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One of the measures of a blog’s success at engaging readers is the number of comments it gets. Let’s face it—a blog without comments is just plain sad. If people aren’t commenting on your posts, it means you’re either not getting a lot of traffic or your posts just aren’t interesting enough to warrant comments. Obviously, neither of these is a good thing.

But a lack of comments doesn’t have to be a death sentence for your blog. You can turn things around and right the ship.

Here are 7 things you can do to get more blog comments.

Make it easy for readers to leave comments — The more difficult it is for someone to leave a comment, the fewer comments you’ll get. You shouldn’t force readers to become a registered member on your blog before they can leave a comment, and don’t use those impossible-to-read CAPTCHAs either. Make it fast and easy for readers to share their thoughts.

Respond to your comments — The whole point of the comments section is to create a place for interaction and conversation about the topic at hand. If you don’t respond to the comments on your blog, it’s hard for your readers to have a conversation with you. You need to interact with your readers if you want them to leave comments.

Don’t let spam infiltrate the comments — We’ve all seen blogs that are just riddled with spam issues. When half the comments are from spammers, you’re going to have a hard time convincing your real readers to take the time to leave a comment and interact with each other. Make sure your blog is updated with the latest spam fighting tools.

Ask for comments — Time for a little common sense. Want people to leave comments on your blog? Ask them to do so. Think of it as a call to action, like you’d have in your marketing materials. At the end of each post, encourage readers to comment. It really does work!

Leave room for discussion — When you cover a topic completely in a single blog post, you don’t leave any room for readers to add their own thoughts in the comments. That’s why I like to take one side on a particular issue, or publish a list that encourages readers to add their own tips and thoughts to the list.

Don’t shy away from controversy — If you never take a stand on an issue, you’ll have a hard time igniting meaningful conversation. Too many bloggers shy away from controversy. They’re afraid to rock the boat. I’m not saying you need to intentionally be controversial. That often rings artificial. But don’t be afraid to share your true thoughts on a topic. People might disagree, but they’ll respect your opinion and it will get them talking.

Don’t block negative comments — People aren’t always going to agree with you. They’re not always going to like you either. That comes with the territory of being a blogger. You shouldn’t block negative comments though. If you do, your readers will feel like they can’t truly express their opinions, and they’ll stop commenting.

What are some of your best tips for getting more blog comments? Share them by leaving a comment below.

If you’ve spent any time at all on Facebook, Twitter, or any other social networking site, you’ve undoubtedly come across that guy. You know who I’m talking about. The nuisance. The tool. The d-bag. The guy who just doesn’t seem to get it. The guy who you still wonder why in the heck you’re following him.

Then again, maybe you don’t know who I’m talking about. Maybe you don’t know because you’re that guy (or girl). Not sure if you are? Here are a few characteristics of the Social Media Tool.

1. It’s all about you, you, you – Self-absorption is a classic characteristic of the Social Media Tool. Every new post is about them. It’s not about starting a conversation. It’s about promoting a sale, pushing some offer, patting themselves on the back…you get the idea. The truth is nobody really care about you all that much. Social networking is about conversations. And to have a meaningful conversation, you can’t just talk about yourself all the time.
2. You post at a rapid-fire pace – There’s nothing wrong with having an active social media presence. It can be a good thing. However, there’s a very thin line between being active and being an obnoxious tool. If you post dozens of times each hour, you’re overdoing it. You shouldn’t be clogging the feeds of your followers. They’ll quickly grow sick of you and eventually disconnect from you.
3. You post the same messages over and over again – Occasionally, it’s okay to repost your messages at different times of the day to make sure all of your followers have a chance to see it, but if you’re constantly reposting the same things over and over again, you’re a spammer. And spammers are tools.
4. You think you’re an internet A-lister – What’s up with these people who get a few followers and suddenly think they’re some sort of internet celebrity? Let me clue you in. You’re not a celebrity. Nobody really knows who you are nor do they care. You’re insignificant in the grand scheme of things #realitycheck. You refer to yourself as a ‘social media guru’—Ugh. Do I really even have to explain this one? “Social media guru” is code for “social media tool.” In fact, if you refer to yourself as any type of “guru”
5. You think number of followers is all that matters – The Social Media Tool is always bragging about how many followers he has on Twitter or Friends or Likes he has on Facebook. What he fails to understand is that those numbers don’t tell the full story. Who cares if you have 10,000 followers if they’re mostly low quality followers? Give me 100 people who are truly interested in what I have to say over 10,000 who couldn’t care less.

Do you know any social media tools? What are some other key characteristics I left off the list? Share them with us by leaving a comment.

Comments are one of the many metrics used to measure the success of a blog. If your blog isn’t getting any comments, you’re probably not doing too well.

Here are 5 reasons nobody is commenting on your blog.

You’re playing it safe – If you never take a side on an issue or stir up any sort of debate, people won’t have a reason to leave a comment. You need to appeal to your readers’ emotions so they’ll get fired up and want to share their thoughts on the topic at hand.

You’re not asking for comments — It’s simple, but effective. Ask your readers to leave a comment. Treat it like a call to action. When you ask someone to do something, they’re likelier to do it.

You do a poor job moderating comments – Why would anyone leave a comment if you take forever to approve comments or if your comment section is riddled with spam? You have to be an active moderator if you want to give people a good reason to interact in the replies.

You make it too hard to comment — The harder it is to leave a comment, the fewer comments you’ll get. If you require the reader to register for an account before he can comment, you’re going to miss out on a lot of potential comments. Also, if you require the reader to complete a CAPTCHA before their comment can be approved, you could lose more comments because sometimes those images are just too hard to understand.

You’re not getting any traffic — We conclude with what’s probably the most obvious reason you’re not getting any blog comments, because you’re also not getting any traffic! Just because you have a blog and post great content doesn’t mean that readers will automatically come. You have to take the time to promote your posts effectively. Spread them to your audience using Facebook, Twitter, blog carnivals, emails, and other tactics.

What are some of the other reasons blogs don’t get comments? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment below.

Blog posts are a great way to increase search engine traffic. There are many who think driving huge amounts of traffic to their blogs is quite difficult. However, this need not necessarily be the case as it actually depends upon certain factors like:

• The niche you have chosen
• Marketing and SEO techniques

It also depends on how dedicated a blogger you are. Every day, there are millions of searches on major search engines and if you want to dominate your niche, you will have to take advantage of this huge traffic. One way of doing this is to optimize your blog so that it not only attracts more traffic to your site but also helps you rank higher on the search engines. Given below are a few techniques that can help you in optimizing blog posts.

1. Choosing the right niche and domain
Once you have chosen a particular niche for your blog, make sure that the domain name is short and includes a couple of related keywords so it’s easy for visitors to remember when they leave your site.

2. Using Google Webmaster Tools
The Google Webmaster tools help you submit the map of your blogs to search engine crawlers. This will help you in getting your blogs indexed quickly and in a comprehensive manner. These tools actually provide information about the performance of your site so you can take steps to increase visibility.

3. Loading Speed
Google has begun using loading times as a factor to rank a site’s authority on search engines. Websites that perform better are accorded a higher ranking as they provide the visitor with a better experience. Using tested techniques such as using a dependable host, reducing your image sizes and caching plugins can aid in reducing the loading time for your blogs.

4. W3C Compliant
Poorly coded sites can prevent search engine crawlers from indexing your site effectively. This is precisely why your blog’s code should be W3C compliant. You can in fact use the W3C mark up validation to check for any errors. A few minor errors may be acceptable but if there are many, you may have to hire a developer to make the necessary corrections.

5. Increasing Backlinks via Guest Blog posts
Guest Blog Posting that are well written are one of the best ways of getting quality backlinks to your site especially with the recent updates to Google search algorithm (Panda). Guest Blogging helps your blog gain exposure and increase search engine traffic and gain backlinks.

Apart from the above discussed techniques, you can also use the following to optimize your blog posts.

• Avoid Black Hat SEO Techniques
• Web Directory Submissions
• Creating Original / Informative Content
• Update your Blogs Frequently
• Writing New Product Reviews
• Social Media Marketing

These techniques will help in optimizing your posts and will also help your blogs gain popularity and rank higher on the search engines.

You’ve heard the saying, “If a tree falls in the woods and nobody hears it, did it really happen?” Well, if a blog doesn’t have any readers, does it really exist? Without readers, a blog is lifeless and without purpose.

So, what can you do to attract more readers to your blog? Here are 7 tips to help you get started.

1. Guest post on other blogs—It might seem counterintuitive at first, but one of the best ways to bring readers to your blog is to post on other blogs in your niche. Guest posting exposes you to a whole new audience of readers who are interested in what you have to say. Include a link back to your blog in your guest post, so that readers can follow you back to your website to become loyal subscribers. Just always make sure your guest post is the highest quality of content you’re capable of producing as it’s your one chance to impress a new audience.

2. Allow others to guest post—In addition to writing on other blogs, you should also allow other popular bloggers to guest post on your blog. This will bring the guest blogger’s readers over to your blog, increasing your exposure and earning you new readers.

3. SEO your posts—The search engines love blogs because they provide fresh, up to date content, allowing the search engines to provide the most relevant results possible. To further enhance your blog’s search engine presence, optimize your posts for relevant keywords. Spend time before writing your posts performing a little keyword research so you can target phrases that will bring you the most traffic.

4. Get blogroll links—Most blogs have a blogroll on their sidebar which includes links to other quality blogs in their niche. Once you build relationships with other bloggers, kindly ask them to include a link to your blog in their blogroll. It might not drive a ton of traffic to your site, but it will bring highly targeted clickers.

5. Use your own unique voice—With hundreds of millions of blogs online covering every topic imaginable, your blog’s success relies on your ability to stand out from the crowd. Do you want to know what the best way to do this is? Be yourself. Give your true opinions on matters instead of simply mimicking what everyone else is saying. Also, write the way you talk. This will create a conversational tone that instantly creates a personality readers can connect with.

6. Submit to blog carnivals— A blog carnival is basically an online magazine that collects the best from blogs in its niche. Blog carnivals exist on every topic you can think of. Find a blog carnival
that covers your industry, and submit your best posts to them. This will put your content in front of a new set of eyes.

7. Leverage social media apps—Between Twitter, Facebook, Digg, ReddIt, Mixx, LinkedIn, and other social media sites, there are more than enough outlets available to promote your blog content on. Build strong networks with interested followers who will click your links and become subscribers to your blog.

What have you done to get more readers to your blog? Leave a comment with your best tips!