Apr 22, 2015 / Intermediate

Kick-Start Your Comments

A vibrant blog with active commenters takes more than “If you write it, they will come.” Take the time to create a blog that’s ripe for comments, and your fans will find you.

Blogging is 50% self-expression, 50% community — bloggers who don’t want to connect with others are few and far between, and most of us get a little frisson of excitement every time we’re notified that one of our posts has moved someone enough to leave a comment.

If your comment section is populated mainly by tumbleweeds, never fear! Try one (or all) of these to up the odds of starting a conversation with your readers:

  • Have an opinion. Opinions are the lifeblood of blogs — your unique perspective gets us reading, and reacting to that perspective gets us commenting. You may want to appeal to the widest audience by keeping your blog blandly balanced, but you’ll miss out on the thing that makes blogs compelling: point of view. Without a point of view, you won’t get negative comments… but you won’t get positive ones, either. (Worried about being too blunt? We’ve got some tips that’ll help.)
  • Share a personal story. We read blogs because we get glimpses into the minds and lives of the people behind those blogs. When you’re open about your life, it creates a welcoming atmosphere for readers to open up, too. Humans are storytellers; we love sharing and comparing our experiences. Get more personal in your posts, and your readers will start doing the same in your comments.
  • Link to and quote others. Can blogs have two lifebloods? Let’s say they can: if opinions are one, links are the other. The internet without links is like a road with no intersections; blogs thrive on interconnection. Link to other posts, or quote other bloggers. The person you link to will likely pay you a visit to say thanks or expand the discussion, and they might just tell their own readers about you, too.
  • Ask a question. We don’t just love reading others’ perspectives, we love sharing ours. Your readers will eventually get comfortable engaging with you via comments, but you can give them a gentle nudge by asking them questions. Stay away from vague questions like, “What do you think?” and try asking something specific and direct — solicit readers’ stories, and watch your comments section grow as people react to you and to other commenters.
  • Leave comments. The best way to encourage people to engage with you? Engage with them. Read others’ blogs, and leave the bloggers real comments. Say “Thanks!” or “Great post!”, but then go further and leave something substantive; be specific about what you enjoyed, ask a question, or offer a counterpoint. If reading and commenting isn’t already part of your blogging routine, work in small chunks of “engagement time” each week — call it an investment in your blog.

Once you’ve got some conversation going, make sure you nurture it. Take time to respond, prune out irrelevant or offensive comments, encourage commenters to engage with one another, and show your readers that you’re really listening by grappling with their ideas in future posts.

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  1. Community is seriously what blogging means to me! I post things so that i can gain relations from all over. So glad everyone feels about the same!

    Liked by 3 people

  2. Thanks for some great advice! I am trying to gain as much traffic to my blog as possible in preparation for my forthcoming first novel. This is extremely helpful. Thanks again! Mark

    Liked by 2 people

  4. I think this was an awesome blog post to write. It ties into what i’m learning about blogging in class. I do struggle in attracting commenters for my class blog, but mostly because I feel that I don’t have the ability to write about what I’m most passionate about. If I were to freely post and create a discussion about whatever I can think of at the time, I think I would have a better capability in attracting more commentaries.

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  5. Creativity comes in waves, so on the days when I’m fine-tuning drafts, tossing around new ideas, not feeling inspired or simply too tired to write I read.

    Reading helps spark new ideas, puts current ones into perspective, or simply allows me a bit of time to step away from the creative process.

    This is a great post full of very useful tips, thank you!

    Liked by 2 people

  7. I have found my comments have gone down dramatically this year. I was getting comments with controversy, building community with “My side”, and also with sharing, but I get less, and notice that when I comment people are less likely to pop over and have a look. Has anyone else noticed this? Why might it be?

    Liked by 1 person

  9. Good info! I sometimes struggle with interacting on other blogs because I’m not always interested in reading–there’s not a lot of time in my day, and I sometimes want to use it doing things other than reading. But I have noticed that my attention usually pays nice dividends. I’ve also noticed that by merely providing a substantive comment on the Daily Post, I can garner interest in my blog. (It is written by me, so I suppose people who find me interesting here go there for more of the same.)

    The only thing in this post that I would take issue with is the notion of deleting irrelevant or offensive posts. That’s all fine and good if you have a hater spreading truly awful stuff on your blog, but you will lose readers if you micromanage comments. For the most part, I let comments stay, unless they are obviously span. Even people who disagree with me or have criticisms about my writing need a safe place to voice their opinions. Personally, I’ve stopped reading blogs that are micromanaged. If the blogger feels the need to edit all my comments, then my time is better spent elsewhere.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I certainly don’t think everyone should edit dissenting voices; I restrict deletions to irrelevant comments (which are often spammy) and offensive comments (which are purposefully attacking and turn readers away, and are also often irrelevant). Beyond that, it’s up to the individual blogger to decide what they’re comfortable having on their blog.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Thanks for clarifying this, Michelle. I agree that there are times when comments need to be deleted. Sadly, I also have found a handful of bloggers that keep such a tight reign on comments that they destroy the conversation.

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  12. This is great advice. Engagement results in engagement. I wish I had more time to read other blogs, but then I wouldn’t write anything myself. I’m trying to find a balance I can manage. I feel like I’ve ‘met’ so many interesting people in the last year through blogging. Ciao, Cristina

    Liked by 1 person

  16. Good suggestions. I know it takes time to leave good comments, but if you want others to do that for you, you need to pay them the same courtesy. Nobody likes blogging to a void.

    Liked by 2 people

  18. Good piece of advice. Even though my readership numbers are good, I always wondered what my readers think about the posts. Do they agree, or they don’t? I think I should fine-tune a bit and see how the readership changes. Thanks for the advice.

    Liked by 1 person

  20. Great advice for new bloggers! It can be difficult to figure out how to start connecting with other bloggers and your readers. Finding a way to instigate interaction on my blog has been something I’m trying to work on. Thanks for the tips!

    Liked by 3 people

    1. Jane;
      Today, I visited your unique blog and it is indeed good, I have commented on your “About” page.
      Wishing you all the best……………….

      Like

      1. @swajithkas, it’s great that you’re visiting other bloggers and engaging with them, but there’s no need to notify each person here — we try to keep comment threads here on-topic to the particular post, and remove unrelated comments.

        If you enjoy giving feedback, I encourage you to check out the Community Pool threads if you haven’t already; they’re specifically for that purpose:
        https://wordpress.com/dailypost/category/community-pool/

        Liked by 1 person

  25. Nicely said. I have had some amazing chats with fellow bloggers and by exploring other blogs learnt so much. Other bloggers are usually very good at giving constructive feedback and if there is something you really like about their blog are happy to share how it came about. If someone finds the time to like one of my posts or visit and leave a comment , I love to return the courtesy and check out their blogs. Have discovered so many great blogs this way.

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  29. Thanks for the tips! I’ve never really been driven to do too much networking on my jewellery blog – the jewellery network is already pretty tight-knit so it’s not an issue. But I’ve just started a personal blog and would like to generate some traffic and comments.

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  30. Thank you for this post! Really nice post! Mind if posting about what to post or to get away from blogger’s block? thank you!

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