One of the questions I get asked a lot by new bloggers, is how can they attract more comments from their readers. So, that’s what this post is all about.
I have posts here with as few as 6 or 7 comments, many with over 80/100 comments and one post with almost 700 comments. Here are a few of the things I have discovered about comments, which you might find useful:
- You don’t attract comments, simply by inserting “what do you think” at the end of each post.
- It’s a good idea to give your fellow bloggers a thank you for commenting on your blog. For example, if a blogger comments here and they include their blog’s URL, they get a link at the end of their comment, which promotes their most recent blog post to all my readers.Check it out, it’s in that box at the end of each comment. The software I use is called CommentLuv.
- The posts I write that ask questions, typically attract more comments than those that give answers.
- If someone is kind enough to comment on your blog, take the time to respond to their comment (if it requires a response.) Many bloggers ask people for feedback, then pretty much ignore most of them.
- The more heavily you moderate your blog, the fewer comments you get. If all comments are held for moderation before they are published, your comments section will lose momentum. It can take hours for people to see their comments published on moderated blogs and then hours longer, to see replies to their comments.
- Some of my most read posts have the fewest comments. This is interesting, as one of the reasons bloggers like to get comments, is to show how popular their blog is. This is the most read page / post on this blog, BTW.
- The more often I write blog posts, the more comments I get – Though the FEWER I get per post. When I was getting 100′s of comments per post, I was only blogging 4 or 5 times a month.I get more comments these days, but they are spread over a lot more posts, as I currently write 4 or 5 times or more a week. So, overall comment numbers are higher, but average comments per post are down.
- Only a very small percentage of blog readers, actually comment. So, even if you have the correct balance in place to encourage comments, you will need a sizeable readership before you get a high volume of comments.
There are many, many different blog comment strategies and the key is to find the right balance for you and whatever you want to achieve.
Members only
For example, a number of bloggers use a members only approach to comments. You have to join their blog before you can comment, by registering your contact details (and getting them validated.) This is sometimes called the velvet rope approach and is intended to create a feeling of exclusivity, whilst eliminating comment spam and trolls.
Seth Godin’s blog strategy
Some bloggers have copied Seth Godin’s blog comment strategy, to completely block his readers from commenting on his blog. From a marketing perspective, this approach is not as crazy as it may first seem. If you want to discuss something you read on Seth’s blog, you will probably do it on Facebook or Twitter etc; which spreads the word about Set’s blog and generates more new readers. If you made that same point on Seth’s blog, only you and his existing readers would have seen it.
If you are a blogger: What are your tips for encouraging readers to comment and get involved?
If you are blog reader: What motivates you to want to leave a comment?
Don’t say it all! Leave room for others to add to the topic.
Best, Robin
Robin Dickinson´s last blog ..10 ways to sharpen your professional image
Good point Robin! Thanks.
I like putting “What do you think” at the end of my posts, haha. It’s kind of like a little “call to action” where I ask readers questions to get them thinking about comments…I agree that it won’t automatically get more comments, but it doesn’t hurt.
At any rate, I think the best way to get more comments is to give more comments. If you go out and start making yourself known on other blogs and add to the conversation, people will start coming to your blog to see what you’re all about.
Corey Freeman – Simple Blog Coach´s last blog ..How to Get Serious About Your Blogging
Nothing wrong with a call to action, Corey.
I find I get a far better response, if I ask for specific feedback or ideas – rather than a generic message at the end of every post.
Horses for courses, as they say here!
Thanks for the comment!
As a relatively new blogger I really value the comments left by my readers not just because they have taken the time and effort to comment but also because it is helping me to understand them better – what their issues are, their experiences, their opinions and so on. I am finding that this is really helping me to understand my audience better which in turn is helping me to make my blog posts more in tune with stuff they want to read and would find useful.
I tend to follow and comment on other blogs that are either of personal interest or are helping me to learn and grow in areas that I have less knowledge or experience in. For example, I follow your blog as I am interested in learning more about effective marketing and you offer real value in your posts. I follow some of the big blogging names because as a newbie I want to up my own game and want to learn from quality people.
In some cases I like to connect with other blogs just for personal reasons. I am a people person and having an online community is as important to me as my offine community.
Ali Davies´s last blog ..How to work less hours
You are right. The feedback we get via comments are of HUGE value in helping us (as bloggers) understand our reader community.
Thanks for the comment Ali.
Jim, you had me agreeing until your very last paragraph.
I have never been a fan of a “blog” which shuts off comments. For whatever reason they do it, I don’t agree with the practice.
In my view, a blog that does not allow comments is not a blog at all. It is someone having a one sided conversation. The great thing about blogging from a marketing standpoint, especially for a business, is the fact it gives you the means to have a conversation with your intended audience. Without comments you just don’t have that.
True, you may force people to discuss your content on twitter or Facebook. But not everyone is on either of those two social media tools. It is easy to say, “well it works for Seth Godin, so why not do it.” True, but how many years did Seth blog before he shut off comments? And, before he shut off his comments he had built a huge following.
Blogging is much more than a one sided conversation. Blogging is much more than being a clearinghouse for information. Blogging is a conversation and a community building tool. You can not build a community by shutting them off from the ability to communicate within that community.
Grant Griffiths´s last blog ..The Right Ways To Get Traffic To Your Blog
Hi Grant,
Thanks for the comment. I’m not sure we are disagreeing, as I never suggested people should do what seth did. I simply said that he was not as crazy as it seems to have done what he did. For him, it has worked extremely well.
Seth’s fame and huge following allows him to do things that would not work as well for others.
BTW: Seth said that the reason he killed off the comments, was that he was spending too much time trying to explain every post, to everyone who didn’t “get it!”
For me, a blog without comments is a website – Somewhere to broadcast. IMHO, the comments are what allow us to develop a community.
Thanks for the feedback, my friend!
I’m both a blogger and a reader of blogs – as, indeed, I’m demonstrating now!
One of the things that seems to attract comments to my blog is when I leave coaching questions at the end of my posts. Of course, the questions are relevant to the post content and I hope offer my readers the opportunity to engage with the content in a personal way.
What attracts me to leave comments is content that I can engage with, or other people’s comments that I agree or disagree with and can build on. I like blogs that have a community feel to them that have some relevance to me and my work.
Christine Livingston´s last blog ..New Work Pioneers Answer A Call To Adventure
I second that,
from the very basic standpoint of communication, discussion is not a monologue. Even though the “classic” one-level comment setups are still ok, I don’t see how it outweighs the modern commenting setups.
Vytautas Palubeckas´s last blog ..Quickpost: Apple iPhone 4G Uncovered
Hello there Christine. You are totally right, especially regarding the need for engagement. Thanks for the feedback my friend!
From both a blogger and blog reader perspective, I enjoy a commenting system, such as the one you use, which allows you to reply directly underneath a previous comment rather than keeping all comments in the order they were posted.
Tom Wanek´s last blog ..Selling Customers Their Way
That’s a very good point, Tom.
I find it really frustrating, when I see a comment that I want to respond to on a blog, but end up with my reply, 5 or 10 places below the actual comment.
Thanks for the comment Tom!
I have a different approach although I have not done enough blogging. I am really much better on youtube. But I talk to the trolls because comments have to be a good indicator of a hot subject. A troll will give you 5 or 6 if you know how to have fun with it. You can win a fan with a good comeback. Of course I am going for the younger market. you find most people never take the time to reply to comments. I have how Facebook does it because I think you need multilevel almost smack off like commenting.. I use the troll and then block them.
Works on youtube where you get suck loyality. the thing is with youtube your daughters drama class satire there dad at work could be a marketing plan which could be used as a fundraiser for the drama club..
of course I am the guy that wants greenpeace to build me an app which lets me track my carbon and now water footprints. plus tell me where I can get fish that are not mutant trout. fish shouldn’t have bigger muscles than us. Genetic mutation gone wild. and hire me to make fun of companies that pollute.. plus brand greenpeace approved.. cause I want to know which companies are greener..
The cool thing about this world is you really don’t have to be politically correct.. there is a new dynamic called cyber actor and if you are a physicist you would know to observe is to change and thus by observing you are not seeing me but a version of me altered by knowing you are watching.. the definition of cyber acting which is what people and businesses need.
the loyalty you gain by being human.. admiting you screwed up is amazing.. if a commentor rips you why delete it when you have a chance to look good when so many companies look bad..
I want to scream at how stupid 95% of the companies and people are online. There is a set mix of sites that you need to have if you are in business. Posterous reduces the time needed to do a lot of things. Ustream, blogger, youtube and even facebook are ways to make money.. how do they do that.. behind the scenes.. you want to market it your dream then just tell the story.. good the bad and ugly.. talk about how life sucked for awhile cause you married a jerk. Talk about how that inspired you to never again be a slave to the… the rest I can not say.. they call me a ghost.. in many ways my mind is.. from one personality to another.. dam cats..
As always Igebadia, a unique take on the subject that really got me thinking.
Thanks!
First, it’s all about the content. I have been running my own personal blog for a couple of months now and so far I got only 1 comment (which might as well be spam, gotta check that). Good content provokes questions and I wouldn’t really agree with leaving out a part of the picture just to encourage commenting because the content itself becomes not too rich.
Second. It’s about the visibility. If blog is visible and has got a good reputation in the market, it will attract more visitors and increase the count of comments. For some folks, however, there is no purpose to attract comments at all.
Third. It’s about time. With millions of posts around the web and enormous amount of content being published every minute, some people just don’t bother leaving comments. By the time I will finish this one I could pop up google or click around outlinks to search for more content instead.
Fourth. It’s about the whole purpose of leaving comments. From my standpoint as a reader, I want my comment to yield some results, which in this case is to better understand the psychology and thinking behind commenting and that helps me a lot when I need to put my thinking in words, hence the comment is about to be posted. One word or few word comments make like “lol”, “agree”, “you nailed it” generally does not increase the value of the post, actually it’s totally opposite as reader has scroll through a number of worthless comments trying to find something of interest and meaning.
All in all, there are a lot of things to consider before even enabling comments in your content management system. With all the available tools to manage the content it is easy to overload a blog with low-potential enhancements. I wouldn’t want for my Customers to take a learning curve of 2 hours before even starting to consume the information which is available! I like Your blog Jim. There is some really useful information and food for brain here, hopefully my comment will give some value to the blog!
All the best,
Vytautas
Vytautas Palubeckas´s last blog ..Quickpost: Apple iPhone 4G Uncovered
Your comment certainly did bring value to the blog, Vytautas. Thank you for such a well thought out contribution.
I am relatively new to blogging. I read this post because I really want to attract readers AND comments. I have been asking for feedback via the social networks where I am promoting my posts. Do you think that straight out asking for comments/feedback when promoting a new post is okay?
Jennifer F Williams (JWil)´s last blog ..Jumping on the Green Bandwagon
Hi Jennifer. Personally, I think it’s a great idea to ask for feedback. I do all the time, and often include the words “feedback please” in the title of a post.
Hope that helps.
Yeah, some of it makes sense –
Replying to your comments is a big GO-GO if you actually want to build a community around your blog.
But one good reason is that the more personal and “edgy” your write, the higher the chance that someone actually comments. I have seen this all over – dull posts barely get comments – while those that are quite passionate (and have stand point!) attract them like flies.
Mars Dorian´s last blog ..How to Create a Service that Blows Everyone AWAAAAAAAAAAAAAY !
Hello Mars. You are right about edgy posts attracting comments. The writing style of blogs, such as http://techcrunch.com or http://dvorak.org/blog is a great example.
Thanks for the feedback Mars!!
Some thought provoking ideas, but my own success in getting comments (which isn’t good it has to be admitted) is from the wider social networking. People who know me from elsewhere come to my blog and then comment as part of the relationship we have built elsewhere (e.g. Twitter). Different people have different ways of relating to me – forums at http://www.pimlico-flats.co.uk/forum, the blog at http://www.pimlico-flats.co.uk/blog & twitter at http://twitter.com/pimlico_flats they all lead to comments on my blog equally. If anyone relates to me (by that i mean a quality interaction, not spam!) in any of these ways I do my best to return the favour.
So, you’re involved with flats in Pimlico?
Yes – nice interview style, open question. Would you like to hear more about my Blog, and Forum? I notice you haven’t started following me on Twitter yet …. would you like those URLs again?
Nick´s last blog ..Rent a Central London Flat – where is Central?
Why do I leave comments? I’ll start with a little story about the most meaningful comment I ever received. It goes back some 10 years or so, when I was still an internal communications manager for a large crown corporation. We were making major changes to a main product line and radically changing the processes that thousands of operational employes in mail processing plants, letter carrier depots and postal outlets had been following for many years. I created an electronic newsletter that quickly became a main touchpoint connecting them with the project and worked hard at making it real and relevant, as well as fun. My name never appeared anywhere, of course, but I felt a personal responsibility in helping them make sense of it all. My best moment came when our corporate email account received the following message:
“Great note. Great explanations. Keep up the good work, whoever you are…”
Those three short sentences continued to give me a boost over the years that followed , reminding me to always keep the needs of the audience in mind.
I keep this relationship with readers in mind now as I try to absorb the best practices of social networking, which is a relatively new area for me. I’m out of corporate life and high-speed only came to where I live 11 months ago. I’ve recently started to blog about my journey as I learn and apply social media. It’s good hands-on experience for me, but I don’t want to do it in a vacuum. I want to know that I’m also providing value in turn.
That’s why I also add comments to posts that I find value in—whether it’s tips or insight I’ve gained.
Adding my blog URL as it doesn’t seem to have gotten picked up with my comment.
http://ignorethesquirrels.wordpress.com
Karen Runtz´s last blog ..Peepers and tweeters, mating and muting
Looks like it’s worked this time Karen.
OK, I will make a tiny promotion in here, but it fits in. (And I think that’s a good excuse…)
Recently I have joined the team developing WordPress plugin called AJAX EDIT COMMENTS.
What we have noticed is that if the plugin is active, people are leaving more comments.
We think it is thanks to the added “safety net” benefit, as we call it, that allows everybody to edit the comments even after posting. Further we think it removes the barrier that some (mainly introvert) people may have: What if I make a typo?
Blog admins are pretty happy with it also: Now my users can correct their own messes…
So if you are really wondering if there is something else to it, you can try this plugin.
In my opinion, you must leave something unanswered in order to get comments.
If you answer everything, you just won’t get comments. This is happening to me over and over again…
Hi Jim
As a blog reader I really like the facility to add comments directly under the relevant posting. Is that part of the Headway theme or a separate plugin?
I also wondered if you had noticed a change in the quality or intent behind posts when you added the CommentLuv software? I am considering this option for my blog but concerned that it may attract people who just want to plug their own blogs and not write posts that are relavant to the topic. I guess that’s not your experience?
Hi Julie,
Regarding threaded comments, it’s all Headway – No plugin required.
Regarding the commentluv plugin, I have not noticed any more spammy comments than I had before. Sadly, as soon as a blog gets a large(ish) reader base, it attracts people, who see it as a way to advertise their stuff for free.
So, no increase since adding commentluv – PLUS, I do get to reward those like yourself, who are genuinely contributing here.
Thanks for the comment!
Hi Jim,
The title of your post is what got my attention because I recently started a new blog, one that I’m taking seriously. I’m getting real comments now, mostly because I joined a blog challenge and the participants are supporting each other. It’s very nice!
As a reader, I like to leave comments on posts that I enjoy as a show of appreciation and support. If the blogger is trying to be helpful, he or she deserves at least that.
As a blogger, I’m not quite sure how to attract comments yet. I’m determined to figure it out though. Some of the things you mentioned I’m already doing, such as CommentLuv and replies. I also have the Notify of Followup plugin, which I think is great both as a reader and a blogger.
Thank you for sharing your experiences and tips. You’ve been very helpful. Much appreciated.
Deb Augur´s last blog ..No Video? No Problem. Get Your YouTube Channel Now.
Hi Deb,
The truth is, it’s the same at the3 beginning for most of us. We start off writing to just a handful of people and rely on THEM to help us reach more people.
Then, as your SEO kicks in (you really need to think about good SEO), you will start attracting new, targeted readers – people looking for exactly the kind of content that you provide.
It takes time, but it’s well worth it.
Oh, and it’s extremely enjoyable too!
Thanks for the comment, Deb!
A topic that really resonates with me!
I’m one of those blogger/blog reader people – like so many of your fans, Jim.
To get people commenting, I find I get the best results and the greatest number of responses when I …
1) Take an eclectic approach to choosing a topic – for example, I have a post scheduled to be published tomorrow about a “cast iron skillet”. I’ve crafted a story that will tie online marketing to why you should buy a cast iron skillet.
“Off-the-beaten-path” has served me well.
2) Post a call to action. Works a whole lot better than not having one.
3) Include graphics of some kind with my posts. About 90% of adults are visual learners (been an instructor for 29 years). My posts without graphics don’t get nearly the number of comments.
Melanie Kissell´s last blog ..Fabulous Follow Friday Friends
Thanks for those tips Melanie!