February 20, 2013
Phones are ringing. Customers are coming and going. I would rather blog than work but I can’t do that. Thanks to everyone who has commented. I will answer you after work today. Continue reading
Quick update
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Tag Archives: Comments
Why blog comment moderation is a good thing
A question I am frequently asked by frustrated new bloggers is how to attract more visitors to their blog. Some believe that allowing anonymous commenting will result in more comments. Maybe so but how but how many will be authentic?
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WordPress Front Page Comment Display
We all love to receive comments and it’s not surprising that some beginner bloggers arrive in the support forum asking why their comments aren’t displaying below their posts on the front page of their blogs. There is a good reason for this but first let’s confirm what “normal behavior” is.
The front pages of our WordPress blogs are designed to load quickly and showcase content so comments are collapsed on that page. By clicking the comments link or the post title on the front page the posts will open on their own page where all comments display below them.
In a new blog one does not have many posts or comments. In an established blog with many comments if the comments did not collapse on the front page there would be serious performance drawbacks. The page would take a long time to load and page loading time is a page ranking factor. We have only seconds before visitors refuse to wait and click out.
It’s important for bloggers to keep in mind that at least half of all internet users are currently using dial-up connections. What that means to us is that half of our visitors are downloading the pages at about 3-4 kilobytes per second. And it’s estimated that if a page has not loaded with within 3- 5 seconds we can stand to lose one-third of our visitors. — Blogging: Strategies for reducing page loading time
Independent tests have shown that more than 3 seconds is a problem for users. Google webmaster tools suggest that 1.5 seconds or less is fast. And Google’s own tests show that shaving even 0.1 second off their SERPs load time increases user engagement. Indirectly, slow page speed can affect user experience and engagement and Google apparently does use those metrics. If slow pages are lowering a site’s user engagement and that is noticeable in the metrics Google can see, then Google might choose to send less traffic by lowering rankings, because Google wants to give their own users a quality experience.
Related posts found in this blog:
WordPress.com Comments and Discussion Settings
Blogging: Comment Baiting
A comment policy for your blog
Blogging: Comment Baiting
There are many ways that you can encourage your readers to comment. The way you structure your posts can have the effect of drawing out comments. This can be achieved by using a question in the title and/or question(s) at the end of the posts as well. You can also make reference to being interested in hearing reader feedback in the body of the post.
Comment baiting example
Title: Is _________ a helpful blogging tool?
I have been using a ___________ for several months now and find it to be quite helpful with my blogging. I have only noticed two small things I’m not keen about and I will be discussing these in my review below. I’m really interested to hear what you readers have to say about your experience with ________.
- [body of post goes in here]
At the end of your post ask Discussion questions:
- Have you used _____?
- Did you have any problems with it?
- Is there anything else you would like to share about ___?
The Do’s of Comment Baiting
- Do your titles and subtitles encourage comments?
- Does the text in your posts encourage comments by stating you are looking for reader feedback?
- Do you blog on controversial subjects? Controversy sparks discussion too but if you go this direction then:
(a) Be well informed about your subject and conversant with all points of view on your subject;
(b) Be honest and do not give into the temptation to distort truth for your own purposes. Do not falsify facts, do not present a few facts as the whole story, do not present tentative findings as firm conclusions.
(c) Use sound evidence to explain and support your ideas. When using evidence, be sure not to take quotations out of context, not to juggle numbers or statistics, and not to present unusual cases as representative examples. Use sources of information that are objective and qualified and link to them appropriately.
(d) Employ valid reasoning and avoid such fallacies as making hasty generalizations, asserting causal connections where none exist, using invalid analogies, and pandering to passion or prejudice. - Do you conclude your posts with a question for reader discussion?
- Do you answer comments you receive promptly and individually?
- Do you comment on the posts of bloggers who have commented on your posts?
- Do you backlink to your readers’ posts in your own posts?
- Do you use a Recent Visitors widget and/or a Top Commenters widget?
- Do you promote your posts throughout social networks to keep your readers aware of when you publish new posts?
- Do you provide RSS and/or atom feeds and encourage subscriptions?
- Do you provide readers offer updates by email and encourage subscriptions?
- Do you offer newsletters and encourage subscriptions?
- Do you have a forum?
- Do you conduct reader polls and surveys?
- Do you encourage your readers to become guest authors on your blog?
The Dont’s of Comment Baiting
Activities to avoid as they can be perceived as being “spammy” are:
- begging for comments and/or followers on forums;
- posting into forum threads or leaving comments on blog posts revealing you had nothing meaningful to add to the discussion, which in return reveals you are an attention seeker who is inclined to being “sneaky”;
- and/or flooding shoutboxes and message boxes in social networks with invitations to visit your blog.
Extraordinary comment baiting -> Dont’ ever try this unless you can handle it as well as raincastoer does. If you click this mummified fairy remains link there are over 2,000 comments so it will take awhile to load.
Related posts found in this blog:
A Comment Policy for your Blog
Blogging: Attracting More Readers
Encouraging blog readers to comment
How to form blog centered relationships
Article Writing and Commenting Increase Backlinks to Blogs
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My earlier article 16 Different Link Building Strategies is a good introduction to this one so I recommend at least skim reading it. This article highlights two methods of increasing targeted traffic to your blog and links as well. Continue reading
No Blog Comments? It’s All a Matter of Perspective
No Blog Comments? It’s All a Matter of Perspective
Guest post by SBA, co-founder of BloggingWithSuccess.net. Her background is in web design and information technology management.
Photo by DavidDMuir
How to handle negative comments
It seems that many bloggers fear that if they restrict commenters, they’ll lose readership. Well, I would prefer to lose the the bad actors and preserve as safe and comfortable environment for all.
Question: What do you do about negative and nasty commenters?
Answer: I moderate all comments and I have a comment policy.
This clause in my comment policy would be applicable:
* Personal attacks: Comments that stray from addressing the published topic and venture into the inflammatory and/or defamatory realm will not be posted.
If a commenter violates ANY of my policy guidelines I delete their comment and that’s that. The bottom line is that it is your blog and it’s your call. If you do not want nastiness posted on your blog then delete the comment and get on with your life.
There are nut cases and trolls in the blogosphere and IMHO the best way to deal with them is to shun them. Once you have set up your blog and published a couple of dozen posts it’s a good time to develop your own comment policy. Sooner or later you will get a negative comment and it’s best to have a comment policy in place to deal with it.
Elise Bauer, Publisher of Simply Recipes states in her Problogger guest article:
How you choose to moderate the comments on your site will affect who feels comfortable to participate on your site, and who will want to come back again and again. If you let rude, obnoxious, spiteful comments persist on your blog, you are basically telling all of your commenters that it’s okay with you to behave badly on your site. This covert permission can act like a magnet, drawing in hooligans and bullies, making the reading of and participating in your comment section uncomfortable for many. I learned long ago that people will give you as much crap as you are willing to put up with. If you tolerate abusive commenters, they’ll just keep coming back. Source
In his post Blog Comment Policy Lee Odden presents five very sound points to consider when developing a comment policy including: Comments are welcome and encouraged, Comments should add value, Keywords in the “name” field are spam, Links must be relevant, and No signatures in blog comments.
Lee says:
One of the most satisfying and useful metrics for a blog is whether posts generate comments or not as well as the quality of the comments. With increased traffic and visibility comes increased interaction but it also attracts comment spam or comments of no value.
Technically blogs are designed to be freedom of expression for the blogger. The ability to comment can be an enhancement, certainly, but it really doesn’t mean Joe Q Unaccountable has a right to say any insulting thing that comes off the top of his head, and the blogger should just shrug and publish it because, “hey, it’s freedom of speech.”
It’s the blogger’s forum, so honestly, shouldn’t it be the blogger’s choice of how to handle it? Every piece of content that appears on a blog site becomes a part of the makeup and the “brand” of that blog. I think it’s important for bloggers to look at it in terms of how the comment affects the brand.
lisamcglaun: I leave dissenting opinions because I think they are important. I delete comments that are direct attacks or serve no purpose. I also turned on the comment moderation feature. That did wonders to stop the person who was flaming my blog.
cooper: The way I work my blog and it works well is if the comments are part of the conversation or contribute even if it is an opposing viewpoint the comments stay. You lose something when it starts to evolve into a middle school bitching fit, you lose credibility and adult readers. Once you start deleting non contributory comments they will stop.
Annie: Delete them and pretend they don’t exist.
Question: What do you do about comments without any substance from link droppers or commenters who post signature blocks in comments?
Answer: This clause in my comment policy that would be applicable:
Commercial links, post links and signature links: Including a link to your “personal” blog and/or website may be acceptable but all links are subject to review and may be removed prior to posting. Specifically, provided that the bloggers commenting are actually adding something to the discussion, I do not remove their links. However, if I believe that they are just link dropping in an attempt to divert readers to their own blog then I do not feel the same way. I delete the links.
thriftshopromantic: If a link [in a comment] is relevant to the discussion and useful for readers, it stays. If it’s put there solely for blog advertisement purposes, that’s just tacky, and I don’t publish the comment.
grow happy: I concur, if it’s relevant, it stays.
petlvr: … it’s pretty bad etiquette for bloggers to comment in someone else’s blog – and then after the comment leave a ‘signature’ or link back to their blog. It’s already there when you click your name on the comment – the duplicate signature URL you add is truly spam. STOP IT! thanks.
dotartdude: I keep comments with links that are relevant to a post or a discussion among the comments. If someone has something to contribute, I welcome what that person adds to comments.
Taking care of business and taking care of your “self”
We are all responsible for our own emotional health. It takes just as much energy to take offense as it does to give offense. If you do not take offense when something you do not appreciate is said — the statement and the person who delivered it have no power.
If, you do choose to take offense and give the statement and the person who made it power then, needs be, you turn to others to commiserate, expecting that they will stroke you and mother you and they do. When they do you this you choose to feel self-righteously indignant, rather than taking responsibility for your own emotional health and, once again you have given your power away to others.
Please understand that this refusal to live up to our individual responsibility to take care of our “self”, to deal with criticism independently, decisively and effectively is the foundation for the “victim” mindset that pervades our societies today.
Your blog is not YOU. The commentator cannot touch your inner self, unless you give them permission to so don’t open that inner door and give your power away. Take responsibility, develop a comment policy and either post the comment and refute the contents or delete it and blog on.
