After you have spent many hours on a new blog, you do not only hope that people will read your blog, but also that they will comment on it.
Preferably positive of course, but you can also get a tip or a question.
However, you can see that many blogs don’t get a single response.
Especially if you are just starting a blog, it is difficult to get comments on your blog right away. This may be because:
- Your content isn’t good enough yet;
- You don’t have enough visitors yet;
- Your blog is not yet found by Google;
- You’re not an expert yet, and people won’t appreciate your opinion yet;
- You do not comment on other blogs;
- And probably other reasons…
NO NEED TO WORRY, I’ve been there myself. After the start of WPjournalist, I only got my first comment after about half a year.
You don’t get comments on your website overnight, you have to work hard to get them.
It is possible. Popular bloggers get an incredible amount of comments on their articles. Sometimes more than 500 (!) comments.
Why are comments on your website a good thing?
When visitors post a comment, it’s a sign that they think something about your website. Whether they agree with you or think you’re a jellyfish, readers show commitment and that’s always good.
You get feedback from your readers. For example, a reader is missing information. I also got a question from a reader about a topic as to how to install plugins. I published an article about it a week later.
Responses give vitality to your website. The more interaction you have, the more you will enjoy it.
The possibility of posting comments keeps you sharp. If you’ve written a top article, people will report it. If it’s bad, they’ll say so too. You know that people can respond, so it gives ‘some pressure’ to keep making good articles.
How can you get more comments on your blog? I’ll give you 9 ways to get more comments on your blog.
1. Turn the comment form ‘on’.
Almost every blog or theme has the possibility to put a comment form under an article. You can also ‘turn off’ comments in WordPress. At > Settings > Comments you can configure the comments. The default settings are basically good. But you can also adjust a number of things.
For example, I have set that people who comment for the first time must be approved by me. It is not necessary to do so the next time.
Zo kun je voorkomen dat er veel spam op je site komt, Daarover straks meer.
Subtip: Make sure your comment form looks clear and professional.
You often see that comment forms are not translated into Dutch. Personally, I find that less professional. Your native language invites more people to respond.
In the input fields, indicate clearly where the name, email address or message can be placed.
I like to work with Contact Form 7, which also offers the possibility to add these kinds of things. There is an instruction section where you can change things. For example, if you want to put ‘Your message’ in the contact form, you can use the code [text your-name placeholder “Your name here”] to add it. You can read more about this in setting placeholder.
2. Send commenters to a thank-you page
After a reader has posted a comment on my article for the first time, he gets a thank you for responding.
This way you can increase the bond between you and your visitors the first time. I do that on my website with the plugin Yoast Comment Hacks.
In addition, the plugin has several other functions, such as giving comments a maximum number of words or a button in your admin environment to email all the commenters of a message in one go. It’s therefore very useful to try out this plugin.
3. Handle every reaction seriously
That sounds like an open door, but I have experienced several times that my question was not answered in a comment form. Very frustrating.
In the statistics below you can see how often people respond to a comment. More than half respond to each comment.
Content marketing guru Neil Patel believes that you should answer every comment. He does that himself.
Sometimes a short sentence to thank you for your comment. Sometimes he goes deeper into it. Occasionally his articles have more than 500 comments (!), but despite that, he gives everyone a response.
..nofollow link’ so Google doesn’t register this link as a backlink.
4. Thrive Comments
Thrive Comments helps you stimulate conversation on your blog. Thrive Comments works as a social network, where your visitors can “like” comments from others and even earn badges if they are already on your blog. A handy way to get more comments on your blog.
5. Install a good plugin against spam
Well, spam. You can write a whole chapter about this.
But in order to keep your comments ‘clean’, it is important to pay attention to this.
Many foreign spammers comment on my blog. Often to place backlinks. Luckily all of them ended up in the spam box almost immediately and I can easily remove them by emptying the bin.
Thanks to the Akismet, one of the best plugins to prevent spam.
This plugin prevents spam from reaching your website. Akismet is already included by default when you install WordPress. You first have to register and then get a key, which you have to fill in.
You can see that Akismet has already prevented a lot of spam. Hundreds of spam messages per month…
Another way to prevent spam comments is to place a reCaptcha.
If you suffer a lot from unwanted spammers, this could be an option. Try to place a visitor-friendly captcha, because the one above is one where you have to fill in long words that are difficult or impossible to decipher.
Not useful for people who want to post a comment on your blog or website.
Google has also developed a reCaptcha, but there is no plugin for this and it requires some coding work. You must first register on Google reCAPTCHA to create an API code.
They also made a movie:
You can also integrate a reCaptche in Contact Form 7, the most commonly used comment form. Look at this page to see if you can do that.
There are more plugins to prevent spam.
6. Place your comments in the sidebar
Most themes have a widget for popular articles as well as a widget for the latest comments. These can be placed in the sidebar.
This way the reader sees that there are frequent comments. And that’s a trigger for the reader to comment too. When one sheep is over the dam…
7. Just deliver good content
No matter how much plugins or tricks can help you to get more comments, in the end, the most important thing is the quality of the content. A few tips:
- If you are personal and expose yourself, people will be quick to comment. Several bloggers have written articles about how they first failed as an entrepreneur before they became successful. The number of comments exploded on those blogs.
- A strong opinion or a passionate article also often triggers comments. Steve Jobs says: People with passion can change the world.
- Use the word ‘you’ in your articles, because then you address the reader directly.
- Just write good content. Content that is unique and cannot be found anywhere else. Readers will appreciate this and may also make it known.
8. Thank the people who are commenting
When people post a comment on your blog or website, they make an effort to do so. I compliment these people when they give a tip or thank them for their comment.
Even when they make a critical note, I try to take it up in a sportsmanlike way and still thank them for their attention.
I don’t place any unfounded criticism because that doesn’t add any value.
9. Close your article with a question or call
One of the main reasons people comment is by simply asking them a question. If you ask a question at the end of your article, you are more likely to get a response. In the article BuddyPress, the sleeping giant who wakes up, I asked the reader the following question at the end:
‘In the meantime, I’m looking for more great examples of communities built with BuddyPress. Maybe you know one? Just let me know. I’m very curious…’
So far this has resulted in three nice comments!
Conclusion
The first time you get a nice comment on your blog, it gives you a lot of satisfaction. You can’t get any stronger evidence that your articles are being read.
The above tips can help you to get more comments on your blog. You don’t have to apply them all; a few can be enough to increase the interaction with your readers.
Successful bloggers also follow these strategies.
And these comments sometimes result in a lot of new customers, according to the article How I Generated $25,000 with 249 Comments.
Maybe you have other ways to get more comments on your blog. I like to hear them!
