Bolstering Mom Blogging With Comments, Writing
I am sure you have witnessed a noticeable decrease in comments and general conversations on blogs throughout the years. Social media has definitely trumped blogs in the area of online conversations, but ultimately we have the power to do whatever we want during the time we spend online and can choose to either converse via social media or in a blogger’s comment section or both.
Many people before me have called for more commenting on blogs, so I want to add my voice to the choir of those advocating for more conversations on blogs. I am also advocating for more quality, conversational pieces on blogs as well. Promotions are wonderful. In fact I help facilitate promotions through Mom Bloggers Club all of the time. But I see room for posts that bring moms who blog together and make us think not just when something ticks the community off or when we are rallying to support one of our own, but all of the time.
I don’t know if that’s through some sort of organizational effort or if the community of mom bloggers will rise to the occasion of creating better content this year.
I guess I am just relishing those simpler days of blogging in the mom community where we connected and bonded around ideas and articles in the news and around talking about our families. Perhaps I am romanticizing those days a bit, but I think we’ve gone from one extreme to the other in the space.
What do you think? How can we make a push for better content in 2012?
I think part of the problem is publishing content other than “family stuff” on mom blogs can easily lead to unpleasant debates. I think most moms would rather steer clear of this type of negative interaction on their blogs that also feature their young children. I also think readers are afraid to voice opinions that differ from the author on mom blogs because mom blogs are more about the “if you can’t say anything nice…” conversations. I used to post articles that centered around news and strongly encouraged debate rather than family stories. However, I found I got more comments when I stopped publishing those articles and instead focused on the fluffy family stories. And, this may sound sort of mean, but all the family stories and the constant product reviews get sort of generic after a while, so I find myself just closing a site rather than commenting if it stays in that “mom” rut most of the time.
Commenting is one of the more time-consuming blogging activities, but definitely the one with the most return—in terms of those who reciprocate with comments on my site, as well as in terms of relationships made. I need to keep that in mind as it’s one duty I’ve let slip far more than I should have in the past few months.
Happy new year to you! Thank you for all you do!
I think we have sacrificed good content for social media, not all the time but much of the time. As a nurse and writer, some of what I offer is encouragement to parents of children who are ill…not a popular topic on social media sites for sure.. My goal for 2012 is to create not only better content but to expand myself and to target the audience more specifically by finding my writing voice.
I complete agree about sacrificing good content for social media. It’s up to use to use the web to keep the standards high even though we are forced to move faster and faster with social media.
What I noticed in 2011 is that the more mult-tasked in my promotion efforts by combining stumbling, tweeting, posting to Google+, pinning, and commenting the more I benefited – new readers, better traffic and more comments on my blog. And maybe I made a few friends, too!
I started commenting on blogs that I related to or found fun and enlightening everyday for the past two months. I guess I would say that I comment on about 7-10 blogs a day (mostly the same ones). What I found was that through those comments, I find other new bloggers/blogs and they find me. I may not comment on the new ones immediately, but I do add them to my favorites so that I can continue to visit them. It REALLY does build a community and a faithful following of like-minded individuals. I posted about this not long ago.
http://wifemotherfirstlady.com/2011/11/what-is-the-value-of-a-comment/
“Comment on blogs more” is one of my “Community” goals for 2012. It’s great to have a post retweeted, liked, etc. but there IS something special about a good old comment!
You are great at leaving comments! I love seeing your take on certain things. And the fun thing is – we read a lot of the same blogs!
I always try to comment before sharing the post I’m reading on Twitter, FB or Pinterest. As a blogger myself, I so appreciate the time it takes to craft a post. I want other bloggers to feel like they were heard and what they said matter.
That’s so great! I have planned to comment more myself instead of always replying through social media!
I agree. I used to make an effort to comment on blogs each day but now I just head to Twitter or FB. I need to start again!
Sounds good :)
Funny that you should mention this. It was one of my resolutions. Though I regularly read the blogs of others, I’m committed to commenting. I’ve done amazingly well since starting. Hopefully, others will follow suit.
I’ve started commenting more, too! It’s the little things that will help us sustain the community.