everything a newbie wants to know about commenting on
Active Rain but was afraid to ask
Everything Newbies Want To Know About Commenting On Active
Rain But Were Afraid To Ask
We just started the new Active
Rain Question of The Week Group this
week. Anyone is welcome to post your question that you would
like to
have answered about Active Rain and Blogging. Only Active Rain
and Blogging related questions please. Each week I will
answer
one of the questions as the question of the week and post the answer on
our blog.
This week's question of the week comes from a newbie Yvette
Smith
regarding commenting and reciprocity on Active Rain. You can read here
post here. Please support her and comment on her post. 
Yvette says she is commenting on those whom she subscribes
to first,
then to the featured posts and then she finds those she does not know
yet to comment on their posts. But she is not getting a proportionate
amount of comments on her posts. She gives way more comments than she
receives. So she wants to know, what's the deal?
She wrote her first post at the end of April and has written
approximately 30 posts. As a newbie you may want to see
immediate
results on members coming to your blog and commenting right away. Well,
that rarely happens that fast. Stay focused, develop a complete
blogging schedule and strategy and then be consistant and keep up with
it. What I see happen the most is going all out when a newbie first
starts blogging and when they fail to see the results right away they
get discouraged and either stop blogging or do not stick with the plan.
When you start to get some comments and a few subscribers but then do
not have a consistant blogging schedule those people are
going to stop
commenting on your blog, they will move on. I see this happen even with
agents I coach. I teach them how to get subscribers and I send my
subscribers to their blog and what do they find? Wishy washy
and
inconsistancy. Then they wonder why they are not getting comments. Now
Yvette is not wishy washy nor is she inconsistant. She does write a lot
of Localism posts which is what I would coach her to do as
well.
That is what she needs to do to focus on the consumer. But at the same
time she needs to write some engaging posts for agents to develop the
relationships for referrals and of course, friends.
Always remember that there are always way more people reading your blog
than are commenting. Add stat counter and Cluster
Maps
to your blog so
you can see the readers all over the world. Consumers read but rarely
comment. You can look on your statistics page on your home page and see
a listing of each one of your blog posts, how many comments you
received, how many people viewed that specific post and how many click
throughs you had. So how many comments you are getting on your blog is
not indicative of who is reading your blog. Now if you are having no
views and no comments, then you have a problem. You must stick with it.
You
will always make more comments than you receive in the beginning of
your blogging on Active Rain.
It is a process. Yvette needs to give this much more than 2 months time
to analyze her strategies. There are a lot of theories on how to get
people to comment on your blog. I am going to list the tips that I used
when I first started blogging on Active Rain.
Tips for getting more
comments on your blog:
- Comment
on Active Rain members who have a lot of subscribers.
I look for people who are new to commenting on my blog. At first I
notice that you are new and think that is great. Then after you have
commented a few times I will go and visit your blog to find out more
about you. You will eventually get noticed by the top bloggers if you
keep in their face.
- Choose
10 bloggers who you really enjoy reading.
Then make sure you comment on every one of their posts. Make this a
consistant practise. Soon these blogger will come to know that there is
going to be a comment by you on their blog. They will eventually notice
your comments over and over again and soon will pay you a visit. After
you have established the relationship and feel comfortable with the
first 10 you can then add on another 5 to 10 bloggers to add to your
list of blogs to comment on. Do not bite more than you can chew. Easy
does it.
- Comment
on Localism posts.
This is a great place to establish gratitude and loyalty. Choose ten
areas of the country where you might get referrals to your area from.
Start to learn about those areas. Choose the bloggers in those areas
that you will comment on. I made the very first comment on Margaret Woda's
localism posts. She was so thankful that I was supporting her Localism
posts that she started to read about my area and commented on my
Localism posts. This eventually led to a wonderful friendship as well
as a working relationship. This is a powerful strategy because most
people do not comment on Localism posts. Most members are attracted to
the posts that help them in their business and blogging. You will
really stand out from the crowd by implementing this strategy.
- See who
is always commenting on the blogs you are commenting on.
Then go to their blog and start to make comments. Soon these same
bloggers will notice you and some of them will get the clue and start
coming to your blog and commenting on your blog. You already have some
things in common. You like the same blogger.
- Join
Groups.
You will make connections within those groups and develop some
friendships which will result in adding comments to your blog. There is
a commonality within these groups.
The
most important tip I can give you is to write good content.
If you apply all these tips but do not have good content that people
want to read you are not going to get people to comment on your posts.
Word does spread around. There are top bloggers who are looking for
those newbies to spotlight and support. If you are writing top notch
content you will eventually attract people who will comment on your
blog. One thing leads to another and soon you will have subscribers who
will be eagerly waitng for your next post!
To add your Active Rain question of the week, join the group-
Active Rain Question Of The Week and then post your question
of the week there.
Katerina Gasset, CIPS, Realtor ®,
Business and Life Coach, Speaker and Author. Reach Katerina at:
561-753-0135
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Copyright © 2008 By Katerina Gasset, All Rights Reserved.. *Everything
Newbies Want To Know About Commenting On Active Rain But Were Afraid To
Ask* Contact Katerina Gasset
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Posted by 
Thanks for the post. I just start getting comments in the last couple of weeks we have been very active on AR.