6 Simple Tips to Encourage Blog Comments
Categories: Blog Basics, Blog Marketing, Featured
Written By: BloggerSavvy
(11 votes, average: 4.73 out of 5)
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One question I often field is how to encourage more visitors to comment on your blog. In particular it seems, many of the people I’ve spoken to seem demotivated because “…nobody ever sends feed back… there’s no response…” Does this sound like you? If so, the following six tips are just for you.
1) Ask for Comments.
I can’t make the statement any simpler. I’ll say it again, if you want something, ask for it. In my opinion, the best place to ask is right at the end of you post. If your visitor has read this far (if the content is good quality, they will), you’re more likely to garner a response. Most importantly, indicate that you respect their opinions, make sure you respond. This is commonly referred to as a “Call to Action“. Once you’re blog post is finished, empower your readers to add to or improve the content. Empower them to ask questions. Also, enable them to easily follow up by using the Subscribe To Comments Wordpress plugin. This plugin allows readers to receive notifications of new comments that are posted to an entry.
2) Remove the Barriers.
Nothing is more annoying then spending extra time writing a quality comment, and then finding out you have to register! Most people will not do that (in my opinion). Remove features such as forced registration, login first, etc. As a blog owner you have the ability to moderate messages before they appear live on your site. There are also anti comment-spam plugins (such as Akismet). The point is to make commenting easy.
3) Add some Controversy.
This is dependent on the content you’re writing, as such, it’s not always easy to do. In a sense it’s akin to link baiting - That is providing some sort of motivational thought to illicit a reaction. In this case you may have comments contrary to your post and other comments agreeable to it, the point being that there are comments.
4) Respond to Comments.
Providing a quality response, when necessary is a good way to encourage comments. Additionally, one tool you can use may be a Wordpress plugin like Show Top Commentors which you can use to display your top commentors in the sidebar (display a link to their web site or blog etc). Blog about a comment. That’s one method I have used on this blog and on others. It promotes discussion and… more comments.
5) Provide Recognition.
Visitors who comment on your blog, enjoy recognition (like the “Show Top Commentors” plugin I mentioned above). If you want more visitors to comment, you’ll need to show them what’s in it for them. Show the benefits. I’ve even seen some blogs run a contest wherein the best comment wins a prize. You can reward commentors in other ways by emailing to thank them, sending them a free ePublication, etc.
6) Participate in the Community.
A good way of garnering comments is to make them! Both on your blog and on others. Keep in mind that when commenting on other blogs, simple comments don’t garner nearly as much traffic and comments on your blog as quality, thoughtful comments do.
As I’m sure you realize, these activities are not difficult to complete. One thing I’d like to point out, if your blog is relatively new, don’t expect an excessive burst of comment growth - Remember, you need to grow blog traffic first. But, keep in mind to have these tools and ideas in place before you grow your blog traffic.
Did I miss anything? What do you do to encourage comments? Are there better plugins than the ones I listed? We’d all be interested in learning what you have to say in the comments below.
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December 1st, 2008 at 12:10 pm
It is also in the way you type your blog post, if you write a message as “thats the way it is” you wont get any responses from the public. Also you will get less comments when you write a story like.
“Yesterday i went outside to walk my dog i ran into some one and now im home”
That doesnt add anything to discuss…
December 1st, 2008 at 12:20 pm
@Johnny Mast - Thanks. You are absolutely right! I’m glad you mentioned this. It’s one thing I did not think to include. This should be on of the actual tips!
I’ve often seen the very examples you included. From my own experience (and common sense) I totally agree that the way you present your blog and how you write the content is paramount in encouraging comments. I don’t know everything there is to know about blogging, web content, etc. and don’t believe there is anyone who does. The times I thought I did, readers showed me I didn’t.
As a side note, I see your Twitme 1.6 beta 2 is out (http://www.phpvrouwen.nl/twitme/) … so I’ll be updating later this evening! :)
December 2nd, 2008 at 4:25 am
Yes its out beta 2 :)
December 7th, 2008 at 2:57 am
I particularly like your first two tips.
Having a call to action is a good way to encourage others to jump in and participate in the discussion. People like to feel like they’re invited to join in.
It’s also amazing to me how many people do put up barriers to commenting. I’ve found that moderating the initial comment and depending on Akismet to handle the autospammers took care of most problems. There’s no need to use registration, unless you’re using WordPress as sort of a membership site.
December 7th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
@Frank Carr - Thanks. I agree with the registration issue. Unless you’re building a community portal membership, why? (And maybe Joomla might be a better solution for that). Also, I liked your post: “Earn Online Cash With Quick Indexing” as it complimented another post of mine: “145 Update Services for Blogs”. - Cheers!
December 13th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
Once again, you have provided this new blogger very useful information. As far as the plugin goes, I think my wordpress blog has a lot of them already built in. When I’ve tried to look where people tell me to put it, I can’t find it. I’d like to add the subscribe to one that you’ve mentioned, but I don’t know that I can. That being said, I will try some of the other stuff you’ve mentioned, as I believe interaction with your visitors is the best way to keep them coming back. Besides, I always love a good discussion/debate, especially when it has to do with my passion, website development. Thanks again!
December 13th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
Great, foundational tips; a good reminder for those just jumping into the Blogging arena. Thanks for covering this topic. All too often the 101-type tips are overlooked.
December 13th, 2008 at 3:09 pm
@Scott Mahler - With the subscribe to comments plugin, when you activate it, there will be a checkbox under the comments (when someone posts a comment). That checkbox will say “Automatically notify me of followup comments via email”. When the person leaving the comment checks it as on, then they get the email notifications. :)
December 13th, 2008 at 3:17 pm
@Christian Markley - Thanks! Often it’s regular small things that have a big impact. Also… I like your site’s quote “…without objectives, a plan is merely tactics without goals…” - So true!
May 2nd, 2009 at 10:35 am
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