Publishing your blog is no easy feat. We get that.
It definitely takes blood, sweat and tears. And no, I'm not being overly dramatic. Any serious blogger will tell you that the secret to a successful blog includes consistency, dedication, and inspiration. My favorite blogs also feature one more magic ingredient: a loyal fellowship of readers that love to comment. There are other added benefits of blog commenting including better search engine optimization, and building your reputation as a thought leader in your industry. We know how wonderful and talented you are, now it's time for the whole world to know!
How does one build such a following? You've come to the right place! Here are 5 painless ways to get maximum blog comment love:
1.) Be opinionated and controversial. You're the expert. Now it's time to shine. Write something that will get people thinking, and maybe change the way they think about something. Don't be vanilla. Instead, write something that might ruffle a few feathers. Write something that people instantly agree or disagree with. This method isn't for the faint of heart, and you definitely shouldn't mind getting opinionated comments. This what a blog commenting community is all about - various people coming together to discuss every aspect of a particular subject. Standing out from the crowd will help build your reputation as a thought leader in your industry.
2.) Personally reply to as many comments as possible. Now that you've got people talking, you need to respond. I don't care if you have 55 comments, you need to take some of that precious time of yours and engage your community. Ignoring them will transform your blog into a lonely ghost town. Take Danny Brown for example. Danny is one of the most successful bloggers I'm proud to call a friend (and he's Canadian like me - yay!) and his blog gets a ton of comments. He takes time to respond in a timely manner. If he can do it, we definitely can too. Be like Danny.
3.) Make it easy to comment. This is a no brainer and there is no excuse why you shouldn't have a rockstar commenting system on your blog. Gone are the days when you had to fiddle with HTML code (I had to do this on my blogger blog Social Media for Law Firms and trust me, it was no fun). Almost all blog commenting platforms require very little tech knowledge and are easy to install. Here's a list to check out: Livefyre, CommentLuv and Disqus. Trust me, these commenting systems will improve and encourage discussion. And that's the goal right? Right.
4.) Comment on other blogs in your industry. You give love, you get love. Give more than you take. You get what I'm saying right? When I first started out in the digital marketing realm many moons ago, I made it my 4:30 am mission to comment on two to three blogs a day. I only commented when appropriate, or when I had a question, so it took reading many blogs to complete my commenting mission. And don't make the mistake of leaving a comment and never returning to see if the author responded. It's called social for a reason - two way conversation!
5.) End off each one of your blog posts with a question. And you don't have to do the same old "what do you think about (blog subject here)." Here's an example. My dear friend Gini Dietrich recently wrote about how Facebook creating organ donor updates. She chose to write about how she was off to change her Facebook status to become an organ donor, and ended her post with "Will you join me?". This post received 70 comments which is extremely common for the Spin Sucks blog as they have an amazing community of blog commenters! Do your research and look for new and inspiring ways to end posts with questions to engage your community. Experiment with bolding your question for more vizibility. And make sure to check out the Spin Sucks blog for inspiration.
There you have it, five lovely ways to get more comments on your blog and/or website. Your blog requires a lot of hard work, so make that work work for you. If you haven't already done the five steps above, get moving!
Did I miss anything? What would you add as a #6 to get more blog comment love?