When readers comment on your blog it not only gets them more engaged with you and your content, it gives your blog more life and may even help it rank better with the search engines.
Here are a few quick tips to encourage blog comments:
Ask questions. Near the end of your post, ask readers for their opinions or what has worked for them.
Take a contrary position. Go against the conventional wisdom and be a little controversial.
Dofollow comment links. Most blogs use the “nofollow” tag in comments, meaning that the links do not pass search engine juice. Making your comment links “dofollow” means that more people will be interested in commenting. You can even post your blog in dofollow directories to encourage traffic and comments. (Of course, you will also encourage spam comments, so you may need to moderate comments to keep out the junk.) Get the plugin to dofollow comments on your WordPress blog at http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/sem-dofollow/
Form a blogging alliance. Darren Rowse recently wrote about joining with other bloggers who write blogs in similar niches to support each other. One of the things alliance members do is comment on each other’s blogs.
Interact with commenters. Keep the conversation going. Respond to comments readers leave on your blog. Let them know you are listening. (This applies to your guest posts on other blogs, too. When you guest post, watch the comments and interact with the blogger’s readers.) Respond to a blog comment and you continue a conversation that will keep the commenter coming back to your blog.
Tweet your blog posts and ask your followers to share their opinions. Use other social media (e.g., Facebook, FriendFeed, Plaxo, et al) to spread the word about your latest posts and get people to join in the conversation with a blog comment.
So what have you found works in getting readers to interact with your blog by leaving comments? Leave your comments below. ;o)
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9 responses so far ↓
1 Best Least Known Blogging Tool | StayGoLinks // Oct 11, 2009 at 2:12 pm
[...] Attract Blog Comments (cathystucker.com) Sphere: Related Content [...]
2 Sam // Oct 14, 2009 at 2:51 pm
I think comments along with any subsequent back and forth is really what makes a blog a blog. Otherwise it would just be like reading a newspaper article. The comments make the blog interactive. Thanks for the tips.
3 Cathy Stucker // Oct 14, 2009 at 4:00 pm
The comments make a blog a conversation. I love that I can get feedback from readers on my blog, and interact with other bloggers on their blogs.
4 Abel // Oct 27, 2009 at 4:55 am
I really appreciate this post, I enjoy reading people’s blogs and commenting on them, but often comments are regarded as spammy, even if they really are not!
The tips are great, will be sure to take them on for my blog. Thanks!
5 Joan Stewart, The Publicity Hound // Dec 2, 2009 at 11:28 pm
Cathy, great tip about the dofollow links.
Here’s another way I encourage comments at my blog. I tweet a version of the blog headline but make it “juicier” and more enticing. And then I add questions at the end like:
–”Is he wrong?”
–”Am I crazy?”
–”Weigh in with your opinion.”
–”What’s your advice?”
My tweets feed into Facebook, and I get a lot of conversation over at Facebook when my friends see those tweets.
–
6 Cathy Stucker // Dec 2, 2009 at 11:38 pm
Terrific ideas, Joan. I agree about Facebook–I get lots of comments and conversation there, too.
7 Not getting blog comments? 6 ways to get people talking | My Social Media Solution // Dec 3, 2009 at 6:11 am
[...] Stucker, aka The Idea Lady, offers six great tips on how to encourage people to comment at [...]
8 A.B // Dec 22, 2009 at 12:52 am
I have noticed that posts on Controversies, Hacks, Creative posts, Group Projects, Humor and Personal stories usually attract more COMMENTS.
http://arthur-internetmarketing-guide.blogspot.com/2009/12/posts-that-always-get-lots-of-comments.html#more
9 Add TwitterComment Link And A Little Magic | Bird On A Wire // Jan 9, 2010 at 12:17 am
[...] Attract Blog Comments (cathystucker.com) [...]
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