London, UK
Getting people to comment on your blog not only accelerates your blogging success but also feels good.
Receiving blog comments proves that people are listening.
No longer do you blog for a chorus of cyber crickets when comments pop up in your backoffice.
Never mind the increased traffic and profit potential from genuine blog comments. Each can rise significantly as engagement increases on your blog. People love being part of a party. Folks also tend to gravitate toward communities for a sense of belonging to a blogging tribe.
Getting blog comments seems challenging at first.
Most bloggers struggle to get comments because few follow a sound strategy to increase blog engagement.
After deleting hundreds of blog comments due to a blog post purge, Blogging From Paradise still netted a decent chunk of comments.
Following the below tips closely boosted engagement on this piece of online real estate.
The Most Important Tip
Make sure that your blog commenting system works successfully.
Some bloggers frustrated by their lack of comments have no idea that their commenting system broke down. In some cases, comments broke down weeks or even months prior. I know this because I check in from time to time to see if bloggers read my feedback and fixed the problems with their blog commenting section.
I submit a decent chunk of blog comments on broken comment systems with bugs, said comments never being submitted or approved.
Test your blog commenting platform from a 3rd person perspective.
Log out of your blog back office. Type and submit a comment to test your system.
Debug broken blog commenting systems, hire a developer to fix the issue or use a different platform to increase comments on your blog.
Keep an eye out for these common issues:
- seeing a white screen after submitting a comment
- various firewall problems
- other programming bugs preventing comments from being submitted, including sending commentors to screens filled with programming code and various other forms of seeming jibberish
Dynamic ads often become comment killers. Be careful about using such ads because these embeds block comment fields, severely slow down the blogging process or toggle between various comment fields to “submit” comments without the reader being able to complete the process or even type a word.
Ask a few bloggers to test the commenting process from their end from either phones and/or laptops. Apple, Android, Windows, Chromebook….try to get a little cross-section going to debug any potential issues with blog comments that may surface during these testing sessions.
1: Publish Detailed Content Solving Specific Reader Problems
Detailed blog content that solves reader problems goads readers to submit blog comments.
If readers love your blog posts because each solves their issues you betcha that more than a few will take the time to publish genuine blog comments.
Listen closely to your readers. Spot their problems. Solve their issues with your blog posts.
Inspire readers to live their dreams through your blog. Pinpoint what turns them on. Serve this up through your blog posts.
Give readers what they want.
Readers will give you traffic, blogging income and blog comments.
Email your list asking for blog post ideas. End blog posts with questions asking for feedback as far as blog topics.
Go directly to the source of people who will comment on your blog if you solve their specific problems with your blog posts.
2: End Each Post with 2-3 Questions
Wrap up each post with 2-3 specific questions related to the blog post.
Ask questions to elicit answers.
Readers answer through genuine blog comments.
Asking generic questions stimulates mild engagement but posing relevant questions closely related to the blog post fosters the highest volume of blog comments.
After writing your “Conclusion” section add a “Your Turn” section to ask questions and to put the ball in your reader’s court.
Hand the blog post over to them.
Boost blog comments as readers share their thoughts in relation to the questions asked.
3: Read and Reply to All Comments on Your Blog
I rarely comment on blogs lacking strong engagement from the blog owner; these days, at least.
Even busy bloggers have a few moments to read and reply to a few comments at a minimum.
Read and reply to all comments on your blog to get more comments. Foster a sense of community. Prove that you listen closely to your readers by fielding their comments and writing replies to their thoughts.
Not being asleep at the blogging wheel influences readers to comment frequently. Being alert motivates readers to interact with you through blog comments.
As your blog comments experience a meteoric rise you may not be able to respond to every commentor. Reply to at least a few in order to build bonds and foster continuing engagement.
4: Use a Comment Friendly Commenting Platform
Whether you use:
- a native blog commenting platform
- Disqus
- a custom blog commenting system
matters not except for the comment-friendliness of each option.
Native and custom blog commenting systems typically require no log-in information. Users simply type in their name, email address and website to submit a comment.
Disqus requires logging in to drop a comment. The registration process may scare off bloggers with only a few moments to read content and submit a comment.
Make it easy for readers to submit comments. I require a minimal amount of information for Blogging From Paradise readers to drop comments.
Accept that making it easy to comment also increases comment spam.
Boosting genuine engagement also increases spam.
Use a plug-in like Akismet to cut down on blog comment spam.
5: Comment Genuinely on Blogs from Your Niche
Commenting genuinely on blogs from your niche is the quickest way to get comments on your blog.
Social bloggers who appreciate your authentic comment tend to visit your blog and submit a comment sooner than later.
Publish 2-3 paragraph, detailed comments on blogs related to your niche. Address bloggers by name. Sign off with your name.
Appreciative bloggers who love your comments beat a path to your blog to submit genuine comments.
Give whatever you want to have it. Give authentic comments to get authentic comments.
Honor this mirror effect to boost blog comments effectively.
6: Give Commentors a No Follow Backlink
Increase blog comments by rewarding commentors with a no follow backlink.
Gaining exposure can motivate fellow bloggers to publish genuine comments.
I enjoy giving bloggers who comment here No Follow links as a way to boost user generated content through collaboration.
Bloggers passively add content to my blog – comments are content – around the clock.
Experienced online entrepreneurs know that user generated content is a powerful empire builder. Look no further than Amazon Reviews to understand the power of inspiring users to create passive content for your website.
Some bloggers remove No Follow links from comments but I feel like this may be a mistake for anyone struggling to get comments.
Give readers more reasons to submit comments not less motivation to give their time, attention and energy to you.
Make it worth their while and fellow bloggers will submit comments to your blog.
Conclusion
Getting blog comments is not as tough as most bloggers claim.
Follow the above tips patiently.
Comments will flow to your blog.
Your Turn
How do you increase comments on your blog?
What tips can you add to this list?
