Comments on: Is Your Blog a Conversation Blog or Answer Blog?

By: Q&A: List four different building materials used in building construction and describe what they are used for? | Viral List Builder

Sat, 27 Nov 2010 17:12:49 +0000

[...] Is Your Blog a Conversation Blog or Answer Blog? | The Blog Herald [...]

By: Gex

Gex — Tue, 25 May 2010 06:40:34 +0000

Perhaps it will open the minds of the more dogmatic ‘blogs must have comments/conversation’ brigade a little

By: Liz

Liz — Tue, 12 May 2009 00:45:24 +0000

Lorelle — I love this post and the distinction you make between different types of blogs. Like your blog, ours — which covers an area of animal care — doesn’t get a lot of comments, but it does get a fair amount of traffic given the niche I write about. The proverbial lightbulb above the head clicked on the minute I read your phrases “answer blog,” and “it’s part of the style of that blog to have you leave knowing all the answers, or having a pretty good idea of what the answer is.”

When read those phrases, I smacked my forehead and said “By jove, that’s what we are.” We started out thinking we’d be a conversation blog, but we’ve organically developed into something that’s like 85% answer blog,15% inner dialog. We get comments online, we get comments in private e-mails — but the stats tell me that people are coming to us to learn something specific and that the titles of our posts are doing a bang-up job of helping them find precisely what they need.

Thank you for the moment of liberating clarity…

By: Judie Cook

Judie Cook — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 14:03:33 +0000

Hi, i am in political science at sir sandford fleming college. I was wondering if i could get some input on what you think a Canadian is?

By: cooler

cooler — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 23:09:33 +0000

Good points. Each of these blog types caters to a different kind of reader, and a lot of bloggers would be well served to consider what kind of blog they are running (or writing for) and who their audience is.

By: Jonnyb

Jonnyb — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 11:38:44 +0000

My blog is meant to be informative and as such i would say 75% answer, 25% conversation. I think all blogs need a balance. I think it also depneds on what you blog about, a blog/ post music is subjective and therefore more conversational, a blog/ post about bank account option is likely to be more informative.

By: Matt Keegan

Matt Keegan — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 14:04:44 +0000

I would say that my blog is both. I enjoy having conversations with my readers, but I will include the occasional “from the mailbag” article to impart wisdom to my readers.

By: Tigertwotiger » Blog Archive » Advanced Blogging: Constructive Conversation with your Readers

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 13:18:45 +0000

[...] questions or leave things hanging so that the readers have to provide some or all of the answers: Lorelle VanFossen discussed this in her post over at Blog Herald, where she pointed out the difference between a [...]

By: Why blogs should play a role in journalism « Reportr.net

Why blogs should play a role in journalism « Reportr.net — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 17:56:30 +0000

[...] potential to create new forms of journalism. Much has been written about the ability to engage in a conversation with readers via a blog, or rather, an imperfect [...]

By: Does Your Blog Have A Comments Policy? : The Blog Herald

Does Your Blog Have A Comments Policy? : The Blog Herald — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 18:10:05 +0000

[...] tone of your blog posts can encourage or stifle comments. Some posts just aren’t worth commenting on. Those who encourage comments set a tone for the [...]

By: What Is Sucking Your Blogging Confidence Away? : The Blog Herald

What Is Sucking Your Blogging Confidence Away? : The Blog Herald — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 14:33:13 +0000

[...] your blog posts mean to generate comments or do they answer the whole question so there is no room for a response? Maybe you are doing [...]

By: Lorelle VanFossen

Lorelle VanFossen — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 14:09:01 +0000

Thanks for the catch. It might have been Freudian, but it was still a slip. :D

By: Adam Khan

Adam Khan — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 10:28:00 +0000

That was a great insight. Thank you. I don’t know if you meant to or not, but you said at the beginning of one of the paragraphs above, “These “inner dialog” blobs need little or no response.” When I read the word BLOBS, at first I thought you were being funny, but now I think maybe not. Anyway, I thought I’d say something about it just because I like you.

By: Seven Great Reads for Saturday

Seven Great Reads for Saturday — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 13:15:36 +0000

[...] VanFossen asks “Is your blog a conversation blog or an answer blog” at the BlogHerald. Very interesting post as so many of us get caught up in the conversation [...]

By: Musical Cosmos

Musical Cosmos — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 07:38:36 +0000

Given the topic of my new blog (music), and the variety of post styles, it *could* fall into any of the three categories, but I see it as an information/thoughtful blog. I write for my own interest, and if other people read and enjoy it, that’s a bonus (a cliche I know!), but I’m not writing it primarily for others. Consequently I have the comments turned off, as I’m not really looking for feedback (although I might change my mind about this in the future). I know this is minority position in the blogging world, but it suits me, especially as I’m not trying to make a living from this blog.

It makes me laugh to see how heated some people become on the comments/conversation issue, claiming that a blog just isn’t a blog without comments – as if blogging is some ancient tradition with rules that are set in stone, and never to be questioned! My view is much less rigid, and I fully understand why many bloggers prefer not to enable comments. Building a sense of community around a blog is frequently a very good thing to do, but it’s not appropriate for all blogs, or indeed for all bloggers (some of us just don’t want a lot of interaction, for a whole variety of reasons!)

This is a good post – it’s nice to see that not everyone thinks that blogging *must* be this or that, but that different bloggers have different intentions. Perhaps it will open the minds of the more dogmatic ‘blogs must have comments/conversation’ brigade a little.

By: Ramkarthik

Ramkarthik — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 06:35:49 +0000

Though my blog is a combination, it is more of a Conversation blog. Maybe I could say 75% of conversation and 25% of answer blog.