Transform Your Blog To A Real Discussion Board Through Blog Commenting!

I read a lot on different blogs these days and one of the hot issues discussed by many bloggers is how to get more comments on blog posts and boost their social proof. Truth is, blog commenting is an important blogging activity with a wide range of goodies.

The unfortunate thing is the unbalance I have noticed all round the blogosphere. While most of the articles you read on blog commenting are focused on the site visitors, very little is being said to educate the post authors or blog owners.

In this post, I want us to see how you can turn your blog to a real discussion board thereby encouraging repeat visits and improving your SEO through a positive increase in page impressions, return visits, page views and time on site. I’m not going to dwell on how to get more comments or why you don’t get comments. Instead let’s discuss what needs to be done to get your readers coming back for more interaction and blog commenting.

Write in a conversational tone as if you are having a discussion with a friend and always remember to give them space to speak. Don’t be like the Sunday preacher who should be listened to from the inception of his sermon to the end. Trigger response by asking questions and encouraging people to share their opinions in the comments. Don’t write like a robot.

Be human.

It’s one good thing to get your visitors to leave a comment and it’s yet another to get them back to engage in more exciting and productive conversation.

You need to provide the right tools that encourage blog commenting. Most blog commentators today want to be rewarded for leaving a comment on your blog. Don’t get me wrong. No one will ask for $1 Paypal transfer in order to leave a comment on your blog

Today, CommentLuv premium has made this exercise an exciting one. With a huge list of advantages to the commentator, a majority of your readers will do a blog search looking for CommentLuv enabled blogs to leave comments on. Check this video from Ms. Ileane to see why.

BONUS VIDEO: CommentLuv with ReplyMe Plugin for WordPress

A lot of us are using the free version. There is nothing bad with that but if you want a higher speed, and more controls, get the full version (I don’t work for Andy Bailey by the way )

If you are concerned about spam, be sure to install GASP the WordPress Comment Spam Plugin.

I hate captchas and so do many of us bloggers. Frankly speaking, there are times that I read some blog posts just to gain an understanding of the content so as to leave the required comments. Most often, captchas are some of the things that drive me off as soon as I land on the page.

You have to waste time trying to figure out what the twisted image is. If you are not accurate, you will have to restart the process and waste more time.

In fact, this is the reason I’m writing this post. It does not suffice to get readers to leave a comment and go for good. It’s your duty as author or blog owner to get readers back. You are not going to use some tools to trick or force them back to your blog. You are simply going to make them feel recognized and see a reason to come back to that same article in few ways:

Use ReplyMe plugin. If you have the latest version of CommentLuv, then you have the best and most updated copy of ReplyMe. What it does is simply send a mail to the comment author each time he gets a reply.Reply to your comments. Some bloggers don’t reply to comments. They must be big enough not to pay attention to comments on their blogs. However, if you want to reap the benefits of blog commenting as a blog owner, you cannot afford not to reply to comments.Converse and ask questions in your replies. As a blogger, I know you hate comments like “great post”, “Thanks for sharing”, “I enjoyed reading this”, etc. Now, as a commentator, I also hate when you reply to my comments saying things like  ”Thanks for commenting”, “Thanks for stopping by” , “Thanks for reading”, etc. You really don’t want me back , do you?Recommend some other articles in your replies. This works well. I have tested and seen results. If you point to some other resources for your readers in the comment box, they always come back to check.Some bloggers will love to be featured on your blog as top commentators. I have personally noticed this as one of the reasons some readers are consistently commenting on some blogs. Why not provide a widget for your top commentators?Now one last crazy idea is to randomly select the commentator of the month and reward him or her. That sounds crazy but can take blog commenting on your blog to a higher height.

Are you reaping the benefits of blog commenting? Do you get your readers coming back to reply to comments? Is your blog a real discussion board?  Please share your thoughts in the comment box.

Tagged as: Blog Commenting, CommentLuv, SEO

View the original article here

Transform Your Blog To A Real Discussion Board Through Blog Commenting!

I read a lot on different blogs these days and one of the hot issues discussed by many bloggers is how to get more comments on blog posts and boost their social proof. Truth is, blog commenting is an important blogging activity with a wide range of goodies.

The unfortunate thing is the unbalance I have noticed all round the blogosphere. While most of the articles you read on blog commenting are focused on the site visitors, very little is being said to educate the post authors or blog owners.

In this post, I want us to see how you can turn your blog to a real discussion board thereby encouraging repeat visits and improving your SEO through a positive increase in page impressions, return visits, page views and time on site. I’m not going to dwell on how to get more comments or why you don’t get comments. Instead let’s discuss what needs to be done to get your readers coming back for more interaction and blog commenting.

Write in a conversational tone as if you are having a discussion with a friend and always remember to give them space to speak. Don’t be like the Sunday preacher who should be listened to from the inception of his sermon to the end. Trigger response by asking questions and encouraging people to share their opinions in the comments. Don’t write like a robot.

Be human.

It’s one good thing to get your visitors to leave a comment and it’s yet another to get them back to engage in more exciting and productive conversation.

You need to provide the right tools that encourage blog commenting. Most blog commentators today want to be rewarded for leaving a comment on your blog. Don’t get me wrong. No one will ask for $1 Paypal transfer in order to leave a comment on your blog

Today, CommentLuv premium has made this exercise an exciting one. With a huge list of advantages to the commentator, a majority of your readers will do a blog search looking for CommentLuv enabled blogs to leave comments on. Check this video from Ms. Ileane to see why.

BONUS VIDEO: CommentLuv with ReplyMe Plugin for WordPress

A lot of us are using the free version. There is nothing bad with that but if you want a higher speed, and more controls, get the full version (I don’t work for Andy Bailey by the way )

If you are concerned about spam, be sure to install GASP the WordPress Comment Spam Plugin.

I hate captchas and so do many of us bloggers. Frankly speaking, there are times that I read some blog posts just to gain an understanding of the content so as to leave the required comments. Most often, captchas are some of the things that drive me off as soon as I land on the page.

You have to waste time trying to figure out what the twisted image is. If you are not accurate, you will have to restart the process and waste more time.

In fact, this is the reason I’m writing this post. It does not suffice to get readers to leave a comment and go for good. It’s your duty as author or blog owner to get readers back. You are not going to use some tools to trick or force them back to your blog. You are simply going to make them feel recognized and see a reason to come back to that same article in few ways:

Use ReplyMe plugin. If you have the latest version of CommentLuv, then you have the best and most updated copy of ReplyMe. What it does is simply send a mail to the comment author each time he gets a reply.Reply to your comments. Some bloggers don’t reply to comments. They must be big enough not to pay attention to comments on their blogs. However, if you want to reap the benefits of blog commenting as a blog owner, you cannot afford not to reply to comments.Converse and ask questions in your replies. As a blogger, I know you hate comments like “great post”, “Thanks for sharing”, “I enjoyed reading this”, etc. Now, as a commentator, I also hate when you reply to my comments saying things like  ”Thanks for commenting”, “Thanks for stopping by” , “Thanks for reading”, etc. You really don’t want me back , do you?Recommend some other articles in your replies. This works well. I have tested and seen results. If you point to some other resources for your readers in the comment box, they always come back to check.Some bloggers will love to be featured on your blog as top commentators. I have personally noticed this as one of the reasons some readers are consistently commenting on some blogs. Why not provide a widget for your top commentators?Now one last crazy idea is to randomly select the commentator of the month and reward him or her. That sounds crazy but can take blog commenting on your blog to a higher height.

Are you reaping the benefits of blog commenting? Do you get your readers coming back to reply to comments? Is your blog a real discussion board?  Please share your thoughts in the comment box.

Tagged as: Blog Commenting, CommentLuv, SEO

View the original article here

Armed Janitors Approved By Montpelier, Ohio, School Board To Stop School Shootings

One of the big questions we've been asking ourselves in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting is what group of warm bodies are going to be flung into the path of the armed-to-the-teeth gunmen of tomorrow. Will it have to be the children themselves? It's been suggested! (The huskier, the better, apparently.)

At this point, the most popular proposal seems to be to have armed guards in the schools. If this notion has a problem, it's just a teensy, little practical matter of ... you know -- the fact that it doesn't work. But as always, "stuff that doesn't work" becomes "the best idea" once it becomes clear that all sides want to do it. And "armed guards in schools" fits the bill. The NRA wants more armed guards in schools because their primary focus is helping gun manufacturers sell the guns they manufacture to people, and a whole new workforce that requires firearms would be terrific from their perspective. The White House seems amenable to the idea because it means they get to create jobs and stimulate the economy and also have an extra layer of "CYA-lacquer" on their rear-ends the next time there is a tragedy like this.

Of course, there are a number of reasons why this idea could fall apart despite the fact that both sides of the debate are seemingly open to it. Just off the top of the dome, here are the fault lines that will probably crack under the White House's support for this idea:

1. It represents tax money going to public schools.
2. It creates more public sector jobs.
3. The people who take those jobs might want to be a part of a labor union.
4. That means union members with guns, so that will be a non-starter.
5. So these armed guards will probably look like the Transportation Security Administration agents you see at the airport.
6. Everybody hates the TSA.
7. In general, the GOP manages to discover how much they've already secretly loathed something within ten minutes of President Barack Obama coming out for it. (See also: Chuck Hagel.)

Fortunately, the people of the Montpelier Exempted Village Schools Board of Education of Montpelier, Ohio, may have hit on the idea that squares this circle:

The Montpelier Exempted Village Schools Board of Education has approved the carrying of handguns by its custodial staff.

The 5-0 vote of the board Wednesday night to allow handgun training for four custodians to be able to tote weapons at the K-12 campus at the Williams County school came after last month's deadly shooting rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.

School officials say that having armed personnel -- believed to be the first for any school system in Ohio -- is designed to thwart incidents of violence and prevent what happened in Newtown, Conn., from occurring here.

This solution is almost too perfect. Arming the custodial staff and giving them some minimal training will create almost the same false sense of security as federally-funded rent-a-cops, but without any worry that you are "growing the government" by creating new public sector jobs or showering too much money on public schools. And then, if a deranged gunman attacks the school, it will be up to the school's janitors to bravely throw their bodies in harm's way.

It almost pains me to point out that studies have been conducted that prove that this plan just fails to stop these kinds of assailants. But since sending low-on-the-totem-pole Americans overseas to die for us is working out so great, we may as well give low-on-the-totem-pole Americans the chance to die for us at home, too.

This will catch on, you just watch.

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