Blogging From Paradise currently has 6,848 approved comments.
My old blog was comment-free for many months.
How did I go from comment ghost town to thriving comment party?
By following the steps below.
Don't get it twisted; attracting an unending torrent of comments takes work but this happy toiling produces sweet benefits like:
- increased blog traffic
- greater visibility
- a strong blog community
- a big network of loyal, supportive, inspiring friends
Are you excited to generate a serious stream of helpful, valuable blog comments?
Follow these 8 tips.
1: Ask Questions
Ask 2, 3 or even 5 questions at the end of your blog posts.
Pepper in 1 or 2 questions mid-post.
Ask questions. Inquiring blog commentors want to answer.
Lisa at Inspire to Thrive does a great job asking questions:
- at the end of her blog posts
- in the comments section of her blog, responding to commentors
- in comments she posts on other blogs
She asks genuine, thoughtful comments which increase engagement in multiple spots.
2: Persist
I included this tip at #2 because most bloggers give up after publishing 1, 2 or 5 comment free posts.
I went months on my old blog before seeing a real, genuine, spam-free blog comment.
Between all of the blogs I created during my online career I have received over 10,000 comments.
But that 10,000 number started at zero and stayed at zero for quite a while.
Follow these tips persistently. The comments will come.
3: Press Pain Points
Bring the pain. Comments will rain.
Human beings have a tendency to share their thoughts on their sufferings.
If you press some deeply raw, difficult to feel pain point related to your niche expect a flood of comments to flow in.
Example; I may publish a post addressing a common blogging struggle. Like clockwork, the comments pile up fast because readers want to share their thoughts about me tackling the topic, said readers usually doling out sweet appreciation too.
4: Push Pleasure Buttons
Readers love to comment on their hopes and dreams. Or they enjoy commenting on their success. Or on the success of fellow bloggers.
My colorful, fun, pleasurable posts tend to generate a boat load of comments.
Check this post out:
17 Blogging Lessons I Learned on a 22 Hour Flight to Bali
Sounds fun, right?
Intriguing too.
Which is why the post netted 123 comments.
People enjoy sharing their thoughts if they are having a good time.
No need to draw analogies between blogging and flights around the world. Just share helpful, insightful tips to inspire your readers to live their dreams.
Again, people tend to comment in appreciation if you inspired them to take a step toward their dreams via your blog post.
5: Use Convenient Commenting Systems
Com Luv. Disqus. Your convenient bespoke system.
Heck, even the old school WordPress system works fine.
If readers can easily and quickly comment readers tend to comment.
I know Disqus requires a profile and log in but if a reader is too put off by 20 seconds of work to comment on your blog they were never your reader in the first place.
Please beware rogue CAPTCHAs and other spam killers which require more effort to pass than juggling 3 elephants while standing on a crocodile's teeth, on your tippy toes.
6: Respond in a Timely Fashion
If you are not asleep or flat out dead at the wheel folks are more likely to comment on your blog.
I respond to comments within 24 hours to show I am listening and to help keep the engagement train rolling through Blogging From Paradise.
If you are a pro – or aspiring pro – blogger be a pro blogger by responding to comments within 1 day. Prove that you're listening. Encourage other readers to comment.
7: Comment on other Blogs
Give. Get.
Commenting on a high volume of blogs related to my niche drives my blog commenting numbers.
Simple strategy to master; whatever you want, help others get it.
If you want comments, comment on other blogs. Post a 2-3 paragraph, helpful comment persistently on top blogs from your niche. Some bloggers will return the kind act. More comments.
Commenting on other blogs is also an awesome way to lose the fear of competition.
After reading this helpful post on WHSR:
15 Practical Ways to Improve Your Blog Today
I was pleased to see the tip advising you to connect with your competitors.
Blog commenting helps you to be *for* co-creating versus being *against* the competition.
8: Stay on Topic
If I wrote about grandma's goulash recipe last week and 10 commenting tips this week you would probably be confused.
Confused people rarely comment. Too busy scratching their head.
Stay on topic. So readers know what to expect. Give them clarity and they will give you comments.
Your Turn
Do you follow these tips? What other blog commenting tips can you add to the list?
Are you getting an endless torrent of comments on your blog? Or is your blog like a blog commenting ghost town? How can you better generate blog comments?
Hi Ryan,
My new blog currently is currently a ghost town. I have just a started it around a month back and still trying to attract study reader base to be able to generate comments.
As you mentioned hopefully it will change in due time. I feel its all about creating a connection with your readers and solving their problems. If we are able to help them in certain way, they will definatly want to share their thoughts.
– Sanjeev
This is the key Sanjeev. Blog commenting is one way to build connections which boosts your traffic over the long haul.
Hi Ryan,
My comments go up and down. Sometimes I only get a few on a post and other times over 100. In the past six years I’ve had over 16,000 comments on my blog. They do add up after a while 🙂
I love your tip to persist. That is so important whether you are starting out or if you have been blogging for years. You really can’t stop. You have to continue to comment and engage with your audience and others.
To me it’s like being engaged on social media. You get to know others better and learn along the way. There is nothing better than that Ryan 🙂 If I am not sure of something I’m not shy about asking. This business is all about learning as we go and helping others with that experience.
I miss that the HuffPost does not take comment like they used to. I used to log in via a Twitter handle and be able to engage with others. I wonder why they did away with them?
Thanks so much for the shout out here Ryan! Have a great evening.
The Huffington Post seems to be heading down a SUPER low energy path Lisa LOL. The Dark Side 😉 Mega negative headlines on the news, cutting engagement…like a broadcasting platform versus a 2 way street. I publish a video there daily but leave it at that. Thanks a bunch 🙂
Hi Ryan,
Great tips on increasing blog comments.
As Rahul Kuntala once said somewhere, that you’re truly a blog commenting ninja. Writing comments is easy but making them thought provoking like you do is NOT.
Make sure to ask questions like Lisa does at the end of the blog posts – that’s a great tip there.
Also rewarding your blog commenters can help you a lot. You can mention them within your posts or guest posts or videos and let them know about it. So you can persuade others to leave really good comments on your stuff.
Thanks for the tips.
Hey Ryan,
I remember the days when I just started my blog and thrive to get comments on my blog, But today I am getting a good amount of comments on my blog. I am agree with you that insisting your users by making some call to action words or Press Pain Points can definitely helps users to engage with an active discussion on your blog. Thanks for sharing this beautiful post.
With Regards,
Vishwajeet
The pain points mention is huge Vishwajeet. When I hit those, or key pleasure points, those comments come tumbling in.
Hi Ryan,
Persistence seems to be the name of the game when you’re trying to grow a blog. While my blog doesn’t get a ton of comments, I do get some.
It is a little discouraging when you’re first starting out and you don’t get any comments. However, like you said persistence is required.
When we start building our email list we have zero subscribers. When we start our blogs, we have zero posts. When we start blogging we don’t have any blogging buddies.
We all start from zero, so we need to do the required work to take that number zero and grow it.
As long as we give it time and keep persisting, there’s no reason why our blogs won’t grow. Especially, if we use the tips that you shared with us.
Have a great day 🙂
Susan
Exactly Susan. All the success we see roots itself in dogged persistence. Be engaging, be patient and all things move up from that goose egg we all start with, with all blogging metrics.
Hey Ryan,
In 4 years, my current blog has 22,988 comments, thanks to these tips and of course, with people like you constantly featuring on my blog, the number just keeps increasing. You simply shared what fully works buddy and thanks for not keeping it to yourself.
Hope you are having a great week
Wow Enstine, 22K is impressive! Seeing your #s and Lisa’s awesome total inspires me to keep engaging. Here’s to 100K comments for you, onward and upward.
Hey Ryan,
I’ve been watching you in many blog comments. And I must say that I lack this quality. I never focused much on comments and all. And I regret it by heart.
My blog has only 792 comments. But after reading your tips on blog commenting. I am going to set commenting part in my daily blogging schedule.
There is one thing I want to ask you I always follow the blog commenting ethics. But recently when I started commenting on some good quality blogs my comments I always get approved and responded but never received a reciprocate comment in exchange. And that demotivated my feelings for blog commenting.
Where do you think I was wrong to even after following commenting ethics like Quality comments, comment only related to the topic, Imprint my ideas, ask questions, etc.
Why don’t I get reciprocate comments then?
Regards
Alok
Sometimes Alok you won’t get a reciprocation but keep commenting my friend. Because letting go the desire to get a comment back detaches you more and more from outcomes, a key quality to have to really kill it – meaning succeeding LOL – with blog comments.
Hi Ryan,
One of my task on SEO is blog commenting. I am commenting on blogs to increase traffic to our website. Thanks for sharing your post that will eventually help me in my blogging techniques. Again Thanks!
Cool David, so happy to help.
Patience is the thing that we need to adopt in order to get success. I think your concept about asking questions at the end of the blog is certainly a creative thinking.. I tried that too people commented my blog wih answers which was helpful..
Yep Pritam. Patience is at the core of all I do blogging-wise. Prospering energy.
Hi, Ryan for this sharing.
I always like to read your post.The recent one is very informative and I found it quite interesting too.Getting comments and approving those like a win win situations for SEO people.Sometimes I do search different blogs for commenting but there are some blogs like your where I always stuck by catchy post and like to do comments because of my understanding clearance.The most important time comes when I saw my comments is approved even the moderator share their perceptions on my participating.
Thanks Roger for stopping by.
Great tips Ryan! Writing something Insightful and thought-provoking encourages people to comment and take part in the discussion.
Exactly Noelle. Giving some thought to your posts boosts engagement big-time.
Hey, Ryan Biddulph once again a great learning session for new seo’s like me. Thanks for the explaining the tactics of blog commenting and its roll on website traffic growth. Brilliant session for me,share more.
Hello
Ryan,
Comments are the important part of a blog post. When a bloggers opts, through choice or necessity, to turn off commenting, the blogger loses some of what makes blogging such a dynamic, exciting medium interaction between blogger and readers.
Here, you share 8 very effective tips and it very easy to understand.
Thanks for sharing.
Best wishes,
Praveen verma
This is quite interesting, Ryan. I’ve recently stepped up my game using a more in depth content marketing and blog commenting approach without really researching anything. I suddenly thought to myself that I need to write more content instead of 1 or 2 sentences on blog posts from now on. Lo and behold it slowly but surely started to improve my relationships with other bloggers as well as natural search engine rankings. Now I see the bigger picture about creating lots and lots of content and leaving meaningful blog comments, while at the same time tap into people’s feelings.
You’re the best Ryan. You deserve a beer good and cold!
Great post! One of the secret of SEO is blog commenting. Good comments increase traffic to your website. Thanks for sharing.
Great tips. I always have more comments on the posts where I ask user questions and ask for their opinions. Also, engaging with them through comment replies also encourages them to come again on my blog and have a meaningful conversation.