well…”, then they include a link to their blog (In fact, I often delete these comments if someone attempts to leave one here). Obviously, the only reason they left the comment was to link out to their site. Remember that you aren’t leaving the comment to promote yourself, you are trying to create value for the blog by adding to the conversation. If you’ve done your job, you’ll get promotion as an indirect result of your efforts.

4 – You can disagree, without being disagreeable. I might be a bit different from some in how I approach disagreements in the comments section, but I love it when readers disagree with my posts, and challenge my points. The biggest reason why, is because when you bring in alternative points, that extends the conversation and gives more people a chance to jump and leave their point of view.

However, always remember that it’s ok to ‘attack’ the ideas, but not the people presenting the ideas. Challenging stances and ideas are fine, but personal attacks add nothing to the conversation, and make you look like a jackass. Not what you want. Feel free to disagree, but don’t be disagreeable.

5 – Ask questions. What if you find a post and agree with the post, and everything the commenters have said. Now what? Why not ask a question or bring up a point that no one has raised yet? One thing that often happens, especially on blogs where the writer is very popular, is the readers may all agree with the writer. Why not offer a contrarian view and bring up the other side of the issue? Again, this helps extend the conversation, and you might find that others will then chime in saying that they agree with your point of view.

6 – Know why you are commenting. Are you leaving a comment to draw attention to yourself, or to add to the conversation? As with most everything else in social media, blog comments work best as a way to INdirectly promote yourself. Write a comment that others find value in, and that encourages others to check out your blog, follow you on Twitter, etc. Write a comment that was clearly intended to promote your blog, and you will likely gain nothing, and hurt your reputation.

 

How to Write Great Blog Comments on Your Own Blog (And Tips For Leveraging Great Blog Comments Left By Your Readers)

So that covers how to write great blog comments on someone else’s blog, but how do you handle blogs written on your own site?

My over-arching rule for comments on your own blog is Reward the Behavior You Want to Encourage. If your blog allows readers to comment, then you want readers to comment.  So if commenting is the reader behavior that you want, then you need to think about what you can do to encourage more readers to comment. Here’s some of my tips:

1 – Reply to as many comments as possible. If a reader comments on your blog, you want to reply to that comment if at all possible. This signals to the reader that you read their comment, and that you appreciate their comment enough to take the time to respond to them. This also ENCOURAGES this reader to comment again, since they know you will reply to them if they do.

2 – Ask the reader to expand on their thoughts. If a reader has left an indepth comment, then feel free to engage them in your reply and ask them to clarify or expand on a point they raised in their comment. This doesn’t always work as the reader that left the original comment may not see your reply to them or they may not feel like replying. Still, by replying to the commenter you are signaling to them and all your readers that you value their comment and that encourages your readers to comment more often.

3 – Add great reader comments to the body of the post they are commenting on. This is a great way to acknowledge and thank your reader for a great comment, and it encourages them to comment again. If a reader leaves a comment that I want to highlight, I will add it to the end of the post (or in another part of the post, if relevant), and make special mention of the comment, and the person who left the comment.  If the commenter added a link to their blog when they commented, I will add a link to their blog when I add the comment to my post, as an extra incentive for the readers to comment more often, as well as an additional way to acknowledge and thank the reader for their great comment. Also, doing this encourages readers to check out the comments and may encourage them to leave their own comment.

 

These are some tips I have learned from my own experience in writing blog comments. What did I miss that works for you?

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How to Write Your First Blog Post

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Recently a friend asked me a question that any business that begins blogging will have to answer; What should your first blog post be about?  That first blog post is terribly important, because it sets the tone for the blog. Not just for the readers, but for the writers as well.

From the reader’s point of view, I would want to see four areas covered in your first blog post:

1 – Who you are. Tell me about your business, but also introduce me to the blog’s writers.  Share pictures.  The more information about yourself and your business that you share, the easier it will be for me as a reader to trust you.  This is very overlooked by many businesses but we want to see pictures of the people that work for your business and more importantly, those that will be writing for the blog.  It helps us identify and connect with them!

2 – Why you are blogging. Possibly the most important question you can answer, because it will force you to spell out your intentions to your audience.  And as always, consider your audience when answering this question, ask yourself, ‘Why would someone come to this blog, what would they be looking for?’  Hint: They won’t be coming to your blog so that you can market to them.  Maybe you want to share your thoughts on your industry with your readers, or maybe you want to teach them how to do a certain set of skills that tie into your business.  Another way to think about this is to ask yourself ‘What’s in it for the reader?’

3 – What will you be blogging about.  Answering the above question makes this one much easier to answer.  Will you be blogging about your business, or perhaps the lifestyles of your customers?  Spell out the content on your blog so that I know what to expect when I arrive.  And remember that this will also serve as a ‘bookmark’ for your writers to keep them focused on what the goal of your blog is.

4 – How I can leave feedback. Tell me how I can be involved.  Can I leave comments?  Do you encourage comments?  What if I want to email you?  Spell out exactly how I can contact you, and don’t be afraid to encourage feedback, and even disagreement.  In fact this would be a good place to formally spell-out your comment policy, which again can serve as a reference tool for your writers as well.  But do everything you can to make sure that my feedback is appreciated, and encouraged.  If possible, give readers ways to contact you online (such as an email address) and offline (such as your address and phone number).

If your first blog post contains these elements, your business blogging efforts will be off to a fine start!

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Ten Elements Every Company Blog Should Have

Understanding the Ten Elements Every Company Blog Should Have

Social media sites come and go (Remember Google Plus and Friendfeed?), but a company blog remains one of the best tools available to drive organic traffic to your website. A company blog lets you promote your business, introduce yourself and your employees to the world, and gives you a place to provide valuable information to your customers.

Thinking about launching a company blog? Great, now if you want to avoid being “that guy,” then here’s the essential elements that you should incorporate into your blog.

1 – A strategy. Why are you blogging? What are you attempting to do with your blog? Establish your company as an industry leader? Boost your brand awareness? Provide customer service? Know what you want to accomplish with your blog, and make sure that your goals are consistent with your overall business strategy.  This post goes in-depth into creating a solid content strategy for your blog.  Once you’ve created your blogging strategy, make sure every member of your content team understands what that strategy is. Every content creator you work with will need to intimately understand your blogging strategy. It will make their jobs much easier, and they will create better content as a result.

2 – A dedicated group of bloggers. If you only have one blogger, or if you have five, every blogger needs to know what is expected of them, and what their role is. If each blogger needs to write 2 posts a week, they have to be willing to give you 2 posts a week.  Keep in mind when setting your team and expected goals, that it’s better to start with less and then grow as the skills and familiarity of the team improves. For example, it makes more sense to start with asking 3 new posts a month from each writer, then after a couple of months you may want to increase the rate for each writer up to 5 new posts a month. Starting small and growing makes more sense than taking on too much right out of the gate.

3 – A posting schedule. This ties in with #2. Ideally, a company blog should have at least 1 new post a week. Make sure each blogger knows how many posts a week/month they are responsible for, and have the posts up on a set pattern. Don’t have the bloggers put them up whenever inspiration strikes, that’s how you end up with 2 posts a week; one on Thursday night at 10:46pm, the other on Sunday at noon. Set up your posts to run in the middle of the week, and then move outward. Tues, Weds, and Thursday are usually the best days for traffic, so schedule posts to run these days, usually around 10am-noon.

Remember, it’s more important to keep to a set schedule, than it is to post more often. Creating and keeping a regular schedule trains readers to know when to expect new content from your blog. This helps drive engagement and traffic.

4 – A comment policy. Do you moderate? If so, how long does it take to approve comments. When Shelia leaves a comment at 3am Saturday morning, will it be noon on Monday till it’s approved? You need to know this. For extra credit, list it on the blog itself.  Keep in mind that you are under NO obligation to let stand ANY comment that personally attacks any of your writers or any of your writers. Challenging ideas presented is fine, but if any comment attacks or attempts to bully either a writer or reader, feel free to delete the comment without prejudice. Your house, your rules.  In fact, if you want to turn off comments entirely, that’s totally fine.

5 – An ‘About Us’ section. Tell me who you are, what you do, and how I can get in touch with you. It’s best to include an email address AND a phone number.  Yes, people still like to reach you via a phone call. For extra credit, add a section explaining what your blog is about.

6 – Pictures and bios for EVERY blogger. Again, this is non-negotiable. I need to be able to SEE who every blogger is, and I need to know their background. Simply seeing the face of the bloggers writing for your blog makes it much easier to trust and relate to the writers. Really.

7 – A clear Call to Action. You want to direct your readers to engage in some type of action.  Maybe you want them to download your new white paper, or signup for a product trial. Perhaps it’s simply asking them to call you, but you should have some type of Call to Action. Notice at the top right of this blog I have Calls to Action asking you to hire me to speak, or check out my LinkedIn profile, or read my recent posts. You need to give your readers an action to take.

8 – Ask for subscribers. Give your readers a way to subscribe to your blog, via a feed reader, or email. Feedburner can help you set up both, go to Feedburner.com and set yourself up a free account, if you haven’t already.

A small section explaining what RSS is and the advantages of subscribing would be a nice touch as well.  Also, if your company has a newsletter, you can promote it to subscribers as well.

9 – A section for Recent Comments. This isn’t a ‘must have’, but it’s a really nice way to put the focus on your readers, and it also gives them an idea of which posts are getting the most attention. If you aren’t really interested in getting comments on your posts then you could focus on something else like your most popular posts or promote your company website.

10 – A personal touch. Be human. Refer to commenters by name. Say ‘thank you’ early and often. Ask for feedback, and opinions. Remember that ultimately, people don’t want to connect with companies, we want to connect with people.

What did I miss? If your company blogs, what are some other elements that you believe are vital to your blogging efforts? Which of these are most important?

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How Social Media Saved One Company Over $100,000

There are two ways that social media initiatives can directly benefit your business:

1 – By generating revenue

2 – By lowering existing business costs

For whatever reason, most of the ‘What is the ROI of Social Media?’ discussion focuses on the first area.  But the 2nd area is just as important, if not moreso when it comes to social media initiatives.  I’ve talked before about how companies can and ARE reducing their costs by utilizing social media.

When I was in Atlanta last week working with NCI, Adam shared a few case studies of how NCI’s clients had benefited from using social media, and I wanted to share one of them with you.

In late 2009, The Bainbridge Companies hired NCI to provide social media services for 21 of its apartment communities.  Now several months into the program, Bainbridge was already seeing nice boosts in organic traffic to their property website (67% increase in total), and also was seeing the benefits from an SEO perspective.  So much so that Bainbridge decided to completely eliminate its pay-per-click advertising by the end of 2010.

This will let Bainbridge realize a cost savings of over $100,000.  In addition, Bainbridge reports a higher conversion rate from the non-paid, organic traffic that’s being generated by the properties’ social media efforts.

BTW one aspect that I thought was interesting was that several times during the last year, certain Bainbridge units have had to deal with severe weather issues from time to time.  Since the units had a set of social media channels in place, they could communicate severe weather information to residents, who were very appreciative of these efforts.  This is a classic example of how the potential of social media as an instant connection tool can improve customer satisfaction.

The arm of NCI that handled these social media initiatives for Bainbridge was Community Sherpa, and you can learn more about them here.

Just curious, has your business noticed a cost savings from using social media?   If so, what areas were affected?

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We were right, most Social Media numbers are useless!

Yesterday I posted two examples of how some social media numbers are completely useless.

One of the examples was how I have almost 22,000 followers on Twitter, and yet I rarely get 1-2% of them to click on any link I share on Twitter.  I said we’d check out my traffic from yesterday and see what level of engagement I would have with those 22,000 followers.  Here’s the traffic sites from yesterday according to Google Analytics:

GA says there were 604 visitors here yesterday, 251 from referring sites, 226 direct traffic, and 78 from search engines.

For the record, SiteMeter says I had 597 visitors.  I tweeted out a link to yesterday’s post THREE times, and as of this writing, it was RTed 125 times.

And if we say that EVERY one of the 600 or so visitors I had yesterday came from viewing that link on Twitter, that still means that less than 3% of my Twitter followers clicked that link.  Obviously, not all of the traffic from yesterday came from Twitter, and not all of the traffic that DID, came from people that were following me.

I think there’s two key takeaways from this that I think we need to wrap our heads around:

1 – The level of engagement you have with your Twitter followers as a group is going to be low, and will likely be inversely proportional to the size of the group.  If you only have your 10 closest friends following you, obviously you will have a high level of engagement with that core group.  But as you grow to 1,000 followers, obviously you can’t be closely connected to all of those people, and their level of interaction and engagement with you will fall.

2 – The level of engagement you have with a certain portion of your Twitter followers will be MUCH higher than that of the larger group.  This point is somewhat speculative, but I would bet that most of the people that clicked yesterday’s link also click most of my links.   So while I may have a 1-3% engagement rate with my 22,000 followers as a whole, for those 500 or whatever number followers, I may have a 33% engagement rate.  Or some other number much larger than 1-3 % 😉

What do y’all think?  Does this make sense or sound like complete crap?  I think the core message here is to focus on your ‘fans’, and try to connect with them.  If you try to connect with everyone, then you’ll probably connect with no one.  But how do you figure out WHO is in that core group of fans, and who isn’t?  Or what about people that click some of my links, but not all?

Damn I’m getting a headache.

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#Blogchat 10-10-10 with @GrantGriffiths Recap

Last nite @GrantGriffiths from Headway Themes joined us for the 1st ever sponsored #Blogchat.  Headway is a premium blog theme, and the topic for last nite’s #Blogchat was How to Choose a Blog Theme/Template.

The discussion was broken into two areas; the 1st 30 minutes or so was devoted to a general discussion of what to look for when picking a blog theme/template.  The second 30 minutes focused on the difference between free blog themes, and premium ones.  Here’s some of the main points that we covered:

When picking a theme, look for the following features:

1 – Themes should be simple, with fonts and sizes easily readable for all ages – @abbisiler

2 – Consider your audience and what features would appeal to them – @prosperitygal

3 – Does the theme allow your content to be easily shared on social sites? – @galactic

4 – When picking a theme, remember that a light background for the text will make it easier for printing your posts – @abbisiler

5 – Look for themes that are SEO friendly, that have good code, and that offer support – @GrantGriffiths

6 – A reader-friendly layout is more important than cutesy colors and designs – @sueyoungmedia

7 – Also consider how much coding you’ll need to know to modify the theme, is it compatible with WordPress 3.0 and widget ready? – @GrantGriffiths

8 –  @BCarroll7 asked about going with a 2 or 3-column theme.  Seemed most people preferred 2-columns as they are less cluttered and have less code involved.

Next we moved to a discussion of free vs premium themes.  Most people were of the mindset that if you can afford it and are serious about your blog, that it’s worth the money to invest in a premium theme, and most are under $100 for a one-time fee.  Obviously since Grant is with Headway, it was a very popular choice among #Blogchat participants as a premium theme.  Others that were mentioned repeatedly included Thesis (this site runs on Thesis) as well as Genesis and Woo.

My take is this: If your blog is just for your own personal enjoyment, then you will likely be just fine with a free theme.  But if you are using your blog for business or think you might at some point, I would invest in a premium theme.

Now as you might expect, the majority of the rest of the #Blogchat discussion focused on premium themes, and especially the Headway Theme.  That was by design, as I wanted to make sure that there was a section of #Blogchat where y’all could learn more about Headway, since Grant was sponsoring #Blogchat last nite.

And as I said above, this site runs on Thesis.  My personal take on Thesis is this:  It’s a very good theme.  For me, the big problem I have with Thesis is the upgrading process.  Even though Thesis offers from lifetime upgrades, the upgrading process involves going into your site’s file structure and manually adding some files, removing others, changing the permissions on some, etc.  IOW, if you are an idiot like me, there’s about 100 opportunities to break something during the upgrade process.  That’s why I am stuck on Thesis 1.5, when I think the latest version is 1.8.  I am scared to upgrade because I am afraid I will break something.

One thing I loved hearing from Grant was that Headway will offer automatic upgrading with it’s new 2.0 version coming out later this month.  That alone will guarantee that I will give it a closer look.  From everything I heard last nite, it seems like Headway is better if you want to do less coding (which is most of us), and I think Thesis is better if you are a total coding geek and love getting your hands dirty.  That’s just what I think based on using Thesis, plus talking to everyone last nite.

Grant was kind enough to also offer us a 20% discount off Headway for the next 2 days.  The regular price for Headway is $87 for a personal license, and $164 for a developer license.  If you want to use the discount, go to this link and use code ‘hwblogchat’.

Thanks again to Grant for joining us last nite.  He did a great job, and everyone seemed to love the topic and what they learned.  Last nite was the first attempt at a sponsored #Blogchat, and if you would like to learn more about how you could sponsor a future #Blogchat, click here.  If you have any questions, including how much a #Blogchat sponsorship would cost, please email me.

And finally, if you have ANY comments/suggestions/ideas about last nite’s #Blogchat, please either leave me a comment here, or email me.  I definitely want to hear your feedback on having a sponsor, and have already taken some of your comments into consideration for how future sponsors will be handled.

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How to Create a Company Blog That Customers Will Actually Give a Damn About

Recently, a ten-year veteran of company blogging said he was throwing in the towel on his company blog.  So when Joel on Software goes up in smoke, does that mean that it’s finally time to pronounce that company blogging is dead?

Hardly.

What it means, is that there are now a LOT more companies blogging.  And unfortunately, that also means that there are a lot more very crappy company blogs out there.

But a well-written and positioned company blog is just as effective now as it was 10 years ago.  Probably moreso.  The key then, as now, is to create a company blog that your customers will actually read.

I loved this quote from Joel’s article where is points out a discussion he had with one of my heroes, Kathy Sierra:

So, what’s the formula for a blog that actually generates leads, sales, and business success? I didn’t even understand it myself until last year at the Business of Software conference, when one of the speakers, a well-known game developer and author named Kathy Sierra, blew me away with an incredibly simple idea that explains why my blog successfully promoted my company while so many other blogging founders foundered.

To really work, Sierra observed, an entrepreneur’s blog has to be about something bigger than his or her company and his or her product. This sounds simple, but it isn’t. It takes real discipline to not talk about yourself and your company. Blogging as a medium seems so personal, and often it is. But when you’re using a blog to promote a business, that blog can’t be about you, Sierra said. It has to be about your readers, who will, it’s hoped, become your customers. It has to be about making them awesome.

Bingo.  Your company blog has to tap into the ‘bigger idea’ that makes your content more relevant and valuable to your customers.

For example, recently I did a social media strategy audit for a client that sells western wear.  Part of the audit involves assessing how the company, as well as its competitors, is using social media.  The company in question had a blog, but it was primarily being used as a vehicle to promote product giveaways.  So the only people reading the blog were people hoping to win a ‘free prize’.

But as I started looking at this company’s Facebook Fan Page, and those of its competitors, I noticed something.  All of the people that were posting on the wall of these Facebook pages were talking about how they loved western wear, but more importantly, how the clothes fit into the larger western lifestyle.  These people were talking about how they loved attending rodeos, riding horses, wearing cowboy hats and boots, being in touch with nature.

In other words, this company shouldn’t be focusing its social media efforts on directly promoting its products, but on the LARGER LIFESTYLE that its customers had fallen in love with.  As I explained to them, by shifting the focus to the ‘western lifestyle’, the content you create for your customers becomes much more valuable and relevant.  And the kicker is, you can STILL promote your products, because those products ARE a part of this lifestyle.

A perfect example of a company already doing this with their blog is Patagonia.  Here is what it says on the About page for Patagonia’s The Cleanest Line blog:

The goal of The Cleanest Line is to further Patagonia’s mission by encouraging dialogue about the products we build, the sports we love and the environmental issues we’re concerned about. By talking openly about the products we build, Patagonia users can help us achieve ever greater standards of quality and functionality. By spreading the word about specific environmental issues, we can increase awareness and take action as quickly as possible. By sharing field reports, we can inspire one another to keep experiencing the natural wonders of our precious planet.

Notice the focus. It’s not completely on Patagonia’s products, although they will be discussed.  The focus is on the environment, sustainability, and the planet.  Patagonia understands that these are the topics that its customers are most passionate about.  They don’t want to talk just about their products, but how Patagonia’s products fit into these larger issues that their customers care about.  So Patagonia focuses on those larger issues, or the ‘Bigger Idea’.

What’s your blog’s bigger idea?  What is the larger idea or concept that your products are a part of?  Because that is where your blog should likely be focused if you want your customers to actually care about your blog.

Pic via Flickr user Sister72

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Ten Quick Tips For Growing Your Blog’s Subscribers and Comments

 

Subscribers and comments are two of the most popular metrics bloggers use to measure if their blog is a success or not. I’d like to share some ways that I have increased my blog’s subscribers and the number of comments I get per post. Your mileage may vary, but hopefully many of you can benefit from at least some of these tips:

Subscribers

  • Set up a Feedburner account. This should be one of the very first things you do when you set-up your blog.
  • Once you do, burn a feed for your blog, and then set up your account so all your different feed versions will redirect to your Feedburner feed. This is important because it then gives you a much better idea of how many subscribers you have, and how they are accessing your feed. Feedburner’s blog explains how to make the switch(for Blogger blogs). I saw my number of reported feed readers double overnight by doing this.
  • Ask for subscribers. Amazingly, asking for what you want really does work! Feel free to remind readers at the end of posts that if they enjoyed this content, to please subscribe to receive all your posts.
  • Give your readers the ability to subscribe to your blog’s posts via email. Feedburner can set this up for you as well. Always give your readers as many choices as possible for how they can receive your content.

Growing your number of subscribers and comments on your blog

Comments

  • Ask for reader feedback. One thing I figured out VERY early on in my blogging journey is that my readers are, as a group, always smarter than I am. Since I always learn from you guys, I want your feedback.
  • Take a definite stance. This is actually something I need to work on. But when you take a definite stance on an issue, it makes it easier for those that agree with you to chime in, and it makes it easier for those that disagree, to express why they do. And when you have contrasting opinions, that usually leads to a more robust conversation.
  • Put a ‘window’ on your comments, in your blog post. Let’s say that I write a post and it gets a couple of comments. Then Gavin leaves an incredible comment that sparks the exchange to take off and grow into a conversation. Why not go back and edit your post and add Gavin’s comment at the end of your post? And add a link to Gavin’s blog when you do. This is a great way to show your other readers Gavin’s comment, and it will likely prompt them to check out the comments section to see what the smart kids are saying!
  • Leave comments on and link to other blogs. I’ve said it a million times, but the best way to grow your blog, is to leave it. Make a point to comment on the blogs of your readers that comment on your blog, or at least link to their blog posts. This is why I love Twitter, cause it’s a great way for me to quickly and easily share links with my followers, and I try to share links from bloggers that comment on my blog, first.
  • Don’t be afraid to ask for feedback from your social networks. This comes with a big caveat that you have to be careful about how often you do this, and you need to also link to other blogger’s posts. If the only time I see you is twice a week on Twitter asking me to please come leave a comment on your new blog posts, I probably won’t do it. But if I see you everyday on Twitter chatting and linking to other blog posts, THEN when you ask me to please read your new post, I probably will.

What did I miss? How are you growing your blog’s subscribers and comments?