How to Get More Comments on Your Blog

Most readers leave a blog without commenting or contributing to it. There are many more lurkers than commenters, or so it seems. Here are some ideas to help encourage more commenting on your blog.

Ask For Comments

When you write a post on your blog, ask readers to leave you a comment. Ask for readers to share their opinion of what your post is about, or to give you suggestions for your blog in general.

Take a Survey

Have a survey on your blog so readers can contribute. You can make the survey about anything you can think of. Ideas for surveys could be a list of names you are deciding on for your next blog site. Give a list and let readers select their choice. Announce the winning name in a post.

Have Readers Contribute

Put together a resource list of some sort that relates to your blog's theme. Ask readers to contribute their resources and sites that they use.

Write a Controversial Post

If you create a post that gets people thinking and questioning, you are more likely to get comments. Be careful though, and don't be aggressive or harsh or overly controversial. You do not want to insult readers or drive readers away!

Respond

Always respond to comments when you get them. If you respond to someone, it makes the person feel good, and will encourage others to comment as well. Blogs can turn into a community overtime, and regular readers will build up over time if you make sure to respond to all comments, and visit the blogs of readers that left you comments.

Rethink The Login Process

Many blogs require a reader to login before they can leave a comment. This is usually done as a means to avoid spam. But maybe you should try removing the login requirement. Readers may be more inclined to leave a comment if they can do so simply and quickly. Of course many readers do not mind the signing in process, and will do so in order to leave a comment, but there are sure to be readers who have just left without leaving a comment because they did not feel like signing in.

Leave Posts Open Ended

Don't be such an expert on topics you post on that it turns readers away. Leave room for others to add their input on the subject. Many times a reader will have experience and expertise they would love to share, so be careful not to make your article too complete.

Ask Friends

Have your friends leave comments. Readers may feel more comfortable leaving a comment if they are not the first to do so. Get the comment ball rolling with a friend's comment first.

It takes time to build up readership, but with patience, quality content, and good commenting on your part on other blogs, you will see satisfying results .