Please Leave a Comment….Please!

I love comments to my blogs, not only because it proves that people are reading and thinking about what I write, but also because they provide much needed inspiration. Comments are difficult to engender, however, as the attention span of an internet user is short, and reciprocally any response time is shorter. Therefore in the interests of improving my blog and its experience I did some research on popular ways to increase comments. I found some to be helpful and some, well a bit silly really. Here is my top five list, generally I am not a fan of this style of blogging, but after some considerable research I think these are really sure fire winners.

Ask for Comments.

Ok really obvious, but I think it may be one of those things which is so obvious that it is not often thought of. Asking for comments will work as will leaving a blog with an open end, inviting comments about a particular issue. I like to imagine readers being engaged by what I say, and I love it when they let me know if they agree or disagree. In fact in many ways I prefer it when they disagree as it provides a point/counterpoint situation which I get to comment on in the future.

Make Comments Yourself

If you read others blogs (and who doesn’t) comment on theirs. Its the online equivalent of I’ll show you mine if you show me yours. If you comment on the blogs of others they are likely to comment on yours. Whilst it takes a little more time than you might ordinarily spend viewing Blogs, I believe it is well worth it. I try to comment on any blogs I read in some way, even if it’s just to say high, I read and enjoyed your blog.

Get Controversial.

There is nothing like a bit of controversy. Politics, religion, sexual preferences etc etc are all areas which elicit strong opinions in others. This is, however, a double edged sword as many controversial issues need to be handled with extreme care to avoid really hacking someone off. I tend not to worry too much if my opinions upset people, but I never write in such a way that I am looking to offend. There is a balance to be struck with this style of writing, and please don’t just say stuff like, ‘Jesus was Gay’ or ‘God hates Fags’ as this just belies you as a small minded idiot.

Follow up Comments

Following up on your comments is a sure-fire way of turning a few replies to your post into a longer thread. This is something I had not done very much before, and after researching this article I am going to make a conscious effort to do.

Leave your opinions open.

Stylistically this is very difficult to do as most blogs follow a simple format of Look at this, this is what I think about it the end. As bloggers we tend not to have a lack of opinions on things. However if you can leave a little summation at the end of your blogs along the lines of, well you’ve read what I think but I am interested in what you think, you are going beyond the ‘asking for comments’ option and actively opening the topic for debate.

All of these tips are useful, and I would love to hear what you think, so please leave a comment, and even suggest your own tips and tricks. Ta Ta for Now

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