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I love sports analogies. Once I even compared blogging to baseball. If blogging is a game, I think of my readers as fitting into one of two buckets: players or spectators.
As in any game, the players are more visible. Noticed more.
We remember them more. Why? Because the players on your blog are the readers who join in the conversation. The ones who talk to you—and the rest of the community. The ones you know by name.
But just as important are the spectators. They are the ones Havi Brooks of The Fluent Self blog calls “comment mice.” They read. They may hang around and consume lots of content. Sometimes they become your biggest fans. But they are your silent supporters.
And yet spectators are a crucial part of your blog. Because without them, the stadium would be empty. Without them, you wouldn’t be pleasantly surprised at the moment you least expect it.
Blog Like Nobody is Watching—and Everybody Is
The Boston Globe reporter who read my blog and asked me for an interview was a spectator. The agent who read my blog and became familiar enough with my writing to put me on her Blog Roll was a spectator. The Emmy-winning journalist who invited me to explore an exciting collaboration with her was a spectator.
These are busy people. They are consumers of content. The fact that they don’t comment does not mean that they aren’t paying attention.
My point is this:
Blog like nobody is watching—and everybody is.
In this day of fragmented, scattered social media venues, it can feel like the readers are gone. They are not gone. They just may be hanging out in other places.
We need to start thinking about the consumers of our content in different ways. For instance, share numbers on our blog posts may be much more meaningful than our comment numbers. I’d rather have 100 tweets of my blog post than 100 comments on my site because that means that, exponentially, my content is getting seen by tons more people.
What about you?
Are you disappointed when a post you were proud of gets very few comments?
Do you have many more spectators than players at your blog?
Do you have other ways of knowing that your posts are being read and shared? Or does it not matter to you?
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This is an excellent, encouraging post.
But, I think that comments should matter in the overall scheme of things.
And if they weren’t important, more bloggers would have their comments “disabled” feature in operation.
Blogging, by its very nature is intended to be an “interactive” medium.
Who wants to have a one-way conversation?
But, I do agree that we need both players and spectators on our team!
Jennifer Brown Banks recently posted..Pen & Prosper Gets Personal With Author and Attorney Randy Richardson
Hey Jennifer,
I wasn’t suggesting here that comments aren’t important. I love to engage readers and interact with them. I learn a lot from them about what kind of content they need, what their problems are.
But the researchers who study blogs and commenting behavior have shown that 90 percent of readers never leave a comment, 9 percent do from time to time, and only one percent comment regularly. That’s an awful lot of people who are “silent content consumers.” I didn’t get that when I first started blogging and so I got discouraged. And, yes, two-way conversations are the best kind. Thanks for weighing in here. : )
Judy Dunn recently posted..Eight Powerful Ways to Build a Loyal Readership for Your Blog
Thank you so much for this post, it’s most encouraging
I do quite often wonder what makes 1 of my posts get considerably more comments than another. If something fails to raise more than a couple of comments I tend to ask myself what I did wrong lol…..but, I’ll try to look more positively on it in future
Xx
Vikki recently posted..The Work In Progress
Vikki,
I know! Sometimes the post I am most proud of gets the fewest comments.
I also think that sometimes if people get what they need, they’ll read and leave. Or they get busy and mean to come back and comment but life gets in the way, you know? For whatever reason, I know that personally I read more posts than I comment on. Just keeping that huge chuck of readers in mind when you develop your content is helpful. Thanks for sharing here.
Judy Dunn recently posted..How to Get More Blog Traffic from Pinterest: The Power of Photos
I’m a longtime watcher of your always wonderful and encouraging blog. I don’t often comment (what can I say when you’ve already done it so well!) but I always tweet. I never tweet what I don’t love, so I suppose that’s my roundabout comment
Barbara Forte Abate recently posted..The Octopus Knows- Round Robin #8
Thanks for the vote of confidence, Barbara. You made my exact point with your “roundabout comment” comment. And when you tweeted about my post (thank you for that, too), you shared my blog with hundreds of potential new readers. So the reach is multiplied many times. When I first started blogging, my husband and biz partner, @bobwp, would always know when I was checking for comments because he would hear that heavy sigh. I was obsessed!
We watched the excellent movie “Julia and Julie” last night. It’s about the woman who started a blog to chronicle her journey through 500+ Julia Child recipes in one year. The scenes of her checking for comments were hilarious. She is finally ecstatic because she gets one—until she finds out it was her mom. : )
Judy Dunn recently posted.. Here’s to the ‘Crazies’: 5 Insanely Easy Ways to Get Your Blog Post Noticed
I think I have mostly spectators at my blog. Sometimes my friends will comment in person regarding something I posted on my blog. I like that. Sometimes I get an email instead of a comment. But, mostly, my readers spectate. It can be discouraging. The way I feel a bit better about it is that I keep 2 or 3 dear readers in mind whenever I post. They are the ones I KNOW will read whatever I write. And so, I think of them as my very special guests and I try to write my truest for them.
Melissa recently posted..Leaves and Twigs
Melissa,
I’ve found what you say here to be true.I also get comments by email rather than on the blog. I think that people choose to respond in many different ways. I also get emails just to tell me that someone is reading regularly and they find my content helpful even though they seldom or never comment. Those kinds of emails are very special.
Your strategy of writing to one or two specific readers can certainly help you focus your post. When I wrote for children, I used to keep a full-color photo of a child that I had cut from a magazine page, just so I had someone to talk to. : )
Judy Dunn recently posted..What’s Under Your Bed?: 10 Monster Blogging Fears Worth Chasing Down
Great post. Thanks. -S
Thanks for dropping in, Susan. Enjoyed reading your interview on Andrea’s AUTHORNOMIC blog series. : )
Judy Dunn recently posted..Can Google+ Pull More Readers to Your Blog?
That was a fun interview. Also, your post today got me writing!
Thanks for that!
Commenting takes time and writing on a pad is a pain so I usually, even if loving comments, stick with traffic. The silent majority so to speak. Well, until Penguin.
Great article Judy, as always.
Andrea Hypno recently posted..Do you really need a Trainer, a Business Coach, a Life Coach or a Whatever Coach?
Do you mean pad as in iPad, Andrea? (No, must not, because you are not a fan of Jobs, right?) Haha.
Silent majority term takes me back to the presidency of Richard Nixon. I believe he coined that term. Well now, THAT ages me doesn’t it?
Tell me more about the Penguin thing. You are talking about the publisher, no?
Judy Dunn recently posted..How to Get More Blog Traffic from Pinterest: The Power of Photos
Yes, I don’t have one but I guess it’s a pain to write something more than Cool Post or Great Article.
Actually it’s not that I’m not a fan of Job, I’m not a fan of monopolists in general, especially those who con users in a way or another.
And I’m aged too.
As for Penguin actually not, I meant the last Google update who practically killed my website traffic. But I’ll go on my way without using AdWords or Google+ to increase my rank as they wish to. And I’ll remove soon both Adsense and Analytics. Given I’m not blaclisted or such that’s probably the reason. Think about monopolists, or dictators. I have to retaliate as I can, but I won’t surrender.
You are unique, my friend. And such a funny guy, too. Glad I had the good fortune of meeting you on the For Bloggers By Bloggers blog. : )
Judy Dunn recently posted..How to Get More Blog Traffic from Pinterest: The Power of Photos
“Blog like nobody is watching–and everybody is.” This is terrific. I’m going to have to copy that and put it on the wall above my writing desk. Just the words I need today. Thanks so much, Judy!
Annie recently posted..When Did We Lose The Plot?
Annie,
Take it and run with it. : )
I have to remind myself from time to time that readers read and respond to my posts in many different ways. Glad this helped.
Judy Dunn recently posted..What’s Under Your Bed?: 10 Monster Blogging Fears Worth Chasing Down
I feel I have more spectators than players, however I notice I have ‘regulars’ who I just love to hear from. So it doesn’t matter the #’s much. I’m more of a player, if I count the several tweets.
Mona AlvaradoFrazier recently posted..Writing to Feel Better
Ha. The ‘regulars.’ Sounds like the old American sitcom ‘Cheers.’ People want to go where everybody knows their name.
You are right. Numbers aren’t as important to me as the quality of the interactions. I love it that social media has given us so many more ways to share people’s good content. Thanks for sharing your thoughts here, Mona.
Judy Dunn recently posted..21 Things I Did to Get My Blog to Top 10 Status
Icebergs come to mind. They say that three quarters of an iceberg remains underwater and consequently unseen by our eyes.
It is not really all that different on a blog. Most of the readers lurk and do not comment so you don’t really always know who is reading.
When you add in the other ways that people can read your content (RSS, newsletters) it provides more evidence that you can’t always be aware of who is reading and what sort of response your blog is generating.
Jack recently posted..A Letter To My Children-2012
Yeah, I agree with that. The whole issue of “lurkers” (spectators) makes the other ways people talk about and share your posts all the more important.
And the iceberg is a great visual. The livefyre system, which I used but took down after the survey responses from my readers told me they would rather have the old commenting system back, was helpful because it collated all the responses comments from Twitter, Facebook, etc. so you could get a truer sense of your reach. It’s one reason I put the plugin on my sidebar that shows the posts that got the most shares on Twitter and Facebook. Interesting stuff.
Judy Dunn recently posted..What’s Under Your Bed?: 10 Monster Blogging Fears Worth Chasing Down
Judy, while I love the blog and have been gratified that I have solid numbers of those who frequently comment … I don’t get twitter. An author wrote in an interview … “Twitter is like someone sticking needles in my eyes.”
Other than that small social networking problem, I love the interactive exchange of ideas in blogs. Like yours
florence fois recently posted..A Triumvirate or Trio …
Haha. Twitter can be like that for some. I find it most helpful as a solution sharing site. Ask a question. Get answers from tweeps who have experienced the same problem. And I follow some people because they are so damn entertaining. They give me my laugh for the day.
I say, to each her own. Now if you ask me about Facebook, I’ll say that I spend considerably less time there. Because there are only so many inspirational quotes I can read and only so many funny dog videos I can watch. : )
Judy Dunn recently posted..How to Get More Blog Traffic from Pinterest: The Power of Photos
Ah the sigh….. yes, I know it well
I have buckets more spectators/lurkers than players, which I’m OK with – now that I’ve figured that out and consoled myself. Comments come to me other ways – face-to-face, email and backhandedly – so the empty hole doesn’t echo quite so badly (despite how it looks).
However I’ve also pondered if the actual type of readers of your blog effects the number and more importantly the likelihood of comments…. I mean lots of my readers are marketers/corporates who have little time (or interest) in commenting (they don’t get it) as compared to bloggers. Hmmm… I’ll keep wondering on that one.
Di Mace recently posted..5 easy peasy decisions to start a blog
You make a good point. There is good solid content that people just scoop up and run with. And then there is the kind of post that begs a question and wants to know what other people think. I try to vary mine but I tend to want to know what my readers are thinking and feeling about a strategy or issue.
And yes, it’s great to hear from readers in other ways, too. : )
Judy Dunn recently posted..The Introvert Blogger’s 5-Step Guide to Acing an Interview
No scooping or running with scissors on my latest post I think
But you’re right. It’s horses for courses and varying their diet so they don’t get bloat! He hee….
Di Mace recently posted..Empty bowl blogging: 3 small steps to achieving nirvana
Hi Judy,
A very timely post for me as I’ve only recently started blogging and comments on my posts are as rare as “hens teeth” (as my granny used to say).
At the moment I console myself with my analytics data which shows lots of non-commenting spectators cheering me on – at least that’s what I tell myself.
Steven recently posted..What Has The Biggest Customer Migration in History Done to Your Business?
Good you are taking some time to look at those page views in your analytics. That’ll keep you motivated. : )
Still, comments are fun—and enlightening because you get a sense of what kind of content gets people thinking. That first year is the hardest, I think. Actually, most blogs that are abandoned are unplugged within the first three months. If you hang in there, you;ll be way ahead of the game. Thanks for sharing here.
Judy Dunn recently posted..21 Things I Did to Get My Blog to Top 10 Status
Great line – blog like nobody is watching and everybody is. It puts it all into perspective. I can only write from my heart space and I don’t get many comments. Plenty of spam though!
Sometimes somebody new signs up for my weekly Inspirational Insights. It’s encouraging to know that there are spectators to my blog. I don’t think I could stop writing as I love the freedom of blogging and the sharing.
Jan recently posted..New beginnings to follow your bliss
If you love blogging, that will take you a long way. I think the bloggers to whom it comes naturally tend to forget that it;s a little harder for some people. Best of luck in your journey. : )
Judy Dunn recently posted..What’s Under Your Bed?: 10 Monster Blogging Fears Worth Chasing Down
Great and encouraging post! I needed this today. I have tons of spectators on my site and at first I was trying like crazy to turn them into players. Now I am just happy that they are there. And like your post has just taught me, I have no idea who these people are and they can turn into a great opportunity some day in the future.
I LOVE the players on my site though because I enjoy interacting with others.
Sunshine Abuwi recently posted..Leave In Conditioner + Natural Hair = Shine! Could Your Regimen Be Missing It?
Yes, sometimes those spectators do become players when they become more comfortable in your “house.” And some will always remain spectators.
And whether they never leave a comment, they are just as valuable, at least to me. And it is so true. We never know who those spectators may be. Thanks for sharing here. : )
Judy Dunn recently posted..How to Get More Blog Traffic from Pinterest: The Power of Photos
Such a great point and very encouraging. I am surprised when I’m interacting with someone either in person or on the net and they slip in some comment about a recent blog a wrote and I had no idea they ever read my little blog! Makes me smile.
Ginger Calem recently posted..WritersButt Wednesday: 5 things you may NOT be doing, and sabotaging yourself.
I know the feeling, Ginger. Makes me smile, too. : )
Judy Dunn recently posted..What’s Under Your Bed?: 10 Monster Blogging Fears Worth Chasing Down
Love this analogy. My husband and I were talking about my blog, and I was able to explain some things to him using your analogy. If I let my mind go, I could use that spectator/player analogy to apply to so many venues
such as church attenders/members and even parenting. This was very helpful to read!
Kari Scare recently posted..Invisible?
Hadn’t thought about that. Church members vs churchgoers. Interesting. Yes, I think players and spectators could apply to lots of situations.
And guys just naturally get sports analogies, right? Hmm. Was that a sexist thing to say? : )
Judy Dunn recently posted.. Here’s to the ‘Crazies’: 5 Insanely Easy Ways to Get Your Blog Post Noticed
Can something really be sexist if it’s the truth? Plus, do men really care if we make sexist statements about them? Seems like women are the ones who care about that
Wait, maybe that was sexist against my own sex?
Kari Scare recently posted..Invisible?
Now there’s a question. Perhaps I didn’t mean sexist. Maybe it was stereotypical. Because when people look at Bob and me, they think Bob probably watched sports and I don’t. In fact, it’s like pulling teeth to get him to watch my alma mater, University of Washington play football or to tune into an NFL game. The more I think about it, it’s sexist to label me, a woman, as a sports hater. : )
Judy Dunn recently posted..How to Get More Blog Traffic from Pinterest: The Power of Photos
Yeah, sterotypical might be a better word. I was actually trying to be humorous, which is hard to show via writing. Worth a try though. My husband and I both like to watch sports, but he’s not the stereotypical guy when it comes to watching them, and I watch more than most women.
Kari Scare recently posted..Sunday Reflections – Through Eyes of Perfection
If it’s like a game of baseball than it’s definitely a social game at the local park where shy people start as spectators but over time might get up the ccourage to become players
Nice extension of the analogy. Some people start by watching a sport and then get so interested in it that they start playing. So your reader turns into a commenter.
Judy Dunn recently posted..Power Up Your Blog: The Emotional Impact of the Right Photo
Hi, Judy. Thought I’d check your blog out, and I’m enjoying it so far.
Yes, I do feel a bit disappointed when a post I’m proud of doesn’t get any comments. Disappointed and confused, because I’ve usually worked hard on it.
But then, my feeling about a post is not always indicative of how my readers will receive it. Sometimes the ones I don’t think are my best get the most comments, and vice versa. It’s hard to predict.
As you’ve said, though:
“The fact that they don’t comment does not mean that they aren’t paying attention.”
That’s a good reminder, an encouraging one, thanks!
@Chris Lovie-Tyler Hey Chris. Thanks for dropping in! Speaking of comments on blogs, I just started the process of migrating my blog back over to livefyre this weekend. I notice that the old comments haven’t been imported from all of my past posts yet. So it looks like you are the first commenter. : )
I hear what you are saying. Sometimes the posts that I’m most excited about are the ones that get the least number of comments. Don’t know what’s up with that, except that maybe my interests and my readers’ interests don’t always match up. It was good to meet you at For Bloggers, By Bloggers. So many blogs, so little time, right?
Ah, I wondered what was happening with your comments. I saw “44 comments” at the top of the page and none at the bottom. Makes sense now.
“… maybe my interests and my readers’ interests don’t always match up.”
Or maybe you have more spectators than players on those particular posts? Interesting thought.
Yes, it was good to meet up. And, so many blogs, so little time is right!
Great post - I’m just starting in this sport of blogging and will admit to having so far been a spectator! Now I’m starting my own blog with a purpose and something to say I’m finding I need some players who weren’t previously friends.
Just HOW to encourage more players…!
@pinpoint77 Thanks for visiting the Cat’s Eye Writer blog. Some players who weren’t previously friends I love that. I always recommend the movie “Julie and Julia” to my blogger friends because it shows how the readers don’t just magically show up and start talking. The premise of the movie is a woman who decides to cook every dish in Julia Child’s first book and blog about it. It shows her calling up her blog every morning and having a big fat zero in the comments section. Then one day it shows one comment. She is beyond excited—until she finds out it is her mother: “I don’t understand why you are doing this blogging thing. It doesn’t make any sense.” Hilarious.
There may be many reasons readers don’t leave a comment and engage with others in the community. One of my most successful strategies as a blogger is to be open, leave lots of room for different viewpoints and respond to EVERY COMMENT. Yes, that is time-consuming but it shows people that you value them and want to hear what they think about things. There are other things that bloggers do that can actually discourage redaer engagent. I talk about some of them here. :
http://catseyewriter.com/2010/11/27/10-reasons-i-wont-leave-a-comment-on-your-blog/
But, I’ve also found that you can be doing everything right and you still won’t get instant engagement from your readers. That builds over time, as they come to know and trust you (at least that was the way it was with me).
@JudyDunn
Great advice, Judy, thanks! I’ll search out the movie – I like the premise and can already to relate to the excitement of getting a comment, only to find it is a friend from two streets away!
It has only been three days since my blog began but I can already see how addictive it is…in fact, I’m already seeing the book I’m writing in a different way.
@pinpoint77 @bobwp and I loved “Julie and Julia” so much that we bought the movie. It’s great fun.
If you are writing a book (as I am), you may be interested in the new author blog I’m starting. If you stick around the Cat’s Eye Writer blog, I’ll be talking about it as it gets closer to launch date. Would love to talk to you over there, too. : )
@JudyDunn @bobwp
Woohoo! Exactly what I need. Looking forward to it!! See you over there, Judy.