I have written previously about how I blogged in a cave for a few months when I started Reach Financial Independence 18 months ago, and waited patiently, wondering why the world was not aware of my awesomeness yet…
Well today I’d like to go a bit into more details about comments. Many bloggers consider getting comments the ultimate way to measure their popularity. If you are looking for sponsors for a giveaway, or want to sell advertising space on your website, that is also a metric potential sponsors will take into account. So why are people not commenting on your awesome content?
Your content sucks
Did I just say it was awesome? I take that back. It makes people yawn when you painfully try to reinvent the wheel every other day. Or, even worse, several times a day. Unless you are some kind of bionic writer, chances are you can’t consistently produce fabulous content, day after day.
If you are trying to rank for a specific keyword but aren’t comfortable with it, people will notice. If you are writing just to fit an affiliate link, people will notice. If you got paid $10 to publish that awful post with a link to an even more awful site, people will notice.
Try to take a look at your recent content. As a reader, which post would you really enjoy? You can do a quick survey of what readers would like more of, but the number of comments on a post is a good indicator.
Another reason may be that in spite of being decent, your content does not provoke any reaction. Do you want to comment on a Wikipedia article? Try to think of topics that will make readers react instead.
Your commenting plugin sucks
Commenting has to be E-A-S-Y. If readers need to create a new profile, complete with picture and email verification just to tell you they liked your post, not many will. A few plugins offer the option to log in with a social media account in one click, which is the hardest it should be to comment. Think twice about installing Disqus, Livefyre, Intense Debate and the likes. While it may be easier on your end, it may drive your readers off commenting.
You use captchas
You really have to be a great blogger for me to comment on your site in spite of captchas. It offends the eyes, sometimes even the brain. One math problem was so complicated I had to pull out my calculator, and even then the result was rejected. I was deterred off the site. 2+2=, I can handle, but in a world where everything has to be fast, people don’t want to lose time deciphering a blurry captcha. Remove them and install the Akismet pluging to take care of your spam, with an additional tick box “I am not a spammer” and you should get rid of 99% of spammy comments.
You are on blogspot
Hey, it is 2014! Get over to WordPress already, buy a domain name on Godaddy, hosting from Hostgator and throw away your myblog.blogspot.com URL. Here is a guide to migrate for $5 or less. Unless you are not serious about blogging, but if you are wondering why people don’t leave a comment, you kind of are. And Blogspot is probably the main reason. Every cool kid is on WordPress, meaning leaving a Blogspot comment implies creating a new profile, or having a random avatar and, if you disabled the name/URL option, not even a link back to their own profile or website.
You don’t give
It is a giving game out there. Support my stuff, I’ll support yours. If you never comment on anyone’s writing, no wonder people don’t return the favor. Now that I have my VA comment around, the first directive she has is to comment on posts she finds on commentluv… from comments left on my own posts.
While I have some favorite sites in my RSS reader, I often use commentluv as an easy way to return the favor to people who made an effort to read and comment on my content.
That said I haven’t had a lot of time lately to comment, so I am not surprised to notice a slight decrease in comments on my sites (plus now I have three so I can’t ask people to enjoy three times more posts…).
Anyway, if you want people to notice you, start by showing some appreciation for their work, and maybe they’ll notice you back.
What else would you add to the list?
This post was featured on the Luke 1428, How to Blog Carnival, thank you!
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