How to Get People Commenting On Your Blog

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 Their 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. Make it simple, maybe have a comment box right there and ready.

3. Ask Your Friends to Comment - Sometimes people are shy but if they see others commenting they might add a comment also.

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. Install Google Analytics on your blog to see what people are most interested in, then write more of that particular topic or in that particular fashion. For example, it was pretty clear that many readers like things formatted so that it's easy to read but also a quick one. For example, "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. When writing a controversial article make sure you never condescend the view point you are not choosing to write about.