So you know that it can be valuable to comment on other blogs. The question is, should you reply to every one of your blog comments?
Some bloggers make the effort to respond to each and every single blog comment they get. This is of course excluding spam comments that should get deleted.
WordPress alone reports over 43.8 million comments each and every month. That is roughly 1.46 million comments each and every day.
Now, you will most likely want to install a comment filtering plugin like Askimet to help handle some of the most spammy comments. Askimet filters a whopping 7.5 million spam comments each hour.
Spam can get annoying and waste your time so it helps to have a plugin catching the worst comments.
But for the real comments, how many should you reply to? Is it useful to respond to each and every one?
This post will look at the benefits of replying to every blog comment and why it is important to do so.
Let’s take a look.
1) Adds To The Usefulness of Your Post
Blog comments can add useful information to your page, and sometimes even answer questions not covered in your post.
Comment discussions can often go off on tangents and can provide useful relevant information for other visitors to view.
This is why it is also important to provide quality answers to your visitor’s comments. Instead of just writing a short acknowledgment like “thanks,” make an effort to offer further insights and write a good response.
Remember, other visitors will be reading your comments and getting an impression of you and your blog.
Writing useful, insightful comments adds more information to your blog and can add to its overall quality.
2) Good For SEO
Having more blog comments on your posts is good for SEO in a couple of ways.
First, it adds more content to your page for search engines. With more blog comments, your page is updated more frequently and gets re-crawled.
More blog comments also increase the number of keywords on the page. With more keywords, you can rank for a wider amount of searches and potentially attract more traffic.
In comment discussions, related keywords may come up that you have not even thought of. Because of this, responding to your comments and promoting further discussion is invaluable.
Lastly, more comments on the page will mean the length of your post increases. This is increasingly beneficial as search engines like to see long form content.
In a study of the top 10 search results, the content length of the top ranking articles was higher.
Responding to your blog comments will help create more comments on your posts and can be beneficial for your blog SEO.
3) Social Proof
When you respond to your blog comments, you increase the number of comments on the page.
With more comments on the page, other viewers will see that people are reading and engaging with the post. This can give them a positive impression of the page because other people are interacting with it.
This is something called social proof. According to HubSpot:
Social proof is the positive influence created when a person finds out that others are doing something.
Social proof comes in many different forms. This article by Buffer goes into more depth on social proof.
With more blog comments, you will have more social proof for your post and in turn your blog.
4) Encourage More Comments
Responding to your comments can encourage other readers to comment as well.
When readers see that you are actually reading your blog posts and responding to them, they will be more inclined to write good comments.
It is more encouraging to write a comment on a blog where you know that someone is going to read the comment you write.
Also, with more comments, readers are not as shy to post. Again this is social proof coming into play. With more comments on a page, a user can be more inclined to follow what others are doing and add their opinion.
As discussed in a previous point, comments can go off on tangents and cover other areas that were not mentioned in your post.
When this happens, it can also attract more comments. With more arguments and opinions being voiced, there is more incentive to respond to those opinions.
5) Attract Leads
Some bloggers are able to generate leads by commenting.
By writing high-quality comments that answer questions effectively, you can show that you are an authority on your topic.
When others see that you are knowledgeable on a topic, you are building a reputation that can lead to trust.
Authority is an important factor for generating leads and creating insightful comments can help you prove your value.
6) Shows You Are Active
Responding to your comments promptly will show your readers that your blog is active and that there is someone behind it.
The first benefit this can have for your blog is adding to its perceived value.
Showing your readers that there is someone behind your blog can add perceived value. A site that is not updated much can look like it is abandoned, and can negatively affect the way people view your site.
Also showing your readers you are active is also another way you can encourage more blog comments. Again, when your readers know there is someone actually reading their posts, they can be more encouraged to post on your blog.
Showing your readers you are engaged in your blog is beneficial for your blog and can increase its value to your visitors.
7) Blog Post Ideas
One of the most useful things that can arise from blog comments is ideas for new blog posts.
There is no better place to find out what your readers are looking for than directly from them.
By encouraging your readers to post comments and ask questions, you can find out exactly what it is they are looking for.
You may even get readers who suggest a blog post topic for you. These types of requests are not that uncommon and you may encounter them yourself.
Blog comments are a valuable source of blog post ideas, and you can help produce more of them by always responding.
Conclusion
As we have seen, responding to your blog comments is beneficial to your blog in many ways.
Some bloggers make the mistake of ignoring their blog comments. By doing this, they are overlooking an opportunity to add value to their blog.
When you respond to your comments, you show that you are engaged in the discussion, can promote more comments, and will add to your posts SEO (more keywords and content) as well as its usefulness.
If you can manage it, responding to your comments will help add value to your blog.