Ways to increase user participation to your blog
Getting users to comment can be scary and difficult at times, but as with all things, there are ways to improve user participation which is especially important with new blogs.
Write quality articles (an obvious one).
I'd rather not have any comments at all then see someone comment about how my article is bad and sucks
Get more visitors (another obvious one).
More visitors, more potential commenters.
Ask a question.
Just slip some more or less rethorical questions in your blog post, either within the text or as a finishing thought.
Be in the minority.
When you're writing about your own opinions and concerns, sometimes its good to have a different opinion than most of your readers may have. It's more likely they will comment in that case, just because they are right and you're not :)
Be controversial
This one is a bit tricky and sometimes even dangerous. It may bring a lot of links also, but be prepared to back up your story good.
Run a survey
Make a poll. Then make a post about that poll and ask your visitors to vote and encourage them to leave their comments.
Always answer your readers.
If someone comments on your post, be polite and answer them back. If you don't respond to comments on your own blog, then don't expect anyone else to do your work.
Leave comments on blogs related to yours.
See what your competition is writing about, tell them how you love their post, and how you write about similar issues. Invite them to check out your blog. This is even better if you can find a relevant post in your blog's archives, easy way to revive some old content.
So there it is, I hope I helped you.
Now, if I could just figure out how to get more comments on my hubs...