Defining a Successful Blog: What is More Important- Traffic or Comments?

I have an ongoing discussion/debate with one of my clients about the most elements of a successful blog. It is a simple question or whether it is more important for a successful blog to have a very active comment section or a large number of readers.

I like this sort of question because it is the kind of thing in which the answer is tied into what sort of blogger you are and what sort of goals you have for your blog. Now that might sound to be synonymous with obvious but it really isn’t.

Because the reality is that the goals of a personal blog are often quite different from the goals of a corporate blog. I know of a number of businesses that have blogs because they feel like they have to and not because they want to. They don’t like comments because they see that as being a risk and a lot of extra work. In their eyes it is a liability that they would rather not deal with.

And then you have a ton of personal bloggers who are dying for hordes of commenters and readers. They would be thrilled to see millions of people come to their corners of cyberspace and camp out. They dream of posts that generate hundreds of comments.

The bottom line is that like far too many other things in life the answer to the question is highly subjective. But I don’t get paid to shrug my shoulders and extend my palms towards the sky. So when you ask me for my opinion I am going to say that if I had to choose I’d take a blog that had exceptionally high traffic and relatively few comments.

It is always easier to build an active group of commenters from a larger population than from a smaller group.

But enough of my thoughts. What do you think defines a successful blog? If you had to choose between having a lot of readers and few commenters or the reverse what would you pick?

Let me know, I am curious to hear your thoughts.