A Crash Course in Comments

January 21, 2009 · Comments

the conversationComments are currency. I learned this first from Liz Strauss. They are the ultimate in social proof, because if we’re all supposed to be about joining the conversation, and yet you aren’t getting a lot of back and forth in the media you’re making, it might be time to look at this a bit more. If comments matter to you, read on. Here are some thoughts to help improve your back and forth.

A Crash Course in Comments


First, the Basics

  1. Give to get - If you’re not leaving thoughtful comments on related blogs without spamming them about how awesome your blog is (or how awesome you are), then you’re missing the first big secret of comments. Comment elsewhere. Find the good stuff, add your two cents (and not just “great post!”), and watch the authors and other readers visit your site.
    conversations
  2. Double Vision - Double check that your blog design puts a “comments” link at both the top and the bottom of every post.
  3. Please Spammer, Don’t Hurt ‘Em - Make the sign-in process super easy. (Annoyingly difficult CAPTCHA is a quick vote for no comments.)
  4. Spread the Comments - Comment platforms like Disqus are now much easier to integrate with your site, and have lots of added features. (See an example at my Dad’s Poker Blog.)
  5. Patrol your spam filter to make sure good comments aren’t being eaten. (Happens often to me.)


Getting Comments By Tailoring Your Content

The truth is, once the mechanics are out of the way, here are the most likely ways to improve your blog to get more comments.

    The Letter Writer
  1. Brevity rules - The shorter the posts, the more likely people will stop and comment.
  2. Answer “WIIFM” - If you write posts that answer any reader’s primary question, “What’s In It For Me?,” you’re far more likely to get comments.
  3. Ask questions - I always encourage your feedback. Why? Because the value you give me in my comments section is way better than anything I could ever write myself. Ask questions.
  4. Reply as often as you can - I am the #1 commenter on my blog. I’m not always as responsive, and I don’t always answer every single comment, but I learned early that if I respond back, I get more follow up thoughts and ideas in the comments.
  5. Give your ideas “handles”- If others can take your ideas and run with them, they’re apt to comment on their gratitude, and/or their new variation on what you did. Encouraging that is a great way to build more conversations.

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The Bonus Round

    pure communication
  1. Promote others- Finding ways to promote the people who visit your blog, to praise your community, to engage them on their own blogs and sites, are all ways to build a relationship that gives back.
  2. Offer some tech help - On my blog, I use a WordPress plugin called Subscribe to Comments. You might offer that, and/or an RSS subscription to the comments feed. In fact, if I were clever, I’d add that RSS to my comments section. It’s often better than the post.
  3. Experiment - I’m not sure why we don’t, but if you’re writing the same thing over and over and no one’s commenting, STOP WRITING THAT THING. If something doesn’t work in the mainstream media world, editors make changes. They fix it. Do the same.
  4. Be Your Own Editor - That’s one position most media makers don’t seem to give themselves. Edit your posts to be better, tighter, more punchy, more useful. The better your work, the more comments you’ll get.
  5. Use an outpost strategy to get more attention.

In Lieu of Comments

One quick note: when folks don’t have time to comment on a post, but they like it, what I hope they at least do is share it via the various social systems. Meaning, if you don’t have time to comment, but you’re reading a good post in Google Reader, share it. It’s as rapid as hitting Shift-S. That one gesture does something for the work. Ditto using StumbleUpon or Delicious. Using social sharing gives a post more chances to be found and enjoyed by others. Doing this gives more back to a blogger, so when you can’t comment, consider sharing something forward for others.

What’s Worked for You?

I don’t have all the answers, for sure, but I’m grateful for the comments I do receive. What’s worked for you? Did I miss anything you’re doing that’s worked for you? What else haven’t we covered here? Oh, and did you notice how blog design and graphics make a difference?

Photo credits polandeze, KevinDooley, Rita Banerji, and iandeth, in that order.

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  • Sue
    ok, I'll give this a shot! Chris, thank you for this most excellent post. My husband and I were just discussing an hour ago that we need to get out there and make some more comments.

    These tips are really handy .. thank you!

    Sue
  • Hi Chris,
    The editor part is the main thing that I miss when blogging. I need someone to say, "Cut this" or "That is too many words," I really miss that.

    I try and comment whenever possible. I am still figuring out my blog. I want to go in so many directions but I can't seem to write a short post. I include pictures and video but it just does not ever seem to be cut down enough.

    Jamie
  • Great tips from the comments master himself! I'll be working on brevity of my blog in next while in particular. :)
  • Nice tips Chris. Agreed that it has to be super easy. Captchas or having to sign in to comment are a huge turn off
  • I have two blogs... one personal and one for a community I co-spearhead. I find that while all of these tips work, some apply more specifically to my personal blog and some to the other. With the community blog, I love to feature and promote the gals in the community. Anything we can do on the site to showcase them and their expertise is great. On both blogs, I think easy access to information is great. What I love about this post, in addition the the great content, is the pics, the lists, the chunked info. While it wasn't the shortest post, it was so accessible that it didn't seem overwhelming and made me want to keep reading. You do a great job with that.
  • Just about two weeks ago, I shared my magic formula consisting of three ingredients that has increased the comments on my blog:
    - dialog (answer as many comments as possible)
    - plugins (subscribe to comments, commentluv, keywordluv, etc.)
    - return the favor (get out and comment)

    There were a couple of bonus "ingredients" as well that included reaching out to other bloggers via links and asking your readers questions.

    These steps have helped me build a growing community of people and I have a few more to implement from your list now.
  • Good post, I agree the most with "give to get" and "Reply as often as you can". If I can carry on a conversation with a commenter I know my job was done. Also, for those sites that require registration to post or comment Facebook Connect is a wonderful option. It reduces the barrier to entry and gets people involved with a single click. Pretty soon I suspect nobody will be willing to register anywhere to post, they'll just want to use their Facebook or Google login.
  • great post chris - very helpful. one tactic you left out which I really like for smaller bloggers (such as myself) is to seed each post with some comments from friends or people in your community who may like what you're writing. this way, u get great feedback, build the post with the great thoughts of those people around you and provide yourself the chance to 'break the ice' on your conversation.

    i've found this really useful and highly recommend it for any bloggers getting started.
  • ani625
    Great tips Chris.
    I've done exactly what I do with worthy posts like this, share in every possible way.
  • I don't like these articles much anymore Chris....I just think I am making progress after learning from a past article, and now I have more to do! In all seriousness though, I have found commenting a great way to engage with bloggers, but I have a hard time going through my feeds doing some of the bookmarking/spreading you mention.

    The list presented is awesome digestible material to really take a look at one's blog and say: "Am I doing everything I can & should be doing" - my favorite quip the past few days: What POSITIVE VALUE am I generating for my readers and subscribers. That extends into leaving comments, tweets, videos, audio - it has to asked: "Are you creating Positive Value" to engage people with? I have to say that you are doing this quite well. Thanks for all the info you share with us!
  • Thanks Chris, Great tips!
  • Wow, maybe you should add "think fast and type faster" because when I started writing my comment above there weren't any yet. After I posted there were 6 ahead of me!
  • Yes, taking the time out to comment is important, though in the myriad of tasks we lone bloggers have to seem to accomplish, it can be overlooked.
    Nice post, I needed to be reminded, thanks.
  • I'm a BIG sharer. I'm often in a rush to read the mass amount of content I'm subscribed to, but sharing is super easy and takes less than a second.
  • Chris, very thorough list as usual! Love the piece about giving your idea handles!
    Should we prefer comments over trackbacks? Is there a conscious technique you adapt to get one vs the other?

    Also, I notice you don't have disqus built in to get the aggregate of comments here, why? Is there a reason you don't have mybloglog to track who is visiting here?
  • @Sudha - the only reason I didn't implement disqus is that I have several years of comments here. I don't want to risk losing the database. (If someone smarter than me can SWEAR that won't happen, I'll try. I've heard horror stories.)

    @Bill - sorry about that. I do try to make these types of posts a bit "checklisty," so you can at least run through, give yourself a diagnostic checkup, and then run from there. Hey, you can always eschew every piece of advice above and be a lamer like PerezHilton.com . (Lamer like wayyyyyyyyy more traffic than me). : )

    @Steve Hopkins - can you explain that a bit more. Might be because it's almost 3AM, but I missed it.

    @Lots of you - editors are truly what a lot of us need. Even me. Especially me.

    Thanks!
  • Some very good advice Chris.
    Would love to hear your thoughts on readers who prefer to comment via e-mail, rather than on the blog. Even though I think that I've made commenting as easy as possible it's one of my biggest challenges right now, and they have always been comments that would add positively to the discussion on my blog (not info that people would prefer to keep private). I frequently reference them in subsequent posts - "a reader asked me..." type thing - but it can be frustrating to receive so many comments via e-mail that no one but me ever sees.
  • Excellent ideas. It's increasingly more difficult to find the time to read and post comments on other blogs, but perhaps it's best to draw the circle a bit smaller and attempt to go for quality over quantity? Reaching out to those that matter most to you and those whose blogs you respect the most.

    And I do indeed believe the integration of visuals into a mostly text-related post enhances it for the viewer. Quick question:

    How do you encourage those who are reading via RSS / mobile to easily comment? Suggestions for that as well?

    Cheers from Indonesia.
  • Some excellent tips regarding comments and blogging techniques in general. Thankyou.
  • stevenimmons
    I would also add that Friendfeed's 'liked' function works great for fast social sharing. I've got this linked to Twitter, so with a single click on Friendfeed I can post up that I like the article at the link destination. It occurs to me this can circumvent Retweet, and hence add further complication to the solution to trending and authority tracking.

    For 'those what comment' I would recommend getting a gravatar and using the same pic across your web presences and 'comment streams' to have 'brand consistency'.
  • @Lori - I once had a blogger who's audience was gay Catholics ask me why people only emailed him comments. Some folks prefer the intimacy of email. It's a hard one to shake. I wonder if someone else has ideas for Lori on this one?

    @javajive - I get 3-4x more readers in RSS than directly (which is flipped from most sites, I'm told), and yet I get a decent amount of comments. My advice from above is how I get them. Not sure if there's *more* that I'd recommend doing to try and pull people out of the RSS feed. I sure don't like partial feeds.

    @Steve Nimmons - agreed, though only usually in the nerd crowd. Meaning, if you blog about fashion or yarn or whatever, prolly not. Agree?
  • Hey Chris, excellent tips. I recently installed the Disqus commenting system on my blog and absolutely love it. It's a personal blog that doesn't have many comments so I wasn't worried about the loss of comments.

    I did learn that you can import the older comments into the system and it is highly recommended to back up your blog's database. That way if something goes wrong it can be restored. In your case with all the comments you have, I would go the extra step and back up the site to your computer as a secondary precaution. (in addition to the primary back up)

    Another option ... probably the safest ... wait until Disqus has a better way to import old comments ;-) ... Scott
  • I especially applaud #13 Chris. I see far too many people recycling the same type of content over and over without getting a response. Showing a willing ness to experiment sets the best bloggers apart from the crowd.
  • It is bit paradoxical but... if you try to cover *everything* on a topic at hand, then you are leaving least room for your readers to comment back. So sometimes leaving few things about a topic could help! Don't try to prove that you know everything, leave something for your readers. If possible end the post with few questions as if you are really ignorant. I would not be surprised if you suddenly start receiving comments that were lacking earlier. My 2 cents...
  • I take an ultra-simplistic approach. I leave tons of thoughtful comments on other blogs and reply to 100% of the ones I receive. I despise the idea of doing things for more comments and the entire "marketing, me, me, me--I want more for me" ideology. Many blogs get tons of comments; some because the material is good; some because a particular blogger is popular. On the other hand, any article about marketing or blogging tips is a cliché, and inherently unoriginal anyway; however, usually gets a lot of comments because that niche has many followers.

    If I leave a quality comment on a blog and the author doesn't reply to it, I usually NEVER visit that blog again especially if they are considered popular or of stature. Most people that horde around the "big blogs" are sheep leaving comments--respecting people based on popularity--a reflection of cheapened values, greed and self-promotion. My friends always come first even if they write about kitty cats or their new haircut. :smile:
  • I love what you say about highlighting and praising others. I have a Friday Feature Profile where I showcase another mom blogger, sharing her story of her blog and how blogging has impacted her life. While I enjoy sharing my own thoughts, I think it's important to offer something besides my endless ramblings. I really feel like I'm giving back.
  • I love this entry. Even when blogging, it's all about making friends, sharing the wealth. Make it easy for me (the reader), help me out (WIIFM), and most importantly, get involved and show me you're a real person (by commenting yourself) and I'll gladly repay the kindness.
  • @Bobby - aieeee... I'd better reply to you. Interesting perspective. So, you could apply all of that to here, I might imagine.

    @Mary - that's a great feature, and I'm sure your community looks forward to it every week.
  • Chris,

    I appreciate you, I appreciate your reminders. I haven't been as diligent as I was when I first paddled out to surf the social and new media wave. Your post reminded me to start getting barreled, to flash a shaka to someone who wrote a great post and give, give, give.

    Aloha,
    NEENZ.
  • One thing I would recommend to blog authors is to implement threaded comments. Before wordpress 2.7 it was available as a plugin ( Brian's threaded comments ) and in wp 2.7 it has native support.
    Threaded comments helps creating a small community forum around posts.
    It's much easier for people to reply to each other this way.
  • Hahaha! Thanks Chris! Just so you know, I consider your blog to be one of the only ones in this particular niche I frequent (because it's cutting edge and pushes the envelope). To explain: to even come close to originality in marketing/social networking and related information is incredibly difficult, which is why I said most is cliché . . . it's a tough niche.

    Your reply means a lot to me. Have a great day :smile:
  • Hi Chris,
    I had a real problem that I tend to write my How To type post to complete and people say that there was not really anything to add. I have been working on that! My post also tend to be long, then again so are some of my comments.LOL
    I will say that the more I get out and comment the more comments I get back.
    I will be working on these things.
    I am now off to see what your other commenters' are doing on their blogs. I will follow a link from a comment faster than I will if it is just sent out via a stream.
  • Chris, this is extremely helpful, thank you for the post.

    I need to figure out a way to have certain posts resent to me every month or so. I read this, use the great ideas about installing comment software, and take away a great reminder about writing shorter articles. That lasts about a week and then I start to ramble again. The constant reminder to write breifly and to the point always helps.

    Conor
  • It's so pleasant to read such practical and useful tips after all these "Just create a good content and ask visitors for feedback". Really good tips, Chris. I gonna try them for my blog, because after reading your post I've understood there are many things I haven't thought of and they're rather easy to do. The only one I don't want to implement now is Disqus, I'm still not sure it's useful. But I'll think it over one more time :) Thanks for the post
  • I especially agree with the 'great post' section. I am usually too intimidated to post because I don't want my 2 cents to sound ignorant. Afraid if I post then I'll remove all doubt! Then on the other hand I don't see any value or point in only commenting 'great post'. So there. My fearful is this is a failed attempt to express my appreciation on this post and the topic of saying more than 'great post' : )
  • Tre
    hey. first. i laughed out loud and woke up my bichon with your tweet "Hmmm. Somehow, I didn't beat @thewhitehouse today. Was something going on? - http://is.gd/gcSo" hysterical.
    2nd. you could have titled this "how to be authentic in conversation/life/relationships.'
    can't you see it now? tshirts that say 'bloggers do it better" seriously: one has to want to connect with thoughts...and invite them, welcome tem, nurture them, respect and honor them. (she says assertively after writing a rather talking at post today...errrf). good reminders.
    what device do you use when leaving comments/vs when you tweet? laptop for both? same laptop or 2? or a mobile device? just interested b/c your timing is rather cool on both.
    happy real first day of the new president.
  • Hi Chris,

    Thanks for those tips mate, looking to do/ and get more blog comments so thanks once again for your handy tips :)

    Cheers,

    Matt
  • randulo
    Great post! <insert pharm link here>

    You've always been the master of eliciting comments by asking questions at the end of your posts.
  • Some really helpful comments about so plugins. I'll definately check them out.
    Two points:
    1. The more I write, the more I learn. For me commenting helps me process the information.
    2. Have you heard of backttype? Big benefit is that it captures all the comments you make across the web. I use a nice little sidebar widget that displays comments like this one back on my blog. For those afraid of wasting keystrokes on someone else blog this makes every keystroke enhance your blog. Also shows folks that you are engaged in a broader community of bloggers. Take a peak at http://www.tourismkeys.ca/blog
  • Thanks Chris, Long time reader first time commenter.
  • Chris:
    When I first started, I didn't have a clue what I was doing from a STRATEGY standpoint..I was just following @jowyang's blog and commenting like crazy because I thought what he was saying was just so incredibly helpful and important to my industry-furniture.

    Then, through him, I found you. You were so helpful to me when I was just starting on twitter and I haven't forgotten that.

    Then, emotionally, I REALLY connected with you(although you didn't know it) the day I saw your video re: your feelings after attending the Orlando tweetup. That's when I realized that you really very sincere.

    Then, when you went through the firestorm re: your sponsored blog post, I supported you and tweeted everyone who was dissing you which was the only way I knew to help you. I commented like crazy on blog postings, tweeted a LOT, etc.

    So, everything you have said in this latest post rings so true for me. My connections to so many have come simply through curiousity, quest for learning, understanding the power of love AND business that is unleashed through blog comments, twitter RT's, linkedin comments, facebook updates and social bookmarking sites(still learning that one) and commentiing on great video sites. It's the linking and helping that create value for all of us and will, I strongly believe, be the key to creating the jobs of the future.

    I won't tell you that you are my favorite rock star along with @jowyang because you already know that ! Thank you for being you.
  • nicolaquinn
    Thanks Chris, some useful advice both about commenting and how to get them, which I don't have on my blog and now know why. Will try and change my ways as of today :)
  • Hmmm - check spam filters... oops, just found 5 comments!

    Thanks :-)
  • Intense Debate is awesome! You should use it Chris!

    http://churchcrunch.com/2008/11/27/top-five-com...
  • Excellent post, Chris. Thanks. I will be sharing this with my whole staff. My biggest takeaway: shorter posts.
  • One of the most useful services I have found is Backtype.

    It's so interesting to be able to see what people where people, people you follow say on Twitter or elsewhere, leave comments. And ofcourse what they write.

    I have found many a new blog or website through tracking comments by the people I am following on Backtype.

    I use the Twitter option to post a daily update of my own comments left, so it encourages people to check what is interesting to me that day.

    Every post I read, come across or see on a RT, that I find interesting is ALWAYS bookmarked in Delicious and more often than not given a Thumbs up. As you say, it only takes moments. And will do this even if I have not left an actual comment.

    So leaving comments are not the only way to show your appreciation which is the best thing about these other services, you can use what fits in with your routine.

    Great post,

    Graham
  • Oh, by the way. If anyone wants to follow me on Backtype, its http://backtype.com/imjustcreative

    Sneaky I know, but it serves a purpose which is to help promote the sites I participate in. Including this comment here, people that follow me on Twitter and Backtype will see I have left two comments here today, which should then push more traffic here.

    Everyone wins. :)
  • What I don't get is people who make commenting so difficult to do (i.e you have to login with this user id or that). There is so little time in the day for that that I don't bother. I just comment (and take more of an interest) in blogs that just ask for name / email / website. Have spoken to a lot of other people on Twitter about this, and they have said similar things.
  • The post makes a lot of sense, Chris. I'm something of a reluctant personal blogger - I do it mainly so clients can get a feel for how I write. I find it easier to write about others than myself so comments scare me a little bit. But I have been thinking about how to increase traffic and comments on my blog so this article is really useful.
  • Chris, some great ideas. I do like the give to (eventually) get back with the concept of comments.

    I have used Disqus and liked it. I also like Intense Debate. It is a very solid system and has worked well on my blog.
  • I do have a personal blog, I do blog about different topics. In my 2009 strategy is to have at least one post per day, and since than my Blog is revived with new visitors and I got a good nbr of readers for each post, but the problem is that the comments are so rare, I barely get comments.

    I do follow most of the listed points above. The editor thing is what I really miss as my english is not that perfect and English is not my mother language, I read my posts twice before posting them and sometimes If somebody is next to me I do let him/her review it. Also since I knew this blog, my posts are getting a better look and always implementing new stuff and strategies but still no comments.

    As for me I always try to comment on posts I like or share them through my tweetdeck and blog. Hope I can find what is wrong with my blog to enhance it and get it to a better level.

    Should I quit blogging? Change my blog layout? Do some SEO? what should be done?

    Again, and again thank you chris for another great post.

    Cheers!
    Jean
  • The point "Brevity rules - The shorter the posts, the more likely people will stop and comment." seems a bit ironic considering how long this post is and the number of comments it's getting. :)
  • Picking up on Lorilee's comment about confidence my additional tip would be that by commenting you are participating which makes it more fun...
  • This isn't home depot but you certainly hit the nail all on the head with this one. You could not have served this at a better time for I was just mapping out some ideas that would (hopefully) result in more interaction for me throughout the social web and (mind you :) ), amongst those ideas was to set aside time and offer feedback across the sites that I truly connected with (while also continuing to stumble/share/ink to said sites). I think you just about covered everything that I could imagine at this point with both your suggestions as well as the additional suggestions you generated through the audience.

    Rock on, Chris, rock on. I've been digging (well not technically per say, but) what you've been blogging since I found your site a couple of months back.


    Scott Schroeder | @scottalk
  • rrrr- captchas reek. I agree with brevity- as the average reader of a site or blog rarely is on the site more than 30-45 seconds if they get bored or are not engaged. Great thoughts- and LOTS of usuable ideas- rocking hot!
  • Chris,

    Everything you said here is great. I think for me the main point is to leave a well thought out comment that adds value to the post. Then other bloggers will naturally want to reciprocate. This keeps it from seeming spammy and often times encourages them to return the favor. It's goes along with your give to get point.
  • Substantive comments, which add information and value to the conversation, unlike a plain "good post" or "I agree," are so enriching. They are also what makes social media "social." It is difficult to have a conversation and to learn from each other unless everyone contributes from their experiences and thoughts on the topic. (Although adding "good post/Iagree" is positive and affirming; I don't mean to denigrate these comments.)
  • thanks for the great article, I fully agree with you that comments on related subjects, in my case free movies, tv and cable built up my blog with web traffic within minutes.
  • @Chris: Some great points there. I specially like the double vision point. I have never implemented in on my blog, but it does look like it can get some people to comment.

    Many people don't have digg accounts etc, it will be great to have a built-in post rating. Users can come and just say 'yes i like it', 'that's a terrible post' or 'no pain no gain'.. Easier than getting a comment, offers some interactivity to your users and they don't need to have a digg / stumbleupon account (though those certainly have much more value than just internal rating).

    I have had many 'lurkers' who have been following the blog for a long time but never bother to comment, a simple statement like: I would like to hear from my readers about what they think about 'some topic' has gotten some of the lurkers to become active participants.

    Gravatar is often good, I have also tried 'defaulting' Notify me of followup comments on a blog and though some people got annoyed, others 'noticed' the option for the first time :)) (It's not a webmaster blog).
  • I syndicated your blog's feed to Livejournal as "chrisbrogan" so I could read it in LJ, but I'm pretty sure that I'm the only person who reads it there, so, no use checking that stream of comments since I always click through to your site to do so, even though LJ has 1 click comments on it's feed available.
  • The one thing that keeps me from commenting more often--especially when it's ultimately just going to be a "hear, hear" quickie just to lend my support--is the inability to comment directly from my feed reader. It sounds lazy, but very often I weigh the time it takes to click the headline, load the page, add the comment and press submit with time that could be spent reading the next article in my feed, or doing other work.

    What I DO do, though, is star the stuff I want to remember in Google Reader, and share the stuff I really like with folks, including my Google Talk friends. It's not perfect, but it's quick.
  • Thanks for the great advice as always. I don't get many comments at ALL on my blog yet and I am always looking for different methods and ways to verbalize my posts to attract more comments.
  • My motto for life has always been you get what you give. If your not getting maybe you should think about doing a little more giving.
  • For me, patience has been a virtue. In another post you wrote recently, you talked about how in the early days you received very few comments as opposed to now, when you receive a ton. I think I'm growing and getting there. The one thing you mentioned I'm going to apply right away is to add the comment link to the top and bottom of every post. Thanks for the awesome article, Chris!
  • Why is the advice always, "Brevity rules?" I don't agree with that at all. Of course you don't want something ridiculously long, but the length has much less to do with it than if it's well-written. Write well and you'll get comments. A big part of writing well is editing yourself though. Maybe that's why every one just says to write short posts instead, but that's not the right starting point. The place to start is to write well.
  • I just wanted to say thanks. I started a new company in the fall and ran across David Meerman Scott at the NAR annual meeting - and ever since I've been reading up on interactive ways of communicating my worth to my customers & talking to them about THEIR issues. I've learned SO MUCH from people like you and him (and the 50+ other people I'm following on Twitter). My brain is going to explode one day with all the info, but until then I keep taking it in and plotting on how to apply it!
  • Great tips, I am very pleased with my blog so far. I have a niche web development and online marketing blog. It gets a respectable amount of traffic for being relatively new and has a good number of RSS subscribers. So far it is doing much better than I ever expected but I am having had trouble convincing these users to stay and participate. I know from my experience running a forum that it takes a certain amount of activity to encourage other activity but getting that initial activity can be a real challenge. I have already implemented some of the above strategies but there are a few new ones I am excited to try.
  • I don't have time to write a thoughtful comment, but I DID Stumble it!
  • Chris,
    The timeliness of your posts are like you're in my head. So often we expect to get comments by just throwing our textual spaghetti to the wall. If it sticks, we get comments. If it hits the floor, someone is scowling at us as they scroll by. Thanks again for the information. (I tried really hard not to say, "Great post!" even though it was.
  • This is wonderful advice. I am somewhat new to blogging and love getting good quality advice. You have provided me with that, thank you!

    Have a Wonderful Day!
  • Do you ever get tired of having great posts?

    I'm always amazed how you live online. I'll be up late on the West Coast and you are still conversing away.

    You are a Social Media Maven, Connector and Salesman. You sir are the tipping point. ;)
  • Chris,

    I think the tactic of giving comments is underrated. I know many people that only comment on their own blogs and never make it outside their own comment garden - which is not the same as participating on another domain or blog.

    I noticed you do not use a third party comment system which obviously lowers the barrier to people potentially commenting. I am obviously biased towards Disqus, and think it would make a great addition. I understand your fears of losing previous comments, but hopefully there can be a rock solid solution for transferring things over and hopefully we can find one.
  • Chris,
    You are the king of Twitter and my mind is spinning trying to learn all this, but your blog has definitely given me vision on how this all works. I have been stumbling around wondering what I am supposed to do. You probably come across a lot of tweeple like me and wonder what the heck we are doing!
  • What I really like while using the comment plugins like intense debate are the threaded comments. It sure as hell beats having to reply with comments like:
    @123
    @234
    when you want to respond to someone specifically.
  • Common sense applies and works here. To Rebecca's comment arguing against brevity, the unfortunate reality is there is a lot of noise out there, so if you want to be heard, you have to grab attention early. Yes, we all should be more attentive and explore things with the depth of NPR-like "All Things Considered", but you have to write for your audience, and the audience of blogs and comments is not amenable to lengthy treatises.
  • The people that I work with and in my community are on the bleeding edge of technology. Many of them are Baby Boomers in that 60+ range that are interested but just a little scared about using internet marketing. One of the topics that I'm offering is "How to Get Friends? Be a Friend!" You've sent the same message to those who are on the leading edge. Thanks.
  • i try to comment as much as i can when i like the material i read to give the author feedback or to just say a few things in relation to the post.
    it's true though when you comment anywhere, majority of the time they will return the favor, come back to your website, read your material, and then put in their 2 cents.

    for new bloggers it's important that they read more than they write, comment more than they expect people to comment on theirs. like you said, gotta give to get. .i like this post Chris.
  • I think this is wonderful advice. I personally gain a lot of value from the blogs I read, but often forget to comment, and instead formulate my own thoughts.

    I'm amazed at how useful comments can be, and the different perspectives they bring to the post.

    I need to be spending a lot more time commenting, and this is a wonderful reminder of WHY.

    Well said!
  • Chris, you are clearly the person to deliver a crash course in comments. I always check the 'notify me of followup comments' box when I comment on one of your insightful posts. I enjoy being part of the discussion - and it is always a lively discussion - as my inbox fills with followup comments. I'm not complaining - just praising your ability to build community and facilitate enthusiastic discussion!!

    Hope you are well.
    Best.
    William
    www.williamarruda.com
  • Chris,
    Thanks for the great post. I was just tweeting today about how I had more views than normal but no comments. Thanks for the inspiration!

    @KFred85
  • Great Post! LoL!
  • digiphile
    Great post, Chris, as usual. Interesting to see the discussion around commenting in an RSS reader. When I share and add a note, it goes into Friendfeed and Socialmedian with that comment. I hope some clever greasemonkey finds a way to pipe those shared notes back into an original posts sometime soon. That would complete a virtuous circle.

    Give to get. Practice social sharing. I'll be passing this one on to all of the bloggers in my life. Heck, I already tweeted it, which is one kind of comment.

    I love that your posts become social objects or artifacts as a result of your questions and community. As you always point out, there's so much value in the audience building upon what you've started. That's the principle that Wikipedia operates upon, after all. Collective learning, collaborative editing and social proof. Whoda thought you'd find that on a pirate ship?
  • I'm so glad I found this post - it's the first I've seen of any advice regarding comments specifically. The blog I write for is associated with an online job board, but is geared toward the employers, (not job seekers).
    Because it seems that many people confuse me with a recruiter, however, I often get comments asking me to help them find a job. It can be awkward - I'm often torn between answering them on the blog itself, directly via email, or simply deleting the comment altogether....any advice?
  • Chris,
    This is just great grounding advice especially for someone (like myself) just hitting the ground running in the blogging world. Many thanks!!

    It was great catching up with you at CES! We should encourage the "cab-sharing" trend at the next event. (SXSW?)
    Its very "green" and a great way to socialize and make new friends! Thanks again!

    @ElizabethHannan
  • Yea, but CAPTCHA is adding books to the digital archive...bummer.

    http://tinyurl.com/2w8cvd
  • Great post, Chris. Already followed up on one bit of advice (removing CAPTCHA from my site) and looking forward to doing more. What I've really got to work on is tip #1, though. I don't comment on other people's sites nearly enough.
  • This is a really good post, Chris. I tend not to comment back to people who comment on my blog because I don't think they'll come back and read the comments - which I now know doesn't really matter. If *some* do, that is enough.

    I also didn't respond to comments because I don't want to come across as "too wordy" - which I'm afraid I already do with my posts. I keep trying to cut them down - but when I go to edit the posts, it seems like everything is important and I can't cut anything out without losing important parts.

    Lots to think about, though - and I sincerely appreciate it! Good timing as well - I will take this with me as I launch my new site.
  • Oiy, now you've given me all this homework to do! Thanks, man - Seriously, tremendous post chock full of goodness. Going to add these tips to my OneNote so I won't forget to do them.
  • Loralyn Tate
    Hi,
    Thanks for this post. I am just starting and getting off on the right foot is wonderful!

    Thanks
  • I only began blogging a week or so ago. My experimentation is around how to drive people to your site. While my readership is low, it is growing daily. The most beneficial thing I have found is making comments on other blogs. The links associated with the comments do in fact drive traffic to your site.

    Chris, thanks for your insight. It has been great following your blog and your posts on Twitter!
  • This is very insightful, thank you Chris. When reading blog, I have almost has much fun reading the comments than the post itself, especially if the latter bring up useful contextual information. I've discovered some great, interesting blogs this way too.
    By the way, can I just say that links on your site are a bit hard to discern? The underline almost fades out next to the text. Otherwise I really appreciate your new blog design ;)
  • I tend to end each post I make with a question the reader. This always helps generate comments.

    I have been thinking about using a tool like disqus but i have yet to really be convinced to install it on my blog. I bet before long I'll add it.

    In the end comenting on relevent blogs is the best thing to do. Probably %75 of my hits come from people who click through from another blog to check my stuff out. It's time consuming but I'm learning and coming up with more ideas for me to write about when I read other posts.
  • oh great article Chris!
  • Hey Chris,
    Excellent post. I also found this posting from Problogger helpful on generating blog comments.

    It states "Jakob Nielsen’s latest study finds that 90% of online community users are lurkers (read or observe without contributing) with only 9% of users contributing ‘a little’ and 1% actively contributing. So 1% of your blog’s users are actively engaging with your blog and the rest are at best occasional contributers."

    It offers advice like "invite comments, ask questions, be humble and be open ended." And even though it's from 2006, it's still relevant today.

    You can find it here the full post here http://www.problogger.net/archives/2006/10/12/1...
  • Great article from you yet again Chris.
    Comments form the basis of a great community, and you should see a correlation between the number of commentators and your "bounce rates" (with respect to site stats).
    Providing a method of user participation is one method of reducing your bounce rates.
    All of your points above give the reasons why.
    Many thanks.
    Chris
  • Great post!.......

    Ok ok, my thoughts - I've utilized a lot of these points and they make a HUGE difference on the interaction you get on your blog. One of the things I've remained true to, although it would be difficult for you Chris and the amount of comments you get, is to reply to every commenter through email and thank them for stopping by and add some addtl thoughts. I think it helps in building that relationship between blogger and reader - I think highly of people who have done that to me so I can only hope others enjoy a personal response as well.
  • Thanks Chris.

    I'm new to blogging. Reading a LOT more of them these days, and just put my first one up. Here's what I need to be more aware of:

    Double Vision
    Brevity rules
    Ask questions
    Promote others

    Tom
  • Yeah, I think you missed one. The fear factor. Clients ask me, "What if they say something mean?" I think those may be the best comments because it stirs up the waters and encourages more dialogue. What is there to be afraid of?
    In my situation, I speak on the topics of green and sustainability. So, I'll get comments on 'greenwashing.' That's cool. If we don't attract all views, how can we create positive change.
    Chris, while I enjoy your blog, its not much help if I say, "Wow Chris, great post:), you've nailed it, you the man, nobody touches you in the blog-sphere!" Then you begin to lose your edge. You start to think you are the man.

    So, I just gonna say thanks and leave it at that. Cool?

    Jeff
  • Thanks for the Disqus tip. I'll have to check it out and see if it integrates with TikiWiki. And thanks for linking back to your older post, Using Outposts in Your Media Strategy. That looks very handy too.

    I am curios, if you don't use CAPTCHA, how do you protect against spam? I never see a bunch of spam here, so you're obviously catching it in some manner.
    ~jon
  • Jim
    Thanks for this post--I've been curious about how to increase the feedback and engagement I get from readers of my blog but didn't know where to start. A lot of your points seem like common sense once you've said them, but require thinking about blogging in a different way than I've been approaching it. So thanks for changing my perspective.
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