Your help needed! What is the best way to reply to comments?

Image from mybeautybunny.com

One thing that I really want to get right on my blog this year is how to go about answering the comments that you lovely people post here.

I adore reading your comments, every time I get a new one I still get a little thrill just as I did when my first ever comment was posted, and I really want to answer them in the way that you lovely people deserve. When I first started blogging I would reply to each and every comment that was posted in the comments section of the blog post that it was written on. This seemed like a good idea in theory until I realised that the only way that the author of the comment would be able to see my reply would be for them to constantly revisit that same post, which is a bit of a fuss to be honest. Plus who can remember exactly which comments they have left on which blog post?!

I then started to reply to comments via e-mail as this seemed like the best way to make sure that the author of the original comment received my message, but this again was not a perfect solution to the comment-answering problem. I find that many people who comment on my blog are simply offering support or lovely comments of admiration (which is so sweet of you, you can't even understand!) but very rarely am I asked specific questions. Because of this I feel a little odd sending e-mails in reply to these comments as I'm basically just writing variations of "Thank you so much!" which although is meant honestly and truly from my heart I worry that it may look a little hollow in an e-mail. Plus do you think that messages such as this would be irritating to receive?

This is a problem I would really like to solve as keeping in touch with my readers and commenters is very important to me, you guys brighten up my day! I just want to do right by you :) 

So, as always when I face a tricky problem, I turn to you, my fabulous readers! 

How would you prefer to get a reply to a comment? 

Would you love an e-mail just expressing thanks, or do you not expect a reply unless you have asked a direct question? Perhaps you know of a better solution to this problem than the other methods I have tried, if so then please share your knowledge! I'd love to know what you think, so come on, get in touch! And I'll do my best to reply in the best possible way :)


(P.S. This was my 200th blog post! eeeeeeeeeeee!)