How to get more comments on your blog?
I never wondered about writing this topic, just always used to enjoy the comments i get in my blog posts. There are around 110 posts and around 1400 comments in my blog, so averaging 11-12 comments per post. Am happy about that, because what i post does not go into vain, and i see good interaction in here.
David cheong, one of the regular commentators asked me -
How to gain more readers to comments on our blogs, like what you are having now?
Wish to learn more.
That question was interesting one, and i had already once posted about how to get traffic to a blog, but didnt care to write about comments and commentators. Here are a few ways by which you can see more comments from readers in our blog -
Ask people - You should not always try to post tutorials, or posts in your way and not always you should present your knowledge in front of your readers, but you should be a bit questioning to your readers. Ask questions and suggestions to your readers, there are many readers and humble bloggers who are ready to comment and answer to your posts.
Engage with comments - There are many blogs where people comment, but the blog owner does not care about replying to them or interacting with the commentator. This does not impress the commentator, and this decreases activity in your blog. So accept every comment happily and try to reply to it.
Comment encouraging plugins -
These are the 4 best plugins which i suggest and use in my blog, which are meant for benefit and easy commenting from commentators -
1. Threaded comments - The plugin which makes a forum like feeling to the blog, and you can quote each comment and reply to them. You will always see more comments in blogs having this plugin, as it makes interaction more easy.
2. Commentluv plugin - This pulls the title of the commentators blog’s latest post and places its link just below the comment. This sometimes helps in giving some traffic and sometimes helps in providing backlinks, if the blog is nofollow free.
3. Top commentators plugin - List of top commentators getting free sitewide links. Many people with the greed of PR juice and backlinks, would be commenting regularly to be the top commentators list and get backlinks. And the blog ultimately gets improved number of comments.
4. Subscribe to comments - An option where people can subscribe to comments of a particular post. Sometimes this can help in getting big number of comments as people start talking to each other as if talking in a forum.
Giveaway something - Most of the times, commentators think of getting some benefit from commenting in blogs, and so the blogger has to think about it. Giving away something, like considerable amount of cash, or advertising spaces or anything relevant helps in attracting more people to comment regularly.
Comment Contests - Setup small commentator contests, with decent prizes. If you want to gain something, sometimes you have to lose something too. So there’s nothing wrong in giving away something through contests, and you get good number of good comments.
Controversy rocks - Never be very true, try to give some chance for the commentators to go against the points. This can sometime lead to get you some haters but your goal of getting more comments is fulfilled 
Don’t set hard rules - Often there are blogs seen, which have captcha code active, or need people to register to post comments. Is it really necessary for people to register to post some valuable comments in your blog? Keep your comment box open and easy to comment.
These are the best ways that i can suggest someone with that question! Hope that helps David.
Btw its been a lone time since i saw some good activity in my blogging forum, hope to see people join in there and be active there
Some good points Chetan and all are very good at increasing comments on a blog.
David Hobsons last blog post..Getting Results With Social Networking
How many subscribers do you have right now? Did it cross 4 digits?
Amit Bhawanis last blog post..How to Convert Online PDF to HTML Conversion Tool
Contests are a great way
Create a top commentators contests
Tech blogs last blog post..Make or Break Features on Web Hosting Accounts
Around 120-125. Did you expect this really into the 4 digits?
Very good ways to bring comments in blog, this is also a nice way of bring the traffic and users again and again to check the comments and interact with commentors.. Keep up the good work
Bollywoods last blog post..Aamir Khan wants 6 Pack abs for his Ghajni
Seeing the huge promotions, contests i guessed it would have reached 4 digits already
Amit Bhawanis last blog post..How to Convert Online PDF to HTML Conversion Tool
thank you for information chetan
someswaras last blog post..make easy 30$ in 10 min
Thanks Chetan for a great guide and advice. Hope that my blog will improve more commentator like you have.
Top commentaters plug is a gr8 option to nicrease comments
varuns last blog post..Permanent teeth
Hey Great Post Very helpfull thanks for that.
I also have a blog and so far have not been able to retain constant traffic monthly average is ok but not very stable.
The blog is mostly complimentary for our main site.
I’d love to hear your take on options of increasing traffic on both blog and the main site.
Regards,
Alex
Good advice! I speak from experience (*cough*contest*cough*) that the way your commenting system is set up is very user-friendly!
Crystals last blog post..Chatter at the Orthodontist’s
nice reference here for getting more comments.
degree dropouts last blog post..Blunders of my blog DegreeDropout.com
will soon reach 4 digits for sure Chetan …
keep up the useful posts coming and a bit of promotion as well on the way.
4 digits? Couldn’t get it!
I guess 4 digits here is related to the question by Amit Bhawani “How many subscribers do you have right now? Did it cross 4 digits?”
degree dropouts last blog post..Blunders of my blog DegreeDropout.com
@ degree dropout, no its still the same which i mentioned above. That’s around 125.
That’s a good point. By the way, leave comment on other blog will bring you comment too
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I’m anchored at Webmaster-Talk Forums on your “Review My WWW Blog” post. Getting somewhat sidetracked is a beneficial hazard of the job. The comments post intrigued me so, I read through it. How could I not leave a comment? Given the circumstances, that would be rude, crude, and socially suicidal. Since I use the automatic subscription option in the forums, my experience supports your suggestions. One question, where do I get these (hopefully platform independent) plugins? Now back to W-T and yet another comment for you.
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Hi voidScribe, thanks for coming by..
And thanks for the comments.
Btw here are the plugins which i suggested -
http://www.thewwwblog.com/showing-some-love-for-the-commentators.html
Hehe silly me. As soon as I posted and returned to the main page for reviewing purposes, I found the relative post. Easy enough with the categories sidebar. That’s another good feature you can add to your list of well-dones.
voidScribes last blog post..Webcentric Without Electricity?
Making your site a dofollow can help you also gain more comments..
To avoid spam comments, moderate all comments :p
Husseins last blog post..Yuvutu
Hussein, making dofollow is ok but you think moderating comments will be good? This would again not impress your commentators so its a minus point.
It’s ok. Commentators will still comment.. Believe me.. Especially when you have a high pr.
They will understand why you are moderating the comments (because of spammers).
Husseins last blog post..Yuvutu
Very good article. In fact right now I am having problems with having people to comment in my blog. thanks!
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[...] How to get more comments on your blog? [...]
I think making it easy to comment not requiring registration, and requiring as little information as possible is very important.
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Chetan, you have proven that this post is really great. You got more comments here in this post
job well done!
Husseins last blog post..How To Make Blogger Blog DoFollow
[...] Chetan from thewwwblog.com is a new entrant in the list this month. Rather he has been active here since April but he just missed the bus at last moment. I was sure that he would be in the list in May. He is one of the bloggers I am watching lately. He is kind of upcoming star blogger in short, and you would like his thought process when you read about his tips on how to get more comments on your blog [...]
there is no doubt that this is a very useful post! everyone wants more comments …. u just know how to get there
Thanks for the great article. Keep up the good work.
Nice tips. Will surely try them soon. Thanks chetan!
Contest is one of the best options in getting more comments. No one wants to see dead blog without any activity. So consider spending some cash if there is need of it. Or simply you can give away review of winner’s website/blog on your blog.
I think that responding to commenters is a good idea. Just as it’s heartening to see someone react to your blog by commenting, it’s good to get the blogger to respond to your comment!
This makes someone more likely to comment again and again. If you keep doing it you can end up with several regulars, which encourages still more commenters …
I agree as you mentioned about we should not always post about tutorial, because it’s not an easy job to write about tutorial every day and it’s boring
yeah starting a contest will get comments but if there’s complicated rules participants might want to backout.
Thanks for checking out my new post. If you have a URL for the fourth plugin in your list, could you add it to the comments of my post? Thanks for your help!
@Tyler Banfield: Tyler, here is the link -
http://txfx.net/code/wordpress/subscribe-to-comments/
And also posted in your blog.
@ashish, yeah I don’t like to see dead blog too.