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.
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.
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?
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.
I have only my site name to leave here...you seem to have covered all the points leaving nothing for us to add on :)
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. ;)
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
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.
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?
Warning: Using These 7 Techniques Will Get Your Comments Read
By Ramkarthik on December 22, 2007
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.
So whatever you do, do it quick and do it in a creative way to that you will 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.
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.
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.
Posted in Blogging Tips | Tagged blog commenting