BlogPaws Community Chatter: Blog Comments & Business Plans

Post by Blog Manager Robbi Hess

If you haven’t spent time recently in the BlogPaws Community, you are missing out on a lot of good BlogPaws Community Chatter! This week, PR Manager Carol Bryant and I started discussions on blog comments & business plans. If you’re a blogger — whether a pet blogger or a lifestyle blogger  — you want to feel as though your blog posts are reaching your readers. How do you do that or how can you gauge it? By interactions and comments on your blog, of course!

Do You Comment On Blog Posts?

BlogPaws Community Member Jessica of You Did What With Your Weiner wrote that, “I don’t have a set routine. I WANT one, and imagine having one, but life gets in the way. I used to comment on around 10 a day but I haven’t commented on hardly any since starting grad school. I always feel bad about not commenting on more blogs.”

Kimberly Gauthier of Keep The Tail Wagging, wrote, “I have a similar routine, but I don’t always comment.  I know that this is important for many people, but sometimes I don’t have anything to add and ‘nice post’ doesn’t seem like enough.  When I comment, I want to leave something thoughtful. I do read at least five blog posts a day – this, in my opinion, is more valuable, because although I’m not a Unique Visitor, I am a visitor and because I’m reading blog posts straight through, I’m adding to the blogger’s Time on Site. There are also blogs that are very much inline with what I write about (raw dog food, holistic care, multi dog home) and if I see something that my readers would like I either link to it in a blog post or share it on my page.

She shared her schedule: 2-3 blog posts on my commute to work; 2-3 blog posts on my commute home; If I haven’t hit 5, I’ll read 1-2 when I get home; 5-10 Saturday morning; 5-10 Sunday morning.

How often do you post comments on blog posts? Do you have a set schedule? Do you wish you had more comments on your blog posts?

Do You Have A Blog Business Plan?

All bloggers (that may be a sweeping statement) who are in the practice of blogging on a regular basis, spreading the word on what they do on social media platforms and looking for ways to make money with their blogs are, bottom line, business people. In that case, you need to treat your blog as a business. Carol writes about how to prepare a blogging business plan and even offers an informational template to help you do just that.

Aimee of Irresistible Pets wrote, “I had a plan but not quite sure where I stand with it at this point. I got into a bit of blogger funk the past few weeks and need to reevaluate what I want with my blog (s). ”

Jeanette of Fido Confidential shared this with Community members, “My blog (FidoConfidential) is attached to a website (FidoUniverse).  The website has a business plan that is missing a marketing plan — a serious gap. That plan was drafted late last summer.  On a weekly basis I record benchmarks for the site and blog. With the blog, I feel I’m still challenged by simply getting content up on a regular basis.  I do a lot of interviews of people whom I later write about, so my content production is pretty labor intensive at this point. I’d like to know more about developing a blogging plan and getting my blog on a more business like footing so it can be monetized.”

Do you have a blogging business plan? Do you know where to start on putting one together? We have experts that can help and we will be having a session about that at the BlogPaws 2014 conference.

Don’t forget to check out the BlogPaws Community for ongoing blogging and business and pet-related conversations!

(Photo: Shutterstock, Dog Writing)