If you ever get discouraged by the endless onslaught of no-value
comments on your blog, you’re not alone. Many blog comments are either blatant
spam (“Buy product X!”) or completely irrelevant (“I loved your well-written
blog post. Thanks!”). Too seldom does a blog comment make
some significant contribution to the conversation you initiated by posting in
the first place. In many instances, it is even hard to find a comment that
makes an on-topic response to what you said.
While this problem may never go away completely, there are
steps that you can take to encourage well-thought-out comments. Here are four
tips that may help you improve the overall quality of the comments that you receive:
1. Ask a question at the end of your post. This
is not a new technique, but it is one that works. Make sure to end most of your
posts with a thought-provoking question that encourages your readers to chime
in and add their own opinions. Make the question urgent—that is, phrase it in
such a way that makes your readers want to respond to whatever it is
immediately. Don’t be shy of a little controversy—the goal is to get people to
respond.
2. Improve your posts. There might not be
anything “wrong” with your posts, but they might not be optimized to encourage
blog commenting. You can make more readers want to share their opinions by
making your own clear—make your post short, focused, and easy to scan. Your
readers will be more likely to pick out your relevant points and respond to
them.
3. Take advantage of spam-filtering plugins. Take
a cue from ecommerce and do what you can to make sure that the information your
commenters provide is accurate. Major retail websites use tools like USPS
address validation software to improve the quality of their customer
experience. You can do the same thing with CAPTCHA and email address
verification.
4. Reply to comments. Help your readers
want to do more and better commenting by promptly replying to those who do say
something. Make your own follow-ups engaging to promote further comment by the
original poster or other readers.
These tips may not solve all of your problems, but they will
help you on your way to a more thoughtful and engaged readership. What
techniques have worked for you in encouraging better comments on your blog?
Author bio: "David Larson", with Intelligent Search, is a computer enthusiast. He enjoys reading and writing about technology. He also enjoys hiking and being in the outdoors with his family.
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