First and foremost I’d like to say that the FamousBloggers commenting folder is just a real goldmine. If you haven’t checked that out, I recommend you do so now as you will really find a lot of good information not just in posts, but also with the enormous amount of comments and feedback.
Because of reading that, I realized that there really isn’t an article about commenting that covers the benefit from the side of those who receive comments from other people. Most of the articles, if not all, are about us, doing commenting and how we can benefit from it. So for this post I just thought it would make a lot of sense to create an article that would tackle commenting from the other side of the fence.
Most of us bloggers get excited when they see some comments in their blog posts. From the early days, up to where we are now. It’s just the same, we tend to appreciate it a lot and as a way to show, we return the favor.
But how can we really maximize it? Is it just all about returning the favor by commenting back on their blog? In this post, I aim to share to you guys the technique that I use to leverage first time commenters into potential long-time loyal community readers.
It’s still about the funnel
If you’ve been blogging or in online business for a while, Im sure you have already heard the funnel. Basically the concept is nothing revolutionary. A blogger gets readers by providing good content, then that blogger would invite his/her reader to sign up to his mailing list, then the blogger will still continue building good relationship by stuffing his readers with good value and later down the road, the blogger will start selling something to his readers.
That’s the simplest way to look into it but it’s more complicated than ever. I’m sure each and every blogger/marketer has their own variations of it but for the sake of this post, I just illustrated it in the simplest way I could.
Someone left a comment what’s next?
When someone leaves a comment to our blog, its either its a comment from someone who’s been reading our blog for quite sometime or it’s from new commenter. These are two different audience right there and so two different actions are needed. Either way, these are the standard things that you must do regardless of whether their new or old:
- Respond to them – This is very important because it easily makes them feel they’re part of the community and they belong. To be honest, I don’t have that much time to reply to all comments in my blog but I try to do so. It’s an important step regardless of the type of audience.
- Do it as soon as possible – Again, these days its hard for me to do this because of a hectic schedule but back then what I try to do is reply back as fast as I could. Glen Allsop from ViperChill even recommends us to stay for at least 30 minutes after publishing our post in front of our computer to try to anticipate comments and respond back in a timely manner.
Funneling new readers to loyal ones
Now let’s be more targeted to new readers or first time commenters. It doesn’t really differ that much from trying to convince a new audience to stay in our blog for a longer time but since our topic is about commenting, I may as well just try to be super specific on that. So here are the exact steps on how I try to turn first time commenters to long-time loyal readers (chronological):
1. Comment Back on their blog
This is an obvious initial step that one must always do. As I’ve said with last post, it all starts out with the small things and working that up with the bigger stuffs.
70% of those who comment on your blog are bloggers as well (some are marketers who link to their product), so its important and imperative for us to show reciprocity by commenting back on their blog. That way they would feel more inclined to come back to our blog once more and make a comment again!
2. Follow that up by hitting them with a personal email
This is the second thing to do if you want to take your connection together to a higher level. For me, I usually first let ourselves engage into some exchange of comments on our blogs before doing this. It’s important not to rush on this thing and try to build that initial conversation first before sending out an email.
I know a lot of bloggers use a certain plugin for emailing first time commenters but I’d rather do it personally or have someone send out a personalized email (outsource). The problem with these plugins is that it’s pretty obvious and they are way too generic. Oftentimes, the welcome message just ends up in the spam folder which ruins everything.
3. Get them to read your best stuffs
Not a lot of people do this but if you do, I guarantee that you’ll be ahead of 90% of bloggers not doing this. Before this, we talked about emailing them. In that email what I usually do is give them a link to my blog’s best posts page or more professionally known as landing page.
Note: Just to clarify, a blog’s landing page is a page where you present your best content to them. It’s also a page where you give them hundreds of reason why they should subscribe or even just read your blog. I talked extensively about it in my blog in my post entitled “How a landing page can increase your blog traffic” and if you’re not aware of blog’s landing page then I highly recommend you to check it out.
Getting them to read your best posts work for couple of things. First, is that they’ll stay in your blog for more in comparison when they just landed in your homepage and saw some posts that aren’t that interesting to them. In your landing page, they can see your best work and there’s a good chance that they’ll visit at least 3 of your posts and read them.
Second is that you’re giving them a good reason why they should follow you. If you’re blogging about a certain topic and they see that you’re writing good articles within your expertise, then they would easily realize they’re in good hands.
It’s an equally a good tool too to filter out audience who doesn’t suit our topic. By having a landing page we’re letting the right people come in and filter out those who may not be right for our niche.
4. Get them to your newsletter
You can now start leveraging what you can offer to them by letting them subscribe to your newsletter. Having a newsletter is very important because with that you can expand your communication medium to your readers more.
A good “not new” way of getting them to subscribe to your mailing list is to bribe them. Offer something for free and if they like it there’s a good chance they’ll be on your list forever. Getting them to your newsletter depends on you and on how you want to implement that strategy.
5. Partner with them
Now we’re at the latter part of the funnel. To be quite honest, partnering with them is an endless opportunity. You can either offer them something, do joint venture, sell them something, engage yourself in reciprocal activities, hold contests together or just about everything. You see, there’s really a ton of opportunities waiting for everyone if only we can cultivate those small things and build it to the bigger things.
I’m sure it’s nearly impossible to convince everyone to be a part of your community for the long haul but by doing all the things I mentioned above, you’re making a huge headway against everybody else. Doing these 5 things is definitely better than just waiting for trickle and trickle of new readers and expecting that seeing your blog alone is enough for them to read you for the longer term.
How about you?
How do you cater to the new members of your community? Do you welcome them elegantly or you just let them walk away? As always, I would love to hear your 2 cents about this.
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Twitter: melvinblog
August 10, 2010 at 8:46 pm
Sure I appreciate it Belinda.
I appreciate that you like my article..
Melvin recently posted..Why You Should be Always Looking for New Traffic Sources
Partnering with them is the most important step for me because this is where you can see whether your hardwork and strategies were that good enough for you to reap the benefits of it. It is like the determiner wherein it can speak on how well laid your plan has been executed.
But then just in case it failed there, whats the plan? That’s a question I’d like you to answer.
Twitter: melvinblog
August 2, 2010 at 11:32 am
Its tricky because sometimes the problem is not in the plan but in the audience itself. Like I said many times I like to do things more than to strategize them. If it fails then it fails, just gotta redo it again. And if it fails for more than say 10 times, then maybe thats the time I need to reevaluate things.
Hope I answered your question
Melvin recently posted..The Best Blog Marketing Tips Around the Internet
Nice writeup.
I think getting them to newsletter could also be on a separate funnel. But since its not the topic I would rather not discuss it.
To get them to subscribe to your list is something that can be done even on the first step. I notice most bloggers have that lightbox thing and I look at your blog and you’re using it as well. You can also insert that into the step 2 which is personal emails.. What do you think?
Twitter: melvinblog
July 25, 2010 at 8:09 pm
You’re right but since Im on the commenting topic, I try to stick to that point for brevity’s sake.
As far as newsletter, I actually have them on almost every page of my blog. On the home page, I have the lightbox as you said, on my landing page, I also have that and on other pages, I also have a sidebar widget for that.. With emails, I haven’t really gone down that path but Im actually directing to the welcome page so I guess that could count since there’s an option of subscribing through my landing page..
Melvin recently posted..What Type Of Blog Post Can Get You the Most Traffic?
Yes I noticed that. The lightbox still irritates me but since almost all mmo bloggers use that, I guess its effective. Anyway, how come your widget elements in the sidebar differ from page to page?
Twitter: melvinblog
August 1, 2010 at 5:48 am
Well everyone hates it. But from a marketer’s perspective theres always a greater reason why it should be implemented no matter what.
I remember Shoemoney telling in one of his interviews that people will always say its annoying but don’t listen to them as the numbers will speak for itself rather than people. Not sure I agree with him but it does make a lot of sense to me.
Melvin recently posted..The Best Blog Marketing Tips Around the Internet
I don’t have a blog yet and right now Im trying to read as much so that I could guided when I started.
This post is exceptional, I think funnelling readers is a good idea since youre not just getting the right people to read your site but also you’re discounting those who aren’t really meant for the topic. Also the landing page idea is interesting to me so I would definitely list all that.
Twitter: melvinblog
July 26, 2010 at 11:18 am
Hey Jake,
Yes, funneling people is important. Just like selling, filtering the right people is essential in order to build a tight and interactive community.
With regards to landing pages, it always helps to plan your best posts in place already so you can have that automatically.
Melvin recently posted..Being *Just* a Marketer & Not an Internet Guy
Commenting back is really the way to do it. I don’t know about you but for me, everytime someone comments on my site, I would always always go and comment on his site as well.
It’s important and in fact I’ve had several business partners right now that actually came from commenting and that little thing there is a living proof of how small things can lead to bigger things…
Twitter: melvinblog
July 25, 2010 at 8:06 pm
Well if you know my history, I was not like that before. I used to think commenting back is a bit odd and I don’t find it well to me, but thats before.
I know, a lot really appreciate it and for us bloggers, its a way to “attack” and make them feel they belong more..
Melvin recently posted..Being *Just* a Marketer & Not an Internet Guy
I really hate the idea of a funnel especially if its used from a marketing side.
But anyway this post made a lot of sense to me because the initial funneling takes place when one puts a comment and for me the way Im seeing it is that, most bloggers just let a comment come and go without doing anything. And obviously in blogging those little things are the ones that you have to work in order to get things done..
Breeme – Affiliatehat.com recently posted..More Aff.Marketing Resource Guide for Noobs
Twitter: melvinblog
July 25, 2010 at 8:05 pm
well thats normal. the funnel concept is everywhere not just in online business but literally everywhere business-wise. For me it’s about proliferation. You filter people who are not right for your business while cultivate those who have a big chance of being loyal to you..
Melvin recently posted..Being *Just* a Marketer & Not an Internet Guy
That explanation makes a lot of sense to me. But then it leads to a bigger question of how and when do you call someone not right for your business?
Breeme – Affiliatehat.com recently posted..More Aff.Marketing Resource Guide for Noobs
Twitter: melvinblog
August 1, 2010 at 5:50 am
hmmm.. Seems like your question gets harder and harder.
The simple observation is if people aren’t willing to spend anything for you then they’re not right on your business. But thats more of a bird’s eye view of things.
For me personally someone who’s not right for my business is simply someone whom I see is not in the same interest as me. If he/she is in the dog training niche then I consider that as someone not aligned to what I talk about.
Melvin recently posted..The Best Blog Marketing Tips Around the Internet
I agree with most people here. I don’t think its necessary or feasible to hit them with a personal email mainly for two reasons. First is that most of them just bounce from one blog to another doing commenting without any intention really of building something with the blogger and second is that its just a lot of leg work, you can do more things that can have a better return rather than do this. Of course you can always outsource but I just don’t see it feasible enough..
Twitter: melvinblog
July 31, 2010 at 2:51 am
Well with regards to bouncing bloggers, isn’t it its the typical characteristic of every blogger? I mean, when you look at anyone, what they try to do is interact with as much people as possible. Go to as much blog as he/she could, thats bouncing right?
The technique here as always is to show value. When you invite someone to your blog via personal email, the chances of him ignoring you or not depends largely on your content. Why would a blogger want to read crappy stuffs? The point here is that if you give a reason to read more, then it would have a better chance for you to convert someone to a reader.
Melvin recently posted..The Best Blog Marketing Tips Around the Internet
I just started my blog. I have always wanted to, but never took the time until recently. I do hope for comments and I fully intend to engage all my members/commenters. I have blogrolled several blogs I really enjoy reading as well. I won’t ever be selling anyone anything on my blog as making money is not something I need from my blog. I needed an outlet, a place to share my soul. I did thoroughly enjoy this read as it gave me a bigger incentive to engage my audience though it is minuscule right now.
Twitter: melvinblog
July 21, 2010 at 8:52 pm
Hi Shawn, I’m glad you enjoyed this article.
Well first Im happy that you’re doing blogging as something outside the financial benefits. People who do it while enjoying it is so much ahead of others who do it for financial benefits only.
Just continue what you’re doing and continue to have that inspiration to do things intrinsically and Im pretty sure you’ll be successful someday.
Melvin recently posted..Being *Just* a Marketer & Not an Internet Guy
Totally agree! It’s amazing how many people don’t do even a clickthrough on the commenters name so that it shows up in the stats, but certainly a comment back helps improve things.
On a bit of a commenting binge recently, so it’s interesting to see what happens!
Rhys recently posted..My Take on the thesiswp Drama
Twitter: melvinblog
July 21, 2010 at 8:54 pm
Yes it does and it really really does. Almost all people who start blogging with no one in sight do this and for myself, even now I still comment back as much as I could because I see the importance of it.
Melvin recently posted..Being *Just* a Marketer & Not an Internet Guy
Twitter: heydevesh
July 20, 2010 at 12:27 pm
Hey Melvin,
Another nice post man. Some awesome points there.
I Like the idea of sending a mail to first time commentator.
Thanks for the tip man. Great Post.
~Dev
Twitter: melvinblog
July 21, 2010 at 8:55 pm
Hey Dev,
Again nice to see you too commenting on my article here.
Sending a mail is more for personalization, its in the sense where you want to move things closer with them
Melvin recently posted..Being *Just* a Marketer & Not an Internet Guy
Yeah, I think you’re right about responding back to the commenters because it does feel nice when someone repsonds back to you.
But you also want to be polite. I’ve seen people fight on blogs like they fight in forums. We’re human and we can get into heated discussions, but when you’re on someone else’s turf instead of an independent platform, you have to be more mindful.
I saw that happen on someone’s freelance writing blog, and the people who were arguing didn’t weren’t even the blog owners. Like friends fighting in a house.
But I appreciate you sharing this post because it gives a little more teeth on how to go about blog commenting and what to do afterwards. Thanks.
Gina recently posted..Long-term, Mid-term, Short-term Website Traffic
Twitter: melvinblog
July 21, 2010 at 8:57 pm
Yea that does happen frequently but then there’s quite a difference between a friendly argument and a heated hated discussion. I ocassionally engage in that but I make sure that I’m doing it in such a way that Im just trying to convey my thoughts. I try not to offend at all and if I do offend them, I would apologize and explain my side.
Melvin recently posted..Being *Just* a Marketer & Not an Internet Guy
Well there’s two problems for me
1. Getting comments
2. Getting those people who comment to stick around,
I really need to get more loyal followers somehow. I’m hoping that a site redesign and slightly different approach to my content will help
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Twitter: melvinblog
July 20, 2010 at 10:59 am
Well that’s not just your problem, it’s the problem of almost 90% of bloggers. As for getting comments, I think you should check out one of the posts here about obtaining comments as its pretty good startup read to start with. Here’s the link: http://www.famousbloggers.net/quest-comments.html
As far as getting them to comment back, its really more on two things. First is getting them to have that good first impression to your blog and second is the actual relationship building. In the second one, the best thing to do is to have a constant exchange of commenting through each of your blogs. Most of the people who comment on my blog do that because they know I will comment on their blog as well on quite some time.
With regards to site redesign, it does always help. But then for me I think you have to focus more on the fundamentals like building relationships and such.
Melvin recently posted..Being *Just* a Marketer & Not an Internet Guy
Thank you for the compliment, Melvin. I work hard to write well and engage people and it is nice to know what I wrote helps. Your post explained some things to me about how to sell things to my audience that I had been puzzled about. Nice post.
Stephanie Suesan Smith recently posted..ComLuv/FamousBloggers Contest Benefits Garden Bloggers
You could also ask people’s opinions at the end of your post. I’ve seen other bloggers do that, too. For example, I recently saw a blog post about a heated argument between the Wordpress owner and the owner of the Thesis theme (First time I ever heard of that happening). The argument was over Theme licensing. The blog author asked the audience what they thought of the topic, and he got tons of comments. So that’s a way to engage the reader.
Gina recently posted..Long-term, Mid-term, Short-term Website Traffic
Twitter: melvinblog
July 22, 2010 at 7:19 pm
Exactly. I think I saw that post too. Its about GPL and whether Thesis has to have that licensing.
Anyways, heated arguments are always and there sometimes it could come out ugly. But its important to always be on the positive side of things and not induce negativity into the conversations.
Melvin recently posted..Being *Just* a Marketer & Not an Internet Guy
The thesis issue is something I’ve been following closely too and it fascinates me how people make this whole thing more complicated.
And its obvious that the only way to do this is with the court case since Chris is too overpersonal with regards to him violating what he feels is right. I like the guy from this issue he’s the clear loser
Too many people focus too much on sales and less on quality content. I believe that number 3, Get them to read your best stuff, should be number one because it’s really hard to get comments from a bad article/content.
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Twitter: melvinblog
July 22, 2010 at 7:20 pm
Yes. even from a good article, it’s hard to get comments. Thats why it takes time to build a loyal community and eventually benefit from it in the long run.
Melvin recently posted..Being *Just* a Marketer & Not an Internet Guy
Yes it takes time and a lot of content. The more you write the better you get, the more people love you. Once you have a good following, selling becomes easy. Not that I’m up there with those kind of people. I believe if you strive to be the best without thinking too much about the money, you’ll make it someday.
I just read a wonderful post at CopyBlogger that I recommend – The 8 Habits of Effective Bloggers http://www.copyblogger.com/effective-blog-habits/
Jonsky recently posted..Man Attacks Bear, Rescues Goat
Twitter: melvinblog
July 23, 2010 at 9:58 pm
Exactly, thats why the thing that I always tell people when starting up is to focus first on growth.. I don’t care how much money they want to make, I just tell them to grow their community and traffic first and almost always, it leads to the making money..
Melvin recently posted..Being *Just* a Marketer & Not an Internet Guy
Twitter: indblog
July 20, 2010 at 7:15 am
When somebody leaves a comment on one of my blogs I always reply as soon as possible and then visit their blog and leave a comment as a thank you.
Twitter: melvinblog
July 20, 2010 at 11:01 am
That’s a good method but I guess not all bloggers can do that due to others having other commitments and stuff.
But again commenting back to their blog is more as a sign of appreciation so its definitely a must.
Melvin recently posted..Being *Just* a Marketer & Not an Internet Guy
Thanks for sharing this. I agree that we can leverage first time visitors into loyal community member by giving importance on the visitor’s comment. We can also provide valuable information to gain more members and continue to build relationship until they become loyal to you. This is also good if you are building your list. Building relationship with a person will earn them your trust and credibility.
kind regards,
Gary
Twitter: melvinblog
July 22, 2010 at 7:21 pm
Yes exactly. Its making first time visitors feel they’re important and giving them enough reason to come back to our blog not just to comment but to be a loyal reader.
Melvin recently posted..Being *Just* a Marketer & Not an Internet Guy
Hi Melvin, great article and a lot of new things for me to think about who is a rookie in the blog branch.
Twitter: melvinblog
July 20, 2010 at 11:01 am
Hey Lennart,
Im glad you like this article. If you have further questions I’ll be glad to answer them here..
Melvin recently posted..Major Contest Announcement and Some Guest Posting Opps
“Comment Back on their blog…”
You have no idea how big this is!
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Twitter: melvinblog
July 20, 2010 at 11:03 am
Melvin recently posted..An Interesting Guest Post Analysis on FamousBloggers
Well, commenting on the person’s blog who just left you a comment is very welcome!
Colleen recently posted..45th Annual Columbia Cup Hydroplane Races on the Columbia River
Twitter: melvinblog
August 1, 2010 at 5:55 am
Hahah, now i get it. I thought you mean something else thats quite odd.
Melvin recently posted..The Best Blog Marketing Tips Around the Internet
Thanks Melvin!
Colleen recently posted..Tri Cities Washington New Real Estate Listings July 31- 2010
Twitter: another_blogger
July 19, 2010 at 9:16 pm
Cool Melv
I usually contact the owner if his blog is really interesting and provide helpful article, just to say thanks and that is a start to build a relationship
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Twitter: melvinblog
July 20, 2010 at 11:04 am
That’s a good idea and as I’ve said, it starts to build that initial contact between you and the other bloggers. What’s important is to cultivate that and eventually bring that into a new level.
Melvin recently posted..An Interesting Guest Post Analysis on FamousBloggers
Those are great tips – what I aim for, actually, is a kind of conversation, and it doesn’t have to be through e-mail. Especially if a commentator is another blogger – I mean, heck, they’re already putting information out there, they’re already saying “read this.” So I’ll go and stumble a post, I’ll give them as thoughtful a response as I can to a comment, I’ll add them to delicious…
…you get the idea. What needs to happen is that I need to show consideration, and just as important, they need to be willing to accept that consideration. I can safely say that while I’ve met some awesome people online, the ones that are willing to help and be helped and are easy to work with are few and far between. My commenting strategy has really focused these last few days on giving time and effort to people that really want to work with me, and a few people who got a lot of consideration but didn’t show any sort of promise have been left behind.
ashok recently posted..Posts on Greek Drama and History
Twitter: melvinblog
July 20, 2010 at 11:07 am
Good thought Ashok, unique point there.
Well my goal of emailing them is to try to make it on a more personal level. When I email them I make sure I don’t some “salesy” or pitching something else. I want to let them know Im for real and Im in the building relationship business .
I also do ocassional stumbles, retweets for most of my readers and its more for showing my appreciation to them. I would say that should come later on the funnel and I’m more inclined to focus first on that initial conversation.
Melvin recently posted..Being *Just* a Marketer & Not an Internet Guy
I’ll definitely incorporate using a bit more e-mail in talking to people: probably couldn’t hurt. Thanks!
btw, I am working on dropping tons of comments on a diversity of blogs. I can’t do 100-150 a day, but I’m at 10-20. It’s sorta working: the numbers are up, but no snowball effect yet. I’m wondering what else I should be doing.
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Twitter: melvinblog
July 22, 2010 at 7:22 pm
Your welcome ashok.
Well that sounds good. If you read my previous guest post here, you can see that I made an update on that post saying that 100-150 comments may not be feasible to everyone. Again thats possible, because of your feedbacks here..
Melvin recently posted..Being *Just* a Marketer & Not an Internet Guy
Thanks Melvin. I definitely agree that you should go to their blog and leave a comment back on one or more of their articles. It makes them feel welcome and will inspire future comments and readership as well.
Aaron recently posted..Free Blogs
Twitter: melvinblog
July 20, 2010 at 11:08 am
Exactly my point. There is where it all starts out. Then from there on you start to work your way up to them.
Melvin recently posted..Major Contest Announcement and Some Guest Posting Opps
Twitter: element321
July 19, 2010 at 7:19 pm
Melvin,
Great post. I see a lot of articles about commenting on other sites. I have been looking for ways to do better commenting on my site and find ways to build a connection with my readers.
For those that do comment on my site, I try and go back to their sites and comments. some sites I can comment on and I do, but there are a lot of sites a have nothing to comment on. So it gets hard commenting on those sites. For those visitors I can not comment on their sites and I dont. For those I can not comment on, I have set up a email address for my domain and I will start emailing them thank you emails…
element321 recently posted..Guest Post: Using CommentLuv To Build Traffic
Twitter: melvinblog
July 20, 2010 at 11:11 am
Thanks Mr element.
Well that’s the fact. I think about 50% of commenters do it more for search awareness for their service or products so oftentimes we will see commenters coming not from a blog but for something else. Obviously we cannot comment on those sites.
I think its a good idea to email them as well but I find that tactic not that much worth it. I mean what do you think? Did it work out for you?
Melvin recently posted..Being *Just* a Marketer & Not an Internet Guy
Twitter: element321
July 20, 2010 at 4:38 pm
Melvin,
For me the emails never really help. I noticed most people never really come back to the post if I ask them a question from their remarks, on this site its differently. I am not sure if they do not know I made a response or they care not to answer it.
But my wife has her own blog and she has found success with emailing everyone that response on her site. But her niche is very different from ours and the people she works with on her sites and the ones she comments on our very different from our niches…
element321 recently posted..QuickTip: How To Resize Images Using GIMP
Twitter: melvinblog
August 1, 2010 at 5:58 am
Now I’m getting your point. In our niche, people are more “come and go” type of persons and you’re right, oftentimes they don’t come back. But for me what I do is by default check the email subscription when someone replies back and in that way Im seeing more and more repeat commenters on my posts.
But it’s a case to case basis I guess. Maybe it has something to do with some factors like authority or whatnot.
Melvin recently posted..The Best Blog Marketing Tips Around the Internet
Melvin,
This is a great article. My site doesn’t get a ton of comments, so I always respond to each one. I usually do go to their site/twitter and poke around. I really like when people do that for me too.
Great tips.
Thanks,
Chris
Twitter: melvinblog
July 20, 2010 at 11:12 am
That’s nice to hear. Like you, thats how I do it before. I try to be in constant exchange of communication to them either personally via email or through social media. Later on, this will all pay off.
Melvin recently posted..Major Contest Announcement and Some Guest Posting Opps
Hi Melvin,
I respond to every comment while making sure to thank the reader for their kindness.
I also follow the blogs of virtually every single person who consistently follows my blog. Even if they commented once and they run a great blog I will visit every time they post. It’s all about connecting with other people, especially leaders in the industry.
Most of all I try to put out fresh and interesting content to make my readers happy. The best Thank You of all is to provide continuing value.
Thanks for sharing your commenting insight.
Ryan Biddulph
Ryan Biddulph recently posted..Do Not Wait To Create
Twitter: melvinblog
July 20, 2010 at 11:13 am
Yes, continuing to provide that VALUE is still the best way to maintain them. How come I forgot that?
Anyways thanks for that and Im glad you like this article.
Melvin recently posted..Major Contest Announcement and Some Guest Posting Opps
Well… to be honest I used a plugin called “Thank Me Later,” as always, it works for me, it’s in the message that actually will trigger the commentator to reply to you. Although, it’s automatically send after 24 hour (I had set the time) so that the new commentator will feel it’s not an auto-type of email.
Secondly, well written message does get’s them to reply to you. You see once they reply to me, I will spend a bit more time on sending them real honest-to-God email directly from me.
I don’t do it in the first place because, sometime… some new commentator are just there to comment on your blog once and fly off and never come back, so why in the hell I care about them?
Of course there is a funnel of creating this thing, well… you go figure. It will be a long story if I’m going to write it here.
And great Melvin… as always I rather called you the “Melvin The Marvelous.” Great write out…
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Twitter: melvinblog
July 23, 2010 at 10:01 pm
well thanks bad blogger for that complement.. I appreciate it.
Well you’re right, not 80% of people reply to a well-written email. In fact I tested it John Chows blog on my guest post and for 60 commenters that I (or my assistant) sent an email to, less than half of them replied. But i mean that’s internet marketing right? people who sell things don’t really get 50% conversion upwards, same as email marketing wherein less than 50% reads your email..
What do you think?
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Usually, I will send 3 email one per day and the first email “thanks them” and second day “give them something” and the third day “give them something very valuable and ask to sign in your list”
Well, this is a funnel… and how you gonna write the email is something that will change the course of it… First off you should not said well-written email did not reply because may be your title doesn’t look intriguing enough for them to open it and that is why your well-written email is not read.
Go figure and change your title may be something different will happen.
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August 1, 2010 at 8:54 am
Its true. However it depends as well on how your audience perceives you. I see a lot of people who make the mistake of jumping in too early. What I mean is that if someone has not yet had any reputations towards the potential readers of his blog, then he must not act like he already has.
Before I was wondering why Frank Kern makes so much money off his list when its obvious that its either he’s selling people his product or promoting other stuffs. And by studying how massive his following is, I understand it.
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Melvin, I like the idea of personally emailing them, and inviting them to view a landing page, but at some point, I think automation would inevitably have to take over. It all depends on the popularity of the blog, I guess, but in general, I believe I’d have to rely on a plugin, even if it’s not as personal as I’d like. Still, whether it’s automated or not, the email / landing page part of the funnel is a very good idea. Nice!
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Twitter: melvinblog
July 22, 2010 at 7:25 pm
I myself like to automate things so I say yes, it could be possible. However my concern is that from what I see, sometimes those automated emails from plugins just end up in spam folder. I mean who checks out spam folder anyway?
Since my blog doesn’t get over 20 comments at most, I try to do it personally..
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I guess the word “attack” isn’t too friendly ?
Anyway I appreciate you responding to my comment. Yes you’re right, when someone is happy then it gives them a good impression of the others and that’s why making them happy is always a priority,..
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