This is a guest post by Rebecca Chelsey, a designer who works for Homeseasons.

If you want to guest post on this blog, check out the guidelines here.

If you are reading this post, chances are you own a blog or are interested in starting one.

It would be a bit disappointing if you have been blogging for a while now, but you only get comments here and there. This is just the same as making a speech in public only to hear crickets chirping in the background.

Many bloggers probably do get a lot of traffic to their site, but a common problem is generating comments from their readers. Somehow they might be too shy to drop a line or voice their opinion on your posts!

If this is the case, it wouldn’t matter if the content of your blog is great; you might need to consider reinventing the way you write your posts or portray yourself with the following strategies to increase dialogue in your blog.

  1. Interaction

  2. You finish your post and eagerly wait for comments. A day has gone by and you received no feedback, although you know people were reading your posts.

    What have you done wrong?

    Read over your posts and see if you have invited your readers to comment on your post. You need to welcome the invisible audience to not be afraid to speak up.

    The easiest way to do this is simply lay out your idea in the post and in the end ask them to share their thoughts with you and everyone else. Ask them, “What are your thoughts?” or encourage them to “Tell us what your think!” so your readers know that their ideas are being valued and appreciated and they are allowed to participate in your blog.

    After you start generating some dialogue in your blog, remember to interact with your guests after they have left comments. They need to know that you actually acknowledge their appearance and would like to stir up a conversation with them.

    This way, they will keep coming back to see what topic you are posting up next in order to comment on your post again.

  3. Self Portrayal

  4. Do onto others what you want onto you.

    This is the simplest way to describe the kind of relationship you would have with your readers and how you should portray yourself to them. Words are really important in the blogging world as that is all they see and know of you.

    Show others that you have good values and be humble, gracious, and thankful for their participation on your site.

    It is great to talk about yourself at times and give them a little taste of what your life is like, but you don’t have to give them all the details of your life, such as your address or the complete details of your date last night with your new beau.

    On the other hand, if you are not talking about yourself, be open-ended about your topics but also take a stand on the idea you laid out.

    Make it so that you have personality in your blog, but be sure to leave space for people to think.

    Again, after comments start rolling in, you can congratulate and reward your loyal followers by dedicating a post to them, basically thanking them for continually supporting your blog and actively commenting on your posts.

  5. Topics

  6. Make note of which topics people don’t seem to care about and which ones people just can’t stop talking about.

    Perhaps you can write more posts about the popular topics, but occasionally squeeze in posts you make for your own liking.

    You can write about blogging, life, death, fears, inspirations, love, or anything that people can generally relate to.

    Blog about something you are passionate about and that is uniquely different from what other bloggers might be talking about. Be inquisitive or surprise your readers with something new – something that you have never posted about.

    Your readers can easily tell if you are only trying to squeeze a post in your blog just to write about something.

    Instead, write about what inspires you or what you are really fond of at the moment. The key is to make a connection to your readers and reach out to them at times.

  7. Usability

  8. Have you taken a step back to look at your layout?

    Take a moment to see how easy it is for others to find the comments link.

    Do they have to sign in to leave a comment or could they post anonymously?

    Make your blog easy to navigate and determine whether you want everyone or only a select few to comment.

    Most blogs allowyou to choose whether people can comment freely or be a friend to do so.

    Another way to boost your site’s influx of comments is also to market your blog and get your link out there.

    Spread your blog link on Facebook or Twitter, and send out emails to your friends inviting them to read your blog.

    Use other free social media sites to market your blog.

    Add tags to your posts so people could easily search these keywords that will link to your blog.

    Lastly, link to other sites as this will eventually bring traffic to you, as well.

Hopefully after you have done the above you will generate traffic, and in turn you will receive valuable comments on your blog posts. Remember to be yourself, and in order to get from your readers you need to give!

Rebecca Chelsey, a designer, has a creative side that she has enjoyed utilizing on both personal and business online projects. Her work as a designer has also taught her a great deal about communicating with people, also useful for website success. Outside her life as mother and wife, she also works for Homeseasons, which has simplified the holidays with 4th of July decorations, Halloween Holiday arrangements and ideas for every holiday in between.

So…what do you think?

How do you get more and more comments posted on your site?

Please share your views in the comments below.