Blogging tips

Guest Blogging Strategies

Donna Ward
Donna Ward
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Donna Ward
Social Media Manager, Blog Consultant and Trainer at Ask Coach Donna
Social media training and promotion for entrepreneurs, professionals, and business bloggers.
Certified Business Coach, Intuitive Strategist ~ As a Social Media Manager and Coach, I do the work for you and/or train corporations and small businesses how to set up their blog and a Social Media Marketing Plan around their blog/website as their business hub. As a Social Media Marketing Expert, I teach Relationship Marketing and Social Media Mastery, consulting and speaking services for corporate, business owners, and conscious entrepreneurs around the globe!
Donna Ward
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Do you know what guest blogging is and how it can be used as one an effective promotional strategy?

To be in the SEO top page rank (PR) may take effort, goal setting, scheduling, and time, but it will prove worth it.  Your business coach can hold you accountable and help you see through this great process!

Part 1 of Guest Blogging – Aim High – ‘you’ll never know unless you ask’ is a saying I really aim at a fair bit.  You might just be surprised. I’ve asked ‘A-listers’ from time to time to come post something for me  – and guess what? Read more →

A Couple of Ways to Get More Comments at Your Blog

Donna Ward
Donna Ward
Follow me
Donna Ward
Social Media Manager, Blog Consultant and Trainer at Ask Coach Donna
Social media training and promotion for entrepreneurs, professionals, and business bloggers.
Certified Business Coach, Intuitive Strategist ~ As a Social Media Manager and Coach, I do the work for you and/or train corporations and small businesses how to set up their blog and a Social Media Marketing Plan around their blog/website as their business hub. As a Social Media Marketing Expert, I teach Relationship Marketing and Social Media Mastery, consulting and speaking services for corporate, business owners, and conscious entrepreneurs around the globe!
Donna Ward
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Hold Contests

Another good way to encourage readers to become commenter is to hold regular contests.

In these contests, the entry fee will simply be making one or more comments. And the prize can be a number of different things, including merchandise from your niche or store; or the opportunity to make a one-time guest blog.

As far as picking winners goes, this is up to you. You could either select them yourself by picking the “best comment” or you could randomly select a comment using http://www.random.org.

The first method is entirely subjective; however, the second method may lead you to select someone who only put in a nominal effort, perhaps by writing “good post,” which could anger other participants.

Tip: If you make a random selection, in order to optimally take advantage of this opportunity, you may also want to screen cast the selection process and post it on your blog at a pre-determined date and time.

Feel free to make real-time voice-over while you’re screen casting and add excitement to the video.

This could draw a lot of interest from participants and give your blog a healthy traffic spike.

Be Controversial

Another good way to encourage readers to comment is to occasionally your blog post something highly controversial, but not ethically objectionable.

Example: You might cite a famous Internet marketer who has claimed that creating an email list is a waste of time; and that you should instead always send traffic directly to your sales page.

When it comes down to it, you don’t even have to take a side. You can simply introduce the controversy and then let commenters jump it and flesh out the debate.

This can be an excellent way to draw readers in and prompt them to get involved.

With all of this said, I cannot stress enough that you should not post controversial topics that could be construed as morally or ethically objectionable material. This is more likely to turn off readers, rather than get them involved.

And, Have Fun! No Matter what!

3 Tips Get More Comments on Your Blog

Donna Ward
Donna Ward
Follow me
Donna Ward
Social Media Manager, Blog Consultant and Trainer at Ask Coach Donna
Social media training and promotion for entrepreneurs, professionals, and business bloggers.
Certified Business Coach, Intuitive Strategist ~ As a Social Media Manager and Coach, I do the work for you and/or train corporations and small businesses how to set up their blog and a Social Media Marketing Plan around their blog/website as their business hub. As a Social Media Marketing Expert, I teach Relationship Marketing and Social Media Mastery, consulting and speaking services for corporate, business owners, and conscious entrepreneurs around the globe!
Donna Ward
Follow me
Latest posts by Donna Ward (see all)

Get Blog Comments and FeedbackComments are the lifeblood of any truly successful blog.

And, using strategies to help your visitors want to stay is a very smart move to learn.  

Think about this ‘1 out of 100 readers comment on your blog’ – from ProBlogger.net

I know I want more interaction and great questions – I want to build a community with my blog. So, I want to encourage comments.

These are some of the steps I have found that work…

Tip #1 Ask your visitors to comment.

I have seen many bloggers ask their readers to leave a comment. As a writer, we really do want to hear what they think of what we just said.

I often do this on Facebook also – I’ll post my blog entry and ask others what they think about the information and what strategies they have used or would need help with.

Tip #2 Repost or Reference Comments

One great way to draw in readers and to encourage them to comment more frequently is to reward them when they do it.

Example: If someone makes a great remark about your post, then it may make sense to comment on it explicitly.

You can do this by quoting part or all of the comment, mentioning the poster by name, and then saying something complimentary or funny about his or her post.

If you do this in a way that makes people feel involved and recognized for their effort, then they’re more likely to contribute in the future. Others, seeing this, will also contribute.

Tip #3 Maintain Their Attention

I love giving hope and inspiration to others – that’s why I write. Because most people simply don’t believe in themselves.

I try to write in a way that let’s my readers know that they can do this. I don’t want them to just gloss over what I’ve written.

  • I want my readers to take action and get going and growing in their business and changing their lives.

What are you passionate about? Do you share that with your audience?  I certainly know I am not good at this, Yet – I try to share in a way that I would like to learn. And, I know I can be a bit too ‘just the facts’  type of writer.

  • But, I so want my readers to learn and engage, that I do need to work on this more.

How do you share with your audience?

Our goal is to keep the discussion going well after the blog entry has ended. And send a signal to new visitors that other people find the blog post interesting and worthwhile.

If you want to ensure that your blog becomes successful, retains visitors, and encourages visitors to stay longer and to become more active, then you need to do whatever you can to try to draw more comments.

So if your blogging is getting a bit boring, experimentation helps you not only learn what works, it also helps you learn what your audience wants.

I know that learning is fun and safe. But, we do want our readers to take action and get rewarded from their actions. That way they may remember that we helped them along the way and they may comment on that and even start wanting to get to know more about us and our business.

How are you working on growing your blog community? What did I miss?

Please do leave it in the comments!  😮