How important is it to have a big blog community? Well, this is a bit of a long answer…
More Comments
One of the more annoying things I have noticed is Nusuni Dot Com has quite a few readers (it doubled over the summer 
), but hardly anyone comments. I suppose that could be for two reasons, #1, my content isn’t worthy of comments (say it ain’t so!), or #2, there isn’t enough of a community around here. I suspect the later is the answer, and I also believe that is why many other blogs (including some with 700+ readers) have trouble getting even a few comments per day.
More Connection
In addition to getting more comments, a community could also result in more communication between you and your readers. You can get all the hits in the world, but that doesn’t mean anyone is going to talk to you.
Having more connection with your readers could also result in more guest posting, more post ideas, freelance work, etc.
Charge More For Ads
Why do you think some smaller blogs can get away with charging $200/month per 125×125 ad? They have an active community. Think about it, if an advertiser or company comes to your site and sees zero comments on everything but you have a FeedBurner chicklet that says “500 readers”, do you think they’d want to advertise? What about if your blog got 10+ comments per post but 400 people read the blog. Which one would you rather advertise on?
More Satisfaction
And I suppose the final reason why blog communities are important is the satisfaction you get. It’s good getting feedback about something, but it is even better if you get feedback from strangers. You might show your blog to some friends, family, etc, and get some extra hits or a comment, but it isn’t very satisfying. However, if you get that same amount of activity from perfect strangers you’ll think “wow, I’m finally understanding this blogging thing!”
More Information
If you’re interested in the subject, here’s some more posts you may want to check out:
Respond to Comments On Your Blog
Building a Community Around Your Blog
Building A Community - For What?
Well, that’s the end of the Back To The Basics series.
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October 10th, 2007 at 1:03 pm
[…] Day 31: How Important Is It To Have A Blog Community? […]
October 10th, 2007 at 1:44 pm
How to get comments, I Have the same question. The entire reason I starting building a blog site is to
1. get feed back from my community
2. update my clients with my activities
3. explain to new clients what i do
4. to build a community of people i want to interact with.
so how do i do this…
well, i wanted to highlight one person that i researched a little.
http://thephenixrealestateguy.com
It seems that he has only been really active for 1 year, before that his posts were here and there. Even today he will post about 16 - 20 times month and in the beginning it was only 2-5 per month.
I asked him his secret and besides good content he doesn’t do anything special…so maybe good interesting content is the answer. However i believe networking with other blog will also help.
Just my 2 cents.
Daniel
October 10th, 2007 at 2:01 pm
I suppose another way to get comments would be to pay your readers…
October 10th, 2007 at 3:13 pm
I refuse to hire a service to promote my blog. In fact, i heard it is highly frowned upon in the blogging community and is considered spam. However i am sure you were just joking.
Check out the mapping tool i posted on my site, it shows you where people come from when they visit.
I already hit the east coast since i posted the map - i never would have thought that
Daniel
http://blog.dometri.com
October 10th, 2007 at 3:31 pm
Don’t worry, was just joking.
October 10th, 2007 at 3:55 pm
I knew that - you caught me in my business mode.
we have 2 deals closing today
October 20th, 2007 at 10:52 am
[…] Day 31: How Important Is It To Have A Blog Community? […]