You have probably read the studies that claim on average, 1% of online users actually contribute and create content on a given website. The rest are perfectly happy reading your posts, forming their own opinions, and moving on to the next blog with out ever actually leaving any sort of feedback. This makes sense of course, we don't always have time to leave our thoughts on blogs, or many times it doesn't even seem worth the effort. After all you have to formalize your thoughts, actually write them out, review, edit, post, and then monitor for responses.

It actually is a lot more involved than we probably realize.

It is also a lot more important to get this type of reader interaction than we probably realize. The amount of interaction generated through a blog is an easy indicator of it's success. Not only for the blog owner, but also to other readers. Consider looking at two blogs with similar content, one with an average of 10 - 20 responses where the other only has 1 - 3.

I hate to say it, but most people would subscribe to the blog that is generating more interest and response, even if the content was of similar quality.

How Design Can Encourage More Blog Commenting

When people blog about "design" in regards to websites many times they are primarily referring to the asthetic quality of a site. While the aesthetic quality of a site can have a large impact on how many people put in the effort to comment on a blog, I want to approach the situation at a higher level.

Consider that the definition of design is "to assign in thought or intention; purpose."

Design is not just making pretty visuals, but to craft your site with specific thought, intention and purpose. So the question then becomes, how can we build the site with the intention of encouraging users to leave comments.

Create an Incentive or Reward

The primary reason anyone is going to leave a comment on a blog is they believe that their will be some pay off that is worth their time to formulate their response, edit it, etc... In most cases it is because they have a feeling about the content to the point where they feel the need to get their thoughts off of their chest, or maybe the author is well known enough where the idea of talking with them would be the reward.

However not all blog posts will have content compelling enough, or an author well known enough to create the incentive and reward with those elements alone.

Highlight Your Commenters

Smart marketers have found that the higher that you can appeal on Maslow's hierarchy of needs, the better success you will have reaching your audience. By highlighting those who really participate you are appealing to the need of "esteem."

You could do this by:

1. Making a post about them every once in a while
2. Having a top commenters widget
3. Use gravitars

Give Your Commenters a Bonus

I have seen great response to giving the top commenters some sort of bonus. Widgets that keep track of who has commented the most make this an easy endeavor to track and monitor.

Some of the more common methods could be:

1. Giving the top commenters a dofollow link
2. Giving top commenters profile/link on the home page
3. Giving top commenters a special design when they do comment, do occasional giveaways, etc...
4. Use the dofollow plugin, so high quality commenters can get some SEO value from contributing.

Use Design and Visuals to Engage Users

While I have talked about "design" in terms of designing an experience or functionality, I haven't addressed the actual visuals of a design and how it can improve the amount of user interaction.

If you pay enough attention to the design and visuals of your comments, you can catch the attention of users and encourage them to leave a comment.

Make Your Comment Area Eye Catching and Interesting

As a users gets closer to the bottom of an article or post, you can bet that they have either scrolled past or lost focus of most of the visual elements on the page. This presents an excellent opportunity to draw their eye to the comment area by just adding a little bit of flair, tension, or contrast to develop some visual interest.

Want to really get some attention? Consider using custom designed form fields (not too custom as to hinder user experience).

Be Suggestive

Suggest that a user leave a comment where ever you can! At the start of the comments create a link to add a comment. You could even go so far as adding a "reply" button/link at every comment in the list.

Additionally this will make it easy to comment, as users won't have to hunt for the add comment link.

Highlight the Commenters

People leave comments because they want people to read their opinion (even if it is just the author). Make sure that the users name/link has enough visual emphasis. This will help establish that the commenter will get the recognition that they are seaking.

Again, use Gravitars. Users who have gone so far as creating a gravitar will appreciate being able to show their branding on another blog and are more likely to comment because of it.

Any Experiences or Tips?

These are some of the best methods I have come across, if you have any experiences, tips, or other ideas on how to encourage more users to participate through the design of your blog/website feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts.

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