4 Tips To Immediately Attract More Blog Comments
Some call us comment whores, others think we’re needy, and still others see the genius behind getting more blog comments. I’m here to tell you no matter what you think, if you want your blog to become or remain successful, you need your readers to engage with you ON YOUR BLOG.
It’s not enough to just talk on Twitter or Facebook. Those are just tools to lure your friends to your blog and steal them away from the noise on the social networks.
Why Do We Want Comments On Our Blog Anyway?
Before I share my tips on how to get more comments, let’s take a second and think about why you really need them.
SEO Benefits - The longer a reader spends on your site the more it helps your ranking. The comments that are left add more content to the post, and quite possibly, more use of your keywords. Google loves to see time spent, pages visited, and content added daily. Your readers are helping you while also getting their name out there.
Community – Your goals may be different for starting a blog, but if you’re paying attention to the trends of social media you know that building trust is the number one way to also build more recognition and more sales. By engaging with readers on your blog you’re forming your own little social community of loyal friends (or haters, which aren’t bad either) that turn to you as a source. This leads to word of mouth advertising and back-scratching. I like to refer out my friends when I hear of an opportunity that would fit them, too.
Perception – When new readers come to your blog article and see a lot of comments, they assume the content is good and are more likely to read the article and enter the conversation through the comments as well. Lots of comments let everyone know that you you’re not just talking to air, but people are actually listening and talking WITH you.
How To Get More Blog Comments
Okay, so now you see why blog comments are important to the life of your blog, but how do you get people to actually participate?
1. The Obvious: Ask For Comments
If you’re just getting started with your blog and don’t have any followers, I would recommend that you email a link to your article to some of the people in your personal email contact list that may be interested.
Make sure you include the link and ASK your friends to forward it, comment on it (make sure they understand you need the comment ON the blog itself, not just in the email), post it on their favorite social site, and subscribe to the blog if they enjoyed it.
One side tip: Don’t do this very often or with every article, save it for your best because it can get annoying fast.
Have a call to action at the bottom of every blog post that should say something like “Please leave me your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below.” If you don’t ask your readers to comment, they’re less likely to do so.
Encourage readers to leave comments that offer their opinions even if they don’t agree with you…these are usually the best comments as you’ll see in our next tip.
2. Piss People Off Enough That They HAVE To Comment
You may not want to do this so often that people are flocking to your site to say how much they despise you, but then again there are bloggers out there that bank on being rude and in-your-face controversial. Personally, I don’t like the tactic of bashing someone else’s name only to get attention but I can offer my opinion on an article I’ve read and disagree with.
If you find something controversial in your perusing of your Reader, rather than leaving a comment on the other blog, write your article around it and link back to the blog. I used this tactic with my article Ban Twitter: How To Kill Free Speech at Conferences.
One of my most commented articles was one where I was promoting my nomination for the Women’s Blogger Award that I was in the running for. I didn’t intend to piss anyone off, but one male reader got his panties in an uproar and decided to tell us how women were being discriminatory for even having awards like this.
Ahem…excuse me? Women have been discriminated against for ages and when we decide to bond together and promote ourselves in a male dominated marketplace we are now the ones guilty of gender discrimination? I don’t think so. I got me and a few others involved in a slightly heated debate and led to plenty of comments.
3. Use Your Sense Of Humor To Leave The Door Open For Comments
Have you ever set up a joke at a social gathering knowing that there would be someone out there that wouldn’t be able to resist chiming in with exactly what you were hoping for?
Or, have you ever said something and about halfway through you realized it was going to come out as something that could be taken promiscuously? But, you said it anyway, didn’t you? And chances are you got a response from someone else that led to some joking around and before you knew it everyone was coming up with their own line. Do the same thing with your writing!
A perfect example: My article on How To Instantly Exchange Social Media Contact Info at Events described a cool new gadget called Poken. Immediately, my mind goes in the gutter as I’m sure many of yours did. I wrote the article with tongue in cheek because I knew someone would not be able to resist commenting on the obvious. And sure enough, my buddy Dennis Eddell was quick to jump in with his comment: “Boy I can’t wait to be poken you at a live convention!” Gotta love Dennis!
I have to be careful here, because I can just see all these people starting to say lude things on their blogs because Coree said they should do it and it would be funny. Use common sense. Be funny, be yourself, and above all…don’t censor your sense of humor. It’s what makes you, YOU.
Everyone’s attracted to the people in the room that are smiling and laughing. So, be more of that person.
4. Comment On Other Blogs
What goes around comes around, Baby! Don’t be selfish, go spread your comment love around on the blogs that you read. You’ll also build incoming links to your blog. As a blogger you need to be engaged in the blogging community and get your name out in the blogosphere for others to see. I’ve had many subscribers come to me from after reading a relevant comment I’d left on other blogs.
Please remember to acknowledge the article and comment on it, rather that spam the blogger’s comments with self promo. You’ll get your promo by being relevant. Their readers will like what you say, want to know more about you, and figure your blog is probably worth reading too.
Leaving comments on other blogs shows your appreciation and respect for the time that author has put into writing that article for you. Most of the information you’re finding on blogs is given away for free, so wouldn’t it be fitting to say thank you and tell the author what you got out of their work?
Even if you don’t agree with the blogger’s article, by leaving a comment stating your thoughts you are opening the door for more conversation. And that, after all, is what a community is all about.
I know my blog this year will be much more about who I am and speaking my own voice than just talking at people. I think we’ll all enjoy it more, and hopefully I’ll make some new friends here in my own little blogging community. Will you be one? 
Please leave your thoughts below in the comments section. I love hearing from you!
To Your Success,
Related Posts
- 10 Blog Traffic Tips
- 3 Simple SEO Strategies To Get Your Blog Read
- Blog Conversations: Tweets vs Comments Mini-Poll Results
- 3 Benefits To Using Article Marketing For Your Blog
- CommentLuv vs Disqus – Which Blog Commenting System Is Better?
Tagged as: Blogging · community · Increase Blog Comments
46 Responses to “4 Tips To Immediately Attract More Blog Comments”
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@ddeclemente Thx Donna. UR Lipsticking 2009 Recap post is a GR8 read: http://tinyurl.com/yc39wju
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@ddeclemente Thx Donna. UR Lipsticking 2009 Recap post is a GR8 read: http://tinyurl.com/yc39wju<br />
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This is great, Coree! I have a lot of trouble getting people to comment on my blogs. Instead, they'll tell me their thoughts on the article the next time they see or talk to me – which is wonderful, but as you say, doesn't help my SEO. I will use these tips to try to increase my comments. Thanks for sharing!
Twitter: DennisEdell
(63 comments) says:
Now, there's a backlink I can be proud of!
Seriously though, you struck a very powerful chord…BE YOURSELF. Not who you think your readers want you to be, and not what some other know-it-all blogger (with a community of 5) thinks you should be.
Oh no no no, you must be professional!! Yea, well OK, but does that mean like you just stepped out of an encyclopedia? Perhaps, if that's WHO YOU ARE to begin with.
Type as you talk. Period.
You ARE having a conversation with your readers, right? Huh? Right? I'm waiting…..
Well, of course I would only want to be myself because I am pretty awesome.
But, seriously…if you're looking to have a community of friends how long would you want to be watching everything you say, agreeing with everyone thinking it would make them like you, or boring everyone with perfect language? That's what I like about you, Dennis…you're not afraid to say what's on your mind.
One tip though…chicks hate to be rushed. You're like the guy standing at the bathroom door asking if we REALLY need to take 15 more minutes to put makeup on. But I still love ya!
Glad you found the tips useful. It's not easy when you're first starting out to get lots of blog comments. I really got most of my traffic from communicating with people on Twitter and leading them to my blog. Social media works great to build the interest but your blog is your hub.
I'll give you one more tip, rm3149….when you're leaving comments to help connect with your readers. This holds true whether it's on your own blog or someone else's. If you're still posting to your blog using “admin” as the author, you should change the settings to reflect your NAME. It'll help. See the post here: http://www.marketlikeachick.com/6-tips-to-help-…
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Twitter: DennisEdell
(63 comments) says:
Lots also hate to be called chicks, but I digress…
Actually, that was just going for one last chuckle, I know better; BELIEVE me. Either you're a perfectionist at truly EVERYTHING and nagging at the door is just going to make me 15 minutes older, OR, on second thought, never mind…
An excellent post. What I find difficult is finding things to talk about on a regular basis and that people would actually like to hear what I have to say. Have you got any tips on these issues?
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Yeah, but they're probably boring and hence…not reading my blog.
Ahhh…every blogger's problem child. What to write about today.
I find a lot of my ideas from reading other blogs…and their comments, believe it or not. Often times there will be a side conversation going on that I find interesting and would like to engage with. I will generally leave a relevant comment on the blog post itself then write a post of my own that was inspired by it.
I wrote a post a few months ago that may be helpful too: http://www.marketlikeachick.com/top-7-tips-to-c…
Timely post thanks! I have just launched two blogs in the last 3 weeks and one seems to get a lot of comments and the other seems to get a lot of retweets, I didn't think much of it, but I guess the former is because of the personal aspect of the blog.
What is your opinion on leaving trackbacks etc as comments?
Thanks : )
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Twitter trackbacks and tweets are nice because they do send traffic to your blog. What's even better is a comment on the blog then a tweet sending others to read and comment too! That's my fave!
There are just so many more benefits to commenting on blogs than just tweeting alone. I recently did a mini-poll on Twitter about this very subject. See the results and comments on this post: http://www.marketlikeachick.com/blog-conversati…
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Twitter trackbacks and tweets are nice because they do send traffic to your blog. What's even better is a comment on the blog then a tweet sending others to read and comment too! That's my fave!
There are just so many more benefits to commenting on blogs than just tweeting alone. I recently did a mini-poll on Twitter about this very subject. See the results and comments on this post: http://www.marketlikeachick.com/blog-conversati…
Twitter: CommentFlock
(1 comments) says:
Thanks for the list! I think using commentluv and responding to each comment will encourage more comments. People like to be acknowledged and engage in conversation.
Cheers!
Ian
Twitter: marianschembari
(1 comments) says:
I’m totally late on commenting but here are my thoughts regardless:
There’s this super-specific blogging community that you only understand if you’re knee-deep in the trenches. So maybe my friends don’t 100% get why I dig comments, but anyone else with a blog understands how vital they are to not only your site’s survival, but to your sanity/ego/motivation to move forward with your life.
We judge a blog entirely on its comments. I could give less of a sh*t if you get millions of readers every month, but if you’re getting 100 comments per post you are the cat’s pajamas. If you’re in PR you understand that reaching out to bloggers is important. But which bloggers do you contact? Those who are part of something bigger? The columnists for AOL? The biggies on HuffPo? Or do you go to the ones who have established their own little “cult followings”? People like The Bloggess or Marie Forleo…
To be perfectly honest, the reason I comment on blogs isn’t because people ask. From my experience, both with my own comments and seeing why other people write, here are the top reasons I comment a blog post:
* The blogger has said something I agree or disagree with strongly
* I want to congratulate someone on a new job/baby/engagement/personal success
* Something is hilarious and I want to add my own experience
* Something is so amazing I couldn’t possibly leave the website without letting the blogger know how amazing they are but am too lazy to write an email (There is a fine line. Remember that.)
* There’s some form of list, usually in advice-form, where I have something to contribute
This is a fantastic post!