According to Technorati, the leading blog directory on the Internet, thousands of new blogs are created each day. This means that getting traffic and maintaing a high number of readers is constantly getting more and more competitive and complicated. One of the best ways to maintain readers’ interest in your blog is to get them engaged in discussion regarding your posts – this means getting people to post comments.

comments 9 Ways to Get People to Post Comments on Your Blog

1. Ask Questions

Users read blogs for many different reasons, and they often don’t feel compelled to comment on the information they have received. Asking questions is a great way to get readers involved in a blog and invite them to share their opinions about a particular topic. Questions should be easy to answer, but should not be “yes or no.” Open-ended questions are the best for igniting discussion.

2. Interact

Don’t forget to comment on your own posts. One of the best ways for bloggers to solicit more comments from the general public is to be involved in the conversation. Many readers want to feel a connection to the blog owner and really appreciate it when they receive a response to their comments or questions. Many blog posts invite conversation, but most users will stop posting if they don’t feel like anyone is taking the time to read what they write. Constantly keeping up with the comments on your posts can be made easier by taking advantage of mobile devices that use wireless providers such as Clear Internet, AT&T or Verizon.

3. Mention Current Events or Controversial Issues

Blog readers are likely to comment on posts about things they feel strongly about. Current events make readers feel an urgency to comment and are likely to weigh in with their opinions. Mentioning controversial issues may seem like a bad idea, but it is a great way to invite comments from people on both sides of the issue. Even constructive arguments invite people to come back and read more, just to see what was posted. Blog owners may need to step in if the argument gets too heated or personal insults and vulgar language are used.

4. Reward Comments

Offering an incentive is a wonderful way to attract new readers to a blog as well as to encourage existing followers to participate in the conversation more. It’s important that the incentive is related to the blog’s topic. For example, a blog about coupons may offer a gift card to a popular chain restaurant or grocery store.

Some blog owners encourage reader comments by giving something free to the reader after they have legitimately commented a certain number of times. This will encourage comments, but having many readers comment just to get a prize often makes a blog hard to follow. Legitimate posts offering information or asking questions may get lost in the shuffle of posts. It’s much better for bloggers to reward comments randomly so that people who comment the most have a higher chance of winning.

5. Make Commenting Easy

According to estimates by The Nielson Company, there are more than 156 million public blogs on the Internet. Requiring users to log in before commenting on a blog makes more work for them and many readers don’t want to spend time and effort logging in and sharing their personal information just to make a few comments.

It is more difficult for blog owners to pinpoint their audience if they don’t have any information about the readers who comment. Most blogs that allow guest users to comment are more active than blogs that require a log in. Comment sections should be uncluttered and easy to use if the blog owner wants to encourage the general public to interact on their blog.

6. Personalize

People enjoy relating to others who have been involved in similar situations. Posting about a personal situation or relating a blog post to your life is great for encouraging comments from sympathetic readers. Blog owners can also gain advice and insight into almost any given situation by reading comments left by their readers.

7. Be Positive

The majority of readers don’t like negativity and will try not to be a part of things that are negative. Positive blog posts often get more comments than negative posts. Posting negatively about a particular topic may also alienate readers who have a different opinion but don’t want to start an argument by making comments that directly oppose thoughts shared by the blog owner.

8. Comment on Other Blogs

Posting on another blog and letting readers know about your blog is great for gaining readers that are already interested in a particular blog topic. Some blog owners may feel that other bloggers are trying to steal their readers, but most don’t mind a quick mention of your blog if you also make other comments.

9. Post Often

According to Perseus Development Corporation’s CTO Jeffrey Henning, most blogs are updated regularly for less than four months. There are millions of blogs that start out being great, but the owner is not dedicated enough to their blog to keep it going for a long period of time. People that don’t personally know a blog’s owner are unlikely to comment on the first few blog posts because they don’t feel like they have a relationship with the blog owner or other readers.

Most blogs should be updated at least once per week so that there is new content for readers to discuss. The topics of many blogs require more frequent posting, but at least one posting per week is a good goal. Asking posters who frequently offer good advice to be a guest blogger encourages posting and offers a different perspective to readers.