Some people blog just for the fun of it – as a hobby. While getting comments is nice and helpful, it’s not vital. Others, on the other hand, blog as part of a larger marketing strategy. If you are the latter, you know how important it is to not only get people commenting, but DISCUSSING and INTERACTING in the comments section.

The more legitimate comments (non-spam) you get, the better chances your blog will get a high ranking in the SERPs.

Here are a few tactics you can use to get people to leave more comments:

Make sure the design of the blog looks great on ALL screens – While most blogging platforms offer templates that will load on any screen, it doesn’t hurt to do a bit of mobile automation testing to ensure that yours does. There’s the possibility that one of your plugins or design elements could be causing problems for some readers on certain devices. If they can’t view your posts due to design issues, they can’t comment.

Choose a controversial topic – Every industry and niche has some kind of controversial issues. Don’t be afraid to pick a side. Just provide a good argument, share your position as clearly and intelligently as possible, and politely invite others to disagree. Just don’t go overboard – you don’t want to come off as a bully or your blog will just turn into a hotspot for trolls.

Make it as simple as possible to leave a comment – This means that you should NOT require that users fill out a registration. You might also want to disable CAPTCHA if you have it running; a lot of spammers still find ways to get around it anyway. The Washington Post recently did an interesting piece about it.

Create “question” posts – Sometimes, all you gotta do is lay the groundwork and wait for them to post. It doesn’t have to just be one question, either – it could be a questionnaire or small survey. It’s a great way to not only encourage comments, but to learn more about your potential customers (if you’re involved in a business).

Check out popular news posts and stories for headline ideas – The headlines are extremely important for bloggers, as nobody will even bother clicking on the link to read the post if the headline isn’t enticing. The ideal headline should not be simple or messy, but enticing and to the point. Look over popular blog posts from your competitors and other sources. Which keywords are they using? How are they wording the headlines? Use those headlines for inspiration, but still keep yours as unique as possible.

Participate yourself  – You’ll increase the number of comments if you show that you are actually interested in what others have to say. Do this by responding to every single one of your current posts (except for those by obvious trolls and spammers), and by leaving insightful comments on other blogs.

You don’t have to keep each post on a self-contained island. Draw out the conversation over a series of posts. Include social media “share” and “like” elements as well.

To eliminate possible technical problems, use a program like Perfecto Mobile for automated testing.