As always, whenever you’re a blogger of any kind, you’re going to have comment engagements with several of your posts. You’ll likely also end up commenting on a lot of other blogger’s posts as a key facet of this community is showing others support and not merely waiting for everyone to support your blog. It’s a good rule of thumb to have, really, that if you want your blog to succeed you should also want others to succeed.

And so this brings me to a somewhat common theme that I’ve noticed during my time blogging; and that is that sometimes when I get comments, people leave something akin to signatures below each one. I’ve always found myself wondering how necessary it is and whether it actually prompts more support.

So, what do I mean?

When I say signature, I of course mean the way many people will include their blog name and a link to said blog. On the days of Top Ten Tuesday, often I get several comments in which people are linking their own TTT post. I’ll admit, I’ve always found this fascinating, partially because I’ve never done it. And in truth, I have to admit that a part of me is feels somewhat averse to the idea of starting.

I find myself wondering if it actually increases blog engagement. I know any time that I have wanted to engage with the blog of someone who has commented on a post of mine, it’s fairly easy to click on their name and be taken to the website. So, for me, it’s never really been necessary to click on anyone’s link in the first place.

Aversion:

Here’s the thing; I do somewhat feel as though the inclusion of these “signatures” changes a friendly expectation that since someone took the time to read and comment on a post of mine, I should take a bit of time to support theirs to an almost forceful expectation. It almost feels as though the only reason this person even bothered to comment on my post was because they wanted to get attention for their blog.

And I totally get the desire. Everyone, literally everyone, wants traffic for their blog to increase. I’m there too, on a consistent basis where I want to regularly improve my blog so that more people will engage with it. But I primarily focus on the content I provide when it comes to that factor, not whether or not I am going about trying to get views for my site or posts.

The issue of support:

I feel as though it’s somewhat obvious considering I take a day every week to support and shine light on other book bloggers in the community that I truly believe supporting each other is important. And this is not just because it increases viewership for the things that I write. Everyone deserves some time in the light and there will always be new things to learn, new people to meet, new experiences and viewpoints to understand.

An important part of merely being a part of a community is to take part in getting to know the community and supporting its growth. And that means supporting those in the community. I take time out of my day, every day, to scan and like as many posts as I can. I know it sounds kind of crummy when I say that I scan everyone’s posts, but it’s the truth and I won’t lie about it. I’m a pretty busy person and I only have so much time in my day to dedicate to supporting not only my followers, but fellow book bloggers in general.

I would love to have more time, but unfortunately I just don’t.

And so that’s partly why I built the blogger support feature into my weekly post schedule. That time I really do dedicate to actually reading reviews and providing a little extra support to a few people when I can.

For or Against?

Really, what this all comes down to is my own curiosity regarding how people feel about others who leave links to their blogs or posts beneath any comment they drop on another blog. Are you for or against it?

Me, personally, I don’t mind either way. I’ll admit that it seems somewhat more demanding and less friendly than commenting simply because you had something to say or to show support. That feeling, of course, doesn’t really change my outlook on supporting those around me and those who show support to my blog. I’ll always set aside time to do so for as many people as I can get to. I don’t comment much, but I’m bad at doing that for my own blog to start with anyway, so…

So, thoughts? Does it feel weird to you? Do you think it’s a beneficial thing for a blogger to do? Is it something you do? Is it something you don’t? Do you wish people did it more often or less often? Leave your thoughts in the comments, I would really love to hear from all of you on this subject!

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