Debra – Some of that is a matter of time. There have to be comments for people to feel like they can comment too, so that might take a little while.

The other thing you can consider is how approachable your site is. If it’s sort of stiff and impersonal, that might turn people off to posting. Jon Bard’s post earlier this week also talked about connecting. If you build a personal connection with each of your followers, they’ll feel more like they know you and be inclined to leave comments. Some ways you can do that are emailing them, finding them on Twitter or Facebook and starting a conversation, and stalking them IRL, showing up at their house, having a cup of tea with them and demanding why they don’t comment more often on your blog. (That last one is extreme and should only be done under the direst of circumstances).

The Twitter question…
There’s no real formula as to the percentage of advertising vs. Actual Things People Want to Hear you should be posting on Twitter. But in order to gain followers you’re going to have to do more than say “Click here! Pick me! Pick me!” Trust me, advertising has its place, and you’re going to want to do a lot of it. But it shouldn’t all be that. The subject of your site would be a good launching point for what you’re going to tweet about. Then people follow you. Then you share links about your blog.

What you don’t want to do is spam. (A great article about that here: https://www.thebookdesigner.com/2012/07/yo-author-you-spamming-me-cut-it-out/ ). People will unfollow you faster than a minnow out of a holey baitless net.

As I said earlier, build a connection. Don’t say “Click on my link and then buy my book here,” but ask them questions about their own writing or reading and start a relationship. They’ll be much more eager to look at your site.

Finally, make your blog interesting enough to tweet about. If you have a Tweet about your blog that says “3 essential writing conferences to go to before you die,” (followed by a link of course), well, now I’m interested. At the end of the day, your blog should (coupled with your expert social networking) speak for itself.

Thanks