Imagine for a moment, you go to your website and find several comments related to what you’ve just blogged about. You respond to those people, and then more people comment. The people you replied to start responding to you. Everyone is discussing the topic of your blog post. They are all engaged and you feel great because you’ve influenced them and provided relevant information they needed. You’re solving problems, you’re connecting people, you’re making a difference.

If this is what you want for your site, you can have it. Getting comments on your site isn’t as difficult as you may think. You just have to know what gets Internet users motivated to make comments.

Making Your Site Comment Friendly

The overall appearance and layout of your site affects whether or not people comment on your blog posts. Consider the following changes to your site to make it easier and more inviting for people to comment.

Site Design

Internet users will decide within 2 seconds if they want to stay on a website. This means you must engage your web visitors within that time. Your site should be attractive and easy to navigate. People should be able to find what they need and want quickly and easily.

Comment System

The comment system should be easy for your web visitors to use. Many people don’t want to go through hoops to make a comment. They are willing to enter their name and websites address, but any more than that, it becomes annoying for them. Disqus has a nice system because people can sign up and stay signed in. Whenever they get to a site they want to comment on, they don’t have to do anything extra. The comment system recognizes they logged into Disqus, so all they need to do is leave their comment.

Writing Comment Worthy Blog Posts

Once you have the foundation (your site’s design), all you need to do is start writing comment worthy blog posts. Keep these tips in mind to encourage people to comment.

Ask for a Comment

Every blog post you write should ask people to “leave a comment below.” Internet users need coaching when it comes to commenting. If you don’t tell them to do it, many of them simply won’t.

Ask Questions

This goes along with asking for comments. Asking interesting questions that have to do with your blog post’s topic will get people thinking. When people think, they usually want to share. Ask questions such as:

• What do you think about this post?
• Do you agree with me?
• What tips do you have to add?

Be Original

People will only comment on blog posts that are original. If they’ve already seen the topic discussed on other sites, they won’t have any new thoughts to share. People won’t even read the entire post if they don’t think they will learn anything new. That means they won’t get to the part where you ask questions and encourage them to leave a comment.

Don’t Be Afraid to Be Controversial

Do you have some beliefs that go against the norm? Don’t be afraid to share them on your blog. Some people will agree with you and others won’t, and that’s okay. Most people will want to tell you what they think whether they agree or disagree with you. With controversial topics, you spark emotion in people. When people are emotional, they are reactive. They feel as though they need to release those emotions inside of them and they do that by commenting if you guide them right to your comment section.

By following these suggestions, you should soon see people commenting on your blog posts. You’ll have to try out a few different blog posts and tweaks to your site before you find out what works with your audience, but once you do, you’ll be happy you took the time to do it.

It’s your turn now. Will you be implementing these suggestions? What other ways can people encourage their site visitors to comment? We would love to know your thoughts, so share your comments below.