I find it quite funny how some blog authors pose a question in their posts but when their readers respond to their question, the author doesn’t respond at all in turn (not even once). I mean are you just trying to build an audience or do you actually want to create a community? If you want a community, engage them!
BTW I think one of the best blogs I’ve ever participated in that truly engaged me to the point of feeling like I was a community member of it was The Gaming Chair back in 2005 because the authors of the site truly engaged their community members in deep discussion and made them feel valued for their contributions. A particular post relating to Girls in Gaming by Maggie is a perfect example of this and you’ll even note the other site authors themselves being heavily engaged in the discussion, even before other community members joined in.