How to increase the number of people commenting on your blog

First off, take away all those misconceptions from your mind about commenting.

- You can’t make every single visitor comment.

- You can’t expect everyone who’s commenting to praise you or your blog.

- You are not responsible for the comments.

- You can’t expect legitimate comments.

Feeling a bit like a boring topic isn’t it? Well, in fact it is.

Commenting is something that’s looked upon by every blogger. We all need everyone who’s visiting our blogs to comment on all the articles. We want them to think similar to us. You want them to praise you and improvise on your ideas. Phew! Isn’t that just a little too much?

Calm down and be practical. It’s normal to get excited when someone comments on your blog. Many a times, you are so tied up and focused on the comments that many take it even personal. Which shouldn’t be the case.

Comments are only opinions from the visitors. They can be genuine , they can be scrap. Either way, it’s only a comment. You don’t have to take them personally or seriously. Now, let me explain why I’m talking about them so lightly?

Comments and commenters are of two types.

1. Those who are serious     and       2. Those who do it just for the heck of it.

1. Serious Commenters

 - Write comments about the topic like a continuation.
 - Reads the topic very well, inside out.
 - Does not comment for all your articles, but when he does, he makes an impression.
 - Does not take things personally.
 - Passes on value unlike others.
 - Does not include his link deliberately.
 - Writes more, not a mere “Great post” thingy.

2. Commenting for the heck of it.

 - Writes vague comments often.
 - Often plugs links to his blog deliberately.
 - Goes off topic.
 - Does not pass value to others.
 - Takes things personally.
 - Comments for all/most of your articles.
 - Does not spend time reading the topics.

Of course, those who do it seriously are the ones who passes value to you, but you can’t expect it from everyone. They don’t comment that often, but prefer to stay as passive readers, but once they comment, they make an impression.

So when we are talking about increasing the number of comments, we are not talking about increasing value but just the numbers. We can’t guarantee you an increase in quality serious comments but yes, an increase in number !

So how to increase the number of comments on my blog?

• Write on controversial topics/ debatable topics
  Write about Britney or Barack Obama. Or about how Twitter is stupid. Get the point? Pull in people to write comments. You have the risk of spoiling your reputation but everybody would appreciate your efforts later.
• Leave room for discussion
  Always end your articles without a conclusion. Give the reader two or more options, let him select his choice. And leaving room for discussion is always a good way to ensure that people start commenting.
• Ask questions
  This applies to people who already have a following. Ask your readers an interesting question. They will respond for sure. But make sure you don’t keep mum after asking the question. Write back to them as well. They’ll appreciate it.
• Reward commenters
  You could reward them in many ways. Either give away goodies/cash to frequent and top commenters on your blog on a weekly basis or gift them a surprise link in one of your recent posts. I prefer the second way. Make it a point to read your commenters blogs and respond to one of his articles through your post. Post a link to it. He’d be happy.
• Comment on other blogs
  A very easy thing to do. The principle is – do things proactively to others what you want them to do to you. So comment on other blogs that you think has relevant content. Write authority comments that are relevant. You will grab the webmasters attention and he’ll ultimately notice you.

So essentially, even thought you have lot of ways to increase the number of comments, it’s all about the quality. I prefer to have 10 good quality commenters than have 100 by passers.

Written by Mani Karthik from Daily SEO Blog
Posted on February 10th, 2008 and filed under Blogging
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