Every time you hit the publish button and your blog post goes live, you hope and pray that you get a few, ten, or a hundred likea, and some comments too. Unfortunately for most bloggers, this isn’t the case; and instead of hordes of comments and clicks to the blog, one can almost hear the loud flat-line sound common in hospital beds.
And, knowing the power that comments carry, this is one of the most painful deaths for bloggers.
Comments are important in the following ways:
- They gauge the reception of your blog posts
- They boost your social proof
- Comments help in developing a relationship with your audience, in the process, the comments give your readers a voice that makes them a part of the conversation.
What if we told you that you could change this? That there is a way for you to attract more people to leave comments on your blog?
So, how can you increase comments on your blog?
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Disable the annoying spam-prevention features
If you use captcha for your readers to fill in before leaving comments, you should remove it immediately. Captcha causes friction with readers, and the worst bit is that they don’t stop spamming. It is, therefore, smarter to remove the feature, all together.
Don’t force registration
I cannot tell you how many blogs I stopped trying to comment on because of the forced registration process. Why do you even need all those details?
Get your visitors to subscribe
Most people are shy to leave their comments the first and even the third time they read their blog. Most people like to know you and everything your blog is about, as well as your communication style before they leave their comments.
These individuals will, however, warm up to you faster if you incentivize them to subscribe to your blog with free videos, webinars, or reports. Over time, these people will start leaving valuable comments.
Email over RSS
Emails have a higher engagement rate than RSS feeds’ subscriptions. Therefore, it makes more sense to emphasize email subscriptions rather than RSS subscriptions.
And, speaking of emails, do you check for unopened emails?
While everyone on your subscriber list receives your email, some of them might not open the emails.
This could be because they are busy or they might have overlooked it. There could also be a technical hitch meaning they didn’t get your email.
Since you don’t want anything falling through the cracks, find an email service provider that lets you track subscribers who open the emails.
For the ones who don’t open their emails, repost the email. This is an effective way of getting more traffic, and consequently, more comments.
Lessen your publishing frequency
Even though publishing content frequently boosts your rankings, it isn’t the only or the most effective way of boosting ranking. Blog commenting is.
When you overwhelm your readers with content, they won’t leave comments often, and the average number of recorded comments will reduce.
But when you publish content less often, your audience gets to read the posts and ask valuable questions or leave relevant comments.
Write passionately
The energy and passion you put into your writing rub off on your readers.
When you write with passion, you connect with your readers, and this means that their chances of leaving comments increase significantly.
You might also want to write emotionally. If your content is a tearjerker, you are guaranteed wholesome comments
Leave unanswered question at the end of your blog
If you want your readers to share their opinions on your blog, leave an open-ended question at the end of the post. You need to focus on questions whose answers are cans of worms that encourage healthy discussions.
Come up with a top list post
A top list post can help you increase comments on your blog as well as boost your search traffic. Many people like top lists posts and leave a lot of comments on them.
These blog posts can help you be a social bookmark within no time as readers can utilize your information and even link back to your site.
To create a good top list post, you must include the keyword that most users look for in the headline. Avoid using big words and make your headline concise and straightforward.
For instance, you can change your topic from “How to manage insomnia” to “The top ten ways in which you can eliminate insomnia for good!”
The second headline in a post can attract a lot of readers and encourage engagement in the comment section compared to the first one.
Consider expert name-dropping
Have you tried naming celebrities in your posts but still fail to get comments?
Most bloggers make this mistake.
Though dropping names of famous people can trigger engagement, celebrity names may not have a great impact.
You should name a top influencer in your blog post such as a well-known blogger in your niche instead of a celebrity.
Though celebrities make use of social networks to build their brands, not most of them own blogs.
They may have a site, but they rarely get the time to update it. This means that the likelihood of getting posts recommended to a celebrity’s network is slim.
Mentioning an expert who has an active blog, on the other hand, can motivate the influencer to look at your blog and even comment on your post.
To name-drop a pro-blogger and boost engagement in the comment section, you should mention their name and address them properly.
Feel free to ask an influencer to check your blog out and keep the conversation going on the comment section. You can do this by emailing them.
Stir up the conversation
To become a social bookmark and increase comments on your blog, you must stir up conversations.
Content marketing is also about having excellent communication skills for a blogger to gain search engine results and increase conversion.
If you prefer using video content in your blog post, work on your body language and tone since most readers may base their views on such aspects of delivery.
You can stir up a conversation by ensuring that readers easily understand your content.
The content that you frequently share makes your readers familiar with your writing style.
Once you have developed that culture over time and have become a social bookmark, readers will easily scroll down and leave a valuable comment every time you publish a new blog post.
Use the headline to make a promise to your readers
If you want people to respond to your blog posts, you can try creating headlines that promise readers something.
This can prompt more people to go through your posts and even leave a comment.
Make sure that the promise is achievable and realistic.
You reassure your audience that you will fulfil the promise in your introduction section.
Other things you should do:
- Respond to comments while encouraging conversations
- Ask your readers for feedback on a specific element of your blog post
- Always contribute to other blogs in your niche if they have an active community
- Ask easy questions
- Write something controversial
- Simplify your blog’s design
- Enhance your blog’s loading speeds
- Allow commentators and place a “Top Commentators” widget on the blog then run contest between the commentators.
The success of your blog lies in whether or not readers leave comments or not. It doesn’t matter if they leave positive or negative comments. Just make sure you use the comments, especially the negative ones to improve your blog.
