5 Simple Ways to Increase Blog Comments
By Sheila on Sep 16, 2009 in Blogging Tips
Posts that inspire comments from your audience can become part of what makes your blog more popular, and can keep it that way if the comments keep coming.
Right or wrong, the number of blog comments you have is seen as an indication of how successful your blog is.
Here are some ways to increase the amount of commenting that takes place in your blog.
1- Make it as easy as possible for visitors to comment.
That means taking down every barrier to commenting except spam control, until comments start to rise.
That includes:
•letting visitors leave comments without logging in
•removing all authentication processes such as captchas and verifying their email address,
•turning off moderation, as well as letting readers know that comments aren’t moderated,
•installing plugins or tools that will allow them to log in with Twitter or Facebook profiles or integrate their comments on those sites with your site
•getting rid of anything else that slows down the commenting process. Until you have a high traffic blog, you probably won’t have to worry about anything other than the basic level of spam.
So keep a cautious eye, but get rid of restrictions one by one and see if the increase in participation after a week is worth a few off-topic entries. Not only can you delete those later, but, you can re-enable any of anti-spam measure the instant the volume of spam gets out of hand.
2- Find out what people want to know on your topic and write about that constantly.
If your sites is about pet lovers, and people want to know all about organic dog and cat food, write about it. It might not be your favorite topic, but if it brings you engaging traffic, make it a regular conversation point. Your site is there to serve your population – at least that’s what it should be about if you want your blog to help you make sales.
3- Stay on topic.
Even if you have a themed day that’s a little outside your topic area (like our Tool Time Fridays with Morgan Lighter) make sure all those posts can still relate back to your central subject.
For example, the other day, Morgan wrote about a tool that can turn YouTube videos into a format compatible with iTunes. Put that together with some of my tips on how to get traffic with web video and you have a whole new use for recordings you uploaded to YouTube and other sites.
If you have trouble coming up with something to write about, your topic may be too narrow. If you can’t seem to pare down the number of available topics to one over-riding theme, your topic may be too broad. It’s okay to shift or widen your focus to fix that problem, but once you pick a final topic, stick with it.
4- Post regularly to become part of your reader’s daily habits.
People are habitual creatures. They’ll most likely find your site and include it in their new habits through doing one of their old habits.
Today, someone got up, brushed their teeth, got ready for work, went to their office, read their email, then the news or their RSS feeds (or both.) If they found your site through some other blog’s feed they read, and decided to add you, whenever you have a new entry, they’ll at least read the headline.
That opportunity only comes up each time you publish. After that first six weeks, it’s not as important that you’re doing so daily. But you should be putting up posts in a predictable fashion IF you want regular commenters. Whether it’s approximately every 24 hours, or every Tuesday and Thursday at 2:21 pm isn’t as important as making it a regular occurrence.
5- Leave an open-ended question or query at the end of each post.
If you look at Chris Pirillo’s blogs over at Lockergnome, instead of ‘Leave a Reply’ above the comment form, it often says something like ‘What do you think?’
In addition, when you create a post, the last sentence of your post can be a question to your audience that allows them to continue the conversation. If all other barriers are removed from commenting, sometimes the issue is that you’ve done such a good job writing the article that there’s nothing else to add. Turn your fantastic monologue into dialogue by asking a question, point blank.
Leaving your post open to input stimulates conversation online in the same way.
Remember, blog comments aren’t necessarily a measure of how well your blog is doing. But a responsive community can help indicate whether you’re on the right track.
Tinu AbayomiPaul – Read the story of how I used blogging, RSS, social media and article marketing to keep a number one ranking on Google and Yahoo for seven years at http://trafficreality.com/evergreen today. I can teach you the same simple steps I used.
31 Comment(s)
By Lisa - Alterity on Sep 17, 2009 | Reply
I like the idea of asking a question at the end of every post. Great idea!
By sandy on Sep 17, 2009 | Reply
Hum…I do most of that except the sub thingy, I still just really don’t get that as a plus. I wish I understood it better.
I don’t always end with a question, but have one for you. I’m one who leaves lots of comments on blogs that I read, the percentage of those folks who come, visit, read and comment back isn’t good in my opinion. Why do so many people want comments but don’t leave them, they don’t return the favor? This is something that’s always bugged me.
I’d like to add one thing to your make it easy to comment. Blogspot people (of which I am one), really need to activate the name url so people can be directed back to the blog, not a profile page with a list of 10 blogs. I think that’s another slow down, another barrier. And to that, the ones that don’t allow html, when you then try to leave link with name because they’ve not activated name and url.
Sandy
By ahardrain on Sep 17, 2009 | Reply
I agree that consistent blogging and keeping it fresh is of utmost importance.
Having people comment without any type of moderation is a bit scary, unless you are constantly monitoring your blogs. It only takes one jerk to turn some people off by the use of profanity and or lewdness.
Great post and sit. I enjoy coming here, keep up the great work!!!!
By ahardrain on Sep 17, 2009 | Reply
PS I notice you moderate comments on this blog
By MegaMan The Madman on Sep 17, 2009 | Reply
I like the idea of a question at the end of my post…And I agree with Sandy..
What irritates me more is the people that have the badges U comment I follow and never follow…
Anyway Love your blog..as a new blogger have gotten much info from you already..Thanks..
By Tina T on Sep 17, 2009 | Reply
I agree with Sandy on the name URL. 80% of my comments come from other bloggers, and they want to be able to have their URL and they deserve that for their thoughtful regular comments.
By free online virtual worlds on Sep 18, 2009 | Reply
that looks like…..
By @113directory on Sep 18, 2009 | Reply
Really enjoy all of the timely and informative tips found on your site. Even though my blog component is somewhat all over the place., I use that to keep the interest up in other areas as well.
Great work!!
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By Steve on Sep 18, 2009 | Reply
Good advice. Adding a great photo helps a little also. I am using Disqus on 3 different sites which is better than the default commenting provider but they make it hard to leave comments for sure.
By EdZee on Sep 20, 2009 | Reply
My blog is a niche one that has specific target audience who are always online but I am not getting enough comments on my posts. Your suggestions are worth considering alhough I am doing majority of them already. Will try some more as you advised.
By Aurelia on Sep 20, 2009 | Reply
I like the idea of asking a auest9on at the end of evedy post. Great idea!;
By The Bad Blogger on Sep 21, 2009 | Reply
Actually I like most with comment section that had Gravatar on, so that photos of the commentator can be seen and also the use of comment luv, Like plain old comment won’t entice the reader to comment, unless it’s already a regular reader or else making easy is one thing benefit is the second thing
By Rob on Sep 22, 2009 | Reply
It’s a shame that spam comments aren’t of a benefit, as I get plenty of those…
By Dragon Blogger on Sep 22, 2009 | Reply
Adding DoFollow, CommentLuv, KeywordLuv to your blog doesn’t hurt either, increased my comments by about 150% just by advertising a dofollow blog.
By Bob from http://www.fasteasycashfast.com on Sep 22, 2009 | Reply
Great Post AGAIN!
Always love reading your stuff.
By Mom on Sep 23, 2009 | Reply
I can’t stand having to jump through hoops to leave a comment. It’s very irritating to go to leave a comment and find that I can’t because I’m not a member of whatever website it is that the blog is on.
By free online virtual worlds on Oct 1, 2009 | Reply
That still looks like….
By Jena Isle on Oct 4, 2009 | Reply
These are useful tips. very important is to respond to each comment. Engage in a conversation with your readers, because if you don’t, they will not be encouraged to comment more.
By Locksmiths Brixton on Oct 6, 2009 | Reply
Rob im with you on that one I get absolutley mullered by spam and that would be great if that helped !!!!
By laser toner on Oct 7, 2009 | Reply
I also like asking question at the end.. that sounds good, letting your readers deal and be part or share their thoughts.. These are useful tips.. thanks
By Inspired on Oct 9, 2009 | Reply
Difficult to replicate from this site, but the tricks and tips that are given really very helpful, of course, the article we make a lot of respect when commenting.
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By Alicia Mergo on Nov 6, 2009 | Reply
I fully agree with your propositions for making commenting more attractive to visitors. Logging in is one of the most annoying things for me. When I want just to read and say something it is totally unnecessary to bring new account to life and to get more spam on my e-mail.
By satrap on Nov 15, 2009 | Reply
Thanks for the post, i enjoyed reading it. blogging is not as easy as many think it is, it’s hardwork. any how thanks.
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