Increase Blog Traffic with Comments, Conversation and Community

One of the most important aspects of developing a successful and popular blog is growing your audience of both new and loyal readers. A critical component of achieving those goals is to develop relationships with your readers by following the 3 Cs of Blogging - Comments, Conversation and Community.
1. Comments
Comments are the lifeline of a blog. Ask your readers to leave comments, request their opinions and respond to them promptly. Make them feel like they are valuable members of your blog and take the time to develop relationships with them. Develop a blog comment policy so visitors' expectations are set upfront and your loyal readers are protected.
2. Conversation
You need to start the conversations on your blog by writing compelling blog posts that invite readers to join in. Keep your content fresh and entertaining. Research your audience and your blog statistics to learn what your audience wants from your blog then write content that meets their needs. When your readers take the time to join in the conversation, make sure that conversation is truly two-way by responding and making your readers feel comfortable in expressing their thoughts and opinions on your blog.
3. Community
When comments and conversation starts flowing on your blog, a community will naturally develop around it. Your goal as the blogger is to keep the community entertained, interested and on topic to ensure your entire audience continues to derive value from your blog. Too many tangent conversations about Reader A's cat on a blog that is not about cats, will bore the rest of your audience and drive them away. You need to act as the conversation starter, motivator and moderator to develop the strongest community and to achieve the greatest success.