I've developed a new phrase to describe commenting: social chat. This is all part of expanding your blog's commenting reach to entice more readers to respond.
You see, if done correctly, commenting can be seen as a social pastime. It's all about giving before receiving, having an altruistic approach that benefits others rather than yourself.
And I want to emphasise the social aspect of giving feedback, talking to other bloggers and increasing your commenting reach at the same time.
This infographic shows 8 more tips on how to get more comments on your blog:
And here's some code you could paste into your own posts (via the text mode) if you want to share this Infographic with your readers.
Most of these tips happen outside your blog, perfect for expanding your commenting reach.
Go forth and comment
If you want to get noticed as a blogger, you need to showcase your writing skills. But this doesn't mean posting on your own blog, but on other people's!
No, I'm not talking about guest posting, but commenting on other blogs. Blogs have been designed for commenting, so take advantage of this phenomenon and start spreading goodwill and added value on posts that are relevant to you, your blog and your ideal readers.
However, remember this practice will succeed better if you focus on providing excellent responses that genuinely help others. If you make a good enough impression, this may encourage bloggers and readers to click on your name to find out more about you and your blog.
Strike up some blogging friendships
If you become successful in the process mentioned above, the authors of the blogs you comment on will soon start to notice you. This stands to reason, especially if the quality of your comments far outstrip any other contributions.
Regular commenters are always welcome. Some bloggers may tend to rely on your feedback to increase the blog's popularity. This means your commenting reach extends to a selection of blogs whose readers look forward to what you have to say.
This consistent recognition could soon develop into blogging relationships, even joint ventures and other business opportunities. You have created a rapport which is appreciated and trusted.
Get a little help from your friends
For some blogs who are just starting out, and could do with some friendly help, doing a comment swap is just the ticket.
Make an arrangement from your new blogging friends (cultivated through the point above) that if you comment on their posts, they will reciprocate in turn. The result is at least one comment on each post.
This is a great way of breaking a commenting duck. Many readers are put off from commenting if they see that nobody else has bothered. Whereas a comment already in place gives them the incentive the post must be worth commenting on.
Start thinking outside of the box
Commenting doesn't have to be done with words. I know this is the expected form of communication, but in today's world there are so many other options to choose from.
As long as the commenting facilities can accommodate this, why not extend your commenting reach through submitting a video instead? Especially if the video link transforms into a watchable screen inside the commenting box.
Other suggestions could be a podcast, an image, a moving gif and the clever use of emojis. Generally the last two options should be accompanied with some text, or the moderation systems may not appreciate them enough not to consider them as spam.
Commenting within your blog's posts
This sounds a bit strange. However, it's not that unusual. I'm talking about doing roundup posts, where you talk about other blogs in your niche or chosen subject, which might be of interest to your readers.
Mentioning the other blogs is like commenting about them. This becomes effective through the links back to their blogs, which cause ping- or trackbacks into their commenting systems, alerting them to your post.
You could also extend your commenting reach further by actually emailing the bloggers you mentioned or referred to in your post, so they can read it and maybe even share or recommend it to their friends and followers. You never know, they may even return to comment themselves.
Make others start talking about you
Commenting doesn't have to be restricted to your blog. We are all using social media to communicate with each other like crazy. Why couldn't this also be used to comment on blog posts?
It's quite common to share your posts on social media. This can either be through the social sharing buttons strategically placed within your post to encourage readers to share, or by actually pasting in the post's URL into social profiles or news pages.
Encourage people to comment on your post's presentation. The actual link in social media is also caught up by the search engines, so getting lots of comments under it will help towards its popularity stakes, making it more likely to be indexed.
Introduce your commenting reach
If you do share your post on social media, it is necessary to introduce it to avoid it being gleaned over. There are so many posts hopefully shared to get readers, you need to make yours stand out above the others.
Always write something about your post to accompany the link to draw attention from passing readers. Use hashtags and other elements to stimulate the awareness of the algorithms.
Maybe use a controversial image to go with your post. Make the headline jump out to hit people on the nose. Include a striking video to introduce your post. Whatever you do, it needs to be different to get noticed, which in turn could generate some comments in return.
Improve a bad job to your advantage
We are all plagued by spam. It is a national phenomenon. However, the quality of spam can vary quite considerably, depending upon the dexterity of the spammer and how they go about it.
One regular aspect of spam is the ingratiating compliments they make towards the post or the author. Most of these are sickening, but sometimes one sticks out because of its superior quality.
So I suggest you edit this particular kind of spam. Strip out all the links, rearrange the words slightly and see if you can transform it into a decent contribution. Why not? For some people this may be the answer to not getting any comments at all!
How will you expand your commenting reach?
Rather than sitting at home slightly swaying from side the side moaning you haven't got any comments on your blog, why not go out and get some! And I'm not restricting you to only your blog, but anywhere else you can get comments as well.
Any feedback is a good thing. Moving outside of your comfortable zone means expanding your commenting reach to find new people who could become potential commenters. Then you need to work at it to convince them commenting is a good thing.
Let me know how you get on in the commenting box below. Also if you can think of any more points that could be added to the 8 above, we would all love to learn from them.
- How to generate inbound leads using social chat - 21 August 2023
- 10 steps to get qualified leads using social chat - 14 August 2023
- How to encourage comments through participation - 4 August 2023
There’s so many ways we can expand our reach with commenting Alice – most of these I’d not thought of!
I’ve not seen the facility to add a video reply. Can you tell me where you’ve done that please? Sometimes speaking a response makes more sense – just like a conversation!
Hi Tracey-Jane, I experimented by adding a YouTube URL into the comment box. It instantly creates a live link, but unfortunately it doesn’t turn into a video screen like in the posts.
I will explore this more thoroughly, especially with other commenting moderation providers, and write a post about this.
Meanwhile, add the link and include a good introduction or explanation why it should be clicked on, so readers are compelled to watch your reply.
Hi Tracey-Jane, I pasted in the YouTube URL in a commenting box that uses Disqus, and the link showed an icon of the video screen. I didn’t go as far as publishing it to see if the screen was playable though. Disqus does allow images and gifs, along with coding and quotes, which are all useful in attracting attention to your comment above the others.