4 Ways to Gain More Comments

We all want hits on our blog. We want people to read our words, we want to know we are doing something right and we want to feel like we are part of this great community. There are three ways we know someone has visited our site: a simple hit counter, the site stats, and comments.

Comments, of course, are the most obvious sign not only to ourselves, but to everyone else who visits. I especially love the long, thoughtful comments, the ones that make it clear someone read a post in full and thought about what I said. They don’t have to agree with me. I also love the amusing comments, insightful comments, even the brief, hi-I-was-here-and-appreciate-your-posts comments. Commenting encourages the writer – and writers need a lot of encouragement.

Lurkers are less obvious. They don’t throw themselves as much into the community, but they still appreciate our words. Writers are good with leaving comments because we love to write, however not everyone is a writer. As our blog grows we start to pick up a broader readership and so we will gain more lurkers. I love my lurkers. I wish there was a way of getting to know my lurkers a little better. The only thing I can do is encourage comments.

Ways to encourage comments:
1. Leave discussion questions at the end of each post.
2. Respond to the comments -- and always respond in encouraging ways even when the commenter doesn’t agree with you.
3. Be active, be seen and be helpful.
4. Leave comments on other blogs.

What kind of comments do you like? What kind of comments don’t you like? What is it that encourages you to comment?

Congrats: A huge congratulations to Amie Kaufman for signing with Tracey Adams of Adams Literary.