It seems the whole world wide Web has gone social. Whether it’s a blog post, a Facebook News Feed, a Twitter stream, e-mail, a Google result, a forum, a YouTube video, - you name it – people are contributing to the conversation.
For popular blogs and news sites, this doesn’t seem to be a problem. A plethora of comments add credibility and information to a post. But for those just starting out, breaking in to the conversation may seem like an insurmountable task. Everything is set up and ready to go, but nobody is commenting.
So how do you get people to comment? A while back, Blogger Neville Hobson offered 10 Tips for Encouraging Blog Comments. My three favorites?
Make it easy for readers to actually make a comment. Ensure you have a blog design that is pleasing to the eye and each post has a clearly-identifiable area for writing comments and any instructions you have are easy to understand and follow. A good idea is to have a terms of use statement for your blog that includes a clear commenting policy, if you have one.
Write your post with your points well constructed and clearly presented so that the reader understands what you’re saying. May seem obvious but I see so many blog posts where none of that is clear at all.
If getting comments is one of the goals you have for your blog (which is not every blogger’s goal), write your posts in a way that encourages readers to want to leave comments. The simple approach is often enough – ask a question.
Don’t forget, you can always ask people to comment. Read more of Hobson’s suggestions here. Or read 10 Techniques to Get More Comments on Your Blog on ProBlogger. That venerable old post has 709 comments….
What is your most successful technique?
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