Everyone knows that the secret to a great blog is lots of traffic (that is, of course, after you have generated great content). Sure, getting lots of traffic is fantastic, but traffic isn't much use unless there is some engagement. As much as you may enjoy writing your blog, if you refer back to your strategy you may notice that in order to take your blog to the next level, you want to try and engage more constructively with your audience. And the only way you are going to do that is if they talk to you.

What is constructive conversation and why do we like it?

Constructive conversation is discussion that actually goes somewhere. It produces a result - whatever that result may be. Perhaps it is to debate a point and ultimately reach an agreement (or an agreement not to agree as can often happen). Maybe it is to generate ideas or suggestions. Perhaps it is to receive and respond to feedback. Maybe it is to add more to the knowledge you already have. If you spend any time in the blogosphere, you will soon note which blogs have fostered constructive conversation and which ones are still trying.

We like it because it turns the blog into what Tim Berners Lee always hoped the internet would be - a sharing, adjusting, building on and expansion of ideas among a diverse group of people. Everyone can write a diary or journal. I remember sneaking under the covers after the lights had been turned out with my torch to write my diary when I was a little girl. But a diary has no interaction. It is just you and your thoughts. Although blogs started out like that, if your blog today is just you and your thoughts then you haven't really got much further than the clandestine entries being written in the dead of night.

How do you foster such conversation?

There are several ways that we have noticed in our travels around the blogosphere.

1. Ask questions or leave things hanging so that the readers have to provide some or all of the answers: Lorelle VanFossen discussed this in her post over at Blog Herald, where she pointed out the difference between a question blog and an answer blog. If you run an answer blog but you want to try and foster some more constructive conversation, try posing a few questions to encourage feedback. Or leave the answer a little more open and invite people to elaborate.
2. Talk about something contentious: I love science blogs and many of them raise issues which strike chords with some readers. What follows is fascinating debate which drowns out the original post and can make for fantastic reading. It is not necessary to do this all the time, but if there is a topic to debate, why not put your viewpoint across? Just beware if the issue is emotive...
3. Actively invite comment: as copyblogger discussed, this won't work if you provide the solution, the whole solution and nothing but the solution. Similar to the first point, you have to leave something to discuss if you want people to engage. Although we love to receive comments which say 'great post' and 'I love reading your blog', it is so much better to have people say 'good point, but perhaps you should think about...' or 'I am not sure I agree with...'. Bloggers, even the A-Listers, are not all-knowing deities. Quite often our readers know more than we do so it would be good to hear about them.
4. Have a clear, open comment policy: having an open comment policy doesn't mean you have to leave comments up on your blog which are insulting, rude, derogatory, defamatory or in any way inappropriate. Ultimately, it is your site and if such comments don't help your brand or reputation, then you have every right to remove them...as long as you have a comment policy which warns people of that. However, in order to generate good, constructive conversation, if you are too draconian with your comment policy, then people simply won't engage for fear of falling foul of it. Criticism is a good thing. A different point of view is even better. And best of all is someone who is more expert than you are and who can correct any errors or omissions. I have discussed before about removing moderation - as long as you have Akismet or another spam filter, you shouldn't need to worry about spam getting through. If something does arrive which angers or upsets you - take a deep breath, push your chair away from the desk, and walk away for at least a few hours. Only then should you come back and consider what to do with it.
5. Get involved: if people are chatting on your blog, get in there and talk with them! You don't have to answer every comment - if you have good conversation going, your other readers will do that for you - but make sure you follow it and get in there when you feel you need. Not only does it prove to your readers that you are listening, but it can often keep the discussion going and make it even richer.

How do I start?

It is pretty difficult to have the conversation, however, if you don't have traffic. I am sure you have all done it at some stage - walked in to a restaurant and because there is no-one else in there except the waiter, walked straight back out again. There is safety in numbers, so you have more chance of succeeding in creating constructive conversation if you have a core of regular readers. It doesn't need to be thousands, but they do need to be consistent.

The irony...?

...erm...it's high time we too pushed to get the conversation going...

The next post in this series is on Advanced Blogging: Building Regular Traffic - a topic which bears covering again.

Thank you to b_d_solis for the image