A World With Dialogue is Meaningful.
People get confused by the entire idea of getting website comments, partly because they remove themselves from the core concept of “commenting”. A comment is not about getting "more words" on your website, it has to do solely with getting dialogue on your pages/posts that is meaningful and adds VALUE to your overall page.
Today I would like to spend a few minutes discussing the benefits of dialogue on your website and how to work to get higher quality engagement which will only benefit your website. This means better rankings, even more dialogue, and higher converting content.
What is the Purpose of Getting Comments?
The purpose of comments is to create DIALOGUE that adds value your content. Think about it. People are going to read your content (your first goal), but after they are done reading they are going to naturally form an opinion about what they have just read.
They may like your content, they may dislike what you have said. Either way, both can be valuable fire starters for conversation.
Also, folks will often times be left with questions they may have that is in line and relevant to the content. This adds opportunity for YOU to add value to the content dialogue, and for you to provide meaningful answers/feedback to the comments you get on your site.
Comments are part of the social world we live in in the online space and there will come a time where static website content is a thing of the past and simply will not rank.
Why Are They Beneficial to Your Visitors?
Think about the last time you were on a site where it had content you were truly enthralled by? Was it by the actual content itself, or was it because the content was good but there were many comments.
Comments make a site feel active, make the brand feel more powerful, and make the writer some far more legitimate and trustworthy.
Comments legitimize YOU!
The Reason Google LOVES Comments
Google loves quality, comments indicate that the content is quality. They reward sites that get comments as they view ANY site that gets regular activity (ie, their pages/posts constantly getting updated) as an authority site.
But not just ANY ol’ comment will suffice though. There are certain types of comments that you are going to want to avoid.
- Spam comments
- Any comment that does not add to the overall conversation
- Comments that are generic
- Comments that are irrelevant to the topic at hand
- Comments that don’t trigger a response from you
These sorts of comments can actually have an adverse impact on your rankings as they are often times duplicate content or will detract from the overall conversation. Google comprehends language (far more than most think) and they are able to determine quality of the actual dialogue.
How to Generate More Comments
So this leads to the common question, how the heck do you get more comments on your website. There are actually many different ways that you can get comments on your site and I will discuss a few of them most viable ways to get QUALITY. Remember we are after quality, as every comment is not equal.
(1) Through sharing socially, encouraging feedback.
Whenever I create a post on my website, one of the very first things I do is share it socially on Facebook, Twitter and Google + (there are of course other social mediums you can share within as well).
I don't just share though, I aim to start a fire in terms of conversation. I am opinionated and sometimes provocative with my supplementary dialogue that I add with each post (see example below).
(2) Through using the “share” posts at Wealthy Affiliate.
At Wealthy Affiliate there is a thread dedicated to getting more comments to your website that you should be taking advantage of. This is a give and take thread and with every post that you create on your website, you should definitely be making use of this.
The Give and Take Comment Thread
Remember when you use this to get more comments though that you need to offer people TWO comments on their website before you ask for one in return. This is what makes that thread work and will lead you to getting more comments on your site.
(3) Writing engaging, opinionated and sometimes controversial content
Naturally by writing quality and interesting content, people are going to be inclined to leave you comments on your website. Typically content that feels "conversational" (as though you are talking to someone personally) will evoke the highest number of comments.
Be interesting, help people, and be opinionated within your writing. The more captivating you are, the more dialogue you will naturally get.
(4) By getting ranked, more traffic naturally leads to more comments.
And lastly, by getting rankings in Google you are going to naturally get more comments. More traffic leads to more comments. This actually has a snowball effect in terms of your rankings though, as you get ranked, you get more comments. More comments, lead to better rankings and more stability with your rankings (less swings).
So if you write quality content from the outset and you work to get a few initial comments within your website, it is only going to benefit you.
A New World of Commenting, Coming Soon!
Although we have a "thread" here for creating comments for your website (through the Give & Take post), we have long sought to create a "platform" that would change the way we communicate through our sites and harness the power of the WA community to offer a mutually beneficially website engagement solution.
We have always believed that the entire process of getting comments on your website and the entire commenting world in general is archaic and heavily gamed. It is still in the black and white TV era!
We are not too far away from changing the game. I am not going to provide any more specifics just yet, but I can tell you that some really exciting and breakthrough changes are coming very soon to members within WA! The world of comments is about to get a facelift!
Stay tuned for more updates and an official release in the coming weeks ahead.
Recent Comments
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This is a great news that WA will have a new comment "tool' that will help all of us to rank better. The power of comments is unbelievably strong. Some of my competitors do not even publish new posts/pages for months but they have constantly added good quality comments on their sites that help them to stay on the 1st Google page. So, I was thinking that this is a pretty smart idea: they do not need work as hard as I do publishing new posts/pages every week. They just need to answer to the comments which is much easier than writing the articles.
People often ask why my WaysToAvoidScamsOnline.com site ranks so well even though I am not adding new posts to it every week. The answer, comments.
I am constantly publishing submitted comments with thorough responses, I would say that every week this is far more content than several pillar posts on my website.
It's a big deal and comments yield more comments.
It works the same for the youtube videos. For example, only one good comment helped one of my youtube videos move from the 2nd Google page to the 1st one. Other couple comments keep it on the 1st page for last 4 months. Obviously, it should be a good quality video as well.
Yeah, same thing there. Youtube videos that are of quality will always have a lot of quality engagement because they have the IT factor for video.
Most definitely, it does take time but as your site gains more and more dialogue it really does start to snowball and the long lasting effects of comments are more than apparent.
Hi, Kyle, it definitely works, sparking curiosity and dangling a carrot :)
I cannot wait to see this new revelation in commenting. I have felt that it is difficult for people to comment on my site as I do not feel that it relates to too many people here. So your new ideas are awaited with baited breath.
Lis.
Yeah, that is definitely the case with many comments, people don't know the subject matter which makes it very easy to ask questions, offer opinions and ultimately their comments come across being very generic. We have a solution. ;)
I agree with you on the benefits of relevant comments. One of my Google page 1 position 1 posts has been getting a ton of comments. Though I like the comments from those thanking me for saving them from being scammed, I really love the negative comments I get from the obvious members of the scam I have exposed.
Oh and thanks for peaking our interests in the "new world of commenting coming soon" to WA. Great way to stoke some comments here. lol
Absolutely Rob, when you expose a scam people involved in it are never happy about it. The reason is they have wasted their money on it and they rarely have a refute because they have been brainwashed by the same ol' stuff (a pyramid is no different than corporate America, etc).
Same with owners. It gives you a platform to voice your opinions and to truly unravel the truth about programs, but on the other side of the fence within positive reviews it will give you the ability to address any questions/concerns, allow for testimonials form others, etc. Either way, the dialogue is highly valuable.
I value both as long as they are relevant. Though I always make it a point to post at least once a week (on Hump Day, seems like an easy day to remember), there have been some weeks that I would miss adding content because I am busy with my freelance.
But because I normally get 2 or 3 good comments every week on my popular reviews, I'll normally re-index just those posts (Fetch as Google > Submit to Index) after I have made all of my replies. It seems to me that because of just the comment engagement, my website rankings have not dropped, even though I haven't added any new content.
Excellent, thanks for the clarification, this has been a much-discussed subject lately!
Look forward to the promised changes, I am intrigued now!
Yeah, I have noticed that far too many people are creating beautiful comment but totally missing the boat on engagement. I hope this offers clarity on the importance of dialogue beyond just your initial content.
How many times we must thank you Kyle for such a wonderful marketing platform.Updates come and go , safety , spam free community and many more hard to describe everything in just a post..!!
Awesome and I believe there is room for WAY more
There is always room to improve and there isn't a day that goes by where we aren't improving WA, whether it be a subtle roll out of 15-20 minor updates or more significant platforms being developed behind the scenes.
Awesome stuff coming!
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How can you leave me hanging like that, that is just wrong. Lol you just left me hanging and not telling the full details.
Okay, I guess I will just have to wait and see what the new comment thread will be like.
This is so exciting and something I look forward to in WA's future. Thanks for all the info about comments.
Sorry about that Evelyn, I do enjoy being cryptic at times! This is one of the many awesome evolutions that we have coming to the platform in 2015. Exciting times ahead...
Well I'm sure glad you enjoyed being cryptic, cuz you left that carrot dangling. I wanted to read more, but that was it. It sure was cryptic.
I'm happy to know there are exciting times ahead. This is going to be something I'm sure a lot of us will look forward to. Thanks for giving us a very tiny tidbit of info. :)