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Eight Tips for getting more Comments
I was reading Chris Hinton’s post on Geek Speak the other day about Feedburner now including Friendfeed followers as subscribers. He asked whether subscribers, visits or page views were the best metric to measure the health of a blog, and he also suggested that one good measure might be comments. That got me thinking, and I’ve put together a short list below of ways to increase the number of comments to each post. Maybe the community of Mike’s Life readers can help to add to this list…..in comments!
- Ask for them! It may seem obvious, but a direct approach often works well.
- Ask questions. Pose several questions in your posts and people are likely to help out by answering
- Be controversial. One of my most commented on posts was Why I hate Twitter – controversy works – people want to disagree
- Don’t cover everything. If you leave gaps, or don’t go into detail, you give your commenters room to add to your work
- Use an incentive. I use Comment Luv, which means people get a link back to their most recent post when they comment
- Comment back. If you’re actively commenting and answering questions on your blog, you’ll start a conversation, and others will join in
- Make it simple. Don’t ask for a log in to comment, most people won’t bother
And that’s……..seven! So come on team, let me know what you’d add to this list in comments please.
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Thank you for being a
Thank you for being a regular commenter on Geek-Speak, and for the link of course!
Loving the idea of saying there are eight tips but leaving it at seven... :)
I find a good tip is actually to mention people who you've found useful. Don't do it purely as a lure, but if you've genuinely found something or someone helpful then say it. It was your tweet that inspired the post you've mentioned above, so I let people know that. I've also found that when I highlight a blog I've enjoyed the author will often comment to say thanks and even promote the post for me. The tricky bit is being careful not to abuse that idea but only use it when appropriate.
Chris's last blog post... Feedburner Folly
Blog Comments
These are absolutely terrific tips, CJ.
I especially like the suggestions that a blogger should
a) ask for comments
and,
b) comment back
Some people need a little prodding and some need to feel included in the conversation, wanting to feel that their contribution matters.
Thanks again!
Oh, by the way, if you visit my blog, please leave a comment
:)
http://bloggingforreal.com/index.php/social-media
I really liked your post
I really liked your post linking Captain Pickard's "Engage" with using social media for marketing.
I'm sure it's me, but I couldn't see how to comment on the post. Where I would normally see comments, I was seeing a Friendfeed widget?
Mike
Comment Tips
Nice list. I really am a fan of the "Comment Luv" feature that you have employed here. Perhaps I will try and implement a similar feature in my own comment script.
Nick's last blog post... Video Sites Are Seeing More Mobile Uploads
It is great Nick - I use
It is great Nick - I use Drupal as my CMS, but there is a Wordpress plug in as well.
Mike
Getting people to comment is
Getting people to comment is my biggest challenge right now. My traffic is growing. I'm about where I was hoping to be by Oct. traffic-wise. But people don't leave many comments. Some comments, and a few more than I did get, but it's still low compared to the traffic. I've tried all the above ideas, over and over except the Comment Luv. I'm going to check that out. I keep telling myself that it will take time for people to begin to leave comments when they visit, but it's frustrating.