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…regardless of whether they’re written blog posts or video blog posts. And this can even work on pre-launch videos for your new product launch.

You’ve got traffic, you create great blog posts – and yet only a handful of people bother to comment. Frustrating, isn’t it? You work hard to make a great blog post with lots of information your readers can use, but it feels like nobody cares. Worse yet, your blog has the appearance of a ghost town. After all, the more comments your posts receive, the more popular your blog appears. And let’s face it, everyone wants to be part of something BIG, something that others are involved with.

So how do you get more replies to your blog posts? And for that matter, how do you get people to reply to your pre-product-launch posts and videos? Here are 5 methods I’ve found that work…

1. Ask them. That’s right – sometimes it can be as simple as asking them to take the action. Ask them to respond to your post or to a specific question you place at the end of the post. Don’t make it a difficult question; Asking whether they prefer chunky peanut butter or smooth peanut butter will pull far more responses than asking how to achieve world peace. (I’m exaggerating the point here, but you get my meaning.)

2. Bribe them. Offer them one of your paid products for free when they leave a comment. You can either give the product to everyone who comments, or to the best comment, or 5 comments chosen at random, etc. Choose a product that your readers are likely to want, and if you’re awarding the bribe to everyone, be sure to send it within 24 hours of their posted comment. If you’re awarding it to the best comment(s) or to several comments at random, post the winners on your site so that a) your readers know you really gave away the prize and b) it becomes an incentive for them to post a reply to your next blog entry. After all, if someone else won last time, they’ll be thinking they’ve got a shot at winning this time.

3. Make it a contest. Again, you’re offering a bribe, only this time it’s monetary. For example, offer $100 to the poster who provides the most innovative answer to your question, or to the one who gives the funniest response, etc. Either you can choose the winner, or you can let your readers vote and choose the winner for you. (HINT: This method is also a great way to find out what your reader’s biggest challenges are – thus giving you great ideas for new products your readers WANT to purchase.)

4. Give away the launch. If you’re launching a new product, give away copies of your new product to the best replies to your post and videos, as well as to random posters. This way you get both the posts that take an effort, and the quickie posts from those who don’t want to take a lot of time posting a well thought out answer. This will increase the excitement, increase the exposure of your launch, and can result in some pre-launch testimonials from those who won the product.

5. Be controversial. Taking on topics that hold any kind of controversy will almost always get people talking. People love to take sides, express their opinions, and even get into a discussion. Watch for topics in your niche that spark definite opinions and blog about those – and the replies will naturally come.

6. BONUS Method: While you’re giving rewards out, don’t limit yourself to replies to your posts and videos. Also reward your readers for re-tweeting your content, telling others, referring others, etc. People will jump through hoops for you if you…

a) Are offering great content
b) Make it easy to jump through hoops for you and
c) You reward them for jumping!

Bottom Line: It’s a matter of training your readers to reply to your posts. The more you work to encourage their participation, the more it will become a habit for them to reply. Also take note of which threads tend to get the most response – these are topics that hit hot buttons, and you might want to blog about them more often.

Twitter is all about relationships, growing your circle of influence, and yes, RELATIONSHIPS. The better (re: closer) your relationships on Twitter, the more likely people are to retweet your stuff, visit your Facebook page and websites, join your lists and buy your products. So how do you rapidly grow your Twitter following while wielding influence over your followers? Here are 5 tips…

1. Be Yourself. Often times people think they’re somehow ‘not good enough,’ and so they pretend to be something they’re not. The problem is people can smell a phony a mile away. Don’t attempt to be Mr. Know-it-All or Ms. Perfect because nobody is buying that nonsense, and even if they were, they want to know REAL people with real lives, real challenges, and real things to say. Always stay true to yourself because you are a one-of-a-kind original, and as they say, everyone else is already taken anyway.

2. Appreciate Your Followers. Re-tweet their best tweets (or the tweets that are the most important to them.) Give them a #FF, which means you’re recommending others follow them. Or even send them a direct message. In other words, don’t just interact – promote others and expect nothing in return. The more value you can give to others, the more they will like you, appreciate you, and want to reciprocate.

3. Connect With The Big Dogs. Whatever your niche is, find the influential people in your niche and engage them. Being seen with people in authority is one of the quickest ways to be seen as an authority yourself. Plus, their audience will also notice you, and you’ll gain followers who hold an avid interest in your particular niche.

4. Engage Engage Engage. Answer everyone who engages with you, and see how many followers you can engage yourself. You never know who is going to become your next big client or customer – it could be that new guy with only 5 followers as easily as it could be the seasoned Twitter person with 50,000 followers.

5. Add a Heap of Pizzazz. We’ve already said you need to be yourself, and this is perhaps the best advice anyone can give you. That said, it’s okay to take yourself up a notch. You are unique, so go ahead and amplify that uniqueness and be a little bit larger than life. Be friendlier than you are in real life, be a little bit more flamboyount, go ahead and have opinions (your REAL opinions, that is) and by all means, STAND OUT from the crowd. That last thing you want to do is be a wallflower.

And even if you’re shy in real life, that’s okay. This is the Internet, and so it’s not like trying to be the life of the party in real life – it’s more like portraying yourself in the best light, with the most fun, and the least inhibitions. Frankly, there is no better place for shy people than Twitter – it’s a great way to meet tons of people with absolutely zero risk. After all, you don’t have to send a tweet until you’re certain it says exactly what you want it to say – so you can get it right every time.

6. Have fun. Need I say more? People like to hang out with people who are having fun, and Twitter is no different. So go ahead, have a blast, let the good times roll, and watch your follower numbers increase accordingly!

If you’re serious about building your Internet business, then you’ve got to be serious about building your opt-in list. Nothing else can guarantee you financial security like having your own list of loyal, dedicated subscribers who read your emails, buy your products and act on your affiliate offers.

Here’s how to add a hundred or more subscribers week in and week out like clockwork, without any magic and without relying on SEO. And if you’re thinking 100 is too small of a number, know that this method can be ramped up significantly once you get the hang of it. One of the biggest mistakes new marketers make is thinking they’ve got to somehow add 5,000 subscribers to their list this week and another 50,000 next week, but it doesn’t work like that. As with anything else, start small, have a plan, and work your way up to the big numbers.

And one more thing – even if you only continue to add 100 subscribers to your list per week, in just 10 weeks from now you’ll have 1,000 subscribers on your list. And if you’re treating your list right, those 1,000 subscribers can mean another $1,000 or more PER month to you – or $12,000 per year. For many people, that’s enough to cover the mortgage or buy a brand new car every 2-3 years.

So let’s get started: The first thing you need is a squeeze page that converts your traffic into subscribers. Hopefully you already have one, but if you don’t, it’s an easy fix. Google “Squeeze page templates” and do some searching.

Upload the template of our choice to your web hosting, making whatever changes are necessary in the verbage, and add in your autoresponder code. If you don’t yet have an autoresponder, Google that too. There are many good ones out there with Aweber, GetResponse and MailChimp being among the most popular.

Now then, here’s where you’re going to get your traffic: First you’re going to locate fellow marketers in your niche who have their own email newsletter or list. You can do this by going to forums in your niche, pulling up the newsletters you subscribe to in your niches from your email box, and searching Google for additional newsletters in your niche. Your goal is to compile a list of marketers in your field who have their own emails lists.

Next, contact these marketers one by one with a personal email asking them if they would be interested in selling you a paid solo ad to their list, and ask them how much they would charge to send it out.

Before you get worried, know that this can be extremely cost effective. If you choose your lists intelligently, you might get a couple of hundred new subscribers for less than fifty dollars. Also be open to placing an ad inside their newsletter, preferably at the TOP of one of their mailouts as opposed to buried near the bottom.

Spending some time on Google should provide you with a list of potential newsletters, or if you want to save time, check out the Directory of Ezines. They tell you how many subscribers each list has and what they charge, along with other information that makes it easy to find what you’re looking for.

Not every ezine owner you contact will agree to a paid solo ad, but many will because they know it’s easy money for them. Keep in mind, you only need a few good ones to make this work. And yes, you are investing in your business to build your opt-in list using this method. But again, every subscriber you get can mean another $1 per month to you in income if you treat them right. Plus, you can actually MAKE money using this method – Here’s how…

During the opt-in process, make your new list member an offer they can’t refuse. This isn’t the time to go for the $197 sale – they don’t know you yet and have no reason to trust you. But if you can offer them tremendous value at a stupid low price, you’ll be accomplishing several things at once.

First, you’ll be giving them great value. How do you think they’re going to feel about you after they receive far more than they paid for? They’re going to feel great, and they’re going to be open to more offers from you. Heck, they will probably be LOOKING for more of your offers to take advantage of.

Second, you’re teaching them to buy from you. Once you make a sale to someone, that person is FAR more likely to buy from you again in the future. In fact, every new person on your list who buys from you – even if it’s just a $7 or $10 product – is easily worth 10 subscribers who have not purchased anything from you yet.

Third, you are recouping your advertising costs, and quite possibly making a profit.

Forth, you are FAR more likely to be remembered by your new customer because he or she has purchased from you. This means when you send them an email tomorrow, next week and next year, they’re more likely to open it and more likely to act on it.

Fifth, you are demonstrating that you give tremendous value for their money. Thus – and this ties in with the first 4 points – they are not only more likely to buy from you in the future – they’re also more likely to participate on your blog or forum, more likely to tell others, and more likely to promote your products if they happen to also be a marketer.

I simply cannot emphasize enough how important it is to make them a great offer from the very start. If you’ve got a powerful $47 product or $97 product that is perhaps getting stale, you might consider offering it to new subscribers for $7. Let them know this is their only chance at the deal, and go ahead and tell them the only reason you’re giving them such an amazing bargain is because you want to make a dynamite first impression and turn them into a raving fan.

One last point: Now that you’re building an email list, be sure to give them plenty of great information and education, along with plenty of soft sells. This will keep them happy, opening your emails, and purchasing your offers. Always respect your list, and never bombard them with a slew of offers and no content. If they suspect your only reason for emailing them is to make a buck, then you’ve lost. But if they can tell how much you care about them, they’ll remain your customers for a long, long time.