Make Use of Comment Sections

I was having a discussion with an anonymous lifehack reader about privacy, and he mentioned politely that conversations around posts should stay in the comments section of the post, because it would benefit the readership all the more. He was right, of course. By me contacting him directly, I focused the conversation into a narrow beam.

• Comment Sections are the Sauce- It’s a net of participation, right? Your add-ons to Lifehack.org articles are often more valuable to end users than the article that provokes them. Adding to the article’s content in the comment section gives readers even more powerful tips to pursue. Oh, and often, you help correct me (at least) when I’m wrong.
• Comments Lead you to other good contributors- If people fill out the form with pertinent information, you often can surf into other great websites/blogs that will carry on conversations, add to them, and give you even more resources to add to your deck. I find some of my best new material by surfing comment sections on sites I like (especially this one!)
• Comments let you promote yourself- Oh, by the way, if you’ve got a low-traffic blog, throwing great and useful comments (not spamments) into other people’s larger sites certainly does drive more people to visit your site.
• Follow Trackbacks- Why do trackbacks exist? Not to fuel the ego of authors. They’re there to show you that someone else is picking up the conversation and moving it forward. Sometimes, this is just a frontpiece paragraph, but very often, there’s a great little idea that didn’t land in OUR comment section, but became instead someone else’s thoughts re-spun from ours (The pirates as salespeople comes right to mind).

I really encourage you to make use of the comments section of this and other sites. Further, check out our community area for further discussions of value. It’s like Lifehack.org written by YOU. Like? It is your lifehack.org.

–Chris Brogan frequently comments at [chrisbrogan.com]. He is paid for these pieces in links.