Blog comments: why, how, and the #1 tip you have to know now

I must confess, I've debated a while whether to write a post about blog comments. Seriously, everyone comments and everyone knows how to comment... right? {Obviously that's a rhetorical question or we wouldn't be here!} I finally decided to write this after (1) I realized that it took me a long time to learn what I've learned, and (2) I thought I knew the "1 tip you have to know now" and realized I was still making the mistake. Whoopsy-daisy!!  I thought to myself, and out loud to Chloe, "Well, if I'm making this mistake, at least I can save someone else a bit of frustration & trouble!"  Sooooo, here are our top blog comments tips!

1. You can build a community just by commenting on other blogs.  If your comments are non-existent to sporadic, start sharing the love. Find some blogs you truly like and leave heartfelt comments. Not a simple "nice" or "cute" but a comment that adds to the post and shows you actually read it. If the blogger has time, is curious, and is interested in building relationships, they will pop over to your blog and likely leave a comment if they like your blog. I've built fantastic purely online relationships with people such as Jen of PinkWhen, Meghan of Meghan Silva, Alicia of Spashionista, and so many others simply by enjoying their blogs and leaving comments. Chloe has made great friends online through blogging. We can always count on our blog friends to check out our new posts, and we try my hardest to the same with them and so many other fab supporters of ours.

2. Don't ask people to follow you in your comments.  If people like your blog, they will follow you. If they don't, they won't. Asking them to follow is akin to following them around in real life and asking them to be your friend. Nobody would do that after kindergarten, so why do it online?

3. If you don't have something nice to say, then don't comment.  It's that simple. It's like seeing a friend in an outfit you don't like. If they don't truly want your opinion, you really don't have to give it to them. Mom's keen advice still holds true.

4. If a blogger asks a question, answer it. Unless you don't want to. I try to because it shows I read the post, but sometimes it's just a prompt for the blog reader. However, if you have something to say (see #1) then go ahead and leave your interesting and heartfelt comment!

And the #1 tip you must know:

5. Make sure your comment links back to your blog!! So simple, yet... We always visit every blog that leaves a comment on ours. Always. Well, ok, almost always. We alway try to visit, at least! Yet, I'd say that 50% of the blog comments leave links that are dead ends. Test yours. If you leave your name, but no link, it's difficult to reciprocate and visit you, and we all know what happens when something is difficult. It's not personal, but on to the next blog or comment, right?

If you are leaving a google/blogger link, make sure it links to your blog. If you are leaving a Disqus link... make sure it links to your blog. For instance, if your comment link to Twitter, then you are telling me to follow you on Twitter and not to visit your blog. That's fine, but you  might be wondering why people aren't visiting your blog after you went on a blog reading spree and left bunches of comments. Log in and check your settings and profile!! Almost every blog has a different type of commenting system - so test each system out AFTER you leave the comment! Click your link and see where it goes (you may need to log out to see.) If your comment doesn't show up right away (due to a spam filter) write the name of the blog down and visit later. Once you've checked all your comments for a week or so and they are linking back to you, you should be golden and receiving tons of comments back from all of your friends that you are visiting!

Questions people have asked me about blog comments:

Should I leave a signature (and how do I do it) with my blog name?  Sometimes we do, and sometimes we don't. If Popcosmo is highlighted when I leave a comment,and it's obvious that you can click on it to access our blog, then we typically don't leave a signature unless it's the first time we've visited that blog. If it's not highlighted, then do it! Plus, if you are not sure if the link goes directly to your blog, then do it. Once, you can confirm which commenting systems link back, you can stop leaving signatures. We don't like to be repetitive & redundant, haha.

How do I leave a signature? Obviously it's personal, but ours is: xox ~kim & chloe @ popcosmo.com  which is typed in as: xox ~kim & chloe @ <a href="http://www.popcosmo.com">popcosmo.com</a>  We used to have separate ones, but we are starting to become one person, it seems!

How exactly does commenting build a community? I should clarify that obviously 1 comment won't build a community. It takes time & you have to visit your list of blogs regularly! A great way to remember which blogs to visit is to build a list in Bloglovin' and set up a group for your commenting BFFs. Check it regularly and comment regularly and you'll see the love returned.  Let me know if you need help with Bloglovin' and I'll address that in another post!

Should I leave my email address? I never do, but if you have asked a question that you want to have answered and won't be returning to the blog to check the answer, then you should let the blogger know you'd like an email, but they might not always have time to respond! In Blogger, under Edit Profile, you have to check "Show my email address," in Disqus, I receive an email address. We have had plenty of conversations on our site when readers ask for information, especially pertaining to our DIY and Beauty posts. But, we've also responded to emails, they just take a lot longer.

I hope you found this helpful!

Do you have any questions about commenting or Bloglovin'? Let us know!

3 Ideas for Blog Post Titles that get Clicks

Now that you know how to create irresistible blog post titles that will rank in SEO and get your readers clicking, how do you actually come up with a cool and catchy title? What if you aren't the creative type who can use a keyword and turn it into a title treasure (as suggested in step 5 here)? Here are a few tips to take the guesswork out of creating blog post titles:

1. Numbers rule!

Just make a list. Seriously, who doesn't love a list, unless it's a list of things you have to do around the house, or the bane of my existence, the grocery list.

Everybody responds to

• 5 Steps to ____
• 6 Killer Resources for ___
• 10 Surprising Secrets about ___
• 7 Ways to ____
• Top 10 lists

Your lists can be about anything, from fashion to ideas, to ways to wear something to brands you love, to reasons you should blog.

2. Lead the way

"How to" headlines have been some our most successful posts, such as "How to do a French Manicure Effortlessly", "How to shop for Vintage Clothes" and "Cake Pops - how to make the best ever". You see that a "how to" post or video can relate to almost any blog topic and can help a reader feel that you are on their side and we all face the same problems, which we do.

Examples include the basic How to, and progress to

• How to ___, even if (describe the obstacle)
• How to ____, like a (describe the goal) i.e., How to dress like Gwynneth Paltrow on a real girl's budget, or How to get in the college of your dreams with the SAT scores of your nightmares

These are posts where you are helping your reader solve a problem - we love these!

3. The Simple Life

Show your readers how your post is going to make their life more simple. Just think of the über-simplifier of them all: Real Simple magazine, which makes simple an art!

If you were writing about, let's say, blog writing, some topics might be:

• Simplify your blog writing process
• Take charge of your blog instead of it taking charge of you
• Shortcuts to blogging
• The Zen of Blogging
• The blog checklist: simplifying your blog writing process
• How to grow your blog audience in 5 minutes
• Blog hacks; The Blog Cheat Sheet

You could substitute motorcycle repair or getting your baby to sleep or making kale chips and these could all apply (with some tweaks, of course)!

Still stumped? These posts have some great blog post titles and ideas to overcome writers block:

SITS Girls logallot Michelle Shaeffer The Future Buzz

One last super-secret killer tip that works every time, for us: if you have more than one great idea for a title and can't decide which would be better for SEO, then use one as a title and use the other as a Meta Keyword! This way, you get the benefit of both!!  And if you don't know what a Meta Keyword is and you are on WordPress, ask me about WordPress SEO by Yoast. And no, they didn't pay me to say that.

Happy Writing! XO, Kim and Chloe

How to create an irresistible blog title

We all know that a catchy blog title can make you click, not only when you first publish your blog, but also when you promote on social media... it can help generate more clicks on Twitter, Facebook and Google+. But there is even more benefit to a blog title: your post can be read for years after your initial posting because of a catchy  & SEO friendly title. Yep, years. If your content is evergreen (meaning it isn't time sensitive) then year after year, your post can climb in Google rankings and keep getting clicks.

So how do you craft a title that people can't resist AND google can't resist? Here are the steps I go through, but keep in mind we are no SEO experts, just bloggers! And although some may scoff, we are pretty happy that we had over 1 million pageviews in our 1st full year of blogging and most of our traffic now comes from Google searches. These are our 5 steps to creating an irresistible blog title:

1. The chicken or the egg? That is... the post or the title? For me it's a little of both: Chloe and I have an idea for a post and we write it first. Whoever writes the post creates a title, but knows it may change. You'll see why in Step 5. So, before you even start writing, think of what you (or your target demographic) would search for if you (or they) were doing a search for the post you are writing. Make that search your title.

Example for this post: how to craft a great blog title, how to write a blog title, blog post titles, writing blog titles, creating blog titles

2. We write our post around our (draft) title. Use your keywords in your post, especially towards the beginning of your first paragraph.

3. Use free resources. My can't-miss step that changed our blog from being visited to being highly trafficked: Google Keywords and the WordPress SEO by Yoast Plugin. Once you are happy with your post, go to Google Keywords and type in your keywords. You'll get some great ideas for your post. Also type in your blog title. You might get more ideas or you might see that nobody is searching for your title, which means we take a 2nd look at our post topic. Sometimes we are ahead of our time with a topic (for instance, we might didn't get serious interest in how to make cake pops, how to make american flag jean shorts,  how to wear boyfriend jeans, how to wear a denim vest, or decorating notebook covers for months), but sometimes we are simply using the wrong words.

Example for this post: keyword = blog title; titles = create a blog title, good blog titles, writing blog titles, steps to creating blog titles

4. While in Google Keywords, select keywords with these requirements and jot them down:

• longtail keywords (3 or more words in a search term)
• low competition
• high searches (either local or global depending on your target demographics)

5. Write a catchy title. Now that you have a list of longtail keywords that are searched a lot, but don't have much competition, return to your post and use your favorite one to write a catchy title, using your creativity! Use your keywords in your title, but keep it concise, relevant and actionable. And use these new keywords in your post as well -- re-read your post and make sure it is relevant to your new title, and if not, make edits.

Once I decide on the keywords and title, I don't worry so much about my title being searched. My goal is that I want the keyword to be SEARCHED and my title to be CLICKED. I'm not sure if SEO gurus would agree (titles rank highly in Google algorithms), but as you scroll through search results, what are you going to click on? Yep, a title!

Voilá, the steps you have taken have just helped you craft a title that is both searchable and clickable, and will hopefully keep climbing in Google!

What are your steps to creating a blog title? 

Note: We were kind of nervous about writing this post since we are "just bloggers," not SEO experts!! But we have "friends who know things" who shared their tricks with us and we have read lots & lots & lots.... ok, ok, we're geeks. If you spot any misinformation, correct us. If you have more info, share it below!

 {UPDATE: 2nd in series published - 3 ideas for Blog Post Titles that get Clicks - (it has quick tips for #5: how to write a catchy title)}