My Blog Is Dead… How Do I Spark Some… DEBATE?

While I told you yesterday that one of the most important things a webmaster must do is check his traffic every so often, another thing that is a direct spinoff from that is the number of comments gained. More traffic usually = more comments; this can be wrong though if you have crap content. I started out this blog pretty well in my opinion but I would agree that apart from that sexy (yes, it was sexy  ) proxy post, I’ve been slacking in the past few weeks. While a journal keeping track of my earnings may be nice -for me- there are hundreds, if not thousands of others saying that they earned $xx today, or yesterday, so why should you read this blog for daily updates when there are others who earn more? With that in mind, and a few polite comments from my beloved commentators, I’ve decided to set myself a goal of at least a couple quality posts a week- don’t complain if there is complete shite for the other five days though 

Getting comments is something that could kickstart a blog; few people want to be the first to voice their views, but once you have a debate going on any subject, everyone wants to add their $0.02 into the discussion. Now, to start a debate you don’t necessarily have to have the most insightful of posts -although that helps a lot- if you offer something unique, and interesting, people will comment. Here’s five tips for you to boost your comment count.

1) Ask questions

Everyone loves to be asked their opinion on something. Whether it’s the look of a website, the feasibility of an idea or the slating of some c*nt who’s ripped you off a couple bucks, people love to think that their views matter in the world (not saying they don’t, well… maybe  ). Asking questions of your blog readers is always a good way to spark some debate; make sure you ask them questions that are relevant to your blog. Whilst I’m sure the readers of The University Kid all have nice hairstyles, that would not be an appropriate question to ask; a better one would be the ever-unique ‘How Much Money Do You Make Online’ or ‘What Types of Websites Do You Like to Profit With’. Be creative with your questions and you’ll get more replies

2) Be controversial

Now this can get you known as a total c*nt if you do it wrong; do it the right way and you’ll generate a load of buzz. Everyone loves controversy; heck, how many of you have never watched one of those crappy soap operas/teenage dramas? With a controversial view- whether you’re disagreeing with something that everyone else agrees with, or whether you’re slating the views of one of the ‘big names’ in the industry; again, tread lightly here as while people will read your post if they see you calling their favourite blogger an idiot, unless it is extremely well crafted, you’re going to get slated for the next few years and then some.

3) Brag

Heck, this works too… being cocky can either make your readers love you or run away. While I try to be helpful on here, I do have a cocky streak; a pretty misguided one considering my lack of ability in various areas, but it’s fun (at times) to piss people off  . Bragging – whether it’s about the money you make (everyone knows I make millions, right?  ) or about the amount of traffic you got yesterday * cough cough * is a good way to get visitors, as like the controversy, everyone wants to know what everyone else is doing. A post saying someone broke $1000 a day in Adsense, or received one million uniques is naturally going to attract attention, but so is a post saying that you received your highest ever Adsense click ($5.00 for me); stuff like that attracts attention.

4) One of those posts

Do you know the ones I’m talking about? Well, obviously not; but one of those ‘Top Five Ways To’ posts (like this one) are often good for those in the blogging industry; both to read and to write. When most of the points are long-ass essays, or short n sweet (perhaps not sweet  ) ‘list posts’ allow readers to quickly skim and check out the parts they like best; they can then comment on that, rather than having to read a long, chunky post to find the interesting points. For actual bloggers, it’s easier to write one of those, and can be more fun; after writing this one, I’ll hopefully do a lot more in the future.

5) Humour

Last but not least, something that produces laughter in your readers is always good; while there are a few (alright, a couple) serious posts in this blog, I’d hope that you realise this this a friendly community where anything goes. Posts with humour- whether it’s a funny video/picture that you came across, or a conversation that you had with the many Peons who constantly add you on MSN (now that’s not funny at all  ), the aim of a blog should be to please its readers; and laughter does exactly that. Once again, I haven’t really used a lot of picture/video on this blog; I’ll be doing so in the next few weeks though.

That’s all, I’m tired  . You’ve got to remember that I’m a University student and we’re generally lazy; apologies for the lack of attention span. Speaking of University, this student completely screwed up the dates for a Statistics exam which I thought was today; it actually happened yesterday, when I was sitting on my butt at home thinking about the eBook. Yikes! Gotta sort it out, as it’s worth 25% of my total grade. It’s getting to the time to post monthly earnings; I’ll be going full steam ahead to try and earn as much as possible tomorrow so that I have some good statistics to show y’all. Laters!