Dirty Tactics to Increase Comments on Your Blog
August 30, 2007 | By Gobala Krishnan |
If you’re ok with “gray” tactics to build your blog, you may like these suggestions. These are merely half-serious suggestions, so please do your own due diligence first. Let’s think “outside the box”.
- Fake your comments - No one wants to be the first to comment on anything, but they don’t mind joining in. You can always fake it, by submitting fake comments yourself or by hiring others to do it. Fortune 500 companies do this too, they call it “content seeding” and every major site has done this to some extent before they go live, so as not to look empty to new visitors.
- Use visual stimulation - Use pictures that appeal to emotions, for example pictures of sexy women, cute toddlers or even cute puppies, depending on your market. Don’t pretend like you’ve never seen this happen on someone else’s blog before. You probably commented on that post too, right? Find a reason to put that picture into your post or else this won’t work. Use as often as required.
- Comment bashing - A software like Instant Blog Links will get you a list of blogs where you can post your comments. Then, either post really negative comments or post a link to your blog that bashes the original post. You’ll get a lot of angry people dying to comment on your blog.
- Re-light the fire - Do you know some topics never run out of comments? Are men smarter than women? Are dogs better than cats? Are blondes better than brunettes? Are Macs better than PCs? Some topics just have no conclusions, and that means you can get an infinite amount of comments and be no closer to a resolution for the topic itself.
- Write something stupid - Break the rules, and do something contrary to what people expect from you. Go silly on your posts and you can wake up the next morning to a few comments at least.
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just like that? good to try one…
a post on comments deserve a comment
I’ll start it then
thanks for the tips
If you’re attempting to build a brand, following those suggestion s would seriously hurt your credibility…
Sometimes the slow and steady route pays off.
Hello,
This is not fake.I’m real one.lol.:)
And thanks for Dirty tactic.
thanks Gobala, this info is useufl, whenever there is no one to comment on my blogs ..
- shueqry -
The evil chow suggests this as does yaro starak . Cant say I have done that though. Though I agree with Andrew wee as well.
Hey Gobala,
I’ve followed you since the beginning, bought all your products, and have appreciated your integrity. However, I’m disappointed in your promoting these dirty and dishonest tactics.
Your claim that these are only ‘half serious’ suggestions only serves to allow you to hide behind what you are really doing - promoting dirty tactics.
I ask you: do you think faking posts is the right thing to do? If not, you should be discouraging it, not suggesting that we ‘think outside the box’.
To extrapolate on Andrew Wee’s comment above, I think you have hurt your credibility by promoting these ideas. You’ve slipped up here, Gobala, because I think you’re above this.
Kat Bartone
http://www.blogforfunandprofit.com
Take what you may, leave the rest if it’s not your cup of tea
There’s nothing wrong with faking comments on some posts, perhaps you’re asking a question that has multiple answers or in an uclear subject where posting one comment will clairify the direction you would like the comments to go.
Let he who hasn’t cast the first stone!
I haven’t commented on my own post.
There’s something seriously wrong if you think “there’s NOTHING wrong with faking comments”
You’re deceiving your readers plain and simple.
I have never fabricated comments and never will.
There’s nothing ambiguous about faking a comment. If we want to clarify an issue or lead the discussion in a certain direction, it can be done honestly and above board, to the extent that one person can carry his/her own personal influence.
Otherwise, in an IM world guided by dishonesty, deception, and pretense, we really wouldn’t know who among us is really Gobala, and who is one if his fabricated alter-egos, would we?
This isn’t a matter of ‘taking what I wish and leaving the rest’. It’s a matter now of shifting my perspective of someone I’d trusted. When you offer the suggestions of faking comments and comment bashing, I no longer know how/when I can trust what you say or do here on your blog and in your newsletter.
~ Kat
I can only find the 2nd suggestion to be the most useful and I believe I already have a plugin that makes this rather easy. Interesting read.
Hi Gobala,
Frank Eckdall here again,I gotta hand it to you, another very thought provoking topic.
It’s true that most people, the average person, they are timid about making the first comment and seeding the first comment may sound a little seedy, pun intended.
However, for all you non history buffs. The revered patriot Benjamin Franklin, while as an apprentice at a printing shop sent secretly fake letters signed by an alleged woman. The assumed female personality spoke of how men are to blame for all the worlds problems, especially wars etc.
The first female activist was a man,i.e.Benjamin Franklin. Readership and sales of the newspaper went straight up.
I don’t remember clearly but I think he finally admitted he was writting the letters and was fired and the newspaper went broke.
In contrast Benjamin Franklin went on to bigger and better things.
Since my father is a Prosecutor, he’s an SOB but he’s my SOB!, lying is against my nature but thought provoking commit by proxy without flaming or slandering sounds like sage advice to me.
Where do you come up with such good topics Gobala?
Yours very sincerely and respectfully,
Frank F Eckdall
Globala, thanks for sharing this. I have yet to get people to comment on some of my blogs. This is the very same tactic that is used when first starting a forum. You have to post in your forum everyday. Unfortunately people will not start posting in a forum if all they see is the admin posting. I started a forum and for six months nothing happened. I had traffic but noone posted UNTIL I decided to post as two new people and after three weeks, I did not have to do it anylonger. I went from me, me, and me to 4000 members within a year. I don’t think it’s unethical but it’s a way to generate participation.
Take it from a forum developer, sometimes people just wanna wait to see if other people are commenting
Ha ha, excellent Gobala, very clever. You’ve actually written a post that fits perfectly in line with your dirty tactic number 5 and it seems to be paying off. Well done.
Hehe..
Gobala, did you just plug Install Blog Links?
Thanks for the article.
traume
hello gobala..
it is very interesting, since i still dont have any commenter on my blog
i just up the blog link removed by admin (see signature) about last week..
i was build the blog because i was jealous with your success… anyway i am still have problem to have the feed burner like the other blog.. hope you will show me in your next post….
Interesting stuff, i will be taking a cloaser look at some of these. I like the “write something stupid”, i have a feeling i might be good at that
Hi , some of your posting helped me in building my site in wordpress, and some tricks also .
My blogs are succeed because of your posts .
Thanks a lot
Kelly