You’re right. Yet I won’t give up on the 95%. Remember that if you have 1000 unique readers on a post, 50 (5%) of them may comment. And if you can get 1% of the 95% to comment, that’s 10 more commenters. I think it’s worth keeping the door open for that 95% to comment.

And I will check out ClickComments…Initial hit…interesting. Will look more into it.

Most bloggers want more comments like just like you said. Its not a greed thing, its a engagement and conversation thing.

The easiest part of the problem is to make it easier for more of your readers to comment because that 95% is never going to comment. We created ClickComments to make it easier for this group to become engaged with your blog and accustomed to communicating with bloggers. Check it out, we have a wordpress plug-in.

No worries. I’m not concerned at all. I love when people have a differing opinion from mine. Healthy debate is part of a rich life.

More than anything, thank you for you comments and your honesty.

Thanks for the responses though.

Si

but don’t think of it as being dishonest, it is merely seeding a conversation, or encouraging a response.

I hear you. I learned long ago (I hope) not to think that my way or my perspective is the only one. I appreciate your thoughts. I just feel differently about it.

Si

I don’t disagree with you about the push start. Just curious how you see it.

But for me, for some reason, I can’t/couldn’t fake comments. It just didn’t feel right for me. But I certainly don’t condemn it for others. It just important that I’m true to myself.

Sometimes you just need a little push…. I think, if you have a good blog then people will come and leave comments if they want, but sometimes they don’t just want to be the first person to comment.

Si

Thanks for your reply. So you don’t feel like you’re misrepresenting yourself and your blog in any way by faking comments? Just curious.

But there is nothing wrong in my eyes.

Si

I understand. I felt the same way too, in the beginning. At the same time, I found it very helpful in learning how to write as though I’m already in a conversation. It’s something I continue to work on.

shaz,

Patience and continued learning. My comments started to jump when I learned how to write in ways that encouraged them. I have to thank Liz Strauss for that one.

I did ask my friends and family to visit and join in the discussion, and of course when I started visiting and commenting on other blogs, I started getting comments.

Patience surely is key… and I am still waiting to get a lot of comments to my blog! Funny thing is that my husband started blogging and got comments from his first post (from my readers, of course), and now he gets more than me!

The difference between us is that he regularly comments on blogs, and although I would like to, my comments are really few and far between sometimes.

As a new blogger with limited readership I have avoided specifically asking for comments, for fear that no one will respond. I was thinking, well once I start getting some regular comments… then I will more specifically ask for a conversation in my posts.

But I guess if you never ask, maybe it will never come. I’ll try to put that into practice from here on out and see how it goes.

Yeah, I think it does take effort. What I do is try to think of you and I sitting in a coffee house together chatting when I write. That helps me write as though we’re having a conversation.

supermom_in_ny,

There’s an entirely new reason not to fake comments…the extra work it takes in responding to your faked comments. Not to mention those faked comments that become spam (kidding)

As you can see, I spend a fair amount of time responding to comments. And I love doing it. I just ahve to remember to balance commenting with my work.