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Home » The Famous Blog » A Comprehensive New Age Guide to Increase Comments on your Blog – Part 1

A Comprehensive New Age Guide to Increase Comments on your Blog – Part 1

March 25, 2012 - Last Modified: March 29, 2014 by Pratik Dholakiya

Increase Blog Comments

If your blog is unable to attract comments, there is a very good chance that it is doing something wrong, or to put it more specifically, you must be doing something wrong. Increasing the amount of comments your blog is able to generate is part art, part science and part trick. You need to get all three of them right, in equal measure in order to get the best and brightest comments on your blog.

So, without wasting any more time, let’s take a look at how you can increase comments on your blog.

Clearly Define a Comments Policy

It’s your blog, you set the rules. But, more than setting the rules, your focus should be on clarifying your blog’s policy vis-à-vis the comments. You need to leave no doubts in the minds of your prospective readers about the sanctity, safety and security of the discussions taking place on your blog.

If you want your readers to comment on your blog, you need to tell them in no small terms what you expect from your blog comments and that all comments will be taken up in a highly constructive manner and any doubts or questions expressed through the comments sections will be clarified by, you, the blogger.

Your policy should tell readers whether they will be able to promote their own businesses (by placing backlinks), whether they can criticize your blog, whether colorful language is allowed or not etc. All in all your blog’s comments policy must be clearly stated on your blog, which gives your readers the do’s and don’ts of placing comments on your blog.

Make it Easy for People to Comment

I am sure you must have come across blogs, where bloggers have either ‘disabled’ comments or have made it really difficult for readers to place comments on their blogs. If bloggers don’t want people to comment on their blog posts, it is their choice and they are welcome to it. But, making it difficult for readers to place comments is a cardinal sin that needs to be avoided at all costs.

So, if you have a blog, check its comments settings. Common blogging platforms like WordPress and Blogger make it extremely easy to get a blog up and running in double quick time, but they also ask bloggers to choose their comments settings. This means a blogger can put a limit on who can post comments and who cannot.

This choice has been given to help bloggers avoid spammers and ensure that only genuine commentators are able to post their comments.

But, often, even genuine commentators cannot get the hang of the comments section. To avoid this error you need to choose the appropriate features from the settings menu of your blogger platform and make the necessary selection. For e.g. in WordPress, the comments settings appear on the Discussions settings and all you need to do is place a tick on all those settings that you need for your blog.

As simple as eating cake! Don’t know why many bloggers mess up this crucial blogging feature.

Strong Opinionated Content

Content coated in sugar coated diplomatic terms, never won any comments. Yes, that’s right. If you want people to post comments on your blog, then write something that’s straight from the heart and is a strong outpouring of what you really think about a particular subject. There is no doubt about the fact that people are attracted to strong opinionated content that doesn’t want to please everybody.

After all, a blog is a personal thing and is a means of getting your personal thoughts across to the people on the World Wide Web. Your personality needs to come out strongly with the words on your blog. This is what people queue up to read and appreciate.

I want to clarify here that by opinionated, I don’t mean prejudiced (although even this works big time). I just mean writing a no holds barred write up is the way forward if you want your blog to attract comments.

The ground rule is very simple – Opinionated content attracts even stronger opinions in the form of comments. Also, focus on writing about something that people have strong views about.

Reward Top Commentators

There is nothing like a bit of incentive to increase comments. Reward your commentators if they post the highest number of comments in a given week, month or year. The timeframe depends on you…. You are the boss.

What you could do is integrate a commentator’ plugin into your blog, which allows you to list the top ten readers who have posted the highest number of comments on your blog. What you could do is you could place their names along with the links to their website and offer DoFollow links. This is a reward that won’t be ignored by most readers.

Another thing you can do is give those readers who post their highest number of comments on your blog, an ad space on your blog. In a world where internet space sells at a premium, an ad space on a blog is something that is very difficult to resist.

If you want, you could even offer them a freebie. Yes, if your blog is promoting your products or services, why not offer them a free product for posting comments. This is something else that will be a sure fire hit.

When it comes to rewards, what you offer is your choice. Just make sure that your target readers consider it worthwhile.

Your own Comments Should Have Value

Blogging etiquette demands that you reply to your comments. Think about a situation, wherein, a reader has commented on your post in some detail. Instead of acknowledging this comment, you ignore it, or just reply to it with a monosyllabic ‘thank you’. That’s simply not on. A query, doubt, question, criticism, or approval needs to be reciprocated with a reply (through your own comment); this tells a commentator that their comment has been appreciated and not ignored.

If it’s a criticism leveled at your blog posts, defend your post and stand up for it. On the other hand, if the reader has made a valid point against what you have written, accept it and add your own two cents to it. The whole idea behind replying to comments is to tell readers that you care about the reputation of your blog.

Strike up a Conversation

Your blog is a personal thing…. I have brought this up elsewhere in the blog. It’s a living breathing thing, which overtime builds up its very own character. It can be the ‘friendly’ blog, the ‘angry’ blog, the ‘frivolous’ blog or something else altogether. But, the point is, you need to ensure that your blog makes friends. Your comments section allows you to strike up a conversation with your readers.

Say you have struck up a conversation with the only reader who has posted a comment on your blog. The conversation takes an interesting turn, which attracts another reader to join the conversation through the comments section and so on and so forth. Very soon, you will have a huge list of people who have joined this conversation. This is a great way of attracting comments.

In this case, it’s important to adopt a well-thought out approach. Try to get an idea about the interests and preferences of your readers and their likes and dislikes. Try to veer the conversation into a zone, which is sure to elicit replies from the reader. Slowly, but surely you will begin to build a rapport with your reader and the conversation will flow…..it’s a process that might seem long and drawn out, but it offers great returns on investment. All the time that you have spent knowing your reader, will be well worth the effort.

Think Clever, Act Smart

This is a bit of a general guideline and nothing specific. You have got to be smart enough to understand your readers. Think about it…. what is that one trigger that will ensure that they place a comment on your blog. You need to get them all interested… all excited and most of all…. Riled up… there are two major reactions that you need to try and get out of them,

“This guy doesn’t know what he is talking about, he thinks he is smart, but he isn’t”

“This guy actually knows what he is doing, I like that”

As can be imagined, you need to be smart and keep your ego aside. Your sole objective is to get comments, any which way they come. Everything else is secondary. The fact that your blog is able to attract comments means you have got it right. There is nothing else to think about.

It’s like Chess

Getting comments on your blog is like making moves on the chessboard, the only difference being, you are your own opponent. Each move you make, each strategy that you adopt, takes you closer to your goal. But, it must be understood that this is never ending. The moves never end. You need to keep trying, you need to keep working.

You would do well to remember that when it comes to attracting readers to your blog, content is everything, but not everybody is a good writer or for that matter not everybody can zero in on a topic that their readers will like.  This is why the guidelines given above can help you. You mustn’t lose focus of your content, but keep trying out new ideas, for improving the amount of comments.

Don’t give up, because the day you do, your blog becomes a non-entity.

Continue reading second part:

A Comprehensive New Age Guide to Increase Comments on your Blog – Part 2

Image © Andres Rodriguez – Fotolia.com

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Filed Under: Blog Comments, Blogging

About Pratik Dholakiya

Follow @DholakiyaPratik

Pratik Dholakiya is the Founder of The 20 Media, a content marketing agency specializing in content & data-driven SEO and PRmention, a digital PR agency. He regularly speaks at various conferences about SEO, Content Marketing, Entrepreneurship, and Digital PR. Pratik has spoken at 80th Annual Conference of Florida Public Relations Association, Accounting & Finance Show, Singapore, NextBigWhat’s UnPluggd, IIT-Bombay, SMX Israel, SEMrush Meetup, MICA, IIT-Roorkee and other major events. As a passionate SEO & content marketer, he shares his thoughts and knowledge in publications like Search Engine Land, Search Engine Journal, Entrepreneur Magazine, Fast Company, The Next Web, YourStory and Inc42 to name a few.

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{ 44 Responses }

  1. Promit says:
    To increase comments on your blog you have to make your blog comment dofollow. Because people love to comment on dofollow blog. Secondly you have to write quality content so that people read all the things you have written. In this way you have better chance that people will leave their comment. And third thing, you have to reply on comments. In this way you can increase comments .
  2. Jonathan says:
    Definitely. Rewarding top commentators and replying to comments are great ways to engage readers. From my experience I have found list-based posts are very good at encouraging interaction, more so than normal non-listed posts. Of course the content still as to be good but the way in which it is presented is an important factor in my opinion.
  3. Sara says:
    I believe you are right in all paragraphs and really have a realistic point of view about on how to engage readers in order to leave their comments and about the results that this will have. It's funny and also parallel very important to see that all strategies around SEO starts and ends with the good and valuable content.Thank you for the tips.
  4. saha says:
    Good to read this useful information related to comments. I think make it easy for people to comment and reward top commentator is best strategy. Also stay in touch with your commentators by replying their comments. All these points are very helpful.Thanks for this wonderful post.
  5. Trung Nguyen says:
    I think reward top commentators and make our blog easy for people comment are great ways/tips to increase comment, beside, be sure that we have an awesome content first.
    • Pratik Dholakiya says:
      Absolutely, Rewarding top commentators has been playing major role in generating more and more blog comments since the commentators get a dofollow link back if they get a reward.
  6. Sarah says:
    Such brilliant advise on how to get comments on your blog. I definitely need to re look at my blog and see changes can be made to get more comments. Thank you for your tips.
    • Pratik Dholakiya says:
      Good to hear that you liked the tips. Thanks for stopping by and commenting Sarah.
  7. Suraj says:
    Hi, Thanks for sharing this wonderful article. It helped me gain a lot of info.
    • Pratik Dholakiya says:
      Thanks Suraj, happy to hear you gained some helpful information.
  8. Marshall Davis says:
    It is interesting to see what blogs get comments, and what don't. Sometimes I will see a site that I think should attract a conversation and am surprised to see that they hardly get any comments. Then there are those sites that make it incredibly hard to join the discussion, as in they never approve comments, or require you to use Facebook or some other odd way to sign in. If you don't make it easy, I won't be commenting, no matter how much I would enjoy joining the conversation.
    • Pratik Dholakiya says:
      I agree Marshall and very true saying. Certain websites are also there who keep the comments box open for some days after the approval of the post, which is quite odd as someone who read it later won't be able to share his/her insights there. Thanks for sharing your words. I really appreciate.
  9. Julie says:
    Thanks for sharing your useful tips for having more comments, they could be really helpful for me to reach my goals in blogging.
    • Pratik Dholakiya says:
      I'm glad to hear this Julie. Let me know if there is anything I can help with it.
  10. Elena Anne says:
    I especially like the tip about not being sugar coated. People that want to please everybody in their posts sometime don't get their point across because they are trying to walk around so lightly. You should be abrasive just to be abrasive but if that is what you believe you should not hold yourself back when trying to share it on your blog.
    • Pratik Dholakiya says:
      I agree Elena, there shouldn't be anything diplomatic. Straight forward posts work wonder than diplomatic.
  11. Tushar says:
    Good post. In this time of constant innovation you need to come up with new strategies of generating comments. This post is certainly worth a read.
    • Pratik Dholakiya says:
      I appreciate sharing your words Tushar. Thanks! Good to hear you find this worth.
  12. Steve says:
    Great points here on generating more comments. Bottom line, if you want more comments you have to make commenting atttactive, and if possible, fun. Some great tips here so far, i look forward to part II.
    • Pratik Dholakiya says:
      Thanks Steve, I'm working on drafting part II !
  13. Bishwajeet says:
    I think it depends on the type of blog one is having, for e.g a Blogging niche blog will ge good amount of comments
    • Pratik Dholakiya says:
      That's true Bishwajeet, BUT content is going to play a major role to get good comments. Like I mentioned in the post there are many other things that matters when it comes to getting more comments like easy process of commenting, rewards, continuous conversation etc.
  14. Myla M. says:
    learned something new again. I agree everything plotted above and thinking there's plenty that I've been missing on, and gives me an idea on how should I play and make it more catchy to readers. great tips, thanks much.
    • Pratik Dholakiya says:
      Thanks for all your words Myla. It's good to hear you found this helpful. Thanks for commenting.
  15. Samuel says:
    Couldn't agree more with the article being displayed over here. It isn't rocket science either, but also not wanted to get any of them. By default, it should be easy for people to comment. If you can't, then your theme is surely messed up. These are very good points, and I have talked about getting comments like crazy in my article below!
    • Pratik Dholakiya says:
      Hi Samuel, Yes, I agree that it's not a rocket science to generate comments. BUT focusing on various possible ways of increasing comments on the blogs are helpful either. It's not just the theme that can mess up everything, content, the way of presentation, something that is written for readers and not just to share information, being able to be talkative with readers through comments, sharing opinions in between the content etc are also having a major side of getting more comments. Thanks for sharing your article, I enjoyed it thoroughly.
  16. Henrik Sandberg says:
    Great post with a lot of inspiration.... thank you. With the Panda update a comment can make the page look fresh for google too... Take care Henrik
    • Pratik Dholakiya says:
      Thanks for stopping by and commenting Henrik, I appreciate it.
  17. abhinav says:
    Really great tips you share with us. Its very helpful. thank you so much for sharing this tips.
    • Pratik Dholakiya says:
      Hi Abhinav, Happy to hear you liked the tips and found it useful. Thanks for commenting.
  18. Amrik says:
    Great post, although I would also note that adding word verification to your comments might backfire. I understand wanting to cut down on spam, but it also adds another barrier for the commenter, and I think it's more beneficial to make commenting as easy as possible. I would recommend starting without it, and if you find you have a large spam problem, adding it in later.
    • Pratik Dholakiya says:
      Good advice Amrik, I agree with your point, It definitely adds a barrier for the commentator BUT in the longer run it's helpful to avoid bulk spam comments. To not make the word verification boring, we can make it as just normal question answer with Yes or No, and that should work at ease I believe.
  19. Sally Thompson says:
    If you want people to post a comments on your blog, you need to make it interesting for them to interact with you. If the content is boring, they will never leave a feedback for it! Thank you for sharing with us your tips!
    • Pratik Dholakiya says:
      Thanks for sharing your views Sally!
  20. Allen Resha says:
    I have worked very hard at getting comments. I don't know what I am doing wrong. I try to produce good content. I ask for comments. I give things away. At the end of the day I am left scratching my head!!! (Btw. My blog feed is working, but your plugin is not picking up my feed? Any suggestions?) If you can offer any advice please feel free!
    • Pratik Dholakiya says:
      Hi Allen, After taking a quick look at your blog, I find following things you need to improve. Content Styling (Use small paragraphs) Use bullets instead of more and more paragraphs Write detailed post with informative content that user enjoy to read. If you are sharing something that is already written, share it in a unique way with more thoughts. Focus less on keywords and more on topic information sharing. After improving with these areas, you'll probably want to take a look at Rand Fishkin's great post of increasing traffic on the blog. http://www.seomoz.org/blog/21-tactics-to-increase-blog-traffic-2012 I hope this will be helpful. Let me know if there is anything else you want to know.
      • Allen Resha says:
        Thank you for the feedback. I have recently been spending time trying to work on my SEO. I think that I have lost sight of the fact that I need to write for the READER first then for the Search Engines. I am going to look around the web at top blogs that I respect and look at the different writing styles. Then I am going to pick one that I think will be suiting to me. I will update you when I do my next posts and then if you get a chance you can have a look at them. Thanks for the feedback. I recently read another post https://famousbloggers.net/blog-sucks.html and it stuck out to me that maybe I needed to look over how I am approaching things.
  21. Latha says:
    Prathik, Great tips to get started.
    • Pratik Dholakiya says:
      Good to hear you liked the tips Latha. Thanks for commenting.
  22. Nishadha says:
    I think the most important things are to create strong opinionated content and reward your users with links. As a blog focused on diagramming it isn't easy to get comments but hopefully I can put some of the points to the test and increase them.
    • Pratik Dholakiya says:
      That's very true. Rewarding with links is one of the best ways to attract more readers and get more comments that is with the help of opinionated content.
  23. Jeremy says:
    It does take real effort to consistently attract comments on a blog. Early on, you may find that it is even more difficult. When your stats aren't high enough to give people incentive to comment, you need to got he extra mile. Reach out to your readers and really build a connection with them. If they also run a blog, take the time to also comment on their blog and promote their content. Just don't sit back and wait for everyone to keep coming back to your blog to comment.
    • Pratik Dholakiya says:
      Great advice Jeremy, It's always needed to pay constant attention and efforts to be able to have a huge fan following and readers and then only it helps to generate continuous comments.

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