Today we are talking about a VERY important part in a blogger’s life – the secrets of book blogging etiquette, or… how to get comments! As I felt that this topic might be a little tough to navigate alone, I have enlisted the help of my lovely advisor Shruti @ This Is Lit! Do check out her blog. She is awesome and hilarious <3
As you might or might not be aware, I have recently started a #NewBloggers 101 post series, mostly meant to go with our support group in order to help all those new book bloggers who have just started out! Keep your eyes on the blog on Fridays to see other posts in the series. If you want to find all the other posts in the series, expand this list:
Expand List
- 27.07. The Greatest Book Blogging Myths I’ve Encountered (#NewBloggers 101, Book blogging, Discussion)
- 03.07. [NewBloggers] How Nicole @ FYFA Keeps Her Tweets Organized With TweetDeck (#NewBloggers 101, Book blogging)
- 25.05. #NewBloggers 101 comes back! Litsy – A Bookish Social Network (#NewBloggers 101, Book blogging, Discussion)
- 04.05. [NewBloggers] What Tools Can Help Me Be An Organized Blogger? TBR Spreadsheets (#NewBloggers 101, Book blogging, Discussion)
- 30.03. [#NewBloggers 101] General Intro To Bookstagram (#NewBloggers 101, Book blogging, Discussion)
- 23.03. [NewBloggers] A (Mostly?) Complete Goodreads Tutorial (#NewBloggers 101, Book blogging, Discussion)
- 09.03. Bookstagram Myth: Props Are Expensive? Pamela @ Reverie Society Educates! (#NewBloggers 101, Book blogging, Discussion)
- 02.03. What Are Linkups All About? Nicole @ FYFA To The Rescue! (#NewBloggers 101, Book blogging, Discussion)
- 23.02. So you want to move from Blogger to (free) WordPress? (#NewBloggers 101, Book blogging, Discussion)
- 16.02. What Tools Can Help Me Be An Organized Blogger? Social Media And Networking (#NewBloggers 101, Book blogging, Discussion)
- 09.02. What Tools Can Help Me Be An Organized Blogger? Writing And Scheduling Posts (#NewBloggers 101, Book blogging, Discussion)
- 02.02. What Tools Can Help Me Be An Organized Blogger? Blogging Calendars (#NewBloggers 101, Book blogging, Discussion)
- 19.01. Book Blogger Etiquette: How To Get Comments? Part 3 of #NewBloggers 101 post series (#NewBloggers 101, Book blogging, Discussion)
- 10.01. How Do I Make A Good Edelweiss Or NetGalley Profile? (#NewBloggers 101, Book blogging, Discussion, Edelweiss, NetGalley)
- 05.01. When Should I Start Requesting ARCs? (#NewBloggers 101, Book blogging, Discussion, Edelweiss, NetGalley)
This time we’ll be talking about how to get comments.
Why do you even need comments? Shruti obliges:
- They help you interact with the book community.
- Comments help you assuage engagement of your blog posts.
- They help you draw traffic from other blogs (NOT from links you leave in the comment but from your site’s link WP automatically adds)
So what IS the commenting game?
What are you even talking about, Evelina? Comments are for when people have something to say about your post. I comment whenever I want!
Don’t I..?
Have you ever wondered why some blogs have loads of comments, and some don’t? While some of the actually cool-looking and interesting book blogs might have zero on every post, you’ve all seen some 90’s design poorly aligned ones with weird font choices that seem to have 25 comments on each post. How does this even work, huh?
And this is what I’m going to talk about today.
BOOK. BLOGGER. ETIQUETTE.
Most people catch into this very fast! But there are people who just don’t. And believe it or not, a lot of those who HAVE caught up on that in a timely fashion, will think those other people are super rude or just full of themselves. But what if you’re just not in the know? Well that’s what I’m here for 😉
The general rules are fairly simple:
- Want to get comments? Visit others, and first GIVE to then RECEIVE.
- Someone commented on your blog? DO visit back. And ALWAYS comment back. If you can’t at the current moment, write it down. (Make a list. It works!)
- Can’t comment back right now? Like their comment. But do come back later. Shruti whispers that it’s very helpful when you just set aside a block of time in a day to do this. It’s a full fledged task! (*Now, liking a comment is optional – for example, my blog does not allow me to like people’s comments, purely technically. I’ve seen people assume it’s rude to not like comments though.)
- Don’t answer some people’s comments on your blog but leave others hanging. People might think you’re labeling. It’s best to always answer people in batches.
- Did you participate in a linkup? Don’t just drop your link and run to get comments. Visit other people’s links! Or better yet – come back again tomorrow to visit those who linked up AFTER YOU. (I will talk more on linkups in a later post!)
So you think these are simple rules. But you’d be surprised how many people don’t follow them!
Want to be even more sophisticated? Shruti advises:
- Join some really cool comment challenges! One here, one more here, and one here – if you’ve got more, drop me a link, I’ll put it here! People sign up for these to make a promise that they definitely comment back. But if you join, don’t just join and then ignore comments altogether (people actually do that!) Go forth and comment on others’ posts to get some yourself.
- Write comments that add value to the original post. Don’t leave generic comments that just add to the noise, be relevant!
- Don’t leave spam comments. This is just for all the Spammer Sams out there. I once received a comment that just said “follow me”. With no punctuation. And nothing about my post.
So Why Should You Visit Back?
Have you ever noticed that the biggest, coolest bloggers VISIT YOU BACK? For example, Cait @ PaperFury or Alyssa @ Eater of Books ALWAYS visit back and comment on people’s posts. Should we think we write such awesome posts that they roll over their heads to read us? Well, some of us might, but definitely not all of us! But they visit back for ALL of us. Which brings us back to what…
Book blogger manners 😉
Bottom line: want to one day be as big as PaperFury? COMMENT BACK. ALWAYS.
I find that I am also often aggravated about how people ditch linkups. I can understand once or twice, you’re busy – that’s alright, everyone has tough times. But I have been in a linkup for over a half a year and dilligently visited everyone on the list, even those who link up after me. Some of those people have never deigned to visit me. NOT ONCE. That? Incredibly rude. So don’t do that. It’s mean! Shruti pokes her head in through the door and says: I know I won’t have time to visit every link in a linkup which why I don’t participate in them. If you can’t do it, DON’T.
So just remember – if you put your link on a list somewhere, you owe it to the people to visit them. At least the ones who were there before you linked up. If the rest visit you, you will visit them back if you’re following the second rule of book blogger etiquette! It’s simply following the Golden Rule – treat others the way you want to be treated yourself.
Now there are a few more things when it comes to comments. Good etiquette would require you to not link drop on other people’s blogs. Some people will drop a link to their own comment. This is generally looked at warily and I suggest avoiding that, unless the author of the post specifically asked you to, although it is generally deemed to be good for blog SEO. While I might be too nice to point this out myself, Shruti helps me out by saying that a lot of people will mark these kinds of comments as spam, herself included. However! There can be exceptions. Apparently, not all people know how to set a link to appear on their commenting profile for Blogger blogs, so if you don’t have that set, you should leave a link, because the blogger you’re visiting might find it hard to comment back otherwise. However, don’t do this on WordPress blogs, because your link will automatically be on your name in the comment.
There’s also another thing that you should consider putting on your own blog to make it easier to get comments, and that is…
You might have noticed that when you post a comment on some blogs, you can tick the CommentLuv box and you’ll be able to pick one of your newest posts! For those of you who have the ability to install plugins (this goes for self-hosted people), I suggest doing this because people love leaving their own link on someone’s blog, especially if it’s a new post. So if you have the ability, definitely install this plugin. For some, the older CommentLuv plugin doesn’t work – then you can try NoseGraze’s CommentLuv version. (Update: I myself have recently removed CommentLuv because of possible GDPR issues, but you can still install it.)
And that seems to be all for commenting! Have you heard of inferred any of this stuff? Is that how you thought you actually get comments? Maybe you have something to add?
I’m Evelina and I blog about books that made an impression on me. I love middle grade, women’s, scifi and some literary too.
Thanks Evelina for tips, it was really helpful. Thanks to your older post I created an Edelweiss profile and got 2 books approved so far. Looking forward to read more
That’s great! I am really happy for you 🙂 wonderful results!
this is actually such good advise !!
although, i will admit i’m awful for forgetting to reply back at times xD
I got this plugin which shows me which comments I have not replied on my blog (which is incredibly helpful!) and then I also click the person’s name or link right after replying the comment and the tab stays open until I reply xD so if I didn’t, I would have 40 tabs open all the time 😀 it’s effective lol
I think I need to look at getting this plugin myself, it seems so handy!
You totally should 🙂
I agree with all of the points above! As a commenter, I’d feel a bit bad if the blogger that I commentated does not reply my comment. I’m not expecting a comment on my blog posts as my blog is not exactly commentable but I’d expect a short reply. Talking about comments, don’t you find that some of the blog posts are difficult to comment? Like a totally personal post (eg: battling depression, mental illness) or book review that I’m totally uninterested in? I’ve tried commentluv before but it doesn’t work so I drop the plugin lol. Would love to… Read more »
I agree 🙂 and hey, your blog is perfectly commentable 😀 Yes, though, I do agree that some blog posts are hard to comment on. For me those are sometimes book haul and wrap ups… especially if they read a genre I don’t read at all, and so I know none of the books or authors… and have nothing to say. Surprisingly, I have less trouble commenting on a personal post! But yes, yes to a book review for a book you’re not interested in – that’s why when I write book reviews, I try to make the reviews as… Read more »
So basically… be a decent human being! I will always comment if I have something useful or relevant to say. If I don’t, I always try to make sure I like their social media posts and try to interact with them that way 🙂
Haha, yes, that IS the advice 😀 I love your take on it. That’s a good point about the social media 🙂
Ayyyy, bomb post, Evelina! xD I’m loving the “While I might be too nice to point this out myself, Shruti helps me out by…”. Haha! Someone needs to say it!
XD I knew you’d love me putting it like that xD thank you for helping out!!
Haha, you understand me better than half the people I know IRL do. xD
See, that’s what nerdy bookish buddies are for 😀
Loving this series! I definitely agree that commenting on others’ posts and responding to comments on your own is so necessary to improve your own blog’s image. It’s also just so fun to interact with others and make friends~
Exactly 🙂 by responding, you become part of the community… blogging wouldn’t be so much fun if not for the community, I think.
Thanks again for another really informative post. I’m definitely going to check out the CommentLuv plugin. Also curious to see your Linkup post to find out what that is, though it sounds like I won’t have the time to actually do one.
Yeah, linkups are demanding, but it’s useful to do one every now and then 🙂 glad I could help out! CommentLuv is really really cool.
This series is great! i really appreciate all the work you do for us new bloggers!
Thank you for saying that, it means a lot to me! So glad it helps.
This series is fantastic. What I find difficult is sometimes I say ‘this sounds great’. I don’t mean to be spammy, but it might come across that way. I think knowing when to wait until you’ve got more to say can be the hardest thing. x
Thank you 🙂 yes. I agree! Sometimes there are posts you will not be able to connect with, we can’t really relate to everyone and everything. I’ve also said “nice post” on some posts in my life 🙂 but in the end, we book bloggers get so good at small talk, I think 🙂 some posts will be like that though, and you can’t change that. In the end, I think it’s still better to say something than nothing at all 🙂
I always try to comment – both on my post, and visit the commenter on their blog. It’s part of the fun interactions, yeah? However, I have to admit that sometimes, I feel a bit overwhelmed – especially if I’ve had very busy weeks at work. The main linkup I participate in is Stacking the Shelves and the Sunday Post. I love both – and I love visiting other blogs. I have been lagging a bit this past month or so – but I promise to do better 😉
Great post, Evelina <3
Yeah, it’s definitely part of the fun 🙂 I remember you’ve always visited me back though, so you always stick with this rule faithfully 😀 unfortunately, I feel like not all of the Sunday posters do. It makes me sad sometimes. I have also failed to return and comment a few times though, that’s for sure. Once or twice is human 🙂 but now when I look at the linkup list, I could poke my finger at the people who have not even visited me ONCE. I don’t visit them anymore either xD xD apart from that though, I truly… Read more »
I like to comment to try and spark more conversation and make new friends. I try to ALWAYS reply when someone comments on my blog, but always seem to have trouble getting to theirs. I don’t know if it is because I use Disquis or what. Does CommentLuv send you a message when you have a comment, then alerts the commenter when you’ve replied?
CommentLuv doesn’t do that, it’s not meant for that – it’s meant to leave a link to your post. But you won’t be able to use it with Disqus. But you don’t need to be alerted to the comment anyway, if you’re on WordPress (CommentLuv is for WordPress) – WordPress notifies you and puts all your comments into one place so you can just check them all weekly, see who left them and visit them back. And yeah, if you use Disqus, it’s harder to visit back because it also doesn’t leave a link in the name field… I guess… Read more »
I think that is why I stay with Disquis. I like getting emails as soon as someone comments so I can go right out and reply right away. It does make it hard for blog hopping though.
Disqus should just include a place for people to enter their blogs xD it would make life so much easier for everyone, huh.
These are such good tips. Nothing drives me more crazy than someone just commenting ‘check out my blog’ – like, there’s a reason this is called a bookish community. It’s because there’s participation involved.
I am really looking forward to your post about linkups because I have no idea what those are. I’ve been kicking around here for like 2 years now, so I probably really should!
Thanks, I’m glad you like the series 🙂 yeah, those types of comments are just hilarious 😀 😀
As for linkups, since it’s a guest post and my friend is currently writing it, I can’t say when exactly it will be up, but it will be up 🙂
I look forward to it! 🙂
<3
Such a great posts! There’s definitely some things that I didn’t know about ☺️
Thank you!!
Some great advice here. However, I am going to have to respectfully disagree with one of your statements. I do not feel joining a link-up requires you to visit EVERY post on the link up! That’s just crazy. I would never expect to hear from every single person on a 200+ blog link up! Anybody with that kind of time, well kudos to you, but I certainly don’t have time to do that. I’d much rather spend time leaving meaningful comments on blog posts that speak to me, and working on my own blog. Link ups to me are OPPORTUNITIES… Read more »
Yeah, I would agree about the 200. What I mean is more like… visit the 20 you found before you. And then visit back everyone else who visited you (it won’t be 200, but it’s fair, I think, to visit back.) What annoys me about linkups is that I actually take the time to visit 100+ people and only 20 visit me back 🙁 that’s just wrong! Why don’t people visit back? Which is why I stick with visiting the ones before me, and then visiting back the ones who visited me from the linkup. That way, I don’t have… Read more »
Great advice… I definitely learned this through practice… Only got followers and comments on my blog after I started doing the same on others blogs….
Yeah, same for me 🙂
Lovely post. Seriously someone, commented just “follow me”, that’s outright rude
Thank you! Yeah, it is 😀
Great advice, Avalinah and Shruti!!! I might try visiting every commentor’s blog and commenting on one of their posts–sounds like a great idea! 🙂
Thanks so much, Kester! That’s what I’m doing right now. xD
Thank you 🙂 yeah, do try it! It takes time, but it builds relationships 🙂
Hehehe you are a dream team! As you said it’s basic etiquette! I keep Shruti’s advice to note it somewhere as I’m really busy during the week and can’t comment as much as I’d like to. Fantastic job Ladies
Blocking aside a set time is the only way I can keep track of comments! Another thing that helps is the voice in my head that goes “shame! shame! shame!” every time I skip commenting back on at least a post of all the people who spent time commenting on mine. xD
Shame is a powerful feeling indeed Shruti! It never leaves me LOL
😀
I have lost the shame by now. I dread opening the WordPress notifications screen on my blog. Today I found 215 unreplied comments, and I only stopped ANXIETYing after I remembered that quite a few of those might be Shruti’s, cause she co-wrote some posts with me 😀
Hahaha, a dream team 😀 thank you, Sophie!
This is such good advice, I try to leave comments, but I know I need to try harder.
I’ve also signed up for a discussion post link up this year and I’m trying to follow good etiquette there. I’m starting small so that I don’t over-commit and then fall short.
Thank you Rosie 🙂 yeah, comments are tough, they take a lot of time, but then again, you know you spread the love by commenting – it’s like appreciating other people’s work, after all.
Oh yes, the discussion linkup is so awesome! Which reminds me – thank you – I have not been linking up my links xD let me go dump them 😀
I’m pretty good about staying on top of the comments on my own blog/social media, but don’t always have the time to click through and visit the blogs of commenters I don’t already follow. That’s going to be something I’ll work towards doing more consistently in the future 🙂 Lovely post, as always ♥
Yeah, it truly is time-consuming, I will agree. But I feel like if I pick and choose who I’m going to comment back to, it’s not very fair, or nice. So I just visit everyone 🙂 or at least try to. There must be a few I miss because I do get a load of comments… But you know 🙂 I try!
And thank you!
Very useful post as usual Evelina! And I loved Shruti’s inputs as well. It’s such a simple thing, commenting back, yet one forgets it’s an etiquette every blogger needs to develop!
Thank you Mathangi <3 yeah, I also wonder why some people just don't catch onto the whole commenting thing 🙂 it IS so simple!
I am a newbie blogger but i was commenting back even before i read your post. I just felt that is how it should be. someone writes to you, u appreciate the effort and comment back. If you read something you like, you show appreciation. That was just my go to thoughts . But after i read your blog i realized how true it is to grow your community. I never thought of it that way and now when i see it, it is indeed a really really great advice! Regardless if someone does or not, you should definitely take… Read more »
That’s great that you did that! Honestly, commenting back means just being nice – and a lot of people (like you) catch up on this really, really fast. Because it’s just the nice thing to do 🙂 but some people don’t know this, I’ve met some people who were surprised that commenting back is just good manners. They thought there was no reason to 😀 I’m glad you always commented back. And I’m also glad that I’ve been able to open up a broader sense of community with this post 🙂 thank you, I’m glad you liked reading it. You… Read more »
This is interesting!
I don’t have the option to like peoples comments on my blog 🙁 But I always comment back! 🙂
Yeah, I also can’t like comments back! That’s why I don’t 😀 as I said, it’s optional. But you will receive some emails from other people liking your comments, I guess 🙂 I don’t know, at least on WordPress I do. So now you know why people do that 🙂
Wow, I didn’t know that something like comment challenges exist, such a cool idea! Thank you for this post, it was really helpful 🙂
Thanks, Jo, I am super happy the post was useful 🙂 yes, you should sign up for some of those challenges, they really do motivate you to comment more, and they’re fun 🙂
[…] via Book Blogger Etiquette: How To Get Comments? — AvalinahsBooks […]
One thing I’ve noticed for other people’s WordPress blogs is that I DON’T get an email notification if they reply to my comment, but I DO get an email notification if they Like my comment. So the Like notifications are how I know to go check for replies to my comment. The WordPress App, on the other hand, notifies you of replies to comments on other blogs. I just downloaded the app for my iPhone, but I am finding it super convenient (if a little redundant in addition to email notifications, which I may just turn off). I reply to… Read more »
Yeah, that happens to me too. But I think that’s a default setting – you can change that in your WordPress account (or app). The likes must be default (although god knows why? Who would prioritize likes by default, instead of comments? xD) As for the WordPress app notifications, I am still not sure if people get a notification there when they comment on mine. JetPack support says they do. Some of my friends don’t though. So I don’t know how to find out, and if I can even solve it. That’s why I have a separate notification plugin installed.… Read more »
When I first started blogging, I didn’t get any comments. But when I’d done things like Book Blogger Hop, top 5 Wednesday, prompts where you have to interact with each other, that’s when I started getting more comments and gaining more confidence as a content creator. Because there was more of an audience to look forward to reading my stuff. 🙂
Yeah, nobody gets any comments at first, I think… Matter of luck 🙂 but if you take it into your own hands and do linkups or hops, then it’s better.
Commenting back is definitely a good way to get regular commenters. I always try to do it, though I might miss the odd one from time to time.
I’m pretty bad with link-ups myself. I always comment back on the people who comment on mine, and I get a few other people off the list too, but once it gets past about 20 posts, I’m definitely not going to get to them all. Sorry!
Oh yeah, I think everyone misses an odd one, can’t be helped 🙂 I think it’s alright if you at least comment back on the ones in the linkups who comment on yours, though. My biggest problem was with the people whom I’ve visited 20+ times and yet they’ve never once visited me. Do they think they’re better than me or something? Ugh. Ugly feeling!
You make it sound like it should be easy, but like, I’m furiously scribbling notes here, haha! Thanks for the tips, and I’m going to attempt to be more mannerly!
Hahaha, I’m glad I could introduce you to new concepts 😀 thanks for reading!
Great post, Evelina! You seem to have tackled some of the most important commenting issues and I hope newcomers and veterans alike can appreciate your tips 🙂 Very helpful.
I always comment back, and if I can’t right away I’ll do it whenever I get the time. It’s just a way to show appreciation and let others know you care about their content just as much as they care about yours. It’s not only polite, but I think the biggest part of the whole experience: connection!
Thanks, Sophie! I am glad you think so 🙂
Oh yeah, I’ve definitely noticed you always return the comments! <3 oh yeah, tell me about it.. I'm also late with my commitments this week, but as long as I come back eventually and comment, I am telling myself it's okay 😀
Those first two points are key:
“1.Want to get comments? Visit others, and first GIVE to then RECEIVE.
2. Someone commented on your blog? DO visit back. And ALWAYS comment back. If you can’t at the current moment, write it down. (Make a list. It works!)”
I remember doing this quite a bit when I was chasing comments to get on my blog. Back in the old days 🙂
Yep, these really are the backbone 🙂 and not just in commenting, but in life, in general 😀
When were the old days, BTW? 🙂
Judging by my post counts at strugglingwriter.wordpress.com the old days for me ended around the beginning of 2011. 🙂
Wow, haha, a while ago 😀
This is super helpful! I didn’t know there were comment challenges, but I will make more of an effort to return comments and comment on other people’s posts. I’ve unfortunately gotten into the habit of reading and not commenting. How did you come up with all these post ideas? They’re a really good idea!
Thank you, I am glad it’s helpful 🙂 yeah, I’ve been struggling on returning comments lately too (4 days just yielded 216 comments. I am not kidding o.o) Reading and not commenting is still fine, of course 🙂 but when you comment especially on a smaller blog, the blogger knows they’ve been appreciated! 🙂 it’s just the best feeling. And how I came up with the post ideas… Well, I have made a community of people (it’s a chat – are you in it? If not, ask me to send you an invite), and we have a special room for… Read more »
This is true, I can sympathize with being appreciated from when I get my few comments as well. I would love to join the community! I haven’t been as active, but one of my goals this year is to become more active in the community.
Keep it up! I look forward to hearing more from you! Woo! 😀
I will send you an email with your invitation then 🙂
Thank you so much for this! It’s very helpful and I’m hoping to use these tips soon as a newbie in the blogging universe 😀
I am very glad my post has helped you out 🙂 thank you for reading!
Yaay ! My comment etiquette seems to be on point
some times however, I don’t find anything interresting to post a meaning comment to (or some time harder to find one I havent already commented on !) woops.. happens, right ?
Im already excited for your next blogger 101 post ! Im loving them, thank you so much for teaching us, lovely !
Phew! Glad I’m not yew only one experiencing this! Sometimes it’s a struggle to think of what to reply too and will take me a few days to craft something to say ll
Yup, definitely not the only one 🙂
Yep, yours is definitely on point 🙂 I agree though that some posts are harder to comment on than others 😀
Oh, and thank you for reading!!
This is all great advice! Thank you for sharing! The only problem I’ve found with some of the really huge blogs that do comment back is that when you respond, they’ll usually not continue the conversation unfortunately (obviously not things like “Thank you!” “You’re welcome” but actual convo), so sometimes it feels a little forced. Which is understandable, but also a little disheartening because you want to have awesome bookish conversations, no matter where you’re talking!
And thank you for reading 🙂 yeah, depends on the blogger, I guess! I can understand them though – I logged in to my blog to find 215 comments unreplied today, and that nearly gave me a panic attack. Can you imagine how long it takes to reply them, AND visit back? I wouldn’t blame some of those bloggers for not giving in depth answers. Sometimes life is just overwhelming 🙁 I also never figured that’s the way it truly is, until it happened to me. But rest assured that some of the big bloggers will still answer your comments… Read more »
I always comment back on every comment I receive. I soooo appreciate comments as I’m one of those looks super pretty but doesn’t get a ton of comments, lol. I figure though its because I’m a little odd. I don’t do a ton of blog hopping … that’s because its actually taken me all year (2017) to even THINK about what to say to many comments let alone posts. I’m a ton better at it now but even so many times I get a “thanks for visiting” comment to my indepthful one, lol. *shrug* I am trying to get faster… Read more »
Yep, comments are pretty great 🙂 really, you don’t get a lot of comments? :O but I love your blog! Trust me, I would read you more often, if not for #life and #othernuisances xD well, but hey, at least you know I MEAN to visit your blog. That must mean something 😀 Oh yeah, getting over the whole “what to say” bit gets tough! I mean, we book bloggers get incredibly good at small talk in the end, don’t you agree 😀 One thing though, in my humble opinion, that makes it quite hard for me personally to comment… Read more »
Hi there! Thanks for working so hard on the Blogger 101 series. I just started my blog a few weeks ago and still have no idea what I’m doing. I’m also wondering how far I really want to take this whole blogging thing, since my first love is reading and blogging means less time for reading (plus I homeschool 2 kids, very little time over here). But your series has been so helpful to me and given me so many ideas! I find that most bloggers will at least like my comment or reply, but I get almost no comments… Read more »
Aww thanks for appreciating 🙂 I truly hope my posts can help you get your footing in the blogging world. Some of the things are hard to figure out at first. At least I remember that they truly were for me 🙂 I think you can regulate the blogging VS time thing by deciding on how many posts you will post. Only you make the rules 🙂 I’d say, start slow and see how much commenting and blog hopping you have to do, and if it’s not too much, you can increase it. But, with your committments in life, I… Read more »
Thank you for all the feedback! This post definitely seems to have resonated with a lot of people. I’m starting to see how much work book blogging is, and I I’m definitely okay with having a slow-growing little blog and not getting many comments for awhile. I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t doing anything wrong! ha ha. I think you’re right, 1-2 posts a week is about all I can handle. 4 a week definitely sounds like a lot, especially when you have to reply to so many comments! Your posts for new bloggers have been really helpful… Read more »
Yeah, haha, judging by the number of comments – it did 🙂 (I still can’t believe it!! WOW! Never happened to me before.) About blogging though, I believe you choose how busy it will be – beacuse you choose both how often you’ll post, and how many people you’ll visit 🙂 so it doesn’t have to be that much work. You can just post less. Of course, that means smaller results too, but if it’s enjoyable, why not? 🙂 I’m really glad my posts have been helpful, it’s wonderful to hear that 🙂 And if you want to join the… Read more »
Ha ha, I tried Twitter for about a week before I realized I would never have time to read and continue to take care of my children if I stayed on there. So you are definitely right about deciding how busy you want your blog to be! I think I’ll need to focus on making a good quality slow little blog until my kids are older. Thanks for helping me feel okay about that! And please take care of yourself and don’t get too stressed. Personally, I get overwhelmed by blogs that post a ton because I feel like I… Read more »
Yeah, I absolutely agree. If you have children, I don’t even know how you manage to blog at all, and I’m so proud you do 🙂 Twitter can be fun though to just peek in once or twice a day! I sometimes browse it for 10 minutes when getting up (helps to wake up, instead of just snoozing all the time), and then like when I sit down or get a random thought I will post it. You don’t have to spend more time than that, if you can’t spare it 🙂 Thank you!! <3 I do hope you can… Read more »
This is such an informative post. And yes, more and more engagement should always happen. And it should be receprocated 🙂
Thank you! 🙂
Nice post Evelina. Comments are such a crucial part of blogging. I would say Iw as not good at all with blog hopping in past year but this year I am trying to do better It really feels bad when people don’t comment back specially on the linkup memes because it takes a whole lot time to go through each blog and comment in them, and naturally you expect a favour.
But I hope this will help all of us
Thank you! Yes, comments help build the community, that’s what I think 🙂 I think you were actually pretty good with blog hopping, as you started out! Because you had quite a few comments quite quickly 🙂 it took me about a half a year to even figure out that I SHOULD do it. I guess because there was no handy newbie post to tell me I should xD I guess I was slow to figure it out 😀
Just wondering… is it weird if someone commented on my post (of course, I reply back on it) then I comment also on their blog. I mean, would they find it annoying if I appear a lot on their notification or something?
Definitely not! I think 99% of the bloggers will enjoy the attention! So definitely go comment on their blog, it’s what makes everyone happy 🙂
Omg I’m blushing. And absolutely YES to all this advice! I spent 2015-2016 absolutely commenting SO MUCH AND SO EVERYWHERE and it definitely made a huge difference for my blog. Also I’ve met the best people ever?! So that’s amazing.
Anyway A+ post. I couldn’t agree more.
Which brings me back to what I just wrote you in that Twitter DM xD at times I now think, commenting back might be harder than the actual blogging. But such is life! When do you manage everything though xD
But yes, absolutely true! Best people ever. I LOVE the book community!
Thank you, Cait 🙂 coming from you, this is an amazing compliment, and I really really appreciate it 🙂
This post is super helpful and full of some really important points! One of my resolutions for 2018 was to comment on people’s posts more often and share other people’s work that I’ve enjoyed online, so I’ll be using these tips 🙂
Aw, thank you, Amy Jane Alice 🙂 that is a great resolution!
Great post! I am making a concerted effort to stay on top of my commenting this year. I often get discouraged by being snowed under so I am trying to be more methodical. It’s working so far!
One problem with CommentLuv on Blogger a couple of years ago: I found it only worked in desktop view for visitors. Mobile view would default to Blogger’s own comment system plus, if a person commented via Blogger on mobile, any already existing CommentLuv comments vanished! Exasperating!!
Thank you 🙂 yeah, commenting can be tough! But it is rewarding 🙂
Wait, CommentLuv CAN be on Blogger at all? I thought it was only for WordPress! Live and learn, huh. But yeah, there are a lot of other problems with Blogger on mobile, when it comes to commenting… So yeah.
Awesome post! I try really hard to comment back, and I almost always click the blogs in link-ups. Another way to get comments is to write content that is easy to comment on. In my mind, the point of a blog post is to start a discussion. I like posts that ask questions and leave things a bit open-ended.
Thank you, Aj 🙂 oh, you’re right – writing commentable content is definitely a thing. For example, I hate it when some people do their Stacking The Shelves with just the images of their books. Like, what am I even supposed to say? LOL
Great post. Commenting is one of the things I fail at most. Whilst I totally understand comment etiquette finding time to both reply to comments on your own blog and comment back is hard. I do make an effort to comment back though because I know how appreciated it is but I have to hope bloggers are understanding that it may take me about three weeks to do so. It’s definitely something I didn’t grasp as a newbie blogger.
Thanks, Becky 🙂 yeah, it IS hard… It’s hardest to find time. Lately there have been so many comments on my blog (probably due to this series) that I always have a buffer of 100 waiting to be replied and I’d have to visit 30 blogs daily, which I’m just not managing. So I get what you’re saying!
But yeah, I feel like it’s best to tell this to new bloggers early so they knew how things work and why 🙂
Thanks for your post! I find it really helpful, especially if you’re not sure how to start 🙂 I’m always trying to comment back when I can, but lately things have been more stressful so I’m sadly not able to do so daily. However, I find it a good idea to have a certain time of the day dedicated to comments 🙂 I’m regularly linking up with the #T5W meme and try to visit many links that people post in the group – not only do I get to see what everyone else has chosen for this week’s topic, but… Read more »
I know what you mean! I also can’t comment back daily, but I think that’s alright. I try to comment back on weekends 🙂 I’m glad you’re having fun with a meme! Yes, memes are great ways to get a little bit more confidence, traffic and community 🙂
It’s comforting to hear that someone else doesn’t reply back daily, because I sure cannot do that 😮 But commenting back on Weekends is a great idea, because then you typically have the most time to 🙂 I love memes and Readathons & I feel like I always interact a lot when I join them 🙂
Oh yeah, I mean, if we replied daily, we would have no time to sleep 😀 with a fully occupied life, I’m not sure it’s even possible to have time. Oh, and yeah, readathons are awesome 🙂 I would love to participate in one sometime soon, but it’s hard to make time.
That’s true, there are always comments incomming 😀
Readathons are my favorite thing ♥ I gladly always have a bit of time to participate in Readathons, but it sure can get hard if you have lots to study or work!
Yeah, readathons are amazing! But curretly I can’t participate in one, I’m afraid.. But I am hoping that I will be able to in a few months 🙂
I definitely don’t feel as strongly as you that commenting back is necessary, in that I don’t find it rude if someone doesn’t return my comment. I still return comments religiously myself though and I’m much more likely to follow a blogger if we have a back and forth relationship where we both comment on each other’s blog. And I agree completely that commenting is the best way to get comments and that comments shouldn’t be spammy and should almost never include links. I do have to admit that I don’t visit every other link in a link-up and I… Read more »
Well, I will agree that I don’t feel it’s too rude if someone doesn’t return my comment once or twice, but when they don’t return A SINGLE ONE in a half a year after me visiting every week? THAT is rude xD although maybe it’s not really rude of them, but stupid of me to keep trying to be their friend 😀 haha. Yeah, maybe you’re right – it depends on the KIND of linkup. And yet, since this is a post for new bloggers, I think it’s better to tell them they should do them all ;D since new… Read more »
I don’t think I can add anything to what you two have mentioned. I’m really loving your feature and it’s always fun to visit and see what you have to say:)
Thank you so much, Laura 🙂
[…] Book Blogger Etiquette: How To Get Comments? […]
If I could give newbies one piece of advice it would definitely be this! Always comment back and go and comment on other peoples blogs. I recognise the people on my blog who always comment and I always make an effort to reply to everyone and comment back on their blogs. I usually sit down a couple of times a week and dedicate a certain amount of time to reply to people and go and check out their blogs. It definitely helps! (Also you can definitely tell when someone hasn’t read a post and has just left a generic comment… Read more »
Thank you, Lara 🙂 yes. I think you are totally right! This is THE ONE ADVICE I would also give to everyone. Commenting is really super important 🙂