Comments

How To Get Comments On Your Blog

Garth Beyer

It's Time To Get Comments On Your Blog

This goes beyond asking at the end of the post for users to comment.

There are benefits to not allowing comments on your blog: no criticism, no trolls, one less things to keep an eye one, you may become influenced by what people say they want in a comment.

But there are also benefits to allowing them: there is often a diamond in the rough (positive feedback), it gives you a chance to connect with someone new, it allows you to practice not taking criticism personally.

Instead of asking readers to post a comment without reason, there are a few better options.

It matters what platform you use: If you’re gung-ho about getting comments on your blog post, you might be better off using a platform like LinkedIn. It’s much easier to put yourself in a community platform that has active commenters rather than starting a blog from scratch and trying to get comments. Think Reddit, Medium, LinkedIn.

Use your voice: I mean, really use your own voice, make each post you write personal. By doing so you are likelier to get friends and family and coworkers and colleagues to hit the comment button because they respond to you as a person, not as some robot spitting out information.

Make blog posts completely question based: Mental Floss does this in a great way with their Friday Happy Hour. This way it is less about you trying to interact with someone and more about getting your tribe to interact with one another.

I’m thinking of a number between 1 and 30. Guess it right and I’ll send a free PDF version of my book Transformation: The seminar that saved me from myself. Leave your guess in a comment below or tweet at me @thegarthbox

 

Stay Positive & Go Curate Some Conversations

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A Quick Riff On Criticism And Allowing Comments

A Quick Riff On Criticism And Allowing Comments

Garth Beyer

Why allow comments on your website?

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For two reasons. One, people will try to piss you off, they will hate your ideas, they may even hate you for having them.

Ever heard of desensitization? Nothing makes it happen faster than allowing comments online. Being capable of handling any form of criticism pays off in the best of ways. You’ll see.

Second, percentage wise, we’re no shorter on critics than those in the 70s were. They just had the option of trashing (more commonly burning, I’m sure) letters of unpleasant and unhelpful criticism.

Now, today, the letters, the comments, they stick. What matters, though, is not the 100 letters of criticism, but the one comment that offers you an opportunity to connect.

If you’re going to burn any letters or delete any comments, let it be the ones that bash on the one person who is being human and giving you a chance to connect. Let’s face it, they’re more important than you are.

That’s the biggest problem with bloggers that I see. Authors will often guard themselves, but forget about guarding the ones stepping up and speaking out (commenting) in support of them.

Your eyes don’t deceive you. I don’t allow comments on my blog for two reasons. The first is this. The second is because if you really want to write to me, you can email me at thegarthbox@gmail.com If you want others to read it, by all means, start your own blog and email me the link.

Stay Positive & By All Means, Shun The Critics (don’t think it will stop the criticism though)

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