Why Your Blog Never Gets Comments
According to a study by Jakob Nielson, 90% of users at the average website never contribute a single comment. Just 9% of users comment on occasion, while 1% of users comment frequently.
Although these numbers seem pretty grim, the news is even worse for most bloggers. Nielson calculates that approximately 95% of all blog readers never comment, while 4.9% contribute occasionally and the remaining 0.1% comment frequently. Sadly, given these statistics, odds are quite good that your blog never gets comments, at least not nearly as many comments as you would like.
Comments add a lot of value to an individual article and your blog as a whole, in some cases as much value as the articles themselves. Comments have the power to transform your blog into an interactive community – just look at the Computer Audiophile, which consistently receives dozens of comments on every single post. Can your blog achieve the same? Here are a few reasons why it’s not, at least not yet:
Your Topics aren’t Controversial Enough
Although you certainly don’t need to steer your blog into the territory of tabloid drama in order to generate some comments, people may be less likely to comment if your article doesn’t challenge any preexisting notions about its topic.
If it’s too easy to simply agree with what you’re saying, your audience will quietly nod in agreement without posting comments. Any comments you do receive will probably be one-dimensional, to the tune of “great post” or “good information here.” Although these types of comments are better than nothing, they won’t incite any other readers to write comments of their own.
Remedy the situation by writing articles that present a few different perspectives on a topic, including ones that contradict one another. Explain which perspective you tend to agree with and why. Your readers will likely follow suit if they feel strongly about the topic, which can be achieved through your writing.
You’re Making it too Difficult for Readers to Comment
You’ll never achieve the comment volume you’re after if your readers can’t figure out how to comment, or if the process leading up to posting a comment is too lengthy or difficult. The best place for the comment box is always directly below your article, not at the end of the comments section. This gives readers the opportunity to comment when the article itself is freshest in their minds.
More important than comment box placement is the amount of work you require of your readers before they can comment. Imposing a registration process is usually important for minimizing spam, but the more information you require from your readers, the less likely they’ll be to comment. Only require the minimum amount of information, which might entail a name, email address, password and CAPTCHA confirmation.
You’re Not Asking for Them
In many cases, you can attract more blog comments simply by asking for them at the end of a post. This doesn’t have to be as blatantly obvious as finishing the article with “please leave comments.” Instead, you might end the post by briefly restating your position regarding the topic and asking your readers whether they agree, and why. Although this is still a pretty direct approach, that’s the whole point – you want to facilitate an open environment in which your readers know that you actually value their comments.
