Blog Comments And a HUGE Wasted Opportunity

72 | Posted In Marketing by David

We all know that list building is important. Especially because I have beaten the point to death here on this website. :) You want to capture leads all ways possible. However, most blogs have a big, GAPING hole in their lead collection strategy. What is it?

It is the comment form.

When you post a comment on a blog, what do you enter? Your name, email address, perhaps your URL, and your comment. What do you want when capturing leads to your email list? Name and email address. So, every commenter on your blog is handing this information over in order to post a comment. However, in most cases, it is completely wasted!

WordPress does not include any way to capture these email addresses into a list. WordPress only uses these emails for the purposes of moderation.

The answer I have found is called Action Comments. It is a WordPress plug-in which will give your commenters a one-click option to subscribe to your mailing list while they are posting a comment. I set it up on this blog and it works like a champ.

When you install it, you will enter the opt-in form HTML for your mailing system into your settings. It doesn’t have to be formatted or anything. Whenever a commenter decides to subscribe to your list, Action Comments invisibly takes the name and email address they they’re already entering and submits it using the opt-in form code you enter.

The great thing about this plug-in is that your readers are not forced to re-enter their information just to subscribe to your list. They’re already doing it just to post a comment, so you just collect it (with their consent, of course).

Statistically, this blog has been collecting only about 75% less leads via Action Comments than via the opt-in form in the right sidebar. That’s incredible. That means that about 42% of all of my opt-ins to the mailing list (since I installed this plug-in) have come by way of Action Comments. That’s a GREAT increase in my opt-in rate!

Using Aweber, I recommend that you set up a unique web form just for Action Comments that way you can specifically track opt-ins that come in that way. But, don’t worry, if you’re not using Aweber, Action Comments will still work for you. It really doesn’t matter what system you use to collect your leads.

Action Comments is a paid plug-in, but it is a bargain at only $12.95. Seriously, don’t even think about it. Grab a copy.

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  • http://www.honestholly.com/ Holly Mann

    Wonderful tip and sounds like an awesome plugin. I will download it soon. Great price as well. Over the past 5 years of working online, I realized I also lost a ton of potential subscribers through my contact form on my site. I had been using CForms plugin for wordpress. I’d receive so many emails with questions, comments and customer services issues. I used a helpdesk before, but it was a pain and not worth the hassle. So, I did what I saw other successful business owners doing by creating a domain like: http://www.replytoholly.com which contained a FAQ, list of my websites and a form.

    I removed all my CForms on my sites. I setup an autoresponder form which I created to specifically work as a contact form (rather than a normal subscribe box). So they’d fill out the form, double opt-in (and I explained it was necessary to prevent spam, which did help with that significantly) and then they’d receive a notification that the form was sent to me and I’d reply shortly. Each request and contact form submission meant that they were on my contact form list. I make it clear to them that they are being subscribed. It has worked very well and increased my list significantly. Sorry my comment is so long but thought I might share what has helped me and my business. I know I lost a ton of contacts by not doing this sooner.

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  • http://technbiz.blogspot.com paramendra

    I only use the Feedburner box to collect emails.

  • Anthony

    Are you still able to collect this info now that you're using Disqus for comments?
    Thanks!!

  • Anthony

    Are you still able to collect this info now that you're using Disqus for comments?
    Thanks!!

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    good post – I’ll come back and buy this once email marketing becomes a prominent part of my marketing efforts – SEO and content is my priority at the moment. 

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  • http://www.melbourne-internet-marketing.com Acky Mori

    Hi David,

    Thanks for the post! Its nice to know more about Blog Commenting, it is really a big help for us as a first timer in Blogging and I hope to learn more from you. Goodjob!

    ACKY

  • http://LawFirmMarketing.net/ Carol

    Great post! I’m always happy to learn new things especially for marketing blogs. I find blog commenting to be tacky but it’s totally effective.

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    Nice! I agree as well that blog commenting really helps specially for traffic. Good job and I learned something. thanks

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    I’ve never thought about that.  This wouldn’t work on my blog because I know that all the comments that are on my blog are spam comments.  That means your blog is full of people engaged in the topics of your site.  I always tell my readers to join the newsletter but never really entice them to comment.  With this I can kill to birds with one stone and increase my mailing list at the same time.

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