Blogging 105: How do you get more comments on your blog posts?

Photo credit: lyfemarketing.com

Without knowing it, many of you have taken part in an experiment over the past couple of weeks. What? An experiment? How sneaky of me, I know! The experiment was a test to see just how many comments could be collected on one post, if I asked the right questions. And let me tell you, your responses did not disappoint!

One of the most common things I see asked with respect to blogging is how do you get more people to comment on your blog. People ask here on WordPress, they ask on Twitter, my former bosses used to ask me all the time. How do you get more people to comment on your blog, your content and your message? It’s actually a question asked in the corporate world quite a lot. Even companies like Nike and Starbucks can struggle with getting people to provide feedback.

So how do you encourage engagement? How do you get more comments? How do you cause people to stop by your blog and think ‘I need to comment on this post!’

Suggestion 1: Ask them!

It seems simple, right? But many corporations and individual bloggers forget. We get so wrapped up in sending the message that we want to send that we forget to quite simply ask people what they think, how they feel, what their opinions are.

The two posts on my blog that garnered the most comments over the past few weeks were posts in which I purposefully went out of my way to ask you for your opinions.

And your perspectives, I got! If you read the comments section of these two posts: Absolutely (un)important questions and I would like to hear your opinion you will see oodles of different opinions. Each post has more than 100 comments on it. People went out of their way to not just share line or two, but to send me meaningful, thoughtful opinions of their perspectives.

If you want people to leave comments on your blog, ASK THEM QUESTIONS. Talk with them… instead of at them. Let them know that you want to hear their opinions. Let them know that their opinions, no matter if they align or disagree with your own, are welcome on your blog and then encourage them to share. People like to share their own opinions and will feel a lot safer to do so if you let them know their opinions are welcome on your blog.

Suggestion 2: Thank people who do share.

All too often I stop by someone’s blog to leave a comment and they don’t bother to respond to my comment.

This is totally fine. You don’t have to respond to your comments. But I truly believe that if you don’t respond to the comments people leave on your blog, they aren’t likely to leave another. It’s true for me, and as you’re reading this, it’s probably true for you. If you take the time to leave someone a heartfelt comment and they don’t bother to write back, why would you do that ever again?

This is why it’s really important that, if you do get comments on your blog, you respond. Responding to your comments lets people know that, whether they agree with your not, their thoughts are welcome on your blog. Responding to your comments encourages people to come back to your blog. Responding to your comments shows the people reading your blog that you’re thankful for their reading your blog. When your readers find you, let them know you’re thankful for every comment they leave.

Also – please remember, not everyone communicates in the same way. Some people have a way with words where they can leave you a really eloquent comment whereas others might just say ‘Thank you for writing this’. Please don’t devalue ‘thank you for writing this’. A reader is still valuable to your blog, no matter how long of a comment they leave.

Suggestion 3: Encourage feedback.

While not every post on your blog is going to be you specifically going out of your way to ask people for their answers to important questions, you can ask for feedback on your own content.

When you make a blog post, encourage people to respond. If you’re sharing your opinion, ask people for theirs. If you’re sharing a short story, ask people what they think of your short story. If you’re sharing your art, ask people to rate it on a scale from 1-10. However you see fit, whatever you see most aligning with your post, encourage readers to give you feedback.

Please note – When you’re encouraging feedback, don’t end your posts with a question that can be answered with a single word. End your post with a question that asks people for their opinions.

Example: You write a post about a truly orgasmic pizza eating experience. On the end of the post you leave a question.

Bad Questions: Do you like pizza? Do you like cheese? Do you like pineapple on pizza?

Good Questions: Can you tell me about a time in your life when you just couldn’t believe the pizza you were eating? What made that pizza so incredible? What about that memory sticks out so well in your mind?

The reason why the bad questions are bad questions is because someone can say “Yes. No. Yes”. It’s so simple that it doesn’t really encourage any informative feedback, it only asks yes or no questions. Yes or no questions that can be answered so quickly people might just skip over answering them at all. On the other hand, with the good questions listed, if people read that, they’re going to want to share their stories with you. They’re going to take the time to think about the best pizza they’ve ever had and they’re going to type up the whole story in your comments button.

Suggestion 4: Leave a comment on another blog.

Simply put, people are more likely to view and leave comments on the blogs of people who’ve left comments on their blog.

Now it’s important to note that with this suggestion, I DO NOT mean to spam people. Don’t just go to someone’s blog and write “Hey Check out my blog!” in their comments. I mean that you should go to someone’s blog, leave them a thoughtful comment and then mention “Hey, I also just recently touched on this subject on my blog. Would you consider reading it?”

It’s worth noting that this happens ALL THE TIME in the corporate world. The Oreo brand is notorious for leaving comments on other brands from KitKat to Boeing to American Eagle. They do this because they know that in doing so, they’re supporting other companies, but also supporting themselves. When people see a comment from Oreo on an American Eagle release, Oreo knows that’s going to put their brand at top of mind for a lot of American Eagle customers. It’s a small piece to marketing, but if you do it properly, an effective one.

Encouraging engagement can be difficult when you’re just starting out. But, it’s worth noting that things are always difficult when you’re just starting out. The important thing is that you try. That you put your efforts towards not just building a blog but building a community. Because people want to know they’re a part of a community and they’re being talked with, not at.

Take it slow and steady, one step at a time. Even Everest is conquerable so long as you go at your own pace.

Good luck!

58 thoughts on “Blogging 105: How do you get more comments on your blog posts?”

    2. When I started there would be weeks that would go by without someone commenting. I kept thinking I was doing something wrong. It’s just a matter of timing, I truly believe that. It’ll come!

      Liked by 2 people

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  2. I super love this post! I was truly moved by your post and it somehow comforted me. Thank you for being detailed in giving insights, rest assured that I’ll take that as a lesson for me to be more engaging to people. Gracias! 💖

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      1. Absolutely! Though, it just a common suggestion, still we often forget to apply it in every blog post we publish. And I’m very glad that I was able to read your post! Thank you for reminding us about that. 😉 I’m a little bit guilty of it. 🙈

        Liked by 1 person

      2. I don’t think it has to be applied to every post. I just think that it’s a general ‘direction’ to consider if you’re looking to garner more of a community with your blog! There’s no guilty verdicts here, just room to improve, always. Right?

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      3. I see. Thanks! What I meant by my response is that, I sometimes feel that I am just talking to myself, not realizing that I am publishing a post and letting others’ read my work. I just feel bad that there are days that I talk way too much about myself. Lol.

        Liked by 1 person

  3. Awesome post! Something that I definitely have been struggling with. Engaging content is the key. V my opinion I think you should try to pursue blogging full time. You have a strong voice that resonates with people. I think you would do a great job and build something incredible! Just a thought

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  4. I have left comments on other blogs and never received a response back.

    I think the blog owner should at least click the like button on the comment to acknowledge that they read it and appreciated it.

    That, in my opinion, is better than no response at all.

    Liked by 3 people

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    1. It can be really disheartening when you leave a comment on someone’s blog and they just… don’t even acknowledge it. I get that not everyone wants to respond to comments but sometimes I feel like, if they don’t want to respond to comments then they should turn the ability to comment off. You know what I mean?

      Acknowledging people who take the time to comment on your blog is an important part to blogging.

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  5. I think people need to be very careful about how they go about commenting with a request that someone to read their post. There’s enough “Great post! Check out mine!” going on that my sense is there’s a low tolerance for that kind of thing in general on WordPress. If a random person drops their link in my comments the vast majority of the time I’ll mark it as spam.

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    1. They definitely do. People are very keen on what’s spamming and what’s genuine comments. All I was trying to suggest there is, there are a lot of people open to exploring new blogs based on suggestion. Not spam, just suggestion! There’s definitely a very fine line between the two. And if a random person dropped a link in your comments, yeah that probably is spam. But if someone who leaves you comments frequently says ‘hey, I just wrote about this too’, you might be more inclined to check them out, no?

      Liked by 3 people

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      1. In general but yesterday I decided to directly ask my followers like you did and initially only got likes, but then one person commented hopefully that one comment fuels others. Otherwise I won’t be as direct in my blog and stick to engaging with my readers when they make comments or I comment on theirs.

        Liked by 1 person

    1. Some people are chatters and some people have a harder time with coming up with the right words to say. It’s just something we have to remember as bloggers – we’re all different. Sometimes people want to say but don’t know what to say!

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      1. Exactly and I had one post this morning that actually left me speechless – her writing was so beautiful I sort of stammered some praise and left it at that – sometimes nobody comments because there’s nothing to say – you e said it all.

        Liked by 2 people

      2. I love when people write so beautifully in the comments sections. I totally know what you mean. There are some people, when they string together words so effortlessly it just makes me jealous and wish that I had a way with words like that.

        Liked by 2 people

  12. Great post. Last night I felt i had to write an apology post, turns out I’ve not always been hitting reply and have been just adding another comment to my own posts! I feel guilty about it, like you say, it’s nice to have a two way street!

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  13. You are absolutely right on all accounts. I hate the tit-for-tat commenting habit tho. I comment on posts that interest me in some way and when I have something productive to say, in return I will get a generic comment on whatever post the person finds first. It’s not necessary. If what I have written doesn’t engage you, no need to comment. I do a lot of reading and very little commenting – often because while I am interested in other people’s POV’s, I don’t always share them and there is nothing to be gained by being argumentative. And yes, yes, yes – always acknowledge a comment. Which is what I like about WP – you can always just, at the very least, hit the “Like” button.

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    1. Yeah, so, I definitely agree with you there.
      There are some things that I’m just not interested in commenting on. Some topics that I don’t want to touch on. And it’s like… if someone feels that way writing ‘Great piece!’ feels kind of silly sometimes. Sometimes people need to judge their best options and not bother to post if they don’t want to. Tit for tat can be a good option but it doesn’t always work. I guess it just depends on the situation.

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  14. Never underestimate the power of an open-ended question! I tell that to counselors I train all the time. If you’re asking a question that can only get a yes/no answer, you’re already giving your conversation a shelf life of about 5 seconds. Granted, in counseling, there’s still no guarantee a client is going to be forthcoming with answers for open-ended questions. A grunt or a shoulder shrug still suffice for someone who just doesn’t want to talk at all.

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  18. Great post and advice, V! I almost always end my posts with open-ended questions like you’ve described. I also like answering those questions because they sound inviting. Lately, I’ve been telling friends who read my posts to post their comment/feedback on my blog (and not only to me by email, text, in person – which I appreciate, btw!) I just feel like their comments can provide value to readers, too. So, yes, I agree that “ask them” is effective! Thanks for sharing your helpful tips!

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. Yes! Comments do provide value to readers as well. I really like seeing when someone has commented on someone else’s comment in my comments section. It’s like, everyone gets to come together and converse about it and it’s a safe space for opinions and ideas. That’s something I didn’t even touch on but you’re absolutely right there!

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  19. This is a good post on getting more engaged comments! I usually ask at the end of my blog posts a question or two to read their feedback. Even if it’s one or two comments, I do respond. They make my day 😃

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      1. Oh! So sorry about that 😂 the domain name was change from Lotus Cow Comics to Red Lotus Designz. It’s redlotusdesignz.blog now since I’ll be expanding my content soon (aside from the illustrations) 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

  20. Sneaky & illuminating, I like it! These are great tips and things I totally agree with. Questions and topics that provoke a response are great for getting readers more involved, but I do think it’s polite to then at least ‘like’ those comments and reply to them if/when you can at least most of the time. It shows you’re grateful for that interaction, as you say. And even though it shouldn’t be a case of doing something and hoping for something in return, I do find it a bit ‘meh’ if you’re always supporting someone who never seems to even read your posts, let alone ask how you are. So I definitely think a bit of that community spirit is helpful.
    Caz xx

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    1. I guess everyone is different. Some people don’t want to like or respond to comments? Even still, then, sometimes I think they should just turn their comments section off, you know?

      For me, I often find myself stopping by the blogs of people who leave comments, and I read there stuff but I just don’t know what to say. It’s hard to explain but it’s like… they liked something about my blog that brought them to my blog, but when I get to their, I just don’t know what to say. I don’t want to sound like an idiot in commenting on something I know nothing about or something I don’t like or something that I haven’t been following along with all along. I’m rambling now. I’m sorry. lol

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  21. Your posts are always so detailed. I try to ask questions, or in parting thank you I encourage to comment below. But, your tips highlight to me that I should change it up.

    On a side note, I agree with one the other commenteors. You really could make this a full time job , you are sooo good at this.

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. Yes, definitely. Even consider changing it up from post to post. Throw something new in there for your followers to keep them on their toes!

      Also, thank you. I appreciate the compliment. If I ever do decide to blog full time, I’ll make sure to come begging you for a positive testimonial.

      Liked by 1 person

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  22. This proves to be very true on all social media really. I notice I enjoy responding to Instagram posts that ask questions, I feel like I am providing some relevant data collection. I am going to try this strategy and see if I can get some good information from fellow travelers on my blog. Thanks for the tips!

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