Increase blog comments
Jokes apart, no one is going to comment unless you encourage them to do so, I have listed 30 tips that you may use to get comments on your blog.
- Tit for Tat: This simple rule works everywhere, and in the blogosphere, it rocks, as most blogger comment-hungry so it is a mutual understanding that if someone has commented on your blog then you should also comment on his blog too.
- Ask them to leave comment: What I’ve experienced so far is when I ask my readers to leave a comment I get more comments as compared to when I don’t ask them.
- Write Tutorials: Most of the readers comment when they need your help, writing a tutorial and unique article is the best way to get comments.
- Ask questions: Always try to ask a question at the end of your blog post like “Do you agree with it?”, “Do you think it should work?”, “What do you think?” etc.
- Ask for opinion poll: Adding a poll also encourages user to write a comment because most reader tends to tell the author why they have chosen a particular option in the poll. “Everyone like to speak their mind out, all we need to do is to encourage and give space to them”
- Always reply to comments: Interacting with your commentators is very important, else it feels to them they are replying to a BOT. provide answers and be humble.
- Reply with a ‘?’ : Once you have replied, ask again “Do they get it?” “Are you satisfied?” etc.. this builds up the interactive commenting.
- Never delete a nonspam comment.
- Learn to take in negative comments: Not everyone likes your post, everyone has different tastes, whatever you do, an Apple Mac user will always hate a Microsoft Windows PC, so in that case be resourceful & be positive while replying. But yes, if the language is uncivil, uncouth, or derogatory, you may consider deleting such comments!
- Never abuse/embarrass/humiliate your visitors: Consider yourself as a Call center worker who can’t even use a harsh tone while talking to their customer no matter what the situation is. But the best way is to pre-judge if you think a comment may harm your reputation or may end up worse than you can break my rule no 8. :D
- Give reward to your commentators: Everyone likes free goodies, if you are doing good then you can send some reward to your regular commentator as a compliment.
- Give reward to Top Commentator: Rather than giving rewards just like that announce a competition and give reward to the top commentator, this will encourage your inactive readers to comment too, and your active commentators will buckle up for the competition.
- Remove Captcha – Make it easy for your reader to comment.
- Use threaded comments: It has various benefits, first, it gives your discussion a good look simple to understand, second, it sends a notification whenever someone replies to your comment.
- Display recent comments
- Highlight Top Commentator: This brings up the feeling of getting the first prize in a class to the commentator use Top Commentator widget in your sidebar.
- Provide email subscription to blog comments
- Don’t ask to register to your blog for letting the readers comment on your blog.
- Use Akismet: You don’t want to have Spam comments in your blog, having spam comments also reduces the commenting, therefore use the Akismet plugin to avoid spam comments.
- Provide editable comments: Use plugins like Edit comment XT to provide useful functionality to edit their own comments.
- Provide a Preview Comment plugin to let user preview their comments before posting
- Display Avatar, people love to see their avatars, faces and logo so provide avatar functionality too
- Remove no-follow attribute from the comment field, and announce it, too. A Blogger likes to comment on Dofollow blog to earn some backlinks.
- Use CommentLuv: By enabling CommentLuv you are giving your commentators direct traffic and a backlink that encourages them to comment more. Just try to comment on CommentLuv enabled blog for 2-3 weeks and see the difference.
- Take initiative: If you are not getting any comment then maybe it’s time that you should take initiative and start commenting on others’ blogs. Comment daily on their blog for a week and you will see the back comments afterward. “Don’t be in a hurry”.
- Write controversial posts and get loads of comment
- Send a sweet Thank You to your commentators but not much often just once in 2 months or so.
- Facebook Connect: Give your readers options to comment on your blog using their Facebook account id. 29: Moderate regularly: Don’t keep your commentator waiting to see his comments live, moderate comment hourly. … And what can be the 30th tip? What I missed! Leave a comment below and help me reach 30.
