Getting lots of comments on a blog isn’t necessarily an indicator of a successful one. Depends on your definition of success obviously, but some writers attract people who want leave their mark and create discussion, and some write in such a way that there’s no need to say anything. What they’ve said is all you need to know, end of story.

As someone who writes for a number of sites, the key is actually in the analytics data. I’ll check how many page views each post has had and how long the readers have spent on the page. If it’s just a few seconds, then perhaps the post has been a flop. If they’ve hung around for a few minutes and maybe clicked elsewhere on the site, that might give me some confidence that the time I’ve invested has resonated.

You certainly shouldn’t blog just because you want the love and comment adoration of hundreds of fans.

Yesterday, I spoke at the IAB Social Media Forum and all of us talked about transparency and authenticity of social media. Like any social outreach, blogging should be something you’re in for the long haul. It takes time to build an audience and most of the best blogs have been around for a while and were started as outlets for their writers and as mechanisms to feed a need.

Blogs where it’s obvious the writers are just trying to solicit responses, as opposed to simply letting social organics happen, tend to be a turn off. They look desperate.

I rarely use my RSS reader any more. If a blog post is worth reading it’ll normally surface on Twitter because people like to share content, and if it is any good, it’ll keep on being shared. Tweetmeme and their little green button have been instrumental in making that possible.

Nevertheless, it is nice to get some back slaps now and again. Giving an author a little boost does help them be better at what they do. A bit of constructive feedback helps as well, as bloggers seek to hone their craft.

As Robert Hunt from Innocent Drinks so eloquently put it yesterday, social media is like a pair of Converse trainers. In order to really capture our imagination, they need to be worn in and bashed about a bit before anyone will take them seriously.

Loads of comments don’t make a good blog and no comments doesn’t make a bad one - they do have to be earned – but it’s great for the writer to understand whether they’re blogging in the right direction now and again.

Cheers @MelCarson