I have started pursuing the blogger “career” more intense lately: this means finding out more things and also thinking about some issues that might arise. One thing we all want is having many many comments. I am an avid commentator on blogs and also receive my fair share of them.

Still I have noticed in some blogs that the comment rate is horribly low. Why is that?

Let’s try and look for some possible reasons and the solutions.

1. possible technical issues … it’s also possible. Sometimes there’s a technical problem preventing the comments to appear. Maybe Akismet blocks some (I had some issues) .. it’s a good idea to test this from time to time and see if the comments really work.
2. low traffic means less people likely to comment. It’s pure Math: you have too few visitors, so this means too few comments. More visitors mean possibly more comments. Our solution in this case is simple: try to increase the traffic some more.
3. the content doesn’t make them comment. I think it’s one of the worst case scenarios. You can solve technical issues and the traffic easily. The content is the core of the blog. If the content is not OK, then you really need to think about improving. The content that doesn’t make me want to comment: news copied from elsewhere, youtube movies, pictures just placed there etc. What makes me comment? An useful article, something interesting and original. Something written in a less technical way, but in a more personal and nice style. Something that makes me stay and read. Then you can make sure I comment.
4. no incentives. Yes, us commentators like “candy” and “cookies” for commenting. Give us a do follow link, put a top commentators widget on the side column, thank us at the end of the month. These small “tricks” make people comment more. They know the content is OK and they also get something from commenting. A clean link, a place in a top, we all like such things.

These are just few tricks to see what doesn’t work when it comes to comments on your blog. If they are too few then something is not working properly. Maybe it’s technical, maybe it’s the traffic, maybe the content or lack of incentives. Try to solve these small issues and see your comment rate increase. And do tell us about it in here .. yes, we do give you “candies”

Filed under: Blogging by ramona