There is a lot of talk around the blogosphere about comments. One of the most talked about reasons for liking comments is because they add content to the site, and content is likely the most important element of any website (especially when thinking about search engine ratings).

The people who leave the comments also benefit from them because it adds another link to their site and this helps their search engine ranking. Additionally, the comments on a blog can often times become a sort of forum where the readers of a given blog begin to form a community. This makes the blog more fun for the readers and is a benefit for the blogger because he or she then has an easier time retaining a reader base.

Moving to one of the more important ways that comments help the blogger retain readers is the fact that (as long as he or she pays attention to them) the comments will help the author know what the readers would like to see. The feedback gained from comments is invaluable in that it allows the writer write what the readers want to read. Writing things and aspects of your topic that the readers want to read about is probably as important if not more important than having good search engine ratings. It goes back to the idea of content, but having a lot of content and having quality content doesn’t matter if the content is not what the reader wants to read.

The main way for the blogger to know exactly what the readers are looking for and would like to read is through direct feedback (contact forms and comments) and comments are often preferred because they allow others to join in the conversation to see who else might be interested in a similar article, topic, aspect, or point of view. Yes, you can have an effect on a site by leaving a comment and/or making a suggestion or asking a question.