Getting readers to comment by writing an unfinished blog post
April 6th, 2008
All the bloggers immediately know what I’m talking about if I start complaining that readers don’t comment. A famous study by Jakob Nielsen in October 2006 showed that only one percent of a blog’s visitors contribute to the comments section on a regular basis:
In most online communities, 90% of users are lurkers who never contribute, 9% of users contribute a little, and 1% of users account for almost all the action.
So when you’ve faced this fact, there are a couple of things you can do:
- ignore it
- accept it and use it as self-justification for the lack of comments
- find ways to get your readers to comment
To be honest with you, I’ve often thought: Oh well, that’s just how things go in the blogosphere. And when Internet expert Bas van den Beld told me to invite readers to comment in my Next Web blog posts, I gladly did by ending articles with a question. Also, I came up with an original way to tell people how many readers participated in ‘the conversation’ on this blog. And sure, my ‘recent comments’ widget is always placed as high as possible (also a tip from Bas).
Yet I feel like I never made a real effort to work on the level of interactivity on my blogs. I’m busy enough with writing four to five articles a day, so should I also save time to lure my visitors to the comment form?
The answer is yes, I should get my readers to comment. Guess you can’t call yourself a blogger if you don’t stimulate your visitors to take part in the discussions. It’s all about interactivity after all.
So I started talking with other bloggers about how they fight this bloggers battle. One of the most interesting remarks I’ve gotten so far was from Erwin Blom, co-founder of social media company The Crowds. He said I could tempt people to comment by leaving things out. Make sure your blog post has an open ending, don’t give away everything you have to say.
At first I reacted kind of reluctant to this thought. My father is a journalist, I’ve interned at a press agency in the United Nations and I’ve studied communication science: so my whole life I’ve learned to write essays, commentaries and articles that make a firm point. I’m used to write up all the arguments I’ve got and love to rebut the arguments of the opposition beforehand. Why on earth would I write an incomplete piece?
Because I have to! Although my age is only 22, I’m already caught in old-fashioned believes about journalism. I used to think that I should write and thorough analysis and that’s it. But that would only be the case if I were writing for a traditional medium. In the blogosphere an article is only complete when it includes a discussion with visitors. During that discussion you can give away your last arguments in order to discover the opinions of your readers. I’m glad Bas and Erwin made me realize this.
To sum it up: save some of your interesting statements for later! You’ll be rewarded with comments that enrich your blogging experience.
Useful links about getting readers to comment on your blog
Darren Rowse: 10 Techniques to Get More Comments on Your Blog
The Guardian: What is the 1% rule?
Mashable: 30+ plugins for Wordpress comments
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Category: blog tips | Tags: bas van den beld, Blog, comments, erwin blom, how to, Jakob Nielsen, United Nations, Weblogs
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April 6th, 2008 at 4:07 pm
Being a blogger this is a never ending struggle to figure out how to get people to speak up. My site MouthyGirl is one that I want everyone to explore their voice on…so far the few readers I have do speak up, but for there to be adequate discussion, I think I just need more readers. I’ll be tucking this one under my hat for later use, thanks!
April 6th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
[...] Natuurlijk zijn er tal van manieren op het internet te vinden, hoe je mensen kunt stimuleren om meer te gaan reageren. Helaas blijkt dit in de praktijk lastiger toe te passen, dan het lijkt. He said I could tempt people to comment by leaving things out. Make sure your blog post has an open ending, don’t give away everything you have to say. Bron: Dutchproblogger.com [...]
April 6th, 2008 at 6:25 pm
So, where’s the open ending in this article?
April 6th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
@Joery Bruijntjes I could have told you a lot more reasons to leave stuff out. Instead of that, I hope other people - like you! - will come up with some more arguments…, or doubts!
April 6th, 2008 at 7:13 pm
It just stroke me odd you first mentioned the possibility of an open ending, followed by a firmly closed written one. You even summarized for us
Not that it’s a bad thing -I liked reading it- it’s just funny considering the topic.
Here’s a brainpicker for you: why do bloggers answer their own questions? I just finished writing an extensive post about Twingly being a possible Technorati killer. Great, but I noticed I was answering my self-asked question while writing. Not cool, because I’m far more interested in what others have to say on the matter.
A short post shouting out my question could have sufficed, but I choose otherwise. On the other hand, just asking questions and not sharing my point of view feels like breaking an unwritten rule. Any comments on that?
April 6th, 2008 at 7:42 pm
@Joery Bruijntjes, ha! You’ve got a point! Well, they see acknowledging something is the first step to self-improvement.
I think you could ask a question, then look up some sources via Google Blogsearch and see what they have to say. Then you can give your opinion and then ask your audience what they think….
April 6th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
Nice article Ernst-Jan. You’re ‘only’ 22 but a lot further than some of 35 ;). Keep up the good work.
April 8th, 2008 at 7:35 pm
Interesting article, I experience the same problem on my own blog, although it’s not been around for long, reactions mostly come from friends or colleagues. But on the other hand I think it looks kind of silly when you end a post with an obvious question and people still don\’t comment. So I guess you’ll have to find a balance between a complete article and an open ending that evokes reactions.
April 9th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
@Peter Evers, yes I certainly agree with you. In the beginning you’ll have to be careful with open questions. Yet that doesn’t mean you can play with leaving stuff out. That would be a more subtle way for beginning blogs to convince the reader to comment.
April 9th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
Not only do i think it is good to work with ‘open’ stories that by their nature are an invite to reactions and interactivity and therefore result in commitment and collaboration, i also believe that a blog works really well as a process where you share bits of a vision, ideas, questions etcetera instead of a series of products in the form of finished and thereby ‘closed’ articles. Someone once said: “We don’t pretend to tell you anymore what the truth is, together we are going to look for that truth.” The blogs i like best are more than a newspaper with a comment function.
April 9th, 2008 at 8:59 pm
@erwin blom when it concerns personal- and special interest blogs I certainly agree with you. Though most tech blogs for example, do have a news function. People want to know what the experts think or what they’ve stumbled upon. Yet in general I think you’re right. Who is that ’someone’ by the way? He sounds like a wise person.
April 10th, 2008 at 12:22 am
@erwin blom
“We don’t pretend to tell you anymore what the truth is, together we are going to look for that truth.”
Nice one, really inspiring too. I’d like to know who came up with it!
April 10th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
[...] could name a lot more reasons, but in the light of this blogpost by Ernst-Jan Pfauth I decided not too. I welcome any thoughts, tips or tricks you might have about [...]