One thing that I would add for new bloggers who aren’t ready just yet for public feedback in a comments section: set up a new email account on gmail or something and at the end of blog posts and in a side panel, let people know they can send their feedback/comments/ideas/etc to that email address. It will let people provide feedback and feel that there is a “social” media side to the blog, but let the new blogger get a feel for what kind of reactions their posts generate and how to deal with/digest/respond to comments.

Thanks for the great post, Beth!

I couldn’t agree more and it is, in fact, the difference between Madison Avenue-style marketing and conversational marketing. Do you want to close your ears and broadcast out…and just assume you know your market or do you want to engage and actually respond to your market. Blogs – with comments or not – is just the individual version of this choice.

Rachel

These are great points, Beth. Thanks so much for sharing!