Last week Heather posed a reader generated question on Crafterminds about commenting. The post generated a fair amount of discussion and really got me thinking about how to encourage readers to comment.
Perhaps you’ve noticed that commenting is down? I have.
There are a myriad of reasons blog commenting may be down – everything from the growing amount of media we (and our readers) are faced with each day to summer breaks and the ability to share a virtual “shout out” on Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter.
What might surprise you is that this is not a new thing, it’s just relatively new to our community. It’s true. In most online communities, only 1 percent are frequent participants, 9 percent and infrequent participants and 90 percent are lurkers. There’s even a name for the phenomena. It’s called participation inequality. (Okaaay. Well, this makes me feel a little better, but not much).
So instead of asking, “Why isn’t anyone commenting anymore?” I decided perhaps the question should be, “How can I encourage community and feedback?”
I thought I would kick off the discussion with five ways to encourage readers to comment:
- Use a personable, conversational tone. Do you start your post (even basic tutorials) with a personal story? A basic step-by-step tutorial is great, but what sort of connection have you made with your readers?
- Issue a call to action. Ask for comments and feedback throughout your post and conclude with a question.
- Make it easy to comment. Incorporate commenting at the end of your post in an easily identifiable location, scrap the sign-in, turn off word verification.
- Use CommentLuv. I’ve seen this one around, but I’ve yet to incorporate it. I should it provides the commenter a backlink (SEO) to their post. Do you have this on your site? What do you think? Here’s a Blogger tutorial if you’d like to add it or you can download the WordPress plugin.
- Offer an incentive to top commentors. Display a list of top commentors with a link to their site in your side bar (if you’re on WordPress, there’s a plugin for this) or an actual gift (I know Kim has implemented this on her blog in the past and I just loved it!)
Have you tried any of these methods? What worked, or didn’t work, for you?
What would you suggest? Better yet, what makes you feel inclined to comment?
Tauni Everett
Creative Director at Tauni Everett
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guess I better leave a comment and tell you how much I have been liking all the blog tips! 🙂
I am going to try out the facebook “like” page soon and plan on installing the top commenters plug in tomorrow! 🙂
You guys are AWESOME!
Haha. Kendra, I am glad you left a comment and I am super glad that you’ve been enjoying the tips! We’re sure having a bunch of fun sharing…
I would love to see your FB like page and share it with others in our community. Send me over a link once you get it up so that we can feature your work!
xoxo
Tauni
Ha! That comic is hilarious. I, myself, have start commenting less on other blogs. My reason is that I feel overwhelmed often in my time and so after reading a blog post, close the window. However, I know!
Lyndee, I am glad you enjoyed the little comic strip. Honestly, it made me laugh out loud. I can’t tell you how many times that has happened to me. In fact, I almost included a spelling error in the headline just to see if anyone would catch on 🙂
I agree with you. Commenting is a time consuming activity. Isn’t it. I am so used to skimming the post and skipping on. All of this thought however, has made me realize if I am really that busy, perhaps I need to cut down on the NUMBER of blogs I am reading…I don’t know. It’s a difficult balance.
I will say…Loving this CommentLuv feature and seeing what everyone is up to. Just read yours and need to hop over and check out your yard sale advice!!!
xoxo
Tauni
For me it is the case of time. I try to at least comment on another person’s blog every week, not every post. between opening and running a shop, having a business facebook page, a personal facebook page, a blog, a full time job, two kids, one husband and a commute… there just isn’t time. That’s why I try and not take it personally when I have hardly any comments, even though my blog is still growing.
I like the idea of using questions to get people to participate. I have also noticed that it depends on which browser I am using. One lets me comment, the other doesn’t… clearly I am using the one that does today:)
Amanda, thanks for your note. I think your goal of leaving at least one comment a week is great! It sounds like we have a lot in common. Although I don’t have a shop, I do run to blogs (this one and my personal site). That counts, right? I am going to try your goal of comment on each blog in my Reader (oi!) at least once a week. Great suggestion!
I have experimented a lot with questions and I can assure you they work. One thing I would remind bloggers is that a comment is a comment whether you’re getting it on FB, your blog or somewhere else. Different people are comfortable with different formats….
Nice hearing from you – love the name of your site!
xoxo
Tauni
I bet more people are reading blogs on their phones or ipads, where typing a comment is a little more labor intensive than on a keyboard. I’ve tried most of the top suggestions. I think switching to WP will make it easier for people to comment.
Kendra,
I think you’re probably right!!! I have my phone with me at all times and you know what? I don’t ever blog surf while on it…I do use Pinterest a lot though…I have tried a lot of the suggestions posted and they’ve worked to varying degrees. I think the key is to try them all together, plus a few more!
I also agree that WP makes just about everything easier. When you switch make sure you install Reply Mail, which turns all of your reply’s into emails. I am also enjoying the CommentLuv plugin (even though I just installed it yesterday) and I am trying a top comment widget out.
When are you making the big switch anyway???
xoxo
Tauni
I agree with all of the above! Thanks for the encouragement and ideas to get our community to be an interactive one. For some reason, ever since I switched to WP, my readers have been relatively silent. To get 3 comments in a day is a big deal! Fun idea featuring big commenter and even offering an incentive…might have to try that one! Hope your Wednesday is fabulous.
Kristin,
Thanks so much for your comment! I was just looking at the analytics on this post and if just the people who stopped by the site today were to go and comment on other blogs in the blogosphere, I think we could start a real revolution!!! Wouldn’t that be fun???
I am totally wondering why the switch to WP has left your readers so silent, especially if you’ve seen a big change. Are you certain your feed was redirected?
I love the idea of offering an incentive for comments. I went ahead and installed CommentLuv here – a little SEO is something of a reward, right? I am also looking at some of the top comment plugins to see what would work best!
xoxo
Tauni
LOL, I love the cartoon. I think RSS feeds also cut down on comments, because a lot of people read in the feed and never actually visit the site. I agree with Kendra too, reading on iPhones/iPads has to cut back on it as well. Also, I hate captchas and rarely comment on blogs that have them.
Aimee,
We are sooo on the same page. RSS feeds cut down on comments for sure, but don’t you hate it when you’re going through your Reader and you only get a partial post? I’ve unsubscribed to several sites simply because I couldn’t catch the whole thing in my reader (disclosing that I am a bad commenter too!).
I think I might be the only one who doesn’t read blogs on my iPhone…I just can’t see the pictures well enough!!!
xoxo
Tauni
Great post…I am new and definetly don’t get many comments…..visiting from tatertots (tweet) That’s to bad people are not commenting? It only takes a second! I saw the comment luv on tipjunkie tonight …cool.
Jessica,
Glad you popped over to the blog tonight (love Tatertot Jen!). Comments do seem to be down, which is hard. I think every blogger – from big to small – wants to feel connection and validation. So many of us joined this big, crazy world to make friends! On the upside, if just the number of readers who’ve caught a glimpse of this post today were to go out and comment, we could really see some change!
xoxo
Tauni
I’ve read the entire post (interesting, thanks!) – and now commenting so I don’t leave feeling like a lurker 🙂
Michael,
Thanks for taking a minute to comment! I have to admit that the word lurker sounds kind of creepy and gross – the name alone will keep me commenting!
xoxo
Tauni
I’ve been trying to share the comment love a little more now that summer’s over and I’m trying to get my blog moving a little more. I agree with all the commenter so far–browsing on phones, reading feeds–those are things that keep me from commenting for sure! But I know I love getting comments, so I remind myself that everyone else does too. We all like a little validation sometimes that someone else likes what we did or has the same crazy ideas we have 🙂
I read 80% of my blog list on my phone and it’s almost impossible to comment from it. If a post is really good I’ll send the link to my email as a reminder to comment. Which is what I’m doing right now. I’ve been considering making my blog comment free. When others comment on my blog I feel obligated to comment on theirs and sometimes I don’t have anything to say. But I worry that I might alienate readers if I go comment free. Then again they’re not commenting anyway. Maybe with having comments off I won’t feel rejected when I don’t get a comment.
I commented on the other post, but I’ll comment here with something new since it’s all about comments 🙂
I view both of my blogs stats weekly and visit those blogs that have sent traffic my way to leave a comment of thank you. When I started blogging in 2006 there was a lovely reciprocation that if you visited a blog and left a comment, that blogger would stop by and comment. I haven’t seen too much of that in the last two years or so years, my only guess is that back then fewer bloggers were making a business out of it. It was a hobby and they blogged as time permitted. And people commented when they were slacking off at work, excuse me, were on lunch break 😉
I try to leave comments, especially if I connect with the post and if I plan to try whatever they are writing about. The problem lately has been a Blogger glitch that I recently figured out how to fix. I would go to leave a comment on a blog and it would say I needed to log-in to my blogger account (which I already was) but it kept taking me to a screen to re-log-in. I’d log-in but it would take me back to the comment screen and say it still didn’t recognize that I logged in. I would give up and not leave my comment. This was happening for over a month on tons of blogs that I had tried to leave comments for. I finally googled it and found out there was a Google glitch that if you click “Stay Signed In” to my Google account when you first start up your internet it wasn’t recognizing you when you left comments. Someone recommended un-checking the “stay signed in” box (I have to sign in each time I get online) but now I don’t have any issues leaving comments and it recognizing my Google account. Totally weird but I’m so glad I can leave comments again. Not sure if others have had this same issue, but it may account for some of the low comment #s.
Wow Victoria, that is really good to know. I hadn’t heard of that issue before, but I will file this little tidbit away in my brain just in case it comes up. Thanks for sharing your experience with us in the comments!
xoxo
Tauni
I am having the same issue with blogger. I keep checking to see if I can stay logged in and make comments. It works correctly every once in a while. So for now I too have to sign in every time I log on.
Traci
What a pain…Wish I had an easier answer for you on the blogger thing!
xoxo
I would love to comment on more blogs, but I am on my phone most of the time an commenting is a lot harder. Sometimes my phone won’t even let me comment. 🙁 wish everyone would consider tweeting as commeting. 😉
J,
I hadn’t really thought of that angle too much. I don’t really use my phone to read blogs (I should). If the site has an iPhone or Droid reader, does that help? I’ve installed one on my site and it seems to make reading and commenting easier (although it also strips the photos, which I HATE!) Curious as to what you think.
I do consider tweeting a comment and love it. BUT, if you are working with sponsors they don’t really see that and they are looking for dialogue on the actual site.
xoxo
Tauni
Great article. I’ve noticed a huge decrease in comments. I think people are more quick to “pin” something from a blog than to leave a comment now.
Randi, I think you are right. I am still trying to decide if that bothers me or not…You can easily see how many times your stuff has been pinned and if it’s been pinned a lot, that is a compliment right? On the other hand, it’s preferable to have interaction and it’s hard to interact when things are pinned on Pinterest 🙂
thanks for posting the tutorial. I often wondered how people got this! i turned off word verification ages ago, and sometimes I don’t leave a comment just because someone has it on! Since I started blogging I try and leave a comment on every post I read – or for frequent posters one or two comments a week. It really does make the blogging seem worthwhile to have comments.
I am so glad that you found the tutorial helpful! So many people already have this plugin on their site and I’ve never paid much attention to it. BUT, as I am going through and responding I love seeing what people have written about and I frequently click through!
I agree with you on the word verification – hate it!!!
Wow. You are a great commenter. I must admit that I don’t get to leave a comment as much as I might like, but I do try to stumble or pin if I can’t comment…
Thanks for stopping by and commenting!
xoxo
Tauni
I like to comment on other blogs, especially on posts that I learn something from because I feel it’s a nice way to thank someone. I sometimes get 150 hits on a post and only 2 comments- makes me wonder. Anyway, I’m going to look into some of these tips because I’d love to get some more comments and get feedback about what people think about my posts. Thanks for your help!
Pati, Wow. I totally agree. A comment is like the best thank you note on the web! What a great way to look at it….
Would love to hear back if you implement some of these tips, what works and what doesn’t. Let’s keep the dialogue going!
xoxo
Tauni
Tauni, great post! The cartoon is HILARIOUS!!! I think Kendra (My Insanity) is right about the phone. I read so much on my phone and barely have a chance to get on sites from the laptop. Wish it were easier!!! I’ve had a WordPress account set up since Creative Estates, but have yet to transfer. Guess I need to think about that more, eh? 🙂
Cindy,
I am glad you enjoyed the cartoon. Can I just tell you I had mega concern over posting a cartoon with – oh no – a swear on the site?! I was so worried I would get a negative comment, but in the end? It was just too perfectly funny to pass on. LOL
I think you girls have probably captured something – darn cell phone surfing! We’ll all have to put more thought into this issue as I think mobile use is only going to increase…
Gosh. I totally understand on the whole blog transfer thing. My life has been such a whirlwind in the last six months. I too have a seriously long list of things that I need to do both on the blog and off that just keep slipping farther and farther away.
xoxo!
Tauni
I am new to your site and I am so glad that I found you. Even though blogging will most likely never be a money making proposition for me I still want the personal challenge of making it my best effort. And comments are one of the ways that I am judging my blog.
Your cartoon cracked me up. A few years ago I posted an entry on Rate My Space about my pantry door and I misspelled pantry. I could not believe how many people popped in to see my PANTY door. Oops.
Thanks again,
Traci
Traci,
I am so glad you found us! Like you, I am not currently monetizing my blog so I understand your position…Sometimes I think it is far easier that way.
I just laughed out loud at your PANTY door comment. Hilarious!
xoxo
Tauni
Comment Luv is something that I love to use! I also love sites that use it too and do not have any codes to put in to verify I am human and not a spammer. The cartoon is hilarious! Thanks for sharing that one!
Wendy, I have been surprised at how much I enjoy the Comment Luv plugin. I really do check out the post title and often click over…Perhaps now the lesson ought to be writing a great headline!
xoxo
Tauni