A blog is supposed to be a place people can turn to when they need information and want to learn from others. It’s a community. Establishing that community can be difficult. People are shy when it comes to commenting on a blog post. They don’t feel as though anyone will care what they have to say, or they don’t know what to say. Comments engage people though. It’s important to the success of your website. When people comment, they are more likely to come back. To encourage them to add their thoughts to your blog posts, try these suggestions and learn how to get more comments on your blog.

Directly Ask for Comments

At the end of your blog post, ask readers to share their opinions. Many times, people don’t comment because they don’t think about doing it, but if you ask them to, they will.

Ask Readers a Question

Even when you ask readers to comment, many of them won’t know what to write. You can solve that problem by asking them a question that has to do with the topic of the blog post.

Offer an Incentive

People will comment if you hold a contest and the only way to enter is to comment on a post. This doesn’t mean you should hold a contest every time you publish a new post, but it can get a new blog jumpstarted.

Make Sure It’s Easy to Comment

People don’t want to go through a lot of trouble to leave a comment. They want to write and move on. You can usually get people to enter in a name, email address, and URL, but that’s about it. You may want to consider using Disqus because people can create one profile and then use it to comment on multiple blogs.

People Need to See the Comment Section

Some blogs have the comments hidden. All they can see is a small hyperlinked text that says something like, “100 comments.” Most people won’t see this, and if they do, they won’t take the time to click on it. Choose a plugin that displays comments openly. When people can see what others are writing, many of them will want to respond, which gets you more comments.

Your Post Needs to Evoke Emotion

People are more likely to comment if they feel strongly about something. Not every niche can do this, but many can, so keep this in mind as you’re writing.

Posts Need to Be Original

When people see the same information on many websites, they won’t have anything new to say. You need to bring something unique to your posts to impress people.

Answer Questions in Comments

When people start to comment on your blog posts, many of them will ask questions. Don’t ignore them. Be sure to respond as soon as possible, so there’s an exchange of comments. People will see how responsive you are, so they will be more likely to ask their own questions.

Implement Email Notifications

Many people will leave a comment and never come back to the blog. You can encourage them to come back and comment more by implementing email notifications. This sends emails to people who comment letting them know someone has responded.

Give to Get

Bloggers will return the favor of leaving a comment. Visit some blogs having to do with your niche and comment on some of the posts. Those bloggers will usually go to your blog and do the same.

 Ask People to Guest Post

Visit blogs that have a lot of comments to ask bloggers if they can contribute a guest post to your blog. Usually, those bloggers will bring their followers with them, and since they are in the habit of commenting on blogs, they may do the same on yours.

Ask Friends to Comment

Many blogs just need comments to get the ball rolling. Ask friends to read your posts and comment on them. You may want to encourage them to write something that goes against what you’ve written, so people will want to add their opinion.

Add Content Regularly

If your blog isn’t updated regularly, people won’t come back to it. They won’t see any reason to comment on the posts because it seems like no one is managing it. Posting regularly means people will feel as though they are interacting with the blogger and other people visiting the site.

Don’t Give Up on Blog Commenters

Implement these suggestions consistently, and you’ll soon see people comment more. You can’t give up because as soon as you do, readers will too. It takes time to build a community, so move forward, and soon you won’t have to try so hard.