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How to Get More Blog Comments

When it comes to blogs, we tend to judge a book by the cover. Having an attractive

design is the first step to build trust and acceptance with your visitors. However,

the battle for authority in the eyes of your readers doesn't end there.

Blog comments are an extremely visible and simple way to gauge the popularity of

a blog. Those who are more internet savvy may check your Google PageRank or

Alexa ranking, but that is unlikely in most niches. In order to impress visitors and

appear as a bustling and thriving blog, you should accumulate as many comments

on your posts as you can.

The obvious way to get more comments on your blog is simply to get more traffic.

However, you don't really need more traffic for more comments. In fact, there are a

few quick changes you can implement right now that will get your blog many more

comments every day.

Technique #1

The first technique you can use to get more blog comments is to install

CommentLuv on your blog. This plugin will reward site visitors for commenting

by allowing them to use their keyword in their username as anchor text.

You can also use CommentLuv Premium and allow your visitors to include a link

to their most recent post on their blog.

Now, this again won't apply to a lot of your audience since it only appeals to other

webmasters. Luckily, there are other ways of incentivizing comments.

Technique #2

A reason many visitors will comment in the first place is to ask you a question. If

you consistently respond to comments on your blog, other people will be more

likely to step up and post a comment.

This has a multiplying affect and can result in loads more comments on your site.

Your blog will look full of life.

Technique #3

Allow visitors to subscribe to the comments. A lot of people who ask questions or

post any other comment want to follow the discussion taking place in the

comments section. Make it easy for them to subscribe to the comments.

This will result in more comments and even more recurring traffic from these

visitors.

The more you interact with and promote interaction on your blog, the more trust

you'll build with your readers. As most internet marketers now, trust is key when

trying to get a visitor to subscribe to a list or a buy a product from you.

Dealing with Spam

Of course when you go out of your way to accept and promote commenting on

your blog, you're going to get a lot of spam. Some spam is automated and some

people will actually visit your site, and then leave a copy & pasted comment.

You can use a plugin called G.A.S.P. which adds a checkbox under your comment

form which must be checked off for a comment to be accepted. This stops a lot of

automated spam.

For the manual spam and the automated stuff that gets through, the quickest way to

filter it out is to check if the comment is relevant. I can sift through dozens of

comments very quickly just by checking to see if there is anything they said that is

relevant to my post. If it's generic and just says something like, "great post, I just

subscribed to your blog", it is probably just spam.

Blog comments can be fruitful for your blog and your success as a blogger. They

should be nourished and encouraged in order to create a more vibrant and active

community on your blog.

This is an article by Ben, who writes about how to get more blog comments and

similar topics at his blog Start Blog Now.