WordPress Blog comments
So, you’re the proud owner of a WordPress blog? Congratulations because you have a blog that is being built on today’s number one content management system(CMS). I’m sure you must be enjoying the vivid features and functions that are served alongwith the WordPress powered blog. Have you set a welcome mat for comments? Do you plan to add more interaction on your blog? If your answer to both these questions is a “Yes” then you’ve landed on the right post. Here, I’ll be showcasing 7 brilliant tips that will encourage commenting on your WordPress blog, thereby keeping visitors engaged on your posts.
Tip No.1- Tweak your blog comments settings
Visitors will comment only if they find it convenient do so.WordPress comes with built-in functionality that enables you to limit who can post comments on your blog. Irrespective of whether you’re running a business blog or a personal blog, I recommend you to make it simple for people to comment. You can do this in two simple ways. The first way, you can simply ask the commenters to provide their name and email address for posting a comment. Per the second way, you can simply turn on the comment moderation setting for the first-time commenters. This latter option will require you to approve the comments received from first time commenters, followed by automatic approval for all the forthcoming comments posted by the same person.
Tip No.2-Frame a Blog Comment Policy
By setting commenting rules for your blog, you can effectively create a safe conversation zone for your commenters. While defining the comment policy for your WordPress blog, you need to keep the following factors in mind:
- Have you drawn a line between positive and negative comments?
- Are you allowing people to promote their business via your blog?
- Are you allowing people to disagree with your opinions?
- Do you intend to correct the language and grammar mistakes made by commenters?
All in all, make it a point to check out other people’s blog comment policies while framing rules for your own blog.
Tip No.3-Pen down a “comment inviting” text at the bottom of every blog post
At the end of every blog post, ensure to ask the reader to drop a comment. I advise you to write an eye-catchy customized comment request text instead of writing a generic sentence. Keep in mind that the comment-inviting text must be in accordance to the message conveyed by the respective blog post.
Tip No.4-Provide clear and understandable comment instructions
In order to ensure flawless commenting system for your WordPress blog,don’t forget to include comment instructions right next to the “Submit” button for the comments text-box. By streamlining the commenting information, you can easily guide a new blog commenter about the way to place his/her comments on particular post(s).
Tip No.5-Make sure to respond to comments
As an approach to build a wide blog community, you must respond to every comment posted for content placed on your site. Doing this shows readers that you are paying attention to every comment that is being received for the posts. There is a wide range of blogging software tools that allow you to set up email notifications for each new comment that is received for your articles/blogs. Responding to blog comments comes up as an ideal approach for building relationship with the readers.
Tip No.6-Let people take pride in their comments
While responding to the blog comments, it is vital to maintain an attitude that makes the commenter feel good about his/her comments. The choice of words plays a crucial role in deciding the way you should respond to a comment. Hence, pay special attention to the language that you use for responding to comments posted for your write-ups.
Tip No.7- Opt for building a community with your replies
As the blog administrator, always look for something innovative in every blog comment. Listen to the opinions shared by commenters and reply them in a manner that makes them realize the amount of importance attached to each and every comment that is posted for every article published on the site. You may even choose to engage your readers via Twitter and other social networks, asking them what they think about the replies received for their comments. In order to get a clear idea about building a community through blog post replies, make sure to read a lot of blogs and pay attention to the comments and replies for the same.
Final Words
So, those were the 7 power-packed tips on gathering comments for content published on your WordPress blog. Hope you’d have loved going through the same and made up your mind for following them. With a planned strategy, it won’t be difficult for you to encourage visitors for leaving their comments on a post that they find interesting and informative.
If you know of a tip that hasn’t been covered above, do consider sharing it with our readers. For this, you may use the comments box below.
AUTHOR BIO – Sarah Parker is a blogger cum WordPress developer. She loves writing information-rich blogs on PSD to WordPress conversion services and social media. Currently, she is employed with Designs2HTML Ltd, a leading markup conversion services company that has delivered top-grade markup conversion services since 5 years
