Build Community and Get More Comments

May 3, 2010 by Shivendu Madhava

Comments are very useful part of every blog as readers show their interest spend their valuable time leaving comments on blogs so if you want to get more comments then build a community this will help you to get more and more comments to your blog.When it comes to comments there are some ways to encourage more interactivity on your blog:

Invite comments. Regular readers of my blog will see I often invite people to comment, with a phrase such as, “What do you think Please share your thoughts in the comments.” When I specifically invite comments, people leave them in higher numbers than when I don’t. Keep in mind that new readers that are unfamiliar with blogging don’t always know about comments or how to use them, and sometimes people almost need to be given permission.
Ask questions. Including specific questions in posts definitely helps get higher numbers of comments. I find that when I include questions in my headings, it is a particularly effective way of getting a Blog Promotion and Marketing because you set a question in their mind from the first moments of your post.
Be incomplete. If you say everything there is to say on a topic, you’re less likely to get others adding their opinions, because you’ll have covered what they might have added. Though you don’t want to purposely leave too many things unsaid, there is an art to writing open ended posts that leave room for your readers to be experts also.
Be interactive. If you’re not willing to use your own comments section, why would your readers? If someone leaves a comment, then reply. This gets harder as your blog grows, but it’s particularly important in the early days of your blog because it shows your readers that their comments are valued, it creates a culture of interactivity, and it gives the impression to other readers that your comments section is an active place that you as the blogger value. As the activity in your comments section grows, you may find you need to be slightly less active in it because readers will start to take over on answering questions and creating community—however, don’t completely ignore your comment threads.
Be humble. I find that readers respond very well to posts that show your own weaknesses, failings, and the gaps in your own knowledge rather than those posts where you come across as knowing everything there is to know on a topic. People are attracted to humility and are more likely to respond to it than to a post written in a tone of someone who might harshly respond to their comments.
Be gracious. Related to humility is grace. There are times where you as the blogger will get something wrong in your posts. It might be spelling or grammar; it could be the crux of your argument or some other aspect of your blogging. When someone leaves a comment that shows your failing it’s very easy to respond harshly in a defensive manner. We’ve all seen the flaming that can ensue. Though it’s not easy, a graceful approach to comments, where you admit where you are wrong, can bring out the lurkers and make them feel a little safer in leaving comments.
Reward comments. There are many ways of acknowledging and “rewarding” good comments that range from “reader appreciation” posts through to highlighting particularly good comments in other posts that you write. Drawing attention to your readers who use comments well affirms them and also draws the attention of other readers to make good use of your comments section.
Make it easy to comment. I leave a lot of comments on a lot of blogs each week, but there is one situation where I rarely leave a comment even if the post deserves it—blogs that require me to log in before making a comment. Registration is a hurdle you put in front of your readers that some will be willing to leap but that others will balk at (the same is often said about other comments-section requirements that go beyond the basics). Keep your comments section as simple and as easy to use as possible.