All of that said, it may also be worth asking why comments are important in the first place.  I know we all like discussion on our sites, but what's your ultimate goal?  And will more comments on your blog help you reach that goal?

Good point.  Many successful blogs in terms of revenue don't have many comments. 

I would like a healthy mix of money and community on my site. 

One option is to form a group of other bloggers to comment on each blog.  Sometimes just getting the conversation going can help.  And make it a practice to reply to comments left by readers.

All of that said, it may also be worth asking why comments are important in the first place.  I know we all like discussion on our sites, but what's your ultimate goal?  And will more comments on your blog help you reach that goal?

I've noticed that I get a lot more comments if I post something that people have an opinion about. Posts like "here's every dime I spent this week/month" don't give people much to say. But when I post something....not necessarily controversial, but opinionated I guess, I get a lot of opinions in return. I try not to get upset if I don't get many comments, but it's hard not to pay attention.

Great tips above with regard to closing your article with a question. It certainly gives direction to the reader (even if they just skimmed your post). 

I just stopped by your site - if commenting requires too much effort - I won't do it. But yours wasn't too bad. 

I want a comment plug in that doesn't require users to jump thru hoops each time, preferably one that allows them to use their Wordpress sign-in (automatically).

I've been searching for a good plug in for half the day without much luck.  Any help would be appreciated.

The other thing is the type of article.  If I have more of a personal story I'll get more comments as opposed to an informative article.

 

Oh, I also hate having to go through hoops to comment.

Both are very true with me as well.  The more personal a story, the more comments.  The more informative, the less comments.  Controversy is also a great way to spark comments.

Also, make it easy to comment.  I hate all comment systems except the basic WordPress.  I hate logins, etc.

The other thing is the type of article.  If I have more of a personal story I'll get more comments as opposed to an informative article.

Oh, I also hate having to go through hoops to comment.

I noticed that if you have a page open for more than a few minutes, Intense Debate will time out, and the page needs to be refreshed before you can leave a comment. If that happens to a regular reader, they may just think that there is something wrong with your commenting system, and give up.

I really don't care for manual submission form personally since I don't use cookies at work and have to keep re-keying all the info every time I go to a different blog.  Of course everyone is going to have their own preference and you can by no means satisfy everyone so just try a few different systems to see which works best I guess.

Some comments I have seen on blogs just make no sense, and it seems like people are just commenting for the sake of getting a linkback or because they like to see their name up there.  I'd much rather get a couple relevant, well thought out responses than a bunch of stupid unrelated spammy comments or responses that just don't seem to fit into the whole conversation.

I find asking a question and people's opinion at the end of each post helps open up discussion. Maybe try that. You can also utilize FB and Twitter to get a conversation going on a post you wrote.

Okay- so my issue:  I don't seem to get a lot of comments from my readers.  Oddly enough, my traffic isn't bad, and I even get messages on Facebook, or comments on my personal wall when I link to posts or I even get emails from readers that say "Oh I really liked this post," etc. etc.  but not as many comments.  I'd think it would take more effort to post a comment on my wall or email me than it'd be to write a comment, but I'm interested to see if y'all have seen the same phenomenon? 

I use Intense Debate and since I'm logged in and all that jazz I wonder if that's part of why people would rather tweet/fb/email than comment?  I get some people don't like to comment at all, but for the ones that contact me, I'm totally confused as to why they'd rather email than comment (and it's usually not personal information they share, just general feedback, ideas).

Thoughts?