Blog commenting – Get The Conversation Started

Blogs that are the most active tend to be the most thriving and lots of quality comments are a good indicator that your blog is on the right track. There could be many things holding people back from blog commenting on your space on the web. Some times blogs are just unfriendly, if you look at your blog and say to yourself that you wouldn’t comment here chances are neither will anyone else.

The most important thing you can do is write using your own unique perspective. While I cover topics that have been covered a million and 1 times I do it because I have a lot of first time readers visit my blog and I know a good percentage of my readers are just getting started in this whole online marketing thingy. So this post is really for them, if you have some helpful information on the subject matter, we would love to hear about it.

Don’t assume people will just start blog commenting for the sake of blog commenting. You need to give your readers a reason to stay and comment. Here are some ideas for you to use in your own blogging. Your not going to find anything here that is unique in fact you will see these tips all over the place the reason is, well because they work.

YEP! More Blog Commenting Tips

• Ask and you shall receive – I know it sounds easy enough but you would be surprised just how many new bloggers don’t ask for comments. Sometimes it is unclear for the reader if they should comment back. It helps to let them know that you are open to discussion.
• Ask for expert participation – Experts love to share their knowledge, after all it took them many years to get to where they are at. When you are asking folks  comment also encourage them by asking questions like “Do you agree?” “What is your opinion?”  and things like that.
• Yes this blog is a dofollow – People go out of their way to find dofollow blogs, the reason is because they know if they leave a good comment they will get a one – way link pointing to their site. This is crucial for them getting higher search engine rankings. Yes this will draw out the spammers, but there are plugins that will combat them effectively.
• Ask your buddies – Often times people don’t like to be the first ones. So if you have some blogging friends ask them to come to your blog and leave some comments. Once people see that some folks have already jumped in the water more are sure to follow.
• Don’t finish your blog post – A good tactic is to only write a partial post so that you can leave room for others to add to the post. This is another great way to get the experts out and sharing, Remember experts tend to have egos, and many of them are dying to let others know just how much knowledge they have.
• Make your comment box easy to find – Blogs come in all shapes and sizes. Don’t make it difficult for a potential reader to find your comment box. Make sure that comment box is accessible and easily found.
• Don’t make it difficult – Many blogs make people register before commenting. That inconvenience  people. Remember they are commenting and helping you build social proof and helping you add content to your blog. The least you can do is make it as easy as possible for them to do that for you.
• Be Friendly – When a person does leave a comment do your best to comment back to them.  Hopefully you are using the commentluv plugin, it is also a good idea to go over to their blog and leave a well thought out comment. I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine still applies.
• Stir Up Emotions – Everyone loves controversy feed peoples need to hear gossip, if you have a gripe with someone let them know publicly. If you think a topic is to taboo perfect. Talk about it!
• Do a self promotion post – Create blog post that allow other people to promote themselves. a little goodwill goes along way in getting people to come back to your blog.
• Create Resource Post – Everyone loves resources, these are great post. Maybe you know some good plugins. Or perhaps you have some good places to create a linkwheel. Whatever it is that you use share your resources with your readers, they will thank  you for it.
• Write article series – Break down your post into series, this way your reader will be more likely to return to your blog to read the rest of your articles. This also helps in establishing regular readership.
• Create how to post– These are time tested and proven. People are always looking for all types of stuff to learn. We all know how to do stuff, share the stuff you know. You would be surprised how many other people would like to know how to do it. (whatever it may be)

I hope that you found these tips helpful, if I have missed any please leave a comment and share your tip with us.  Besides myself I am sure our readers will be grateful if you do.