On the days where I can’t seem to write a post, I take time to go around the community and leave comments, which to me are shorter versions of blog posts.

Im a new blogger so I don’t have to worry about this yet.

VOTED for this article at:
http://www.newsdots.com/blogging/the-blog-herald/

I’ve written about that in the past, but will try another in the future, so thanks for the recommendation. The queen of the blog conversation is Liz Strauss and she offers some fantastic insights into audience building and development. If you want to do it right and you are willing to jump, head to Chicago this weekend for SOBCon – Successful and Outstanding Bloggers Conference for a weekend with the Biz School for Bloggers and get individual attention on this very issue.

Seems like this would be simple enough, yet I really don’t quite know how to move from where I’m currently at towards that. I’m not getting as much reader interaction as I would’ve hoped for on my blog, yet I feel that I’m doing at least a few things right…

EXCELLENT! I’m not a linker, but I see this in many bloggers. Good point!

Good point, and maybe that’s a clue you need to make a different kind of change in the way you blog – if you want that kind of rapport with your readers. Thanks!

The rapport and trust with the reader/end user is the same in any service industry.

Two examples on trust and critique:

A lifetime ago, I managed a fast food restaurant. A family used to come in a couple times a week, they were regulars. One evening, the dad comes up to me a says “When we were here last time, the food was off. Is there a problem?” I offered his family a free dinner that night. He refused. He just wanted to make sure I knew there had been an issue. After they ate that night, I discussed the quality of the food, which, according to him was much better.

Contrast this to when I phoned in a to-go order from a sandwich shop. The person who took my order wanted to charge me a couple dollars more than the price on the menu. I called back and talked to the manager. He refused to acknowledge the mistake. The conversation ended when he said “Look, I deal with the scum of the earth all day, do you want the food or not. I don’t have time for you s**t.”

All of this to say, what kind of conversation do you have when someone says “You blog stinks!”? In the two examples above, the answers were “Everything is fine. I think everything is fine. It’s fine, isn’t it?” and “Everything is fine. Don’t you think we’re doing okay?” Not exactly open doors to a conversation.

Better responses would be “Why do you ask?” “What do you think changed?” “Can you give me an example of a good post and lacking post?” In other words, is it safe and easy for the readers to initiate this discussion?

That probably fits under the Distractions/Reactions part, but in my case it’s a very clear sign that Things Have Gone Awry.

Great list.