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Business Blog Step 16 - Dealing With Replies to Your Blog Posts

Guest post by: Gary Baker

Article Overview: Most of us like to have the chance to express our views on subjects we are interested in and we like to be listened to – when these opinions are directed at your business, then you need to be able to both listen and respond.

Business Blog Step 16 - Dealing With Replies to Your Blog Posts

Most of us like to have the chance to express our views on subjects we are interested in and we like to be listened to – when these opinions are directed at your business, then you need to be able to both listen and respond.

Luckily, one of the key functions of a Blog which sets it apart from general websites is the ability for readers to post comments replying to the views made in a post. Your Business blog therefore serves this dual purpose of allowing these opinions to be made and giving you the facility to reply to them and, in the process, start a conversation.

Unless there are very specific reasons why not, you should always allow people to comment on your blog and also make sure that you have the ability to deal with them. Whether the comments you receive contain information, praise or criticism, you need to deal with them openly and correctly.

You can achieve a huge amount by doing this properly, gaining respect in the process, especially when responding to negative comments. You will encourage additional comments by the way that you have dealt with previous ones.

To get people to reply and voice their opinion, we need to have interested the reader enough for them to want to post a comment and ideally have either challenged or inspired them as well.

While a controversial post can attract a higher number of responses, it may not be wise to take this route unless it fits with your overall plan for your blog. What is more appropriate is creating subject matter which elicits reactions rather than controversy.

As we get multiple replies, the communication moves past a simple single interaction and starts to develop into a community or a network, with your blog at the very heart of it. The interaction may start as a one-to-one between you and one other but, as the community expands, it will develop into ‘one to many’ and then ‘many to many’ conversations. All of this will start to create relationships at a number of levels.

Don’t sit back and wait for comments – help to initiate them, either on your own blog or those of others. Don’t be afraid to openly and candidly ask for comments – you should feel comfortable to encourage or challenge people to reply, or ask them for information. Start that conversation!

You will also tend to encourage comments on your own posts by commenting on other people’s. As you leave constructive comments on other blogs which add to their post, you will encourage a dialogue which will no doubt also revert to your own blog. Once you show that you are prepared to take the time and effort on their blogs, they will reciprocate on yours.

Finally, remember that although the comments feature will be the main way for people to reply to you, there is also your profile which should contain your contact details. This is another key way in which people can get in touch, so make sure that it is easily accessible and contains all of the relevant information.

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Article Tags: blog, blogging, blogging for beginners, business blogs, comments, replies, wordpress, wordpresscom, wordpressorg



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