Which is More Important: Comments or Traffic?
September 16, 2008 12:51 pm Social MediaEvery time I publish a post, I excitedly wait for the comments to start rolling in. One of my favorite aspects of blogging is learning what my readers think about my recent updates. Although blogs serve as a way to share information, they encourage two-way conversations between the bloggers and blog readers. You are no longer just pushing your messages out there to people, you are encouraging the recipients to get involved. By commenting, readers share their opinion and provide you with instantaneous feedback.
At the same time, I understand that the value of my blog is not only measured by the number of comments, but the amount of traffic that I get on my site. This prompted me to ask my fellow Twitterers: “What do you like more on your site: Comments or Traffic?” Rex White’s tweet summed up the majority of the responses:
According to the Twitterers, comments have the following value to your blog:
Adds more substance to the post
Direct interaction with the blog readers builds loyalty
Allows you to receive feedback on your post
Comments beget more traffic
Proves the quality of your content to your readers
Allows you to measure the level of engagement that exists on your blog
Builds a community around your blog
Reveals the type of reader who visits your site
A few of the tweets I received raised their hands for traffic. According to them, traffic introduces your blog to new readers who will eventually comment and provide their feedback.
Traffic also can show tangible numbers that prove the success of an online campaign.
Which one is more important to you and why?
Thank you for the responses to Rex White, ScreenRant, J. Pollack Photography, Scott Spradlin, Alex Friedman, Mark Carras, Steaprok, Jason Butler, Jeff Flowers, Melanie Phung, Christoc, JD Wade, JONxBLAZE, MaxyRO, typropearl and Mark Salinas.
September 16th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Comments are great because you can really learn from comments and benefit from the blog the same as the inital reader.
September 16th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
So hard to say. It’s like saying would I rather have ice cream or pie. It’s much easier to just say both. Luckily, the 2 are normally highly related.
At the end of the day, it depends on what type of blog I’m building. I’ve usually found traffic is a better girlfriend since she’s always there and I can check on it any time I want. Comments are not as good a girlfriend since sometimes they just aren’t there and I miss them.
September 16th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
Personally I would rather have comments. I write my posts mostly in hopes to generate discussion to hear different sides and opinions.
Traffic is nice, but if you get 1000 hits but no comments, how do you know what people actually think?
September 16th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
I love the way you used twitter posts to get your point across. Very innovative and clever.
September 17th, 2008 at 9:00 am
Thx for using the tweet! I’m glad to see for the most part others agree. Its true, you can get 100K visitors, and have them bounce at astronomical rates. Whats the point of that?
Give me comments and interaction any day of the week!
September 19th, 2008 at 2:25 am
The choice between comment or traffic depends on your goals. If you want to earn money with your blog than traffic is much more important. If you’re looking to build an image, on the cotraray, you should be after comments.
September 19th, 2008 at 7:39 am
I like comments mainly because it can be a stepping stone towards building a rapport with various individuals. Feedback can help one improve and learn…how is the message perceived?
September 19th, 2008 at 8:33 pm
Comments all the way. If only five people read my blog, but they all comment, I consider that a success. But then again, I’m not trying to be famous in the blogging world. If you’re trying to be robert scoble, then I guess traffic is more important.
Kudos for the twitter idea. Very neat!
September 25th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
I think if you’re getting a huge stream of comments on your blog then obviously you have the traffic count. Although, comment aren’t exactly a direct reflection on traffic count, you can be sure that if you’re getting 20 comments within an hour chances are you’ve got good traffic.
Speaking of which, I’m so damn hungry, I might go check the fridge.
September 25th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
That’s an awesome question you tackled here.
September 25th, 2008 at 11:28 pm
I would much prefer comments, because I love the interaction and the thought that people liked my post enough to take the time to leave a comment.
September 27th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
I would love to have traffic and comments. For some reason, I have more traffic and high page per views than comments. Comments usually come from networking on other blogs. The more I network, the more comments I get. If I don’t have time to network, then I just don’t. If I had to chose one, I’d rather have the traffic though.
October 4th, 2008 at 6:56 am
As I was wandering around this morning catching up with blogs in my feed reader and thinking about what my next post would be on my own blog I was thinking about how important comments and conversation are just for your health and well being as a blogger. Comments can keep the juices flowing and the desire to blog going which often can be diverted into other areas. Traffic doesn’t connect as viscerally, of course everyone wants traffic but it’s a quantitative measure, comments are qualitative.
October 5th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
Comments 100%. Traffic doesn’t show reader interaction. Comments on the other hand do. I’d rather 2 comments on a blog than 200 hits. Comments show community.. traffic doesn’t
October 6th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
That first tweet just about sums it up! For me, I care about community. You can’t have community without that personal interaction back and forth.
On the other hand, I also work with a lot of Real Estate Agents who get a lot of traffic on their site but few comments. People sign up for their listing search and they get “leads” from their sites, just not many comments.
October 15th, 2008 at 6:53 am
I just posted on a similar topic - the real question is whether or not either traffic or comments add to your conversion rates and revenue stream. Do they?
On my blog, they do not. Some of my posts with incredibly small traffic have brought me some of my largest contracts!
October 16th, 2008 at 6:12 pm
Hi there,
Judging from the comments here I’m clearly going to be in the minority! It’s not that I don’t see the value of comments, in fact I love them — but, as someone who has had a blog for only about 3 weeks, what is most important to me right now is getting some traffic!
If you typically get only 1 comment for every 50 or 100 who visit your site, then if I don’t build up some traffic, and hopefully have people who want to return to my site regularly, then I’ll never be able to get more than a comment or two!
So, if I reach the point many of you are at where you have lots of traffic coming to your site, I will most likely share your preference for comments. But for the time being, I hope to learn the best things to do to drive people to my blog and I think that if that happens, the comments will follow!
By the way, I love your blog — especially the fact that you focus not only on social media but on current affairs, marketing, and general interests all in the same blog. I wanted to get into blogging and I thought the best way to do that was to share my own experience. But I also would love to address politics and marketing too. Until I saw your blog, I thought that the only way to do that would be to have three different blogs. So, thank you — you’re giving me lots to think about.
One final comment — so many of the social media blogs I’ve been to are dominated by men — it’s great to see a woman nailing it!
October 22nd, 2008 at 5:14 pm
Okay, this is the thing…..get the traffic first, worry about comments later. Traffic is really important if you have a blog you’re trying to make money with, so I say just deal with traffic, and worry about getting comments later. You can always have a contest, or give a prize to those who comment the most.
November 4th, 2008 at 9:21 pm
Comments are my goal I write posts to share my point of view, my information, and to learn from those commenting and discussing on my blog. Comments generate trust on my blog and my services
November 20th, 2008 at 10:44 am
My site meter counter is increasing everyday but it’s very sad that nobody bothered to comment ~ comment only occurs once in a blue moon. I prefer comment because I would like to know what other people think and share their opinion about what I’ve posted. Interaction between the blogger and the reader is very important because that’s what blog for. Comments from readers will also make more lively. I’ve seen a lot of bloggers lazy to update and post, the reason behind this is because their readers do not comment, not because they’re lazy. I also don’t understand why they like to write their comments in chat/message box?!! It makes me think of removing it off my blog.
Please visit my blog:
http://elishares.blogspot.com
p/s: And don’t forget to give me comment. Cheers… =)
December 27th, 2008 at 3:17 pm
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Talking about ideas, there\s this really good show, which I like a lot, and I\m sure you\ve heared about it. It\s called STOMP. What these guys do is so cool, I saw them live in NY. I\m sure you can do the same and even better. It really turns people on. Just an idea, hope it could be any helpful.
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