I was responding to a comment from my friend Phil Gerbyshak, telling him “you’re welcome”, when I realized that I really haven’t been saying those two words very much, lately. I’ve been thanking people myself, left and right. But I haven’t been saying “you’re welcome” as much.
Why does this matter? Who are you really writing for on your blog, and why are you really doing it? Are you providing your readers with the kind of information and resources that makes them say “thank you”, or are you blogging in a way designed to get praise from others, maybe without even realizing it yourself? I suppose people could just be kissing my ass… but somehow I don’t think so! 
Your readers are not looking for another person to faun over and praise. But if they say “thank you”, that means you’ve given them something valuable. It means you’ve done something worthwhile for them. And that is something that we’re all looking for.
Big difference.
5 Comments
I don’t have many subscribers yet, but when a reader leaves a comment saying something like “Keep up the good work.” it means a lot to me.
I have thought much about readers’ satisfaction, and came up with a measure that I call the subscriber conversion rate. Would you be interested in checking it out?
How Do We Measure the Success of a Blog?
Akemi
gratitude-magic.com
Seriously, I would think before allowing a Thank You (I mean just “Thank You”) comment into my comment section, unless they are a frequent or commented on my blog before.
This post of yours sparked a thought that I should monitor this when I am replying to my comments. I got some comments thanking and praising me as well but I did not count them.
Hm, actually I do say thank you a LOT. Mostly because we receive plenty of commentators that thank us, and I always respond with:
You’re very welcome, and thank YOU!
Looks like I’m on the right track
@ Wayne - Readers are very busy. If they took the time to comment, even a quick thank you, acknowledge that!
Great reminder. Thanks for sharing it Michael! Glad I could remind you in a small way to do this small yet effective thing. You’re welcome
@Akemi - That seems like a fine formula to me.
@Wayne - Yes, this is a common spam tactic. You can tell by how the comment is never specific to the topic–it sounds generic. Oh, and because it appears on every post!
@James - Great points. It’s not like I’m not thrilled that others are saying they find my content valuable. I guess there’s a subtle difference in the writing or the intent in a post that produces a “praise” comments vs. a “thank you” comment.
@Phil - Funny how that happens. The beating of a butterfly’s wings…