Social Media 101: Tactics and Tips to DevelopYour Business Online

Chapter 73. Musicians Play for Tips: The Importance of Comments

As I am writing this book, more than 35,300 people receive my blog in their RSS readers (or via e-mail). Another 9,000 to 14,000 come to the site directly, depending on the day and the post. Add those up, and let's say that around 45,000 people come read my stuff daily.

If 1 percent of you commented, that'd be 450. (I'm bad at math. Did I do that right?) The average post on my blog gets a respectable 30 or so comments, but that's only a tiny fraction of the folks who get a copy of each post. This got me thinking about other great blogs that I love.

I read several hundred blog posts a day. I comment on maybe five or six. So I'm in there with you. I'm not commenting much, either. And yet, if I'm able to leave a decent and thoughtful comment, I know that the other person will appreciate it. Sometimes, it's a matter of time. If it's that, here are some other ways to help.

IF YOU DON'T HAVE TIME TO COMMENT

Bookmark the post in a social bookmarking site (so others might find it).

• Share it in Google Reader.

• "Like" it in FriendFeed.

• Stumble it in StumbleUpon.

• If it's really good, Digg it.

• Note it on Facebook.

You get the picture. If you enjoy something, but don't have the chance to comment due to time, another great way to be helpful is to move it along to others in your network. That's why there are social software tools to begin with: to facilitate that very experience.

I could probably list 100 blogs that deserve more comments without ...