Blogging Tips

Comments tell you as a writer what topics are important to your readers. Many bloggers use comments to develop new articles and find new niches. Out of all your readers though, only a small portion take the time to share their thoughts and when your starting a site, your reader following is small enough. Here are some tips to get your readers to step up and contribute.

Evoke Emotion

Taking the time to post a comment for the average reader takes a lot. You need to evoke an emotion and a reason for them to comment. If you take a look at a site like Amazon, the product reviews tend to be extremely good or extremly bad because the product evoked an emotion with the buyer. You don’t see many people commenting “The product was alright, it got the job done.”

Comment on non-popular blogs

The big fish bloggers for the most part don’t take the time to reciprocate the guesture, but a less popular blogger who doesn’t get
that many comments will likely take a look at your site and comment on a story or two of yours. This is a good way to find new friends and gain more exposure for your site.

Ask a Question

Most articles are not discussion friendly because the article solves a problems or provides information. They leave no cues to evoke feedback. If your post an article that asks for a reader to contribute to the article, they will likely take the time. Give them
a reason to respond.

Stay on Point

Nothing says off topic like NO COMMENTS. If you are accustom to getting 5 or 10 comments on an article, and you don’t get a response from a certain post, then probably visitors aren’t there for that topic. This is a good indication that you need to stay focused on what your readers want. On the other hand, if you have an article that recieve an abnormal high of comments, you’ve likely struck a cord with your users. Try to reproduce the astonishment response of that article again.

Make Your Own Comments

Nobody likes to be the only one in a classroom raising their hand. Sometimes people resist commenting because no one else has. If you start off with a comment, whether it be new information or a response from a co-writer, people will be more inclined to comment.

Take comment from other places

If you post your article on another site (forums, digg, directories etc.) and get comments there, you can copy the discussion over to your blog. Try to take the comments that add valuable information and perspective to the article.

Remember, people can act like sheep. They tend to follow what others do. If you don’t try to initiate commenting, people will likely stay away.