This article was guest blogged by Skellie from SkellieWag.org. In this post Skellie will talk about ways to get more comments on your posts. I especially like the No.5. After this if I have time I will try to be active in my readers’ blogs, not because I just want to get more comments on my posts, but because I want to get to know them better. Which I admit, I haven’t been great at it.
Readers can’t see traffic stats and advertising revenue. They can’t see graphs of repeat vs. first-time visitors. Unless you’re displaying it, they won’t know your subscriber count, either.
The key yardstick readers use to judge the popularity of a blog is the number of comments on each post. If you want to make an impression on new visitors, these numbers had better be high.
In that aim, I have some good news for you. You don’t need more traffic to get more comments. In fact, you can get many more comments out of your existing audience by using the following tips.
Utilize all of them and you might end up with the kind of comment count usually seen on blogs that are older and more highly-trafficked than your own.
1. Be active in your own comment threads. If you practice just one of the following tips, make it this one. Having a presence in your own comment threads is invaluable. If you respond to each commenter, you can potentially double your comment count on each post. This is one of the simplest things you can do to make your site look more established.
You’ll also be letting commenters know that you’re reading and acknowledging what they’ve written. If your commenters feel like nobody cares about what they write (not you, or other readers) they’ll quickly lose the motivation to keep commenting.
Interacting with commenters is a great way to ensure your blog develops a loyal group of people who will comment on almost everything you write.
2. Ask questions. If your post isn’t outward looking, your readers might not feel you’re interested in what they have to say. Ending with a question or request for reader input is a call to action that can help significantly increase your comments. It’s also a quick and easy way to end your posts without a long-winded conclusion.
3. Spotlight commenters. You can encourage more comments by increasing the rewards of doing so. Keep track of your favorite comments and find ways to highlight them in future posts (when relevant). You could even make a post entirely dedicated to showcasing your favorite comments, or reader tips. If the commenter has a blog of their own, link to it. If you make commenting more rewarding, you will get more comments.
4. Leave something out. This seems counter-intuitive, but being too comprehensive can make some readers feel like there’s nothing left to add. Try leaving out one tip, detail or point from your posts. Give readers room to add their own expertise to what you write. You could also do this more directly, and challenge them to add what you’ve missed.
5. Return the favor. For many bloggers, commenting is reciprocal. If someone takes the time to comment on our blog we might feel inclined to take a look at theirs and leave a comment in return. A great way to encourage repeat commenting from readers is to visit their own blogs (when they have them) and leave a comment.
Each time they leave a comment on your blog, head to theirs and leave a comment in return. Once readers understand that they’ll get a comment each time they leave one, you will greatly increase the number of repeat commenters on your site.
6. Pick your favorite comment of the week. One simple way to increase both the number and quality of comments on your site is to give a prize to the author of your favorite comment for the week.
You could do this on the weekend or on a day when you usually don’t post (or when you just post links). Publish your favorite comment and give the author a reward — whether it’s a link, an eBook, a free service, or something else. Use your imagination. If the prize and exposure is worthwhile your readers should comment more often and more thoughtfully in an effort to get the prize.
What do you do to get more comments on your blog?
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I do 1, 2, and 5 a lot. This stuff does work. I have gotten several comments from people I have linked to in post. Sometimes I will find something relevant to my blog and write a post about it with a link. Often times the author of the post I linked to will at least come by to say Thanks for the link on that post.
I’ve gotten subscribers that way too
I suppose some newbies will find this as words of wisdom if they had not read them on other blogs. But for those who have been around, one would find this is just a rehash that one has read many times elsewhere. This guest posting is just to get links.
I post on others blogs as much as I can in hope they will come visit my blog or others will visit my blog also. I try to ask questions in most of my post, hoping for some comments..but they are few….I’m still trying though :0D
Those are some great ideas.
I’ve used my reader comments as ideas for new posts and then had them continue to comment on the new post. Great idea!
this is a good move to do ades..
participate to comments are hard to do but it’s worth it.. :)
wow this is nice article, I love reading it…I think this would help me better on my blog. Not yet done in my blog site… thanks for this idea, so helpful..two thumbs up.
I agree with all the tips that you write here. I’m also doing the no 1 tips. You have to appreciate other blogger opinion. You can start a community with it….
great tips ades, im a new blogger, yes it is hard to get comments and traffic on my site.. hah.. thanks for the post..
Great post, Skellie! One this I do in addition to what you suggest is directly ask for comments. For example, I wrote a post on ‘what makes us creative’ and invited some musicians and poets who I know to comment. That worked really well!
Mary Jaksch: I suppose that’s a more audacious approach to the ‘Ask Questions’ tip. Good idea :).
Great post. Comments can build a sense of community for every blog.
Recently I posted a very short post which was aimed to make readers think about something. One of the most loyal readers wrote a really good comment in which he expanded upon that short post of mine. The day after I took that comment and made it into a post, clearly outlining the fact that that was from one of the readers’ comments. This sparked much interest and comments have increased much since that post.
Is it true that readers judge your blog based on the number of comments your site has? I have never done this personally. I usually spend the first 5 minutes seeing if there is any content on the site worth reading- I NEVER look at the number of comments.
Is that really how you all judge a website?
BJ, I don’t really pay attention to the comment number either. There are blogs that have hundred thousand readers, but only handful comments on their each post (eg. techcrunch). So it’s not that important.
But it’s always good to have more comments on your posts ;) It’s something that every blogger wants, it’s like a compliment.
be active in your comment thread, brian’s threaded plugin help a lot :D
Unfortunately, we don’t do any of these things even though we’ve known about some of them for quite sometime. Thanks for the tips – hopefully, they’ll kick start us in the right direction.
I noticed that you were pretty comprehensive -
I’ve been considering a blog for some time now. Thank you for your advice I am more keen then ever
I am a big fan of number 6, with my blogs I will often pick a commentator to get a slot on my blogroll for a month if they go above and beyond with their comments. If they are just using their name I’ll shoot them a quick email to see if they would like a better anchor text, etc. and as a result I get quite a few comments.
My experience is that replying to every comment as well as commenting heavily on other blogs in your niche will generate tons of comments on your own blog. So it really does work! ;)
I think number 1 is very important. I know that for me personally, I am more likely to leave comments where I know that the blogger regularly responds.
Agreed with the Points pointed out in this article. I try to utilize the comments on my blogs for updating the articles. which even helps me in improving the articles quality and information. And the point on giving prizes for good comment is a nice idea. Will surely try to implement the point better results. Thanks for the informative post.
Regards,
Leif
To get more comment, I just ask my visitor to leave comment in the end of every post I made. Just like this “If you like this post, please leave a comment or subscribe this blog via RSS or via e-mail”
Now a days as I am working more on comments this article is really helpful for me.Thanx to author.
Great point about responding to your comments.It’s always nice to be recognized as a commentator. I’ll have to remember that the next time I want to blow it off, to save some time.
I have heard the phrase “commenting is reciprocal” many times, but I’m not seeing it in real life. However, I like to leave comments so I do so anyway.
i think that the wors idea of getting more comments is to make your blog “dofollow”. in this case what you get is tonnes of spam-comments.
You’re so right….Getting traffic is important but more so the quality of the blog…that’s why so many people setting up blogs fail….1. they are in it for the wrong reasons…..not everyone can be a John Chow.
Omygod..This is really an excellent idea. Hope i am going to use in my wordpress blog. But just worried about spam comments.
I have to get better at replying to each comment. I don’t know how I overlooked this when I in fact, expect it of other bloggers. I also need to start returning the favor.
There is one more, add your blog Nofollow free plugin, and it will bring you a lot of comments.
@valencia, is this the plugin you are referring to: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/nofollow-free/ ?
… and won’t that plugin give away to much link juice?
Nice ideas to get popular blog, lets try – why not… I think i try plugin what valecia say.. and yes is it that plugin what Seattle Heating Cooling show in his question ?
@link building services – I never worry about spam comments anymore. It seems like the akismet plugin cleans up everything so I don’t even have to think about it… ‘course I don’t get near the traffic Ades does tho.
@clickonpost I just left a comment on your site. It appears you have decided not to install and activate the nofollow plugin valencia was talking about. Or, did you keep the default: 5 posts before nofollow?
I installed this plugin on my PR4 site: http://captivateseattle.com/ Let’s see how well it works :)
I have to get better at replying to each comment. I don’t know how I overlooked this when I in fact, expect it of other bloggers. I also need to start returning the favor.
These are some great ideas, I would not have thought of. I have prewritten a few of my posts and they are very comprehensive, I think I am going to go back and rewrite them before I publish them.
Still think getting traffic is more important to get a lot of users making comments and keep them coming back.
Entice the blogger by adding commentluv or a similar widget that ensure that a good post will be rewarded with a good dofollow backlink