OK, you’ve tried the Top Commentator plugin and you turned off nofollow all in the hope of getting more people commenting on your blog and they’re still not commenting. It’s time to get evil! Comments on a blog are a better sign of activity than how often a blog is updated. A blog can do multiple posts per day but if there are no comments in any of them, a reader will question if anyone reads it (unless comments has been turned off). Here are some evil ways to increase blog comments.
Start a Commenting Group
We all know about Digg groups that get together to digg their stories to the front page. You can get together with a few other bloggers and start a commenting group or just join an existing one. You all agree to comment on each others’ blogs and this helps to maintain a level of minimum comment activity on your blog.
Setting up a comment group is kinda like taking link exchanges to the next level. Link exchanges help readers and search engines discover other blogs but they don’t create a sense of activity and a non-active blog is a dead blog. This is not to say you should comment on blogs that only comment on your blog. Commenting on other people’s blog (especially the big ones) is a very good way to bring targeted traffic to your blog.
Buy The Comments
If you can’t find a comment group to join then you can try to buy the comments. While you can pay people to comment on your blog, a better way would be to dangle a carrot in front of them with a reply to contest. Whenever I post about a contest that requires a simple reply to enter, I easily get up to 300 comments in the post.
This blog already gets enough enough comments as it is so why do I need to do a reply contest? It’s all part of the overall marketing plan. A large percentage of readers are new. When they see a post with 300 comments, it tells them that this is a happening blog.
The main problem with a reply to contest is it only generates comments to one post. It looks very strange to see one post with a bunch of comments and the rest with none. The solution would be to give commentators additional entries if they leave a comment in another post.
Be Your Own Top Commentator
If all else fail then it’s time for you to be the top commentator. Make up an alias and reply to your own post. Now you may think this is dishonest but in marketing, perception is everything and the perception is a blog without any comments is not a happening blog.
I’ve seen blog posts where the blogger asked a question from his readers. A couple of days later I got back and there’s zero comments to the question. That does not look good. If you are going to ask a question from your readership and there’s no reply, then answer it yourself with an alias. Having one comment on there is better than having none. That one comment may be all that’s needed to get the comment ball rolling. If you’re really evil, you’ll set up a bunch of aliases and really make the blog come to life. Remember, perception is everything.
Comment As a Big Name Blogger
This one is really pushing it but I’ve seen it done a few times. You leave a comment on your blog using a well known blogger. The ideal being to show, “Look! John Chow commented on my blog and you should too!” I really don’t recommend doing this because if the big name finds out, he may out you and that’ll kill your reputation.
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{ 139 comments }
Commenting on your own blog is kind of sad
Hahaha…Newer blogs like mine might always appreciate more traffic and comments, but I’d feel so cheesy commenting on my own blog. Defeats the whole purpose of posting quality content and inviting quality comments….but I guess evilness works for some!
– Raymond
Is there a plugin to make them stop commenting?
lol, offer them some price or something
Yah, charge a dollar per comment
or a penny…
john could get even richer doing that
ehm
*adding new comment to john chow’s post*
I can’t say that I’ve ever commented on my own blog and I don’t think I’d be very comfortable with it either. It’s pretty deceptive and kind of bordering on some sort of mental illness if you start talking to yourself with all these aliases… lol.
Oh yeah, commenting on your own blog posts is not really “neat”. For me the pleasure comes when readers will comment by themselves, sometimes i will try to write something unclear to incentive readers to ask what in the heck am i saying, but commenting to my own posts is something i never tried, and since i never say never….
Ha! Yeah – there’s talking to yourself, and then talking to yourself in cyberspace. Takes it to a whole new level – you could probably get locked up and taken away to the asylum for that!
Thats true but that will let visitors think that you’re getting traffic and people are enjoying the post, so they might be more eager to read and comment as well.
i thought of the same too.
but it make sense to grow your blog…
now u need to cheat mybloglog to show the person face too
I guess it all comes down to ethics…if you can look yourself in the mirror and think “hey, I made myself successful, by tricking readers into thinking that my blog was popular” then by all means do it.
I’d like to look at my blog soon and think “wow…my posts were actually useful and inspired others to start posting on my site”.
If you’re insinuating that you won’t go apeshit on us for this ploy, I give you a huge thumbs up. Though I could never ever do it, due to my morals… I’ll try buying you a couple beers and making a creative post if I want your comment
.
First time commenter, love the blog, you’re an inspiration..
Same here.. now it’s a different story to use a “typo” of a large blogger! I could say.. Oh wow… “john cow” commented my blog.. but then… well, there already is a John Cow. I’m not ballsy enough to do that though.
I like it – bribing people to get comments!
John will be very happy with that – infact he could start his own evil commenting scheme – how much would you pay for the mighty John Chow to comment on your blog?!?
Although….I can see how commenting on your own blog would generate traffic…. During the Christmas shopping season I saw many ads in the paper looking to hire “paid shoppers”… people who would be hired to be pretend-shoppers and browse a particular store to make the store seem more lively and active….cheesy but effective perhaps
– Raymond
I once saw a barber having a friend sit in the barber chair (with the blanket on him), reading a newspaper, while the barber just stood beside him. Apart from that the shop was quite empty. Seems like having a busy store is one good way to advertise.
That is evil! Now all of your followers are going to be making up comments on their blogs. It’ll be fun to read how forced they sound.
Hehe, very clever. I’ll have to consider doing this…
That’s kind evil
john is becomin more evil day by day hehe
Thanks again for the great tips.
I think buying the commentators is the way to go.
Someone should start a payperpost for comments. 
I’ll comment on any old crap, where do I sign up!
Then why not make up some 100 commenters and have a multiple dialogue with yourself on your blog? If a comment would take you 30 seconds, with less that 2 hours of work per day, you can have a “happening blog”. Who would need real commenters then?
If you managed to do that, you would probably be better of in playwriting. You would probably make more money that way too.
Or just hire a person with multipe-personalities
With your last suggestion we probably soon have Steve Jobs and Bill Gates on several Top Commentators lists.
hahaha no joke… I think im going to comment my blog with some famous rock stars
ROFL now that will be funny and more secure. Lets say you comment in name of John Chow or Aaron Wall and the next day you get to see a post on John Chows blog: “Look this loser, he has faked comments and has said crap on the comment while using my own name, and I have never commented on his blog”
It would be more lame than that Andrejs blog that requested a review on his blog while he had copied entire posts of John Chow…yay
Thanks for this great tips.
PayPerComment (someone had taken the domain already)
This would sounld like buying readers. I mean.. You have to read the post to add relevant comment (and you might as well come back again later) 
hmm, i may try a few of these tips. bwahhahahahah.
We are having a Top Commentator Contest for a $200 laser and we have one guy with over 900 comments! (on zedomax.com)
900 Comments? Does he just sit there all day and comment? Crazy!
omg.. i need to try that myself
from zedomax:
1 girrrrrrr2 (920)
2 Carl (585)
3 Brian Gaut (255)
Somehow I don’t think John Chow needs a lot of those methods.
Thats because he already used them to get all of us to comment, or maybe all of yall or even I am actually John commenting on his blog
you never know
Stop messing with my mind man! People are paranoid enough round here already!
I don’t know why I’m in the second spot of Top Commentator
cause you comment a lot…. having mybloglog its possible for him to track all of your comments over time.. so there ya go
You really dug deep to find such tactics, especially commenting yourself with a pseudo name or with a big name. It is however a moral defeat.
This blog is mpw becoming source of evil inspiration.
Okay.. I’ll Bite.
If anyone wants to join a “commenting ring” email me at carl@promoinnovations.com
I will make a database to send to you all.
Sometimes you need a lil’ evil to get things goin hehe
Thanks John for the idea. I set up a post at http://promoinnovations.com/2007/08/27/bloggers-support-forum-comment-club/
if you want to join.
I took down the post…..
Why stop with John Chow? Let’s get really crazy and pretend to comment as Bill Clinton.
Yeah I think if you’re going to do it you should take it to the max. Why not top historical figures? It would be great to re-animate William the Conqueror, Hannibal and Genghis Khan for some blog comments.
Would that be good or bad for your blog?;)
Sometimes I am more likely to comment on a post that already has a comment on it, especially when it’s a blog that I’m a new visitor to; so i can see where you are going by leaving one comment on a post of your own to get others to start commenting.
Personally, I prefer to ask a friend or relative to leave a comment for me if I have a post that was designed to get comments and it isn’t working. Oddly enough, posts where I sit down and say “I need to get a bunch of comments on this one” sometimes end up with 0 comments, while sometimes a quick post about a small new feature will end up getting 10 comments.
All of the above comments were actually posted by John Chow himself…
J/K
How did you know? John, this guy’s telling everyone your ultime secret!
i wouldnt be surprised
jk
john is a blogging super hero.. he doesnt have to fake comments
Matt, that was funny
I don’t think I’d utilise any of those (though I understand “Buying Blog Comments”). I’m feeling that I the rewards for generating decent traffic completely outweigh any quick fix.
Yes, I completely agree. Buying comments will not get you anywhere BUT it does make your blog look like there’s a lot happening… (more people WILL leave comments because of it?)
Possibly… when I go to a blog and see that it has a feedburner subsciber count of like 2000 but only 1 comment on it… I get a little suspicious!
I think more people will comment on a blog if there’s already high volumes of comments on the site. It’s human nature and the inescapable follow the sheep syndrome.
If a blog has no comments on any of its posts it takes more guts to be the first to comment (cos suddenly you’re the only one!) and you also think there’s less likelihood of a reaction from other readers.
On here you can have a discussion with not only John but also all the other people who express their opinions, which is what makes it so good.
I have great hesitation about posting dishonest posts. Especially multiple alias postings. I believe the author’s hand would show.
I think that time might be better spent improving the content, or traffic generating.
Anyway, just my thoughts.
haha I can only imagine the number of people commenting their blog as john chow at this instant
Hello John,
This is a very interesting entry because we all know that fake blogs or fake blog comments have happened in the past and we heard about it in the news, ex. Edelman and Wal Mart.
I still believe that whatever your situation is, paying people to reply and comment to your blog entry is like paying your customers to buy your product.
We all know that sometimes as marketers we have to break the rules in order to get the answers or the interaction from our clients/partners/customers. The reality is, at the end wel realize the big mistake we have did and try to become problem solvers rather than focus on building content.
The consequences of getting caught faking your blog comments is worest than having an blog with zero comments.
As marketers, reputation is our strongest assest so we have to protect it and build on it, rather than kill it.
If you do have a blog and you wish to increase the comments you receive I recommend that you get your friends to comment instead of doing it your self. Its simple, ask your friends for a favour or feedback on certain topics you write in your blog and tell them to post their comments online. Tell them be honest and you will be surprised by the response. Whenever they get a minute, they will actually say “why dont i look at Mikes blog and comment. It will take 5min anyway”
“I still believe that whatever your situation is, paying people to reply and comment to your blog entry is like paying your customers to buy your product.”
I couldn’t agree more.. Paying for comments is a total waste. You’d be better off paying a guest blogger
Alot of companies do that, its called a rebate.
Companies like wal-mart constantly sell products at a loss just to get you into the store, hell look at the ps3 that thing is sold at a few hundred dollar loss.
Well, i think we were j/k…
I think comments DO have a way of collecting readers somehow. I put in the Top Commentator Plugin to all my blogs and reader activity just completely shot up after that… (I think it gives people something to do…interact…)
it give recognition and a thank you to your readers, and makes the blog less impersonal, in my opinion
Thats one of the key differences between old and new media is the interaction element.
oooh, who wants to start a commenting group??
You would be better off making your blog earn its own comments. The day you stop with the comment group is the day you stop getting comments, and than people are going to wonder what happened to all the comments you were getting
This is a great place to plug my latest WP plugin modification. I modified the Top Commentators plugin to work as a widget so I didn’t have to edit my theme!
http://www.krizka.net/2007/08/27/show-top-commentators-widget/
thats awesome.. im going to have my friend use that on his promo codes site
nice! great hack!
Well again john chow, really great information there. I’m thinking to use that tactics even it was evil. Credit to you
Great points John..
just following your advice John
Yea..I did it..so what!
I ain’t sorry! biacthhhh!!!
lol that unleased a can of worms
im off to post on my blog now as John Chow!
Please then out me for doing so, i could do with the publicity!
Lol, that’s a pretty sweet thought
Extra entry in the Forex book contest.
I’d still like to win that book please,
But if your readers find out that you were faking comments, what will they think of you?
Perhaps if comments have to be faked there probably weren’t any readers in the first place.
Haha!
Good point. Well made.
I want the book!
If you’re not getting comments, then you’re probably doing something wrong. That “something wrong” may just be that no one has discovered you yet, but I see blogs that get no comments, and often it’s something like, not acknowledging commenters when they do comment, or writing with a tone that doesn’t seem open to the opinions of others.
If you write like it’s a lecture instead of a conversation, people will treat it like it’s not a conversation.
The last possibility is that your blog just sucks. In that case, alias comment all you want, no one else will ever read it.
nice post yo!
Comments are always nice, and a great motive to keep the blogger blogging.
(my RSS reply for the new comment
)
Great article!
I also want the book!
While you don’t really need a warning because the title says it all, I believe that pretending to be a problogger and commenting on your own blog with an alias is kind of pathetic. I’d rather have a blog with minimum comments instead of having a blog flooded with comments by me…as different people.
In the land of the blog, content is king. If you build it, they will come.
Hook up the book John, rig it my way, after all I am a new 125 x 125 button advertiser
I want the book! John Chow is the Evil Overlord of the Blogosphere!
And I’ll take one free book please.
In regards to the contest idea, I have already gone to that level. My current giveaway forces readers to comment on at least five different posts before being entered in to the drawing. If anyone is interested, it can be found at http://www.romandock.com/this-blogs-first-giveaway/
Books are cool
Lol……….
Come on John, how do these ideas creep into your brain? Anyway, njoyed it.
Great Contest John – I hope I am in for the forex book!
It seems like you have been using these ideas! Not many other blogs out there getting as many comments as this one!
I was going like, build the readership base first. let people discover your blog then the comments will come.
but, hey, some traffic can be built by the amount of commentors of the blog?
hmmm
I like the comment group option and might look into it.
Thanks!
Yeah the comment group is the only method that seems ethical and possibly useful.
I like to try all this techniques!
Actually I don’t like faked comments at all.
Can’t say no to a free book!
Hahaha…you are the most evil person,
evil post , posting on your blog as a alias, what an idea. good post
Bribing commentators is pretty evil, but hey I’m not complaining
Another nice and evil idea!!!
but where can one find such groups???
Its sounds strange that nobody is saying “I’ve been using these methods”, but I’m damn sure that the percentage of self-commentators out there is very high.
Weren’t people moaning about fake comments not so long a go?
Great tips, will have to download top commentators plugin for my little blog.
Hey John, I might take the liberty to post some comments on my blog as you, since I now know that you condone it
, and since you’ve been on my blog a couple times in the last month and haven’t yet said anything 
Feel free to comment on your blog as me, I don’t mind, you know my URL so you’re sorted
I used to trade on Forex and corious about 7 Winning Strategies for Trading Forex.
You’re an evil man, John Chow
I want to enter for a chance to win 7 Winning Strategies for Trading Forex
Hi John,
starts such a group, would be great if big bloggers like you started such a group so that people will take it serious enough to participate in it.
Thanks for the nice tips, among all the other ideas i like the idea of starting a commenting group.
It is time somebody
Just let me know if you have any such plans of starting such a group, i will be first to join it.
Want the book, blogged it here:
http://retiredpay.com/blogging/how-to-make-money-with-only-a-little-or-maybe-no-money/
Thought this was apretty cool scheme to comment collect … oh, and I subscribed to your newsletter too … I’m a long-time RSS subscriber. … and John?
The comment lines-throughs are gone … thank you, thank you, thank you!!
Consider this entry number two for your contest here: http://www.johnchow.com/make-money-online-by-trading-money-online/
Pretty sneaky.
I also found out that if you bitch about an up and coming web 2.0 site, you also get comments.
Hey! I like books
I actually comment on own blog to answer queries that readers post but that’s making me the top commentor and thus I had to remove the Top Commentor plugin for now. Will try out some of your ways too John
Make mine the second one too
Been wanting to get into Forex for quite some time now.
http://www.johnchow.com/make-money-online-by-trading-money-online/
Hope I win this time round
Nice tips for getting more comments. I’ll have to do that no follow tip. And perhaps start commenting on my own site.
Comments = content. Content = Good. Posts = original content. Comments from comment group still = original content. So in the end comment groups = more money, more money and more money for us all.
Sometimes
= WIN
Haha I think I’ll try that last one
LOL!
Well I hope that other “young” bloggers like myself would try some advertising first before resorting to talking to themselves…
When you mentioned comments drive more activity then number of posts you’re right on the ball.
Right now blogging kind of slow as I’m preparing to launch a new blog soon, but someone linked to one of my posts on forum and that forum post boomed with a ton of replies… then it was locked, but I’m still seeing hits from that 1 post to my site in mint.
After 5 months of blogging, I realized that I had my comments option set to registered only. What a disappointment when I discovered that. I don’t know how I overlooked that but the way I look at it, I am pretty much starting over. I am afraid to know how much damage was done.
I want to enter for a chance to win 7 Winning Strategies for Trading Forex
Nameless dude? Anyway, getting a bonus entry too. Thanks.
Time for a bonus entry in my attempt to win the 7 Winning Strategies. Thanks!
I’ll take another shot at getting a copy of the forex book, please.
count me among the thousands of people following your advice to build and monetize more traffic.
Well if the RSS trick isn’t the best way to increase RSS readers AND comments, I don’t know what is! Simply a beautiful tactic.
I wonder how many John Chow spoof comments will spawn from this post
These evil ways of gaining more comments on your blog reminds me of the steps I took when launching my first forum. I made at least 15 accounts and talked to myself until I was able to get enough people on the forum to get rid of my need to do so.
Great ideas though.
I think having a great site, dofollow, and top commentators is enough for dedicated readers to comment on the posts.