Get More Comments, Honor Your Fans and Create the Supportive Community You Deserve
By Thea Fiore-Bloom, PhD
Why do creatives want comments on our blogs? Like, badly?
Well, because we want to avoid a place I call the lonely pier at the end of the universe.
See when you put your heart into a mailing, a blog, or your art newsletter – and hardly anyone responds – you can feel rejected, and the lights can dim.
And all of a sudden you’ve been teleported in your mind to this creaking wooden pier just floating in Outerspace. And there you are all alone, comment-less, awkwardly whistling to yourself.
Oh no, wait, or is that just me?
Well, I’m going to assume for now that we’ve all done some time on the lonely pier.
Now, doing a little time there without comments is normal and survivable.
The 3 Bad Things That Happen if You Go Too Long Without Comments
But when you camp out on the lonely pier too long you encounter three problems.
- First, when we go too long without comments we can lose the motivation to blog.
- Second, we can even lose the desire to share our art online.
- And third, if we sit too long on the pier we pick up some killer butt splinters.
And I can’t let those three things happen to you (especially the butt splinters.)
So I’m going to give you seven tips. These tips go beyond the standard stuff you’ve heard before like, “make sure you ask for comments at the end of each post.”
My seven tips are weirder. And may prove more effective for you as a heart-centered artist or writer. Because they all circle around the big kahuna secret to comments. And that is this. Build and honor relationships with your individual readers.
So ready to be as happy as this kid riding the unicorn?
Great, we’ll start with the easy stuff. But the best secrets, the ones that separate the ham from the prosciutto are the last three.
Don’t leave before you’ve eyeballed them.
The 7 Authentic Ways To Get More Comments
Way #1 To Get More Comments on Your Art Blog
Understand the Fear Obstacle
To solve a problem, you first need to identify its source.
So what could be stopping your readers from giving you the love you deserve in the form of comments?
The big obstacle is usually fear.
More specifically, fear of being judged.
We all have moments when we fear being wrong or coming off as a whack job when we leave a meaningful comment.
And it doesn’t help that comments are forever. (Song to the tune of James Bond’s “Diamonds are Forever.”)
Thinking up something on the spot to say that we feel comfortable to have posted online for the entirety of humanity to read for all eternity isn’t easy right?
(For help caring less about the opinions of others check out my post Letting Go of Approval: A Story for Artists (That Involves Underwear).)
5 Ways You May Be Discouraging Comments Without Knowing It
To overcome reader fear consider these five dos and don’ts:
- Don’t make your comment eliciting question be “Please leave a comment.” That closes readers’ thought doors down.
- If you want to keep it simple do ask, “What do you think?” instead. That tends to open up readers’ mental doors a bit more.
- Don’t ask complex questions that require a lot of thought and writing on the behalf of your reader. For example, avoid questions like, “What does your weekly painting schedule look like?” It seems like a great question but unfortunately, anything that asks for deep or organized thought in comment land usually gets you a chorus of crickets.
- Instead do try short, fun questions that ask one specific thing that relates to your post. For example, I accidentally got a slew of comments on my post, How Tea Can Make You a Better Artist because I ran out of time and slapped the question, “What’s your favorite tea?” at the end of the post. Folks had a ready answer for that.
- Do ask more complex questions- but later. As in after you’ve established a base of committed commenters.
Now as if fear wasn’t enough of an obstacle to people commenting you also want to consider your readers’ second huge obstacle. They have those tiny but sinister armies of robots to deal with.
Way #2 To Get More Comments on Your Art Blog
Understand the Tech Obstacle
Sometimes it’s not you – it’s your technology. Your website’s technology to be exact.
If you’re not getting comments, have a friend test if your comment section even functions BEFORE you call your therapist.
Often a glitch is making leaving a comment physically impossible.
Or maybe a reader can leave one but you aren’t getting notified when they do.
Could be you have a new, snazzy minimalist website theme and people who want to comment can’t see where the hell to type their comment. (It’s because your comment “box” is white on white.)
Or commenters may think your comment section is busted even though their comment successfully went through and is just not appearing because it is awaiting moderation- but the bots won’t let them know that.
So ask your tech guy or gal for help or google what to do.
Now, if you are one of the lovely folks who has managed to leap over the fear hurdle and the technology hurdle and you’ve left a comment on my blog- you’re my hero.
If you’ve commented more than once, thank you, let’s get married.
Why do I feel so strongly about you? Because you are a statistical anomaly- a rare breed.
Want to know how rare?
Buckle up, this will shock you.
Way #3 To Get More Comments on Your Art Blog
Know the 90-9-1 Rule
Did you know that a mere one percent of your readers leave a whopping ninety-nine percent of the comments you receive?
That’s what the stats behind something known as the 90-9-1 rule suggest.
Translation for most bloggers: only nine out of one hundred of your blog readers will ever dare to leave one comment.
And only one out of every one hundred of our readers has the Wonder Woman guts it takes to leave us a comment more than once.
Wild right?
For example, only one percent of the world population currently sports a pair of truly grey eyes.
So think of your one percent-frequent commenter-folks as magical grey-eyed shooting stars.
Treasure each of them.
Instead of focusing on growing our lists and constantly reaching for more new readers, we can choose to slow down and take pleasure in showering attention on the lovely peeps we already are blessed with.
Tips four, five, six, and seven give you fun ways to do just that.
Way #4 To Get More Comments on Your Art Blog
Answer Every Comment With Love
My art blogging colleague Luann Udell is a comment-receiving queen.
I think it’s because her writing is so humorous, real, and comforting. (Here’s a good Luann post example.”Let Me Count the Ways: Why Didn’t That Gallery Take My Work.”)
Udell has garnered more than eighty comments on a single post.
I asked Luann why she thinks she used to get wagonloads of comments on the FASO Bold Brush Blog we both wrote for in the past. She said:
“Well, one reason was I answered every comment readers left me. Most of the FASO bloggers before me rarely interacted with readers – and I did. I think that my answering each comment showed readers I cared. And I did care. And I still do. I appreciate them – and I think they responded in kind.”
The moral of the story, answer all your readers back.
And don’t be reticent when you answer. Many of us are in our 50s, 60s, and 70s and have decades of scars/ wisdom to share. If not now, then when?
Also, try to add links to further information whenever you can in your response.
For example, if a creative asks me in a comment about how to climb out of overwhelm, or outline a post or newsletter I may suggest she or he check out mind mapping. But I will also make sure to include a link to the one mind-mapping video I love. It’s a video that tends to get creatives fast, exciting results.
You may want to jump over your shyness and start answering folks back for no other reason than noticing it doubles your comment count.
But keep it up and eventually, you’ll love replying to every comment once you discover for yourself what Luann shares with us in tip number five.
Way #5 To Get More Comments on Your Art Blog
Tell People They’re Not Crazy
“One of the most important things I think we can do in our comment sections is to assure other artists that they are real,” said Udell.
Luann believes, “Women’s observations about their own art and the art world are often ignored. So if you use your comment section to be like the last line in Avatar and have it say, ‘I see you, I see you!’ you can help all kinds of people who are not normally acknowledged, see themselves as real.”
Let’s be mirrors for our readers.
Let’s let them know they are a real artist even if they didn’t win an arbitrary competition, get a fancypants award or grant, or haven’t ever sold a stick of work.
“I spend a lot of time helping artists in comments,” said Luann “by reassuring them they aren’t crazy if they know in their heart that artmaking is about far more than the pursuit of money or fame.”
Amen Luann!
But what if you have zero comments?
You don’t have to wait for someone to comment to begin making an authentic connection to a reader. Consider reaching out to them to say thanks when they first subscribe. More on outreach in this post I wrote when I first started my blog called: Four Surprising Benefits of a Small Mailing List.
If actual artists (and art buyers) know your site is a magical place, a place where they’ll be witnessed and have their thoughts appreciated, they’ll return of their own volition- no marketing needed.
(See my post Turn Your Art Website Into an Attraction Magnet (Without Social Media) for more on this.)
But do tip number six to help the magic along.
Way #6 To Get More Comments on Your Art Blog
Go the Distance. Email every commenter personally
Why not honor the exceptional grey-eyed unicorn people who keep you from getting butt splinters on the lonely pier by doing three things.
- Give a supportive or information-filled answer to each comment you receive.
- Then Email each commenter back personally. (You have their email on the comment itself.) Say hi and tell them if they made your day.
- Take it further and cut and paste the reply to their comment from your blog’s comment section into the personal email you send them.
I do this so the sweet people who leave comments on my site won’t have to break a sweat and return to my site to check if I ever answered them back.
(Even if your commenters have gone to the trouble of noticing and checking the tiny-weeny box in your comment section that supposedly notifies them when you have responded to their comment- the system that sends the message is usually kaput.
So, consider sending a personal email. Your reader will be pleasantly surprised you went to the trouble. No one else does.
Personal emails honor commenters, open up deeper dialogs and create community.
We creatives need community reinforcement to keep our magic factories up and running in a Kardashian-Bad Bunny-focused world.
Ok here is the final tip, my favorite tip, the last way to practice the art of reader astonishment and feel a natural high at the same time.
#7 Final Way To Get More Comments
Leave a Love Letter on Someone Else’s Door
Creatives in general are generous, sensitive, and caring people.
We love to give and receive.
So why not do both as far as comments go?
By that I mean, subscribe to a bunch of your subscribers’ blogs if you haven’t already.
Don’t worry about getting inundated, artists blog way less than most folks. (In part because most artists receive little feedback, but hopefully we can collectively help change that.)
So leave comments as often as you can on your readers’ creative efforts. Support their dream. Strengthen relationships with your individual readers. I bet many of you already do this.
Seen in this light, leaving a comment for a fellow artist in need attaches little wings to our hearts. (For at least an hour.)
Artists will often want to return the favor.
But most of all leave love letters in the form of comments for fellow artists and writers because as Thich Nhat Hanh said:
“The most precious gift we can offer anyone is our attention. When mindfulness embraces those we love, they will bloom like flowers.”
— Thich Nhat Hanh
_______________________________________________________________
What do you think? What’s helped you get more comments? Do you remember your first comment?
Let me know in the comments below.
I treasure every one of your comments.
Or…
Do you have a post you wrote that needs a comment or two?
Leave a link to any art newsletter or post of YOURS in the comments that you’d like to receive a little comment love.
I’d be thrilled to read your post. I’d be happy to say something nice about it or ask you a question (even if you aren’t a subscriber.)
So come on, be brave. Leave me a link and I’ll be there.
And if other readers want to puppy pile on they can leave a comment too.
Poke about these other Charmed Studio Posts for More Support
The 3 Biggest Mistakes Art Bloggers Make: Number 2 Will Surprise You
3 Questions That Can Transform Your Newsletter (and Your Art Biz)
How To Get an Artist’s Residency? Don’t Apply For One, Do This Instead
Orhan Pamuk, Nobel Laureate: Why Artists and Writers Need to Stay Weird
Writing Coaching
Thea, this is an amazing post! From telling us how to avoid butt splinters to quoting the inimitable Thich Nhat Hahn, this post is so valuable. I will read it again, stopping at every link!
Jan-Alice you are one of my favorite 1 percent bold Wonder Woman commenters. I appreciate it so much! Hope people check out your blog post on Malcom Gladwell’s 10,000 hour rule.https://www.janalicekeeling.com/blog/2020/4/10/time
So I was rereading this blog post, and realized I had never left a comment! Oh my gosh what a hypocrite I am! Anyhoo, here I am now grateful, for ALL your words, my words that you’ve shared, the words you had to say about me, the informative insights you’ve given that have expanded my understanding of how this works. Good on you girlfriend! You are a force for good in the world.
You can’t see, but I’m blushing. You are an art and writing hero of mine. Thanks so much.
Nice post! Thanks for sharing this.
You are so kind to have let me know.
Hi Thea! You are spot on with this post. All great points and #6 is how you won my heart and loyalty. This is a tough field and any amount of support, validation and affirmation is so helpful to continuing on. I first found your blog and you emailed around the beginning of COVID shutdowns and it was so meaningful to have someone acknowledge my existence and work. Thank you for all your generosity and support!
Hello Barbara, you are so welcome. I think you first found me through Rachelle Burke’s great website for children’s writers and illustrators? Did you?
But I could be wrong. I do remember being blown away by your children’s illustration “Traveling Message’ and using it as the banner image for my post on How to Get a Children’s Book To Market. Like so many artists your work is so captivating and it would be hard for outsiders to believe that you have doubts at times. But we all do. I know I do!
Thanks for courageously leaving a comment. I truly appreciate it.
Haha. Now I’m doubting my memory, but I think I found you through Luann Udell’s newsletter. Nonetheless, I’m glad we found each other! I have another thought about why people don’t write. I often feel I have nothing new to add to the conversations. Points get made and if I agree, I don’t feel I can provide anything of additional value. If I disagree, I don’t want to get into a debate or be misunderstood.
Hi Barbara, thanks for adding two good points about why people don’t write. Your first point on having nothing new to add to the conversation is timely for me because I just read a blog post on how to get more comments that suggested not covering every point in detail in the post and leaving room for readers to chime in to fill out the piece with you in the comments. That perspective might help some writers who struggle with perfectionism(ahem, see my hand up?) I think. I like the idea of letting go of having to know it all and leave room (as you would in a painting) for the wisdom of your viewer/reader..
And yes to not wanting to start an argument in comments-that’s what FB is for, and one big reason I am not on it. Be well.
You spend so much time and research to produce these informative blogs to help other artists. I comment to acknowledge this and show my appreciation for information that not only helps my creative endeavors but always includes positive life lessons. Commenting is the least I can do.
Denise,
How kind of you. I know you like to listen to the podcast, so to take the time to come on over from the podcast and leave a physical comment means a lot to me. I have a feeling you will have a new blog spring forth soon and others will be lucky to read it.
Thea, I am sooo glad that you are back! Lots of wonderful information to chose from! Thank you!
Hi Sylvia, I thought of you when I wrote this piece, thanks so much for all your support over the years, it has meant a great deal to me. Hope your assemblage work is going beautifully.
Thea,
You have hit the mark with perfect timing! Just last week I posted a fresh newsletter on my FASO art site after months of lethargy and neglect. My general attitude for the past year has been: with money tight and a sense of national depression hovering over us, coupled with daily catastrophic world news, who cares about art news? To keep from disappearing into a creative sink hole I dashed off an “artful letter” feeling a bit ridiculous. I wrote about one of the classes I’m currently teaching in my Brown Rabbit Studio and posted a sampling of the students’ work. My aim was to convey the joy I find in guiding aspiring artists. The letter went out to my meagre 25 subscribers and soon I received four positive comments through email. I felt somewhat stronger for having taken up my pen again, but was still wavering over whether or not to renew my commitment to writing. And then suddenly my mailbox was aglow with your latest advice for getting more comments on our sites. Good sound advice with encouragement for being real rabbits and not self-absorbed Velveteen Bunnies.
Thea, you are a genie with a lamp, and I am walking in the light again. In fact, my whiskers are already twitching as I plan a fresh newsletter and blogpost.
Thanks to you!
Susan what a wonderful, affirming comment, thanks so much. And 4 out of 25 people commenting is a percentage WAY above average! That’s 16% of your readers commenting right? Huffington Post or Artsy would pass out with joy if they had those numbers. It’s huge, to look at how huge take FASO for example. They most likely have upwards of 100,000 potential commenters receiving almost each post they put out. If 16% of THEIR readers commented on a post that post would garner 16,000 comments right? Hope that helps you reframe the quality of connections and reader loyalty you enjoy. We all had 25 readers at some point, I know I did. And some of the artists out there may wish they had your 25. When you have less readers you have time to put on your lab coat and study their feedback, ask them further questions and write posts directly based on their needs. These needs-based posts are often better, more useful and more broadly applicable than posts written by people in a hurry with 2000 subscribers. For example if I was listening to my commenters now I could write a post on how most of us heart-centered artists are feeling uncomfortable putting out light posts or promotional posts about our art during this time….and what to do instead. (I have no idea what to do about it, if anyone else does please comment.)
Wow! Your mathematical skills equal your writing skills! These numbers really encourage me and offer hope. I dared to publish a fresh blog post at FASO thanks to your numbers. Now I’ll wait and see if I catch any fish… What a marvelous coach you are!
Woohoo! You’re back. :). I listened to this rather than read, and it’s great info. You also made me laugh with your laughter- so thanks for that. But I also had to come back and read it, because I knew there would be a gold mine in the comments. So thanks everyone else, too. Rather than blog I have a newsletter that is more bloggy than newsletter. I opted for that because it feels a bit more private, even if it is available to read past issues in my website. (https://www.kristendunkelbergerfineart.com/newsletter-archive)
But there are tools here I can use to improve my feedback. I’m excited to try them out. Thanks for the kooky tips and humor Thea, and for using your golden lasso to round up the input in the comments. 😉
Thanks so much Kristen, I love this post of yours about your Grandmother entitled …well maybe I will leave the title out in order to not to have anyone clutch their pearls.Anyway it was a riot! I didn’t see a place to leave a comment. Did I miss something?
You didn’t miss anything. Subscribers just reply to me personally as if it’s a regular email.
Hi Thea! It is nice to see you back. I hate those butt splinters as well.
I bet a person could work those seven ways with comments on an artist’s Youtube channel. Receiving comments on that platform can be difficult.
Thanks for humoring my humor, hehehe. Yes Youtube is a beast. And you know I never thought of it but yes much of this might be applied to YouTube. Tell me if you apply it and it works on your new channel.
Oh my artist colleague Denise Cerro who left a comment below is a modest, YouTube comment queen and great teacher by example of video quality, content and community creation. She’s not slick, super down to earth, you may be inspired by her too.
Thanks as always for commenting Kevin, I so appreciate it.
I will have to check it out!
Thank you Thea, I used to be a frequent blogger when I had my blog spot an not a website but have let blogging slide a lot, will be trying to get back into it. I do write a monthly newsletter that has taken over but here is the link to a blog post this week https://www.lorrainebrownwatercolours.com/blog/176915/tone-and-texture
Regards Lorraine Brown
I loved your elephant Lorraine, what amazing texture! We all let blogging slide some time (I just did) so be kind to yourself and keep sharing things that inspire wonder and curiosity in you, at whatever pace you deem comfortable. I try to remind myself of this truth in blogging and that is :”Regularity is more important than High Frequency”- Darren Rowse. I’m assuming he means it is better to set a goal to blog quarterly and keep to it than to shoot for blogging weekly for and doing it for 4 weeks and not again for 6 months. I learned the hard way I think it helps avoid unsubscribes to have some sort of regularity because people have hectic lives and forget who we are and what our blog was about if we have too big a time gap between sends. My solution is to blog less, once a month at most now. Thanks so much for commenting. Keep the faith.
So glad to see you are back, Thea. I missed you!
Thanks for this very, very inspiring info.
One thing that I recently changed is that in one of my site’s comments areas, I have notified everyone that their “luminous sparks” are removed when I update that page every week. That really has increased participation – and echoes your Tip #1. Looking forward to trying some of the others.
Wow Beth!! That is amazing. What a brilliant and brave idea to begin anew each time and let people know about it. Your uptick in comments after doing so affirms my theory that we don’t comment because of the fear that it will be around forever….hmmm…. If all bloggers let go of comments after a week it would discourage product pushing spammers from leaving their annoying mark of Zoro in one’s comment section as well. Thanks for missing me, I am honored. I want to pop over to your site now. xo Thea
I was just wondering yesterday why I hadn’t seen you blog lately…and there you were today! I love this post and podcast…such great tips. I’ve been blogging for several years with sprinkles of comments…but I keep it up as much for me than anyone else! It gives me a goal post each week to keep me on schedule…as a creative type, this is pretty important. Knowing people are listening would be nice tough! Thanks for the tips Thea…and your wonderful posts…I always find them to be just what I needed to hear. Enjoy the day!
Thanks Denise,
I love your blog and your videos and I want to suggest them to any artist or writer who might be reading this. And you are too modest because girl, you get heaps of comments, especially difficult for YouTube.
I think artists should check out your videos, so inspiring and effective. I just picked one at random it is a how-to video called “iPhone Box Assemblage” (
), Ummm 45 comments! Not only are you a great presenter and artist but I would bet that you have spent years communicating and supporting your fellow artists. 🙂 Thanks so much for leaving a comment Denise. You rock.
Can you see me blushing from there? What a great message to open up to Thea…I feel so honored by the words you wrote and even more so inspired by your blog each time they come out. I save them to make sure I get to read through all the tidbits you share…and pass them on to artist friends.
You really do have a personal way of presenting information that is not cookie cutter…it’s real and relatable and much more in my way of wanting to be in the art world. Thank you for all of this…and I’m still blushing!
Beautiful post, I enjoyed reading it. I’ve written several posts on my website, but never sure whether any of them could be interesting reading for other people. Writing about myself is probably the hardest as I’m not convinced why would anyone be interested. I’ve included a bit about me here and there to add a little of a personal touch in some of my posts.
Several times, I thought about writing about my long journey with art, but then again why would anybody be interested in knowing or even reading about it.
But, each abstract painting I make is in fact a bit about me.
Music is a big part of my creative process when it comes to abstract painting. I believe many artists feel the same, too. I created a post, The Joy of Painting With Music, explaining a little about it.
Thank you for your beautiful posts, which I’ve read most of them.
Hi Suhail!!
I just popped over and left a comment on your thought-evoking music post. I am really interested in synesthesia too, Kandinsky had that from what I remember. And O’Keeffe was immersed in music her whole life. Especially classical. Did you know she had classical music trios come play at her home for her-with no guests? Just her? I love that. That’s how much music meant to her.
As to who would want to read your posts? Well I would say one answer is people who make art and another answer is people who are curious about how art is made.
Keep going with the blogging Suhail, stay with it. Like painting, it requires years of flinging spaghetti up on the wall and seeing what sticks. It takes years to develop then hone your personal writing style and unique writing mission. It takes years to imagine who you are writing to and refine how exactly you might help them.
One thing that helps me when I do a post is picking a particular subscriber with a problem or a question about something I am interested in- I then write the post TO HER or TO HIM in my head. Make sense? As the therapist, Carl Rogers said, “What is most personal is most universal.” By that I mean helping one specific, real, person in writing usually ends up helping others. Because so many of us struggle with similar issues but don’t say so out loud very often.
For example, I wrote my most popular post to date “Bye Bye Facebook: How Artists Can Thrive Without Social Media”, by imagining I was sitting down for coffee with this one subscriber who asked me an email if it was really possible to make it without social media? I was too chicken to write the post two years ago, but knowing your story will help someone else specifically, can really direct you what to write and how, and your pasta usually ends up sticking to the wall way better-at least for 20 minutes or so.
Hope that helps. 🙂 Keep the faith.
Hi Thea
Thank you so much for visiting my website and for your beautiful comment. Synaesthesia is an amazing perceptual condition. To be able to paint music itself is a big wow! I paint WITH music rather than paint music.
You are absolutely right, several artists claim to paint music. I met a couple of people a few years ago who painted music and that was the first time I ever heard about “synaesthesia”.
I’m very conscious that creative writing is a skill that requires a lot of focused practice. And the second challenge is what do I write about? I know you wrote a post about this subject, “51 Art Newsletter Topics That Your Readers Will Love”. Choosing the topic seems to be the first issue to overcome, in my case.
I’m also conscious of not repeating the same thing in different posts.
I will continue developing and writing my posts, but whether they would be interesting readings for other people will always remain unknown.
Incidentally, mentioning spaghetti made me laugh as it will be our dinner later today. But, there is something special about eating spaghetti. I ruined almost all my shirts eating spaghetti, so now I wear a bib 😊.
Thanks very much for your comments and support.
Hi Suhail,
I am laughing about spaghetti now too because I have tiny little red sauce spots on many a sweater.
So glad you wrote back because you bring up a point I left out of this post on comments:
You said, “I will continue developing and writing my posts, but whether they would be interesting readings for other people will always remain unknown.” But I must push back a bit and say , it won’t always remain unknown, you will know in future! If you keep creating more relationships on line with fellow artists and thinkers you will get more comments and those folks will “tell you” in your comments what is sticking and what isn’t.
And what I didn’t say in the post is that comments provide a blogger with pre-loaded powerful topics that matter to readers. Readers mention things in comments that we need to hear, and that would serve both us and our audience to write about in future.
Darren Rowse (of Problogger.com) suggests one way to honor frequent commenters (the wonderful grey eyed unicorns) or a lone commenter is to write a post about something they brought up and credit them in the post for inspiring you to write about it. Hope that helps 🙂
good to have you back, Thea!
YAY! I have surfaced. And thanks Zoe. You know the weird thing with blogging is the more frequently you do it the more quickly the writing bubbles up to the surface-but when your take a long break as I just did, whoa half the engine parts have fallen asleep and it takes wayyyy longer to get them to work in concert once again. But I finally got the machine running again. So nice to hear from you as always.
Great post, Thea! Your Way #7 is the one I used most often when I first started blogging ages ago. After all, how do you get to know people and interact with them: by talking to them! I do think it’s harder now, as the blogging world has become so much bigger and more amorphous. We are all dealing with information overload, and it’s often easier to leave the commenting to others who may already be regulars…
Besides, not everyone feels confident writing a public comment, as you point out in Way #1. I have to remind myself to let people know that they can respond via e-mail if they prefer.
Thank you so much for sharing one of my cat paintings! I am embarrassed at how long it’s been since I’ve posted anything on my blog, but since you asked, here’s a link to my post about my Cat Calendar:
https://minekereinders.com/watercolor-cats-birthday-calendar/
Hope to post something new soon, and I will definitely keep your advice in mind.
Hi Mineke, thanks so much for your insights. Absolutely agree with you that some people just find public commenting to be out of their comfort zone. I used to be like that too, so I get it.
Don’t be embarrassed about not posting in a while. It took me 3 months to publish this post. I think the war in Ukraine really knocked us empathic types for a real loop. It is hard to go back to posting business as usual. Do you think that factored in at all with you? Especially considering you are in Europe?
Heading over to you post now about the making of your gorgeous cat calendar, wait up!!
Yes, the war in Ukraine definitely factored in. The images of death and devastation we are seeing made my planned post about “painting snow in watercolor” feel completely irrelevant. I guess I’ll save that for next winter, hoping the world is in a better place by then.
Thank you so much for trying to leave a comment on my blog, sorry it didn’t go through. I’m looking into my settings to see if I can change anything. It’s those nasty tech hobgoblins wreaking havoc, like you mention in Way #2. I never ever get notified when someone leaves a comment either, even though I clearly have it set to “send email for every comment”. Ugh.
Hi Mineke, I tried it again today and the goblins must be off duty having a smoke out back because it went right through!! I left a comment on another post of yours I loved as well, at first it said- “please wait, site maintenance in progress” so random and absurd – Goblins back from smoking by then. My site does that all the time to people too. Never the same message twice. But I reloaded your page and it went through right away. VICTORY!
And yes to everything you said about Ukraine. I think many artists are grappling with the same issues we are. And also with places like Yemen and Somalia and the environment… floating in the back of our minds as well.
Love your blog. In a world of mediocrity you always seem to rise to the occasion with amazing information that hits home, is relevant and makes me think. Thanks for being in the world.
Jeanne, bless you. What a wonderful affirmation for a blogger to receive. I am so glad you are in this world too. Mutual admiration society. Thanks for letting me share your work in this post.
(If anyone wants to check out more of Jeanne’s art head over to:https://jeannebessette.com/, I love it that her website homepage just says “Follow Your Heart It Knows The Way,” with an entry button. Fun.)
One tip I forgot to mention is to have a friend leave you a first comment to break the ice so hesitant commenters don’t have to be the first!
I’m not sure this comment will appear in the right place…gremlins at work! I just want to say I like your suggestion about visiting other artist blogger posts and leaving a comment. That goes a long well with asking a friend to leave a first comment on a new post. Seeing someone’s comment does tend to lower resistance to being “first” or the “only” one to engage. As always, thank you for surfacing and sharing your thoughts.
Hi Sharon, you have passed through the gauntlet with honors and foiled the gremlins! You are very kind to thank me for surfacing, happy to be here. Yes having a friend leave the first comment is totally legal and a good idea. That helped me in the beginning so much. It not only signals other readers that it is safe to comment but it makes the writer smile. I know you know this already but our readers are smart they not only look to see if we have answered posts but how we answer them. It’s funny we, (meaning me), are more cautious about leaving a comment than we are about buying insurance, etc, or hiring someone to fix the porch, (totally me) lol.
Hope your Plein air work continues, it is gorgeous.
I’ve done two things you recommended—I visited a blog and left a comment and I also commented on one of my own posts. It was an update about the painting I entered in an exhibit. After the awards show, I second guessed my decision to enter. I shared those thoughts in a comment. Then the painting was sold! Yeah!! Those doubts nibble at self-confidence.
I think leaving comments of other artist blogs is one step toward building a social and professional community.
Hi Sharon,
A comment update to a post is really smart. We do learn so much as time goes by. And yes building community is so important, it’s like an Amish Barn Raising. As my fine photographer friend Carlos David always says, “We are stronger together.”
Thanks for letting me know Sharon.