In my adventures around the blogosphere today I cam across some really valuable feedback from the readers over at Run Eat Repeat. Monica asked what attracts readers to certain blogs and I absolutely loved reading all the comments about what makes one healthy living blog stand out among the throngs of great sites out there.
One comment that stood out to me was Necia who said "Pictures, videos, giveaways, replying to comments and questions. A sense of actual interaction with your readers."
Uh oh....
I don't reply to comments, at least not directly in the comment section. I try to include the answers in future posts but I am not directly interacting with the actual readers. Blogger fail!
But please believe me its not that I don't read the comments (I read every single one..most times I read them twice) or that I don't love the feedback I get (I smile every time a comment comes in) but instead its that I don't know how.
I can be the biggest geek going but unfortunately I didn't inherit any of the technical skills that come with the profile. Despite some research and an ill-fated attempt I can't for the life of me figure out how to enable replies in my comment section. Maybe its Blogger not allowing this function or maybe its me. I don't know and I wish I did. I want to reply to every comment and question. I just can't!
Help!?!
So please, until I get this blogging thing figured out please know I'm not ignoring you. And if you are or happen to know a really techy kinda person who can get this little situation all sorted out I will pay you in songs while you work (my singing isn't good but its much better then my dancing and its all I got)
Bear in mind offers of help might lead to "How to I move to my own domain name" and "Please explain self hosting" but I've been practicing my Adele and my Rolling in the Deep is getting pretty damn good if I do say so myself.
Love ya all!!
Oh, and until I get some IT assistance feel free to send me an email health(dot)happiness(dot)skinnyjeans(at)gmail(dot)com or a tweet (SamSkinnyJeans) and I promise I will respond ASAP!!
Now my spelling mistakes are a whole other post.....
Random fact: I "wrote" this post in my head while vacuuming my apartment. See, I told you I'm a geek!!
So tell me, do you have any tips for a tech-dumb blogger? Where did you learn your computer skills? And where do you come up with your blog posts (if you blog)?
I don't reply to every comment either, although sometimes I try to go to the person's blog and comment on a post of theirs as well. Hmm...maybe something for me to work on too?
ReplyDeleteSo funny that you said you wrote your blog while cleaning. I constantly "write" my blogs while doing other things... running, in class, and occasionally while sleeping. I have been wondering too what attracts bloggers to a site. The commenting thing confuses me a bit because I never know how to reply to a persons comment...
ReplyDeleteO to be computer literate!
Yup, you simply cannot reply to comments in Blogger - one of its biggest downfalls. You can; however, use Disqus instead of Blogger's comment section and that will allow you do reply. I have no idea how you set that up, though!
ReplyDeleteI'm still on the fence about Blogger - a lot of the things I like, but replying to comments is so important to me...
Hey. Just found your blog and love this post.
ReplyDeleteI don't comment on everyone's comment, but I read all of them. Sometimes they don't really need a response. right? I don't know. I usually read the comment, go to their blog, and comment on what they've posted about.
It is hard because you don't have all the time in the world.
I have the comment reply notification plugin on my blog and I love responding to comments, but it can be tough to fit everything in. If my reader has questions, I answer, but then I worry that the notification to their inbox is annoying.
ReplyDeletePlease know that you are not the only technology challenged blogger out there! I am so slow with this stuff! I turn to my much more advanced blogger friends for help.
I love my new blog design because it allows me to respond to comments directly, which I really hated not being able to do with my last layout. I think it's important to have interaction with my favorite people! (readers, of course :))
ReplyDeletei also 'write' my posts in the weirdest places. walking around, grocery shopping, while straightning my hair. lol
ReplyDeleteand pls let us know how to reply to comments. i also dont know to respond. sometimes i will email the person or comment a response on their post, but tht just gets to be a lot of hassle and sometimes confusion.
so if someoen give you a tutorial, pls share with us!
I totally write my blogs in my head ALL the time
ReplyDeleteBlogger does not enable replys to comments so i added Intense Debate to my blog and i LOVE it, so much nicer to respond to comments and they get direct emails telling them i replied!
Have a great day :o)
I always reply to the reader comments with my own comment, which sucks because I think 90% of the time, people aren't coming back to see them. I also try & post a reply on their blog, if they have a question.
ReplyDeleteThat's my biggest pet peeve about blogger!
I actually switched to Wordpress BECAUSE of the comment issue with Blogger. But a lot of bloggers on Blogger reply anyway, but they just leave an additional comment and put the name of the person they are replying to. I know Reeses does that. She responds to comments all the time that way.
ReplyDeleteOh, and WHAT are you eating in that picture? LOL
ReplyDeleteIt annoys me so much that I can't respond to comments on Blogger! I usually just do what Paula suggested leave an additional comment when I try to reply
ReplyDeleteArgh.. also one of my frustrations! When someone writes a comment with something that I can respond too, I use gmail to reply back with an e-mail.
ReplyDeleteLoving your posts lately!! :)
That is stupid that blogger won't let you respond to comments. You can easily transition to a wordpress.com blog.
ReplyDeleteI hated blogger so I switched to wordpress. There is a place that allows you to upload your blogger stuff to wordpress. Then you can reply to comments until your heart is content :-)
Thanks for the link to Monica's blog; that is good stuff!
Lucky for me, my son is studying computer science/software programming. He helps me with all this techie stuff (when he's home). That sucks that Blogger won't let you reply to comments directly. I do like interacting with readers but only when I have something interesting to say.
ReplyDeleteI often come up with my blog post ideas on my runs -- imagine that!
If you want to continue using Blogger, you can install Disqus or Intense Debate so you can rely to comments. I hope that helps! :)
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with what everyone says! Yes try the Intense Debate, it will be a big help for you.
ReplyDeleteI love reading comments on my blog and in return, I also try to acknowledge some of the commentator by responding to their comments. I prefer sending my response through emails.
ReplyDeleteDisquss works well for me. Thanks for mentioning Tracy.
ReplyDeleteCute pictures and nice photos! I enjoyed it. Keep posting on!
ReplyDeleteThanks tracy, that is also a problem for me: managing comments on my blog. Will try that out.
ReplyDeleteYour post is one of the nice posts I have ever read. The conversation itself proved that your article is quite a treasure. Keep on posting more insightful posts.
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