Are You Utilizing Blog Comments To Your Advantage?
I've been a blogger for many years and in that time I have learned the importance of blog comments and that if you want to have a true community you need to grab the bull minotaur by the horns and encourage commentators.
I'm not the only one that realises this and yet I've noticed over the years that there is many a blogger who just doesn't seem to grasp the importance of blog comments, not only to their blog but to their credibility as well.
These very same bloggers who tell their readers that blog comments are important fail to walk the walk because their behavior show that they don't really have a true understanding of it. In case you're wondering what they're doing wrong you needn't worry because that is what this post is all about. So without further adieu I give you just some of the things they're doing that is stopping people from commenting on their blogs.
Things That Can Lower Your Blog Comments
- Interaction: While the quality of your content is important in its capacity to generate comments its just as important to interact with those who take the time to comment on any given post. I've had more than one A Lister tell me that there is no value to this interaction, that their time is better spent trying to generate an income. Unfortunately there are many who believe them and do so because that's exactly what they see happening on their blog. I bet if you were to dig into their archives you would find there was a time when they did actually interact with their commentators. Now that they have built up a following they feel it's not necessary anymore because their popularity is enough for people to leave comments, many of which I would have deleted. Perhaps they are also too busy to moderate 😉
- Third Party Blog Comment System: A lot of bloggers resort to these systems because they've read somewhere that all the bells and whistles these systems, such as Disqus, Livefyre and Intense Debate, have would actually increase their comments? I wasn't so sure so I conducted a poll on a post titled Will Disqus Cost You Comments? Have You Refrained From Commenting Because It Was A Disqus Blog? Of the 196 people who took part in the poll 46% said they did not comment because it was a Disqus blog. Of the 54% who said they would comment some also added they only commented because they knew the blogger personally. Even so, I'm not one who thinks that turning away 46% of your commentators just for the sake of a few bells and whistles is a smart decision.
- Moderation: I see way too many blogs that moderate their comments. Personally I feel that as long as you use plugins such as Akismet and GASP there is no need for comment moderation. The worst thing that you can do when moderating comments is not having a way of notifying your commentators that their comment has been accepted, such as using the ReplyMe plugin. Not having something like that in place could mean that you may never see your commentator again. Even if you don't moderate your comments I highly recommend some form of subscribe to comment plugin as this encourages interaction amongst your readers.
- Unnecessary Captcha: Some bloggers use Captcha to cut down on spam, unfortunately it can also stop people from blog commenting especially when it is too hard to read. I've lost comments that disappeared because I misread the captcha, something that I find most annoying which has caused me to avoid that blog altogether. They are totally unnecessary and if you're using them I recommend you replace them with the GASP plugin.
I would say that the comments are what make it a blog and not just a website, worryingly google has started to warn webmasters who are allowing the content in comments to come close to the line on their terms of service when that site uses adwords, its been reported that they have gone as far as suggesting people turn comments off!
Hi danika, I would never turn my comments off, they are way too important to me. I think it’s more important that you examine all your comments for quality ensuring that they do not link to any site that you do not approve of.
Even though I do not allow my comments to go into moderating I do check every single one of them and I delete those that I feel were not worthy of approval.
Hey Sire,
Great to see you guest posting over here on Ileane’s site. Nice post by the way and I agree with you.
I know some bloggers will argue that we waste our time getting comments when making money is the true key to why they are here. I believe they are both important but I also believe that a lot of the very successful bloggers are making quite a bit of money now because of the relationships they have built over time with their readers and the comments that they have received. To me it’s a win/win situation so I’m sticking with you.
Write from the heart, stay true to what you believe, get your readers to start interacting and you will be on your way to a very successful blog.
Great seeing you here.
Adrienne
Hey Adrienne, I really should do more guest posting, the last one I did was nearly 3 years ago, but for some reason I haven’t felt comfortable doing them. Perhaps it’s because I don’t want the post to turn out to be a dud thereby not doing the blog owner justice.
As to those bloggers who say it’s not profitable to reply to comments I bet you they would change their ways if traffic dropped off and comments dried up. Besides it shouldn’t be all about money as a bit of courtesy never goes astray.
Blog comments basically improves us as a blogger and I am pretty sure it gives us some comprehensive ideas to share among the community.
Blog comments are so much more than a means for improving our blogging capabilities, which is an important point, they are also a way of showing others how knowledgeable we are about any given subject.
They say ‘Content Is King’ and I propose to everyone that it applies to your comments just as much as it does to the post you’re commenting on. Imagine the extra traffic you will get if you go the extra mile leaving a comment that stands out from the rest? People are much more likely to follow you to your blog if you leave a great comment than if you left a half baked one that didn’t add anything to the post.
Sire lets conspire to each other’s success! I love blogging and while I started out with dual goals personally and professionally, I am convinced responding to all comments left on my blog is critical in respecting those who have taken the time to respond to my questions! I just tweeted you as I want to be your next guest blogger and reciprocate and invite you to check out http://blog.inspiringchange.me/
looking forward to talking with you soon!
Bron
Hey Bronwyn, so nice of you to drop in and all I can say is that making a pact to socialise with your commentators by joining in the conversation is the best thing you can do. Not only will your commentators appreciate it, they will also learn more about you and come to respect you. Isn’t that what all people aspire to, let alone internet marketers. 😉
Got your tweet and I’ve replied to it.
ps I think I need a lesson in
This site uses KeywordLuv. Enter YourName@YourKeywords in the Name field to take advantage.
Bronwyn, it’s easy, just replace ‘YourKeywords’ with your actual keywords, so yours would be something like bronwynclee@Inspiring Change 😉
I hopped right on over and was not disappointed. Insightful as ever, Sire.
Hey Allan, I do try mate. I owe a lot to those comments that I’ve left on other blogs and it worked for me it will work for others. All they need to do is to amaze others with the quality of their comments and they will increase their chances of gaining followers
I once also used disqus but I think it might be a bit complicated for normal people to comment…Just too much steps to comment. So I just remove it and leave it with the old fashion comment box 🙂
Interaction is very important and that’s why a blog is about!
Cheers,
Ming
Good to hear that you went back to the default comment system Ming. It is so much better than any third party comment system.
Comments and commentators are the lifeblood of a blog so you should make it as easy as possible for them to comment on your blog.
Hi Sire
I am in two minds about commenting. I agree to never disable them but I am really getting sick of the time it is taking from me.
I had a few articles that have over 300 comments on and had to disable those posts as it was a nightmare sifting through comments that came in everyday. I would have to hire someone to answer them for me??
Were they mainly spam comments Mitz because if most of them is human spam then you should instal Akismet? There are times when Akismet catches up to 40 comments in a day.
I Have several blogs, some of which are quite active and I have no problems keeping up with the comments.
Hey Sire,
Your points about interaction are spot on. I’ve got my own “A-List” and the people on it are A-okay in a very real way, and know how to treat those that give them their time and attention.
One thing that really gets my goat is to read a guest post, see the engagement by numerous commenters, and recognize that the Guest Poster has somehow decided he/she is not responsible for responding! If I notice that situation before I leave a comment, I don’t bother. Even though one reason for commenting is to engage in conversation with other commenters, oftentimes it is the one who wrote the post that everyone is responding to.
Excellent article, Sire. 🙂
Hi Vernessa,
I actually had a guest blogger who did that very same thing to me. To this day he has not replied to a single comment, and this is after I specifically told him I would only accept the post on the condition that he did reply to the comment.
No great loss though, it gave me the fuel for another post and just for good measure I removed the links from his Bio.
Great way to know our lacking points because when a blogger post a new post then he is think every thing is now fine and i think i don’t have any mistake in my blog but when comments are come on the blog after post a blog then he/she realize what mistake i did so who are best blogger he/she should learn from all c0mments and spend some time to improve these mistake i think this is the important way to comment on a blog.
That’s right, just as a commentator can learn from the blogger, so can a blogger learn from a commentator. That is what true dialogue is all about.
I think it depends on the niche you are writing. In some cases you won’t see comments at all until and unless you are techcrunch.
That’s true if all you do is write a post and expect people to just drop in and leave a comment. However, if you were to visit other blogs in your niche and leave intriguing and captivating comments then it’s only a matter of time before others will follow you to your blog resulting in more comments on your post.
I find it challenging to find blogs that share good content, although my list is slowly growing. If the content does not interest me, I am unable to think of anything meaningful to say. Forbid I become one of those commenters to write “nice article and I will revisit”.
It is my goal to create some great relationships with commenters and I have gone on to read their blogs and comment there. Oh yes, I also respond to comments on my blog.
Rachel, at least you realise that there is no worth at all in inane comments such as ‘nice article’ Unfortunately too many people have yet to learn this valuable lesson.
And you respond to people who leave a comment on your blog! That is two valuable lessons under your belt. You are doing very well.
Hi, Sire.
Good to know your real name here. I have always known you as Sire from your comments on Mitch’s blog. 🙂
I am aware that comments also make the blog. I am at a point in my blogging journey (almost 3 months into it now) where I am happy with the comments I am getting and crossing my fingers about the day when I’d get more.
However, I would just like to say my piece on the use of third party blog commenting systems like Disqus and Livefyre. I know a lot of bloggers who use these systems and they are doing quite well like Brankica of Live Your Love, Ingrid of Nitty Griddy, Marcus Sheridan of The Sales Lion, Gini Dietrich of Spin Sucks, John Falchetto of Expat Life Coach and Kaarina Dillabough of Decide2Do, among many others. The number of blog comments are really way off the charts. They are doing so well that I was even thinking of asking my boss to change our commenting system, although I haven’t actually done that yet. I’m giving my boss some slack now because his wife just gave birth to a beautiful baby girl.
So, I think blog comments depend on the blogger and the content they give out really. It does not really matter on what commenting system they use. Just my take on this. 🙂
Hi Kim, I’m not familiar with most of those other bloggers but I can say that I actually stopped visiting Brankicas blog because she installed Livefyre. I’m not sure when you visited her blog last but you may be interested to know she has reverted back to the default comment system. I don’t know why, perhaps it was acting up or something, but whatever the reason it’s gone now.
Perhaps those other blogs are well established with a big audience and so they don’t mind losing comments. What I can say though, and the link is this post proves my point, is that blogs with third party commenting systems do lose comments and for some people if they’re not going to comment they will stop visiting the blogs. I don’t know about you but I value my commentators too much for that.
Besides, if you don’t believe me, ask Mitch, he’ll tell you. 😉
Hey Kim, whichever way you decide to go I hope it works out for you.
Thanks, Sire. 🙂
Hi Kim, Sire,
If I may jump in here. Sometimes, you should not look at the number of comments but the number of people interacting. This post now has 100 comments and counting. Yea, we know that half of them are Sire’s but it also means that 5o people commented on the post. For those third party systems, sometines you see 150 comments (which includes some 1-liners) but only 25 people actually contributing so as far as the argument of losing comments with 3rd party systems go, I think Sire is right and he has his poll to back that up.
I would actually sign up with some third party system if a blogger I am in good terms with decides to install it but I honestly won’t do it for someone that I just stumbled on their blog.
It is these people who stumble on your blog via the search engines that have the possibility of buying something from you, not your online friends that chat with you on your third party system. And if the person can’t even leave a comment, how can they discuss a sale?
Whenever I come by such 3rd party systems, I always feel like the conversation is exclusive to some group of people that already know the blog owner and it is very difficult to jump in and shout “hey, first time here”.
If I start a personal blog tomorrow where I want only me and my friends to comment but still keep the conversation visible for people to read, I will definitely go for those third party systems cos it would be a perfect fit for something like that IMO.
PS. And Sire, good to know that you are Peter 🙂 This blog commenting argument is a never ending one isn’t it?
Hey Flo, what a great comment and not just because you agree with me. Women don’t usually do that, just ask the wife 😉
I think that is a very important point. These are the very people who you want to have a pleasant experience on your blog and requiring them to sign up for something just so they can leave a comment is like asking a customer to fill out a form before you will accept their cash.
Hi, Guys !
Commenting on blog is really a good habbit for communications. Where as I do see many bloggers depressing their commentators and not giving their rights.
If commentator is taking time and read a post then its his/her right to get some benefit too.
Also keyword love is very important.
Kind Regards
Hey Rom, the problem for a lot of commentators is they don’t read the post. A lot will skim the first paragraph or just write their comment around the title which usually results in a lame comment. Those who try that on my blog, if they’re lucky will get their comment deleted, if not it gets sent to spam.
Hi Sire,
You’ve written a truly wonderful post here …
Like your tips on encouraging comments..Truly said that using third party comment systems lowers blog comments 🙂
Thanks Salman. I honestly believe what I wrote about third party comment system and it amazes me that even knowing the facts some people still consider implementing them. Sorry Kim 😉
Excellent, excellent article, Sire.
I really enjoyed this.
I too have come to understand the importance of blog commenting as an irreplaceable networking tool.
I have been tweaking my commenting system to reward my commenters.
I have both the CommentLuv and KeywordLuv plugins installed and I link out both dofollow.
I even installed a plugin that drops an email to my commenters that thanks them for their comment and congratulates them on their dofollow links. This has received a really good response.
Of course, I get spam comments just like we all do, but I now have a solution for that too.
I actually created a plugin that now kicks an email out to spammers if their comment gets put in the spam folder. It explains to them that their comment was not approved but that it could be if they fix one of a variety of problems. Then it lists out the main possibilities as to why their comment wasn’t approved and invites them to retry.
It was just launched yesterday. You can read about it and get a copy if you like in the like beneath this post.
Mark
Hey Mark, rewarding people by making their comments dofollow as well as adding commentluv and keywordluv has proven to be a great way of increasing comments on a blog. I would also recommend a comment policy and perhaps a link in your comment form linking to it so your commentators know what you expect of them.
That plugin sounds intriguing. I hope it works for you.
I can’t at all understand how bloggers can refer to some systems to answer the comments. I think it is like cheating and you need to talk to your readers. As for stop being too aggressive about comment policy you may be right, but how to find the golden media between normal control and strict one?
Of course you need to talk to your readers Anna. Not talking to them would be like ignoring your guests and no-one in their right mind would do that unless their intention was to upset them so they never visited again.
As for knowing which comments to accept or delete I usually ask myself several questions.
1. Did they read the post?
2. Does their comment have anything to do with the post?
3. Did they adhere to the comment policy?
4. Does the comment add value to the post?
If they failed most of these points I delete their comment.
I enjoyed reading your opinion about this issue and learned more new things here.
I have used blog comments and they work very effective in terms of traffic.
Block backlinks are very important to the future, quality and search engine indexing of blogs.
Unfortunately, some bloggers have not known that this works. Keep it coming.
I’m glad you liked the post Henry and I hope you were able to take something of value from it.
I can’t seem to understand how ‘Interaction’ will lower blog comments ? Doesn’t it help in increasing the comments and help in increasing the quality of discussion as well.
Mani, perhaps you misunderstood the interaction bullet point because it actually says that interaction was a positive factor not a negative one.
From my point of view, comments are what really make the difference between a blog (by definition a web 2.0 property) and a static site. A blog is not only about the content, but also about the discussion around that content’s topic. Unfortunately, many try to abuse the system, while others abandon it altogether.
Exactly and yet some people fail to take advantage of the difference.
comments are really important to increase interactions between users
Yes but that is only one of the many important facets on a good comment.
Great one Sire. In fact, comments the main thing that your blog is getting a substantial amount of traffic and there’s interaction going on it as well. Although some may regard blog comments as beneficial, it is in fact one of the best indicator that your blog is alive. Besides, blog comments could provide a little SEO help of course!
That is so true Argie and if you cultivate good comments on your blog you are also increasing the SEO value of each post. That is something you don’t get if you get a whole lot of poor quality comments. That’s one of the reasons I delete those.
Exactly. Spams really are only pieces of trash that clutters up your comment section. Besides, if your post is full of unworthy comments, chances are only a few would dare to leave it one even though the post looks quite interesting.
Another good point Argie! Bad comments would show others that the blogger doesn’t care enough about his blog to weed out the bad comments and may not leave a comment because they would feel it wouldn’t really be appreciated.
Sire.
Love the attitude mate. To me, the comments section is part of the juice and what makes a blog a blog. Without the interaction, it may as well be just a static website with lots of updates.
I’m sure that for some ‘A-list’ or super-popular blogs there’s simply too many comments to read, moderate or respond to all of them, but taking the time to pick out even a few of the really engaging comments isn’t too much to ask, IMHO.
Mate? Are you another Aussie Jym? I reckon we’re going to take over the blogging world 😀
I thought that about those A Lister blogs at first but then I delved a little deeper and noticed that while their posts did have a lot of comments it happened over several days. Also the pros don’t have another job and so had more time not than the average blogger who blogged in their spare time because they had to work for a living.
I mentioned that to a couple of those guys, I even mentioned that it wasn’t necessary to answer every comment and that they could reward just the better ones with a reply but they weren’t going to give an inch. At least not publicly, but I did notice that one of them did start to interact more on his post after out conversation 😉
I am now Sire!
Good point about the top bloggers having MORE time than the average blogger. No excuses for slacking off on comment reply! 🙂
Blog comments are the way to enhance the thoughts of a writer. Writer can ponder over that at what stage he standing. Sometimes blog commentators writes in depth and for that writer has to reply with a knowledge more than the original post.
Yes, and some times a comment can be so captivating that it inspires another post. That has happened to me on more than one occasion.
Hello Peter. I see lot of A-listers using IntenseDebate, but I have now reached a good balance with my comment system that I will look into that at alter stage. I still need to be convinced. On the other hand, couple A’listers haven’t heard of GASP and still take a long time to moderate comments.
Hi Ivan,
The thing to remember with A Lister is that they have a following that will put up with a lot just to be able to leave a comment. I feel a lot do it just to be noticed in the hope that one of them will maybe link to their blog in a post or even leave a comment on one of their post.
I stopped following A Listers long ago, even wrote a post about it which actually became one of my most popular posts 😉
Sire,
I hate jumping through the hoops to leave a comment. It is usually my biggest stop…GASP is a great suggestion. It is an easy way to keep out the spam bots.
Like you, I review all comments for the real live spammers.
You sound like a really grouse sheila Sheila! Wow, I always wanted to say that 😉 You wouldn’t be an Aussie would you?
Yep, I know people love it when their comment goes live immediately and so I don’t mind giving them that pleasure by moderating them later when I have the time.
Regarding the responding of comments I’ve heard two different voices.
If you do not reply and respond the comments in your post, you are neglecting the the time and effort of commenters. At least two words ‘Thank You’ should be offered as a return of favor.
When you’ve written a post, you’ve already clearly presented your views and now you should let your readers interact. You should not try to impose your views on them.
Don’t you think its quite difficult to decide?
Just saying thank you to everyone who leaves a comment would be the same as someone leaving a ‘good post’ comment. It as no value and it would probably be best not to say anything at all.
I look at blog comments in the same way as if I was taking to a friend face to face over coffee. When conversing with friends your conversation usually takes on a life of it’s own and I try to promote the same style conversation with my commentators. This is helped a lot by the ReplyMe plugin which notifies people when someone has replied to their comment directly.
Blog commenting is my favorite blogging and link building hobby. I just hate comment forms powered by javascript, I don’t know why.
I do Raymund, because you have better things to do than to jump through a whole lot of hoops just so you can leave a comment.
Blog comments basically improves us as a blogger.Thanks for your efforts. It will very helpful for me, as I am a new blogger.
You’re very welcome
Jacqueline, I remember when you first came on the scene and I can honestly say that you have come a hell of a long way. You now write with confidence and you have a certain air about you when you do your videos.
You have also built a following who sit on your every word and if any of that can be attributed to something that I did, then you have made me a happy man.
I always enjoy commenting, whether it’s related to my niche or not. I learned a lot and find it very interesting. It’s proven that it brings back traffic to my site.Good thing you pointed this out.
April if done correctly blog commenting has many benefits. Thanks for taking the time to comment.
Allyson, thank YOU for taking my advice and coming to this blog. I suppose some people are willing to do a guest post on any blog but I wanted to pick one that had a good community as this would give the post more exposure as well as inviting more comments. Ileane’s was such a blog.
PS, Adrienne is a smart cookie but so are you for taking her advice 😉
I’m always hesitant to leave commenting on because of the people who use those
programs to automatically post a bunch of things that are not related to the page at all.
Even if I moderate it seems a bit overwhelming, such a dilemma?
That’s why I wrote in the post that you should use plugins such as GASP and Akismet Jeff because those plugins take care of the bulk of spam. Not much gets through and so there isn’t really any dilemma. 😉
Thanks for the tip on the plugin, hadn’t seen that one yet and I’m going to try it out.
I feel like a broken record saying this, but if you want people to comment, why would you make it any more difficult than absolutely necessary for your readers to leave comments? I tried leaving a comment on a blog that used Livefyre once, but I just couldn’t figure it out. It was unnecessarily difficult, which resulted in me getting very frustrated and ultimately leaving without commenting.
I know Petra, but sometimes you just have to keep telling people in the hope that one day it finally sinks in 😉
So nice to see your smiling face on Ms Ileane’s blog 🙂
Pingback: BizSugar.com
I’m with @Petra on this one: LiveFyre has got to be the one that takes the prize for “unnecessarily difficult.” I suspect it is because they want their piece of the pie, aka your email, in their system, even though you can sign in with Twitter. ( I already dislike signing in with Twitter to leave a comment, but that extra layer LiveFyre has added on to that makes it even more annoying.)
Oh well, like you say Sire, maybe it will eventually “sink in” that systems like this are costing more than they’re worth.
Hey Vernessa, so nice to see you joining in on the conversation. Isn’t it so much better when you can have a proper conversation with people? So much easier to do when you leave a comment that has some substance to it.
What people fail to realise is that when you leave a simple sentence response it doesn’t invite anyone to continue the conversation and so that comment usually goes unnoticed. Where if you left a great comment someone is more likely to reply to you giving you an opportunity to add even more content, not to mention another link 😉
Third party websites really took off after Google distributed page rank among nofollow links. So having a java script for comments looked a real nice deal, also as an added advantage they show tweets etc. I don’t encourage or discourage comments, but if someone asks a question in a comment I try to answer to the best of my ability.
Nishadha, I would never discourage comments but I would always encourage comments on my blogs 🙂
Howdy Sire!
Nice to “meet” you! This is the first article I’ve read of yours and it was great. I agree with everything you say. I clearly have fallen off the wagon with my site (but I will get back on…smh AND lol). I have a quick question: I used to allow automatic comments on my blog, to encourage interaction, but in the last few months, after changing a few keywords – I’ve gotten an influx of terrible spam – which has cause me to have to turn off automatic commenting.
Do you have any suggestions for spam blockers? I’d love to find a great one, so that when I begin blogging and interacting with clients (after my site redesign – coming soon!!! Woo-hoo!) more frequently, I don’t have to manually delete tons of spam and approve comments so often.
Looking forward to your response 🙂
~Thea
Hi Thea, so nice to meet you and I’m glad you liked the post.
I don’t know if you’ve seen my blog but I used to get a whole lot of spam. The GASP plugin gets rid of all the robot spam, and Akismet to get rid of all the human spam. With those two plugins taking care of the bulk of the spam I only have to deal with 1 or 2 a day. I think that is quite an acceptable level for giving your readers the pleasure of having their comment appearing automatically.
Howdy Sire!
Nice to “meet” you! This is the first article I’ve read of yours and it was great. I agree with everything you say. I clearly have fallen off the wagon with my site (but I will get back on…smh AND lol). I have a quick question: I used to allow automatic comments on my blog, to encourage interaction, but in the last few months, after changing a few keywords – I’ve gotten an influx of terrible spam – which has caused me to have to turn off automatic commenting.
Do you have any suggestions for spam blockers? I’d love to find a great one, so that when I begin blogging and interacting with clients (after my site redesign – coming soon!!! Woo-hoo!) more frequently, I don’t have to manually delete tons of spam and approve comments so often.
Looking forward to your response 🙂
~Thea
This is quite good. Going through alot of blogs , i hadly see articles on blog commenting. Ms ileane, you have hit it. The one issue bloggers failed to recognise about blog comment is the way it interacts. besides learning how to post comments on blogs is also important. becos many people just don’t know how to do it. I think your next article should be on how to post comments. thanks for this, thought i should contribut a little.
ActuallyAlex, MS Ileane didn’t write this post, I did but I thank you for the compliment 😉
Wow, I am way down here Sire as you definitely nailed this one quite well. So to show you what a simple but effective post can do 🙂
Anyway, you are so right about the power of commenting, and I for one have been neglecting this, primarily due to a lot of excuses that is really not worth debating upon. I think that commenting should be taken as seriously as writing a blog post as it is the chance that the blog owner gives you to voice your opinion out. Those who look for it as a means of link building are more likely those who do not understand that “interacting” is way more powerful than that link itself. Moreover, these type of links do not carry as much value as it use to, specially if you are on a very high competitive niche, like blogging 🙂
Exactly right DiTesco, and it has always been my belief that rather than commenting for the link value, which like you said is not worth anywhere near as much as it used to, one should comment for the potential traffic it can generate. The only way a comment can possible generate traffic is if, like a blog post, it has good content.
Hi, no doubt fans and good community could be established by continuous in-touch with the real commentators by encouraging them and solved their confusions about the post. Thanks for nice and useful post.
Sure, comments can help those who are confused about the post but it’s also great for just conversing about things that people agree with and why they do so.
We can make blogging a two way communication by means of this comments.
Heck it’s more than between two people. Look at this post, at the time I’m writing this that are 80 comments so there is the potential for a great group discussion.
if blog commenting were given the care and attention, I think we could find more people to linked and tag with seriously, compared with facebook and linkedin.
Hey Sire,
I’m probably going to be hated by saying I don’t care if the commenting system has any rings or bells, even if it won’t provide backlinks or if it has a no-follow setting to keep the “link juice” to the website itself.
To me it’s all about interaction just like you said in your post and in a few comments as well.
I’ve learned that I can find out more about the personality of the visitor from reading their comments in other places than from actually reading their own blog posts.
To me, there’s nothing more valuable than knowing who you’re dealing with and about the subject and always replying to comments, I learned that from the best, you! 🙂
Great post mate, let’s hope you start doing more guest posts out there and talk to you later.
PS. Thanks to Ileane as well, it’s great to see so many familiar faces here!
Are you kidding Sergio, who could possibly hate that smiling face of yours? 🙂
You know, if it wasn’t for the interaction you get on blogs I reckon I would have given up on blogging a long time ago. Instead I’ve come to love it and I’m continually finding new ways to use it to provide me that online income that I deserve so much 😉
Wow, I’d have sworn I had already commented on this post; how strange…
Obviously I totally agree with Sire on this one. Interaction between writer and commenter is expected. I hate funky commenting systems. And comments need to at least address the topic and be longer than 2 lines AND be true separate sentence. I often wonder if I’m being punked when I see a sentence end with a period and then there’s no space between the period and the next sentence; since when has that become appropriate?
Then again, it looks like formatting did that to you above after the sentence “Have You Refrained From Commenting Because It Was A Disqus Blog?” At least I think it’s formatting 😉
Actually Mitch a whole lot of the post went missing for some reason, but MS Ileane managed to get it all back. Perhaps the error was the result of that mishap, you of all people know that I never make mistake 😀
I’m afraid that there are people who will defend the use of those third party comment systems even though people like us tell them it’s costing them comments. Oh well, that just means we can concentrate on those blogs that don’t use them.
Exactly; I’ve been expanding the circles of blogs I visit based on the commenting system, to the extent that when I visit a new blog I look first to see what type of comment system they have, unless it’s Blogger or Typepad; I pretty much exclude them from the beginning.
Totally agree with the post. Starting a business and I was initially frightened away by the thought of comments. Questions of how they should be moderated and what kind of a community I should create. Still not sure about not having to approve comments. That I’m just going to have to think about. Maybe I’ll try it out and see how it works! A couple great resources for me have been sba.gov, brandings. com and
score. org to be great resources when starting a business. They have given me some support when starting my business and getting my business blog off the ground. I’ll keep you posted on how things works out. Thanks!
Never be afraid of comments George and I’m not too sure what those particular links have to do with this post?
Looks kind of spammy to me, especially with the link used. lol
If it was my blog Mitch I’m pretty sure you know where it would have wound up 😉
Yep, a lot of insight on that. However, I think a major factor is just how much time you want to spend monitoring comments. Sometimes it’s just too much trouble to bother trying to figure out which ones are good or not, so you just setup systems designed to put as little burden on you.
John, aas long as you have the right plugins moderating hardly takes any time at all. I have 9 blogs and I spend under 10 minutes moderating comments. It takes more time replying to comments but that is something I enjoy and it helps to cultivate a relationship with your readers.
I observe that blog comments help in search engine ranking because they increase word count. Search engines love long articles such as articles that have lots of comments. I think this is one of the best benefits of having comments from readers.
Exactly, and it’s why we should cultivate good quality comments.
Never really tried to do blog comments as a way of improving the business, it must be a really tedious thing to do
Hi Sire. Thanks for sharing this. it’s a very interesting article here. But I still do need to use the 3rd party commenting software since I need to watch for the spam messages.
Andrew there are plugins that will deal with spam, you certainly do not need to use third party comment systems
Blog comments are very important in different views it gives us confidence as a blogger and also test our knowledge by answering the questions of different readers. nice post. love that post
Glad you liked it reeha
Its your effort and hard work who makes me to like this
Good comments can add value to a blog post, sometimes I have found the comments to be more interesting and informative than the post itself.
blog without comments is like a webpage, nothing else!i have seen some bloggers(as they claim) posting odd topics,not giving space for guest bloggers,using unnecessary captcha,and in result they dont get any comments,and few months later they leave that place
I am a great follower of sire and I reached here through the wassupblog. Yes, commenting is the best way of interacting with bloggars and viewersa and it not only will provide you better idea to increase the viewership of your blog but you will also come to conatct with he larger community.
Hey Lalit,
so nice to know I actually have followers 😉
Yes, and apart from all that great comments can also provide great fodder for new posts but only if you encourage good comments.
On my blog I can hardly get anyone to leave a comment unless Im haivng some sort of contest or giveaway. Or if I am asking them to help me pick out a dress or something.Most have said to me they just like to see the pictures and keep it moving because their at work. I dont know how I can fix this. I do know most people that do comment are on gossip sites where they can joke and make funny comments. My blog is more of a a lifestyle blog.
Hey Tami,
Do you do a lot of commenting on other blogs? I’ve always found this to be the best way to get others to return the favour. Once you start getting a few comments on your posts others will be more likely to join in. Its a lot of work but it can be enjoyable as well as productive if done properly.
This is a nice web site. Good fresh interface and nice informative articles. I will be coming back soon,thanks for the great article.
I personally enjoy the relationships that are formed when you reply to comments and show appreciation for the interaction. Thanks for sharing your ways to improve the blogging experience.
Eric
A lot of people don’t seem to value the relationship factor Eric, otherwise I’m sure more people would get involved.
I have installed Intense Debate for my blog. I am quite satisfied with its performance. There are many features worth talking about Intense Debate which makes it a perfect commenting system for any blog. After installing ID, I am getting a steady stream of comments.
The only time I would use Intense Debate was if I had a Blogger blog because their comment system sucks. 😉
I think there is a time when a lot of people actually have Akismet, Captcha plugins that have really put a brakes on comments. These days I see more of the commentluv plugin being used around. Point is if you put too many plugins to “block” comments it is a stumbling block towards building interaction.
That’s why I use Akismet and GASP Susie. Akismet works in the background and GASP only requires them to tick a box. 🙂
I think you have to find a comfortable middle ground. Some high competition niches would find that their blogs were being overrun with spam comments if they were not moderating. I have a business blog and 99% of my comments are automated spam. If I did not moderate my quality would suffer.
Also I did not comment on disqus blogs because of the run around involved in the process. I mean I have an account now but I def avoided several blogs before I did.
Not at all as long as you used anti spam plugins such as Akismet and GASP. I’m pretty sure I mentioned them in the post. 😉
Well, I think the most important is your content. You have to make sure that your content can interest people so that they would like to comment.
Hey Peter,
I used to get a lot of spam comments so I had to moderate them, but since I change to livefyre I haven’t seen a single spam comment. I don’t even use akismet. 🙂
So what you’re saying Alice is that you would rather make your commentators jump through hoops rather than having to delete a few comments?
Personally I would rather delete the comments. I know there are many people who do not comment of blogs that use Livefyre and such and I’m not one to turn anybody away.
Looks like I’m a bit late to this post, but I’m glad I made it! I always love posts with actionable content. I’ve got a few changes I’ll be making to my own blog tomorrow…
Never too late Ben 😉
Oh, this article just warmed the cockles of my heart! I just get so frustrated when I commented on something and I can’t see where my comment went, it’s not posted but no “thanks, I’m holding it for review” either… and don’t get me started on Captcha!!! it was great to find someone else who values comments as much as I do!
Hey Ivin, I reckon there are a lot of people who feel the way we do which is why bloggers who value commentators feelings should be paying attention to what is being said.
Hello,
Thank you for your great article. Also the pic is very nice.
Thanks
Comments are like fresh blood to an old article. Google keeps on giving it a high PR since content must be very important since many are still visiting the site. I try to keep my comments on DO Follow Sites like your and I keep a list so that I can go back and comment again.
Thanks for sharing this. I think it’s better to enable captcha to prevent spam by robot. Some comment are comes from robot that will find blog and put comment automatically.
I don’t have a lot of comments on my sites, but I really haven’t pushed them enough to generate lots of traffic. As the young lady stated earlier, managing comments is very time consuming. I will use these tips for my business site; not sure I’m going to try these for my community site. Thanks for these thoughts.
That all depends on how important your commentators are to you Marcie
I never thought of the commentators; I just thought of the comments. This is definitely making me think differently.
I always think of my commentators as guests, like a guest who I welcome to my home, and I feel it would be rude to ignore them when they’ve taken the time to add something to the conversation.
Hello Sire, Nice to meet you this is Megan Brown.
And I am totally agreed with you in this matter. As we take care lot for quality content which is important for our site as it brings lot of visitors and when all such visitors comments on our site so we simple NEGLECT them…this is call straightly INSULTING them and this makes them feel so bad that they never DO VISIT again.
Thus just like blog post or content our VISITORS and also their COMMENTS are equally important for us and by valuing their works we can able to build stong and lifetime relationship with them which proves beneficial for us only in FUTURE.
Am I right?
You are so right Meg. It’s really a simple rule and yet there are a lot of people who do not want to follow it. That’s probably because it requires a little effort and a lot of people are too lazy to do it.
I am a huge believer in blog comments for seo as much as anything else, but I have found it difficult getting people to comment on my blogs. I wonder if Keywordluv will make a difference. You say moderation puts people off, I am undecided on that one. It does not make me think twice. I think only seo people will worry about dofollow or nofollow, so that is not a concern on a WordPress blog but I am certainly thinking of Keywordluv to add to my box of tricks.
It is massive and valuable information about blogging,I do like good tips and tricks there.Bookmarked and thanks for sharing some interactive info.
I’m also sure that I’ve missed certain things that would stop you from commenting and if that is the case I would love to hear from you.
Good points you have there. Perhaps it would be a good next step to share some tips on how to keep all the comments relevant if you leave it open to the public?
I fully agree with you and I hate comenting where moderation takes too long to post the comments.
Yes and if they take too long they will end up losing them as a commentator and a reader.
Blog comments are important for your blog to keep it running,also it’s a great way to interact with people from all around the world
Yes and interaction is a very important part of a successful blog.
I think it’s a tricky game to play… but I know that I don’t generally use posts to discuss a sale at all? If i’m selling something then i have a page dedicated to the product and either use a ticketing system, or just give an email to contact with questions.
I’ve seen a lot of launches that really rely on comments to make it look like they’re huge, but a lot of those are playing around with fiverr or amazon turk to get their comments.
I think if a sale is what you’re after then you should have one on one communication. An open forum blog post with communication via comments is a bit clunky!
Right on, Flo! The important thing here is the number of people who actually value the conversation going on in the blog. The number of comments may reach more than a hundred, but if those comments are mostly of the “Nice Post” type, then it’s all for naught. People are going to think that your blog is spammy.
This is a good reason why you should have a good comment policy and adhere to it. I always delete comments that I feel does not contribute to the conversation.
Foyd, you can consider “Nice Post” comments as spam and trash them to spam folder. If you have only nice post comment in your post it will have a bad effect to your readers so it’s a necessary setup.
Interacting with your commenters is the key to convert a commenter into a subscriber (lead) and later on into a buyer. If you give value (good replies,good solutions) to your commenters they will feel that you are here to help them out.This gives commenters a great feeling/satisfaction and they will come back more often. Miss Ileane (blog owner) even has a “awesome commenters” plugin and uses commentluv plugin. I think these 2 also attract commenters. Great blog by the way.
And yet John there are many Pro Bloggers out there who would disagree with you.
Hello. I totaly agree with you at the “Things That Can Lower Your Blog Comments” i also had some friends with some blogs that never get commented because they didn’t wanted to….and also used capcha… and deleted the posts immediatly…well it’s good to see more and more people that love comments 😀 I hope i will come here agayn…
Heck, I know that Danny, reckon that one just slipped through 😉
That’s exactly right, if no-one replies to your comment how do you even know if they’re reading them?
Hey guys! Just for the record I saw that too 🙂
Yeah and I’m not going back to fix it either because it’s such a great talking point 😉
Why many bloggers change their dofollow blog in nofollow blog? This is very irritating. My impression is that they use dofollow attribute to accost people to read and comment their blog, and then they change this attribute to preserve their PR.
This is a bad thing in my opinion.
perhaps you would do the same thing when you have a blog with a neat pr 🙂
blog without comments is like a webpage, nothing else!i have seen some bloggers(as they claim) posting odd topics,not giving space for guest bloggers,using unnecessary captcha,and in result they dont get any comments,and few months later they leave that place
Hi Sire,
Now was that me with the sword or the minotaur?
Yes, comments are the life blood of a great blog and in my opinion it is a balancing act on timing, acceptance, and the time put into response. You phrased it well.
RJ
I personally use moderation on my blog because of a hateful comment that was posted to my blog previously (which, of course, I also deleted). I have considered going back to non-moderated comments, but I’m not convinced that it would really affect how many comments I would receive.
The reasons bloggers alter their own dofollow weblog within nofollow blog? This is very annoying. My personal impact is they use dofollow attribute in order to accost individuals to study and remark their blog, and they alter this particular feature to preserve their PR.
This can be a very bad thing in my opinion.
Technique explained in this article is certainly beneficial. However, i believe that linkbuilding/blog commenting alone cannot solve all the problems. You have to provide interesting information to the internet users all the time to make them visit your blog/website more often. Moreover, G panda is taking severe steps to ensure the better web world. So, i suggest backlinking must be done smartly and swiftly to eradicate the chances of penalty.
hate blogs which keep captcha . was aware of akismet , but GASP is something new which i learnt from this post.
I would say that the comments are what make it a blog and not just a website, worryingly google has started to warn webmasters who are allowing the content in comments to come close to the line on their terms of service when that site uses adwords, its been reported that they have gone as far as suggesting people turn comments off!
If you have a good page rank than people will definitely comment on your blogposts.
Hey great post! Figured I would comment on a post about reasons to leave blog comments! 🙂 Joe
There is so much I agree with here. I’m not sure I would have carried on blogging if it hasn’t have been for my comments. They re a constant source of inspiration! I agree wholeheartedly with not using captcha etc….drives me mad, having to use it, as I always get it wrong 😉
I have struggled to get comments on my blog. 95% are spam and the rest are not very worthy to approve. I have considered paying for quality comments but have not as of yet. Does anyone know a good way to get people to leave good quality comments?
Rick, I recommend you put together a comment policy and stick by it. If you’re getting a lot of spam, because these people won’t read your comment policy, I recommend you install a plugin to deal with them. I use Akismet and GASP for this.
Even so I still delete heaps of comments on a daily basis that I feel are not worth of my posts. I’d rather have one or two good comments than heaps of bad ones.
Yes, fine, sometimes a comment can be so captivating that it inspires another blog. That has happened more than one occasion.