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Warning: Using These 7 Techniques Will Get Your Comments Read

December 22nd, 2007 · 11 Comments · Blogging Tips

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In the previous article on what everybody ought to know about blog commenting, I mentioned that useful comments only get noticed more and will also get clicks. But what makes a comment useful? And do all the good comments get noticed and get clicks? The answer for it is Yes and No. YES, if you had commented in a “Not so very popular” blog. NO, if you had commented in a very popular blog like Problogger, Doshdosh, DailyBlogTips and few more which gets many comments for every post. So what’s the secret to get your comments noticed and get clicks to your blog? There isn’t any big secret actually. It just depends on the way how you do it.

Winners and losers do the same thing. But what winners do at first, losers do at last.

So whatever you do, do it quick and do it in a creative way to that you will get noticed.

Get Noticed

Image Source: MegElizabeth_

1. Kick Off the Comments

Being first to comment has its own advantages. If you stay at the top of all the commentators, yours will be seen by every other commentator and also by the blog author. When a reader reads the post, he will also look at the comments. He will read the first few comments without missing a single word. He will skim the next few comments and the comments after that won’t get read. If 80 people see your comment, then surely 4 people will come to your blog, assuming there would be a 5% conversion rate. Darren wrote a post on 10 ways to hurt your blog’s brand by commenting where one of the points he mentions is “Always Being First To Comment”. But if you read the point fully, you will see that your blog’s brand will be hurt only if you hurry to make the first comment and post useless info in the comment.

2. Make A Lengthy Comment

This is just to get the attraction of the comment readers. If your comment is big, they will read it thinking that you have something very useful to say. You have to satisfy their expectations. When you make lengthy comments, you should have good info in it. Lengthy comments don’t mean writing an essay or a blog post in the comment. Maybe a couple more lines than normal comments would be best.

3. Make It Easy To Read

If you are going to follow the above point, then you have to make your comment easy to read. Don’t express your views in one single big paragraph. Split it into two or more paragraphs or make a list of points and post it. This will make it easy for others to read your comment. After all they are going to read your comment only if it is readable. One more reason to split the comment into two or more paragraphs is to get 90% people’s attention to your comment.

4. Add Points To The Post

Almost every blogger posts list posts. These posts get huge attention and the comments also get significantly more attention. If you read the post thoroughly, you will be able to add points to the list. Say you read a post titled “10 reasons why you should try blog commenting”, you can add the 11th, 12th and so on. Read the comments and see if anyone has already added points to the list. If Yes, continue from the number where they have left. If there isn’t any comment adding points to the post, you kick start it. I have tried this method and yes, it has worked for me.

Humor

Image Source: deanj

5. Humor And Controversy

Using humor and controversies are the one of the best ways to get attention to your comment. But first to get your comment read, use on of the above method. To keep the comment reader to continue reading your comment, you can either add humor or controversy. But I suggest you not to you the later (controversy) unless you know how to do it.

6. Present The Comment With Quotes

Adding quotes to the comments you make can be really worth. While many bloggers advice you to add quotes to the post, adding quotes to comments can be equally good. Read books that have quotes and present it in your comment. If you are good in creating your own, then don’t feel shy and give your quote related to the post. Maybe you will become famous for your quotes in the comments.

7. Unique Avatar

This single tip does not suit for all the blogs but it will produce great result in many blogs. Many popular blogs show your MyBlogLog avatar near your name in the comment. Create a very unique or interesting avatar. Though this may not really get more readers, it is still a good technique. If you have your own picture in the avatar, it is well and good. If you don’t want to have your picture, try to select a funny and interesting avatar. You can also try using an avatar that reads your blog name. This can also be very effective. The reader might type your blog url manually later and visit your blog. If you are not there in MyBlogLog, I suggest you to register there with your blog. This creates a community around your blog, a bunch of regular readers.

One more basic tip is to read the content and then comment. Without reading, please don’t comment because it will show very well that you have not read the post.

I have tried every above technique and have found it to be working. As I said, it is not what you do that matters but how you do matters. Be unique. Be creative. Try your best to come up with new ideas to get your comments noticed. Every click you get from the comments on other blogs has a great conversion rate. You can convert many of those one time visitors to subscribers. Install the What Would Seth Godin Do Plugin and also subscribe remind plugin to have much more conversion rate. What do you do to get your comments noticed by others?

This is the second post in the Blog Commenting Series. To know more about the series, see here.

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  • About Me

    I'm Ramkarthik, blogger and freelance writer. You can hire me to write for your blog or write a sales copy for your product. Click here to hire me. You can also find me on twitter here.

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    11 Comments so far ↓

    • Monika @ The Writers Manifesto

      Hopefully my avatar will pass the test of being unique. Since there is only one of me. I’m sorry to disappoint in not writing a huge comment since my eyes are killing me right now.

      1st: The post was well structured and you raised some good points there too.

      2nd: I loved the use of your images

      3rd: Your buttons to submit to the social bookmarking sites are cool, did you do them yourself?

      4rd: Thanks for a good post.

      5th: Hopefully this will qualify for your points

      6th: Merry Christmas

      7th: and a happy new year :-)

    • Nadim

      Great article to read… its nice to read and learn from such articles which provide valuable information and tips

    • Madhur Kapoor

      Great article buddy. I really like the point about being the first to leave a comment. However it can be difficult in case of popular blogs such as problogger etc.

    • Ramkarthik

      Monika,
      Here are my replies to your points:
      1st: The post was well structured and you raised some good points there too.

      Me: Thanks and glad you liked it.

      2nd: I loved the use of your images

      Me: I spent pretty much time selecting those and now I’m happy to hear such a comment.

      3rd: Your buttons to submit to the social bookmarking sites are cool, did you do them yourself?

      Me: I didn’t create those buttons. One of my friend created it and posted it in his blog. You can see it here:
      http://www.nirmaltv.com/2007/07/19/create-social-bookmarks-for-your-blog

      4rd: Thanks for a good post.

      Me: You are welcome.

      5th: Hopefully this will qualify for your points

      Me: Indeed it did.

      6th: Merry Christmas

      Me: Wishing the same to you

      7th: and a happy new year

      Me: Have a great year ahead.

    • Ramkarthik

      Nadim, Glad you liked it.

      Madhur, Yeah you are right. It is very difficult to be first commentator on a popular blog. In that case, we have to try the other options.

    • Shankar Ganesh

      That’s a very interesting post, very well presented. Keep up the good work.

      I become a fan of commentators that bring humour in their comments. I immediately click through to see their site :)

    • nishu

      lol. .. warning .. nice title .. :) .. interesting post too .. and nice way to use images to illustrate your point .. you r dead set to make your blog appeal like doshdosh i suppose

    • Ramkarthik

      Shankar, Yes Humor has made a great impact on me too.

      Nishu, hehe I’m a fan and a regular reader of Dosh Dosh and I don’t think I can make my posts like those in that blog this year. Maybe I can do it next year. ;)

    • Techblissonline.com

      I have only my site name to leave here…you seem to have covered all the points leaving nothing for us to add on :)

    • Best Comments Of The Blog Commenting Series But Its Not Over Yet | Blogging Tune

      [...] Post Title: Warning: Using These 7 Techniques Will Get Your Comments Read [...]

    • Andy MacDonald

      I must say, thats some very good advice. I think that all bloggers need to network in order to not only get noticed, but to put their views across. You can also gain some good ideas by reading comments by other people, which you may then use to develop a new post for your own blog.

      Well done. keep up the great work.

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