Why Listeners and Lurkers are Important to Blogs and Community Sites

Did you know that approximately 20% actually comment but 80% are watchers and listeners?

Okay so why is this important you’re asking.

The reason is because when you comment within a discussion on let’s say a Facebook Timeline post, or a LinkedIn Group or Question and Answer discussion, you may only get a few comments, but you haven’t considered how many more people are reading, watching, listening, but either are to shy to comment, don’t have anything to add because they gained the answer needed, or maybe just need more clarification and have moved on to another discussion.

If I were to gauge interest on my blogs purely by how many commented, I’d close them down and stop writing. But Google analytics tells me different. Not only lots of interest, but on many blogs, LOW bounce rates. 5-10%. That tells me that they are looking around, gaining insight and found what they were looking for, just don’t want to comment.

Remember that the ones who comment aren’t necessarily the ones who turn into clients. It’s the ones who are listening that matter.

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