I remember when I started our blog, people would email me instead of commenting on my posts. It inspired me to write the post Why Comment on a Blog? I really wanted to be open and let everyone see great comments from other readers and not have it be closed between two inboxes. There are a few good ways to get people commenting on your blog that we employ here at VR, check them out.
1. Collect Email Addresses - Do you have enough people reading your blog? Use VerticalResponse's free opt-in form, it's just a few clicks if you use our integration with TypePad. Then as soon as you publish your post send an email marketing campaign to your list with a snippet of your new posts. Sometimes simply publishing your post won't drive traffic if your readers don't know about it or aren't subscribed via RSS.
2. Ask for The Comment! - At the end of each blog post ask your readers to comment on something you wrote about.
3. Ask Your Friends to Comment - Sometimes people are shy but if they see others commenting they may chime in too! Get the ball rolling any way you can!
4. Write Some Good Content - Not everything you write is going to be Pulitzer worthy, however there are easy ways to see what people are excited about reading. We installed Google Analytics on our blog to see what people are most interested in, then I write more of that particular topic or in that particular fashion. For example, it was pretty clear that many of our readers liked things formatted so that it's easy to read but also a quick one. "5 Quick Things..." or "10 Ways to a Better...".
5. Write Often - Get your readers used to you publishing on a regular basis so that there is enough for them to read when they haven't been to your blog in a while. They may find something in the past few weeks that inspire them to comment.
6. Get Your Readers Riled Up! - From time to time be crazy and take a different stance. Write about something controversial to get them commenting or point to another blog and tell your readers how you feel about it. Then ask them how they feel!
Hope this helps!
Hi Regina,
If you use our "Canvas" email creation tool you can choose one of our pre-designed layouts to get you started with columns in your email. Just click "Choose Layout" in the designers toolbar.
If you're have any trouble, you can also contact our support team by phone, chat or email at support@verticalresponse.com they're always happy to help :)
Posted by: Alf Brand | February 27, 2008 at 12:01 PM
I just joined VR...I am crafting my first newsletter - I really like the formatting of the one I just received from you today. It appears to have column formatting so articles/offers can appear side by side. The ones I was able to choose from only had rows. Am I missing something?
thanks,
Regina
Posted by: Regina | February 12, 2008 at 11:59 AM
Am having suffering from deliverability woes regarding my hotel industry ? help me ....
Kein
Posted by: Kein Dolley | February 06, 2008 at 09:27 PM
I clicked on the links to integrate the widget but ended up in an endless loop to the same pages -- how does it work to download the widget?
Posted by: Barbara Saunders | January 29, 2008 at 10:32 PM
For Joe - First get more information on this page:
http://www.verticalresponse.com/email-marketing/google-analytics-integration.html
It's super easy. If you've got a Google Analytics account you just tell us what domains you want to track in your email campaigns in your "Account" section. Then you'll be able to tell that your site visitors are coming from your email campaigns.
Posted by: Janine Popick | January 29, 2008 at 08:40 AM
I was intersted in your comment about using Google Analytics on your blog. How do you do that exactly??
Posted by: Joe Espana | January 29, 2008 at 08:03 AM