Photo credit to tapasparida

Last July 7, I started a thread at Sitepoint forum asking the same question. To my surprise, it had an astonishing 2,382 views and 73 hot replies including mine as of this posting. I even asked Graham, the humble founder of Entrecard and you can find his answers on his Q & A Round 1. Although the result shows that that more are inclined to have more commentators rather than subscribers, here are some of the opinions from different bloggers as I only choose the best answers for me.

For more subscribers

1.0 They show interest on the whole blog rather than a single post only.
2.0 Comments can be unmanageable when you have a lot of them.
3.0 Comments can distract us while preparing for your next post.
4.0 They can unlock many doors and opportunities for the blog owner.
5.0 They are a good indication of a popular blog as gaining loyalty is hard.

For more commentators

1.0 They can give us broad ideas and techniques that we do not know.
2.0 They are better for SEO because of the increased backlinks on the blog.
3.0 This means you can write interesting posts to discuss with.
4.0 They add value to our blog as they help to promote our blog.
5.0 Comments can spark a further discussion which can lead to more comments.

My conclusion

Let us admit, we are amazed when see blogs with hundreds and even thousands of subscribers in their feed counters. This means that they are capable of attracting loyal readers and I must admit; I am among those who join the crowd. This makes us easier to read posts we do not want to miss especially if we are learning a lot from them. In addition, we may not be able to reply to some comments in which they may be expecting somehow. But this is very rare; unless they are asking a question you cannot help but answer.

However in my opinion, comments reflect our character as a blogger. The more commentators we have, the more excitement we feel. Positive comments inspire us more and negative comments teach us lessons. Either way, we can benefit from them. We can also moderate them if we want to, unlike for subscribers that we cannot control. Furthermore, commentators are most likely to subscribe to our blog and comment again to our succeeding posts but it is quite hard to invite subscribers to leave comments.

So with this, I go for more commentators as it also helps me to socialize with fellow bloggers. But of course, having a lot of subscribers is a bonus for me as it increases my loyal followers.

Now, assuming that your feed count is accurate and spam comments can be controlled, I am asking you the same question.

Which do you prefer, more subscribers or more commentators and why?

Related posts:
How to Make Your Readers Post a Comment
How to invite your Subscribers to open your Blog
How to avoid your Subscribers to Unsubscribe to your Blog

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Article Source: Father Blogger dot Com