Content is King, but your Visitors are Queen. For those who’ve read my blog that have been long time members of any forum or group I’ve been on, you know I say this repeatedly. It might be a done to ad nauseum. However, today we are going to focus on the visitor part.
Blogs thrive on social interaction. It is not just the social sharing, but the comments that are far more valuable. I’m going to help you take advantage of creating a community with comments on your blog.
Creating a Community With Comments on Your Blog
Each blog post can often be compared to forum posts or long discussions on Facebook. However, what is on your site is yours. When a person leaves a comment, that is great. If you leave a reply back, that is awesome! However, it shouldn’t stop there.
Some conversations can end up being new things learned for everyone. For example, I’ve often learned a lot from my WordPress development peers that carry on conversations that contain code and tips that are useful for everyone. That information is even searchable on the search engines too!
The point is to create an environment on your blog that is much like its own community. This is how large websites do it. So, how do you do this? Here are some tips.
Make sure to try to always end your post with a question.
In fact, try writing a few questions to allow your visitors to leave answers. Don’t ask lame questions. Ask thought provoking ones that may motivate your readers to comment.
Encourage questions or feedback.
Some people are shy. To seem more welcoming ask your readers if they have questions questions or even feedback. Asking puts the ball in the court of your readers.
As the site owner, leave comments open-ended or ask more questions.
Try to keep the conversation going. I’m not saying to beat it over and over until someone might think you’re bonkers, but if the post is somewhat deep in topic, you might want to continue engaging.
CommentLuv users – If you return comment, use the post they commented on to attract that visitor back to that post in the case you left them an open-ended reply.
Each blogger is busy, and this is a great way to remind them where the conversation left off.
Encourage visitors to interact with each other.
Reply to comments from visitors that agree. Don’t be afraid to reply and introduce them to each other.
On posts you share on social networks, ask them to copy and paste the comment to your post.
Some of the different comment systems aren’t really synced that well in order to integrate them into your website. Some comment systems like Google don’t allow your site to pick up the conversations and publish them to your blog’s database.
Of course, its great when people want to leave comments on the links you share on any social network, but they only help those sites more. They are far more valuable when they are on your own website.
Your ability to be outgoing as a blog owner is key to create a thriving community.
How often do you truly interact with your visitors? How do you encourage them to comment? What other tips do you have to create a community with comments on your blog?
Hi Nile,
thanks for the tips. In my opinion the number of comments for each post depends on the type of visitors you have and the type of content. Most of my articles are related to web development and the funny thing is that a low level article get more comments than a more advanced one. I have learned that the first comment is the most important one. No one like to be the first and sometimes it’s more efficient to ask a friend for a first comment 🙂
I always try and end my posts with a question to make readers seem involved. I find no one ever really answers them though haha 🙂
These are all great tips. I think another important one is whenever people comment to reply to them- it makes them know their comment was appreciated and noticed, so they are more likely to comment again.
I respond to comments sometimes, but usually only if someone asks a question or the comment seems like it needs a response.
I always end my posts with a question. It’s nice to hear people’s thoughts on what I’ve written, but I really like it when I can get true interaction with them.
I have noticed that many people skim through and do not see the question at the bottom.. I try and make the questions at the top so its seen right away.
I kinda like the idea of adding a question…. I might start doing that 😉
Sometimes I ask a question, and sometimes I don’t. It’s a good idea though, although people often comment without answering it (and that’s ok too).
Interesting idea to encourage others to interact with each other 🙂 I don’t get into heated arguements online, but I often comment on someone’s comment and never thought to do that for my blog.
Thanks for the tips 🙂 I’m a new blogger and these will come in handy!
Great tips! Like to increase my blog’s interactions.
It is a great idea to start a conversation between other bloggers. This is all fantastic advice. It is important to continue to read follow-up posts.
You made some great points. The question at the end of the post is a good idea but I don’t always use it.
Leaving questions for readers is one of my favorite ways to gain comments on my blog.
It really does build community.
Hi Nile,
Great post indeed. Creating a strong community is not so easy. We need to utilize different platform to create strong community and blog comments is one of them. Get more comments on own blog post is always helpful to create community as well a stay connect with them.
I always like to end my post with a question or make it complicated! You mention here some great way that’s also effective to get more comments.
Thanks for the nice sharing.
Really interesting read. Would love to apply these…
hello Nile
First to say thanks for this great article. You say right visitor is Queen.Blog commenting a nice idea of creating blogger community. Because blog commenting make a personal link with a blogger And we all know link always important. If it is personal and your website. They always give benefit. So making blogger community is cool idea.
Threaded conversation would be great for a post. It is a good way to share insights and ideas about the post.
I recently just got on board with always asking my readers questions and always reply to their comments its a great way to build up a community
Great tips, such simple ideas but things people surely would forget to think of; thank you!
I think it’s important to engage with your fans. If it wasn’t for them you wouldn’t be where you are. I been working on replying to comments, even if the post is a year old.
I am too bad in making community with comments. i am learning this and yes encouraging questions and feedback is a nice tool.
Love this! All of these suggestions are great!
These are all great tips. I like the posts that end with a question.
I agree. It is really important to create a community in your comments. If you don’t go and reply to comments soon people will stop leaving them thinking that no one is looking at them. I know that when I go to really popular sites I go straight to the comments because sometimes there is more going on in them than the article.
I’ve read about ending posts with a question to encourage interaction with readers and I did it a few times. Forgot it later on. LOL. I’ll keep it in mind this time. 🙂
Sometime I ask a question. Other times I just leave it be. Definitely love the feedback though.
Some great tips here. Sometimes I end my posts with a question, sometimes I just forget to be honest. I agree interaction is becoming increasingly important.
This is awesome information indeed. I think when reading the blogs it is nice when they have a question at the end. Thanks for sharing.
Hello Nile, I do think this is a great idea, I guess I have asked questions before at the end of my posts but now all the time.. I am going to start doing this.
Thanks for the great post.. Chery :))
These are some great tips! I know I always try to ask a question in my blog posts for my readers.
I have already implemented the ask questions at the end of the post part. I had commentluv up for just a brief moment. It made my comment box at the time look off so I removed it. Great post!
This is a great post, I agree with most of it. I learned about commenting and building a community in 2008 when I first started my blogging career. So many things go into having a successful online blog for sure; comments are a huge important factor – building the community through comments is the only way to show people you care what they have to say and keep them coming back!
I feel cheesy leaving questions after each blog post. My content just isn’t a good fit for that suggestion. But I do agree with you, comments are very important and returning the comments is critical! I have become so busy over the past month I have neglected returning comments and my traffic has taken a dip for it!
Hi Nile.
These are all great tips on engaging more with your blog followers. And I like the idea of how you point out the idea of creating a community. I think that’s really a valuable point. Some of the top blogs I’ve followed really do seem to have a sense of community as can be seen in how followers ask questions of each other and then reply to each other in the comments section.
I always strive to engage with those that leave comments on my blog, but sometimes I fall behind and end up doing it much later than I wanted to, unfortunately. But it’s definitely something I recognize as important. 🙂
Thanks again for the great tips!
I’ve noticed that leaving a question at the end of the post does help with the comments. Thank you for the tips!
Nile,
I love your suggestion to ask questions at the end of your blog post. Very often I start the post with a question. Not sure if I also ask a question at the end, but if not, I will certainly be adding that to my future posts. I have learned so much by the answers my readers provide. And I love dialoguing back and forth.
I also love your description of treating your blog like a community, making it feel inviting and safe for readers to leave comments.
Warmly,
Dr. Erica
A commenting community would make our blog engagement spring to heights, no doubt about that. I really enjoy your posts, as usual a very detailed and fine article, kudos again!
Nice idea to connect with each other, thanks for the great words.
You have raised valuable points Nile. I like the last sentence you included-“Your ability to be outgoing as a blog owner is key to create a thriving community.” I feel this helps to keep the conversation going. Thanks for the share.
Nile,
There would be no better way to put it, get involved with your readers. Do not stop at just responding to their comments. Get to know common interest by going to their blogs. Read an article or two. Also, connect with them on social sites.
You are amazing Nile, and we all appreciate your dedication and persistency with giving us real usable information.
Thanks Nile!
You’ve offered several solid tips to be far more pro-active in consistently
generating comments and engaging your readers.
I really like your idea of encouraging our readers to interact with each other.
As simple and straight forward as that is, it had not occurred to me,
until I read your post!
Thanks, your excellent tips are practical enough to put into use asap!
Thank you very much to share the important tip of blog commenting. Undoubtedly it is a great technique to popular a blog. I always try to leave a question at end of the comment. But sometimes I get response sometime I not. Can you tell me how can I more popular my blog? Are there any other tips?