Should I be discouraged nobody reads my blog or just focus on doing it for me?

[Rachel]

I guess I'm wondering how to get more interaction on my blog. I think people are visiting (I have a counter and it moves periodically....LOL) but very few comments so I'm wondering what I could do to make people want to visit and comment. I really was looking forward to having interaction with folks on different topics.

 

Does anyone here advertise their blogs in certain places or how do you get other bloggers to want to put your blog on their site (I'm assuming its personal preference since that's what I did)?

 

In the end it is at least a diary of sorts for myself and I can look at it that way.....just would like it to be a bit more than that though. I'm open to suggestions.

[Chris in VA]

Aw, don't be discouraged, Rachel! I just left you a comment! lol

You might try becoming a Weekly Reporter. Go to Jessica's blog (http://www.triviumacademy.blogspot.com) and ask her to sign you up. A lot more people peek at mine than I ever thought, and they usually come from here.

BTW, loved your last entry.

[CindyPTN]

Definitely, don't get discouraged. Getting Comments is tough. Lots of people like to read, but only a small percent leave comments.

 

First Priority: Write because you enjoy it.

 

Second: Comment on other people's blogs and they tend to follow and become your commentors. It'll come.

 

BlogHer.com is a great community to add your blog to and start interacting. Visiting and commenting on the various mom's with blogs here works well too.

 

Just left a comment too. Your posts are great!

[Blue Hen]

Oh how I understand the discouragement of wondering whether anyone reads your blog, and wondering why they don't comment. As was already stated write your blog because you want to write it, comment on others blogs and they usually comment back on yours. I have made several on-line friends that way, and hope someday to meet them IRL.

 

I added SiteMeter to my blog so now I can see the referring website. This helps me to see if the visitors are coming from here or elsewhere or from a google search. So, I'm still wondering why folks don't comment too often on my blog but at least I know that there are many readers, and how long they stay around, and how many pages they visit,.... but don't be discouraged. I've had my blog for almost 2yrs now and it is really fun for me to go back and read earlier pages.

[kdeno]

IT is very bizarre and funny but was discouraged because he thought no one read it. His brother came home from his work Christmas party and said a video (a rather unflattering one called "Cookies and Soda for Dinner) which I begged not to have posted was the topic of much conversation and co workers thought is was hilarious.

 

Off to read your blog :-)

 

K

[Mom2legomaniacs]

It takes a while too. I don't get a lot either. It is picking up but still slow. If you develop a friendship with another blogger and trade comments, that helps. I have a few that I converse with on a fairly regular basis by doing this. You just need to find someone that you really click with and start commenting on theirs and they will likely respond back.

 

I know how you feel. I do it for me but I still hope others might find me nice and enjoy stopping by and leaving a comment.

 

Oh, forgot to say that I don't comment a whole lot on others either. I don't like to leave something just for the sake of leaving something unless I feel like I really do have something to say, you know!

[Daisy]

I started mine for family (3,000 miles away) and friends (who had been pressuring me to blog) but mostly it is for myself. I do occasionally get caught up in wanting folks to visit my site. LOL. I guess there is still plenty of that PR girl in me. I do find that Wordless Wednesday and Weekly Reportering are fun ways to meet other bloggers. You can also look for meme's to join. For example, Heart of the Matter (linked at my blog site) has nearly weekly topics, you can blog about and then link to their site on that day. So then many folks see your blog address on that day. I think I have a website with links to a ton of memes. Hold on and I'll look for it.

 

This site is interesting...

 

http://heartofwisdom.com/Blogginghelp/

 

Off to look at your site. :D

[Lori C- Texas]

I started mine just as a log of what we are doing so that grandparents and other relatives could look in on what we are doing. I have really enjoyed doing Wordless Wednesdays and Weekly Reports. Lots of fun. Through those I have made quite a few friends and have had lots of fun.

[Remudamom]

but not a lot of comments. I like your site.

 

I did comment. Since I have to comment anonomously on Blogger I signed my name too. I don't know why I can't make it work.

[Lux Et Veritas Academy]

I blog for the sake of my children and myself. I hope to leave them a nice little stack of thoughts when I leave the earth:)

[Karenciavo]

I hardly get any comments and I'm pleasantly surprised when someone leaves one.

[Kelli in TN]

but if I don't blog I tend to get curt reminders from my stepmom, my mom and my stepsisters.

 

So if there were nobody else in the world to blog for, I would still have to blog for them!:)

[angela in ohio]

I started mine to share my ideas with local homeschoolers, and they are still my biggest audience. I don't want to try to get a big audience, because then I would feel more responsibility to put more time into it than I actually have to give up from my family.

 

Other readers have come from commenting on a few blogs, from links when I was added to someone else's list of favorite blogs on theirs, from google searches, and from linking to my blog from my signature here (or from sharing resources on the old board format.)

[nancypants]

Give it time. It takes a while to work up a good readership. Get on blog rolls, register with places like Technorati... try to get your blog "out there" more (join some regular posting memes like "fun Monday" or "Works for Me Wednesday." Things like that. If you join more things like that initially you may gain more readers eventually even if you don't necessarily want to keep doing the meme. Also, make sure to visit lots of blogs and leave comments so people follow you back.

 

You've been blogging a rather short time to get discouraged about it. It's taken me quite a long time and a good deal of effort to have as many readers as I have now (and I still don't always get a ton of comments.)

 

Keep it up. It's too early to be discouraged!

[Rachel]

I leave for work, log on a little while later and here you all are!!! YOu guys are awesome.........what great ideas you have all given me. Since I am new to this blogging thing (doing not reading them that is) I am still trying to get the hang of the protocol on commenting on others sites and such.

 

I will try some of these suggestions though and really just be satisfied with having an outlet for myself regardless if anyone reads it or not.

 

Nancy I suffer from immediate gratification disease hence the early disappointment........but I get over it easily! LOL!!

 

Thanks again for all the wonderful ideas.....

[Carin' For Seven]

I think that is why I hardly write anything on my blog. I mostly post photo's. I think I would write more if I thought people were actually reading it.

[East Coast Sue]

Please keep up your blog as you are able. I'll visit if you post a link to your update on this forum.

 

Susan

[Jackie in AR]

I'm writing my blog mostly for me and my family. I thought it would be fun to have a little documentation of our daily lives.

 

But it is fun to get comments, and I have enjoyed getting to know a few ladies a little better through their blogs and exchanging comments with them.

 

As others have mentioned, Wordless Wednesday and Weekly Reporter give me reminders to look at other blogs. If it weren't for those, I know I would get caught up in day-to-day life around here and forget to keep in touch with others via blogging. (Not to mention the fact that Weekly Reporter gives me a little accountability. Ahem.)

 

I've been blogging only for a month, so I'm really pretty new at all of it. It has taken me most of that month to figure out how to post different things. :D

 

I'll check out your blog, Rachel!

[Michelle in MO]

It's well-organized and very thoughtful! I just don't know about the blogs of every member on these boards. I started one, but gave up because I just don't have time to post anything on it regularly.

 

I would keep it up! I'm sure you'll have family visit, and these boards are a great medium to get visibility, so to speak! :)

[gardenschooler]

I think you have to get involved, do the things Nan talked about, if you really want to have people read it. I'll probably put more effort into some of that soon. I'm a miserable weekly reporter, though. I'd rather post about what I intend to do, not what we *didn't* get done this week, lol.

 

I started mine so I could talk to myself and sort of process things. I think in a round about way, and frankly, I even bore myself! It doesn't seem so bad written down, though. And no one has to listen, so I can babble on guilt-free. It gets it out of my system.

[Hen]

getting a site meter or stat counter might make you feel better, there have been days when I get like 60 visits for a wordless Wednesday, but only get 10 comments. The only way I knew was the site meter. It's neat to see where people came from, and what pages they were interested in.

 

I dropped on by for a visit, liked your blog, your title is creative.

[Snickerdoodle]

I don't comment on blogs where I have to sign up or register to leave one.

[percytruffle]

I agree about getting a site meter. I was amazed. I don't get a lot of comments, but I do get some, but I was completely unprepared for the amount of "guests" my site has per day! Most days it is around 30-50, but there are also a good number of days it is over 200! It is so cool to see where they come from and what posts they visit. I had visiters from 8 different countries a few days ago. It was my Wordless Wednesday post, a pic of Mt Fuji. Perhaps they saw the pic come up on Blogger Play and went to see it. My most popular page is my pastel drawing lesson. People search on Google for pastel lesson and end up at my site almost daily. There was once even a Catholic middle school in Canada that posted a link to my pastel lesson on their school's site and had all the kids log on and do the lesson together! That was very neat (I do wish they'd left me a comment though). I think my family is actually beginning to visit even. They have been the ones I hoped would come since we don't live near them, but they have been the slowest in visiting. You just never know!

 

I am glad I blog even on the days when people don't comment. I am so enjoying meeting the other bloggers and reading their wonderful posts. The other ladies, and guys, are such an inspiration. It would be wonderful to meet some of them irl some day. We need to schedule a WTM bloggers picnic somewhere!

[King Alfred Academy]

I started mine just as a log of what we are doing so that grandparents and other relatives could look in on what we are doing. I have really enjoyed doing Wordless Wednesdays and Weekly Reports. Lots of fun. Through those I have made quite a few friends and have had lots of fun.

 

My thoughts exactly! We live NOWHERE near family and blogging has been a great way for us to stay in contact. The friends I have made because of it is icing on the cake! That's how Lori C. and I "met" as well as others.

 

Also, I tend to visit blogs that have new posts frequently.

 

I'll check yours out!

[Jenny in Atl]

I started one for family and friends, but it has been fun to have comments for folks all over and new faces. I love to see what new or old ideas others have for schooling and life in general, that they have to share. There are few places locally I can get the same feeling of a town square. Kinda cool and sad all at the same time.