When maintaining or starting up an online business, if you’re up to it and feel that you need to share your expertise on something, it’s wonderful to post about important issues and let others know of your findings and experiences. If you’re in the blogging or article writing business as well, it’s very important to always read the other users’ comments under the posts you stumble upon. This is how you will get the most value for every article you read.
So you’re reading up on your favorite topics, and researching for your next post, article, or project. Or maybe you’re just reading about your other daily interests. As you have noticed (and most likely, have set up on your own website as well), there is a comments feed under each and every post. Have you ever thought about how important it is to read readers’ comments on posts you browse?
- You should give time to examine any tidbits or value that a comment can give you. Just one sentence or one mere suggestion can help you spin off tons of ideas and get inspired to write more articles. Or, if everyone seems to have the same kinds of questions, you can write a whole series of articles pertaining to that subject and explain everything further yourself. It’s like a non-stop flow of ideas, just reading what others have to say. Plus, you can learn a lot that you were never really aware of!
- Watching and observing readers’ comments can be a tiny form of market analysis: people ask for and about what they really want on the market, and what they’re interested in considering and/or buying. What do people ask most frequently? What are they really interested in? Could you possibly profit from that? How could you use this knowledge and apply it to your own website?
- You may have missed something in your own posts – by all means, don’t forget to read your own user comments as well! In a recent post I’ve written on my Internet Marketing Blog titled: how to lower AdWords campaign keywords’ average cost per click rate, our reader Zayd wrote: “I found that when creating a specific ad group keyword list, you should have all 3 match types per keyword. Increase the bid price for match type Exact and Phrase slightly more than the Broad keyword:)” That was a wonderful insight! Someone who didn’t read through the comments, wouldn’t be able to get this gem of information, something that might help their business tremendously.
Many are the times that we’ve forgotten something even though we’re sure we’ve done all research needed, and someone comes along and gives us a bit of insight. It’s wonderful, because it actually means people are reading your stuff. Always appreciate things you may have passed over, and after thanking the commenter, make additions to your posts or write additional ones on the topic with the corrections/suggestions.
- You can also get tips and ideas for your own website and posts. It’s like copying the split-tests of the giants. Look at the design and feel of the blog or website. How are people reacting to the content? What are they saying? Do they want more? Many readers will share what they think about the whole experience of visiting that website, or for more specific things, at the bottom of each post. Like we said in the beginning, readers are the most important part of an online presence! We should always take what they think into consideration.
- Readers sharing experiences will create a much more interactive experience for the rest of the visitors. If readers are encouraged to keep commenting by having questions answered by the post writers and other users, thus providing value and good Q & A time, be sure that other visitors will chip in as well. Besides, there’s nothing nicer for a webmaster or article writer than seeing his or her followers interact with their content!
So don’t just read the posts and take off! Make sure you take the time to carefully read what other readers and users are saying – you never know just what you may learn.