Are Blog Comments Really Required
Table of Contents
Why should I have comments enabled on my blog? What good does it do to my blog? Do I really need blog comments?
Have you ever had such thoughts in your mind? Many people doubt whether blog commenting helps in any way.
From my experience, I can tell you that blog comments have been good for my blog as they helped me gain popularity, build relationships, and achieve high rank. But are they necessary?
I’d say it depends.
Many top bloggers and blogs continue to rank high despite having few or no comments at all. They don’t even go to other blogs to comment.
Of course, these are people who’ve already attained the authority status and for them blog comments are not necessary. Perhaps they used to comment on blogs earlier, but now they feel they don’t need to.
However, that’s not the case with new and struggling bloggers.
I agree there are other ways to optimize your blog and posts for ranking and promotional purposes other than just using the commenting aspect.
But I can assure you that commenting on blogs along with social promotion can also deliver you the goods. Needless to mention, when I say commenting, I mean quality comments that add value to the post.
I spend a lot of time on blog commenting because I prefer writing meaningful and perhaps long comments, which take deep thought and time.
The labor of commenting on blogs, including your own blog, bears fruits. But that happens at a cost.
Visiting other blogs and writing blog comments on other posts is not a simple process.
That’s because when you visit a blog post you need to read the entire post, understand it, and then leave a valuable comment – all of which is truly time-consuming.
Not only that, if you visit 10-12 or more blogs daily to read and comment, you feel tired and sometimes blog commenting just becomes so overwhelming. Doesn’t it?
Even on your own blog, commenting involves the process of validating the comment, checking for its authenticity, and editing it to conform to your blog commenting rules or standards, if required, and then replying to them.
Everything takes time! No doubt you’d think whether blog commenting is really worth your time.
I enjoy commenting on blogs, but sometimes when I’m too overwhelmed, honestly, I just wish there was no blog commenting to do, or a genie to do it all for me. 🙂
I don’t have a genie, nor can I afford a virtual assistant or an employee to do the task for me. But let’s just consider what would’ve happened if I abstained from commenting on blogs, including mine.
What If There Were No Blog Comments
If there were no blog comments, I would use the saved time to do many things.
I would rest more, take care of my health, spend quality time with my family, write eBooks, or increase the post frequency on my blog.
The possibilities and options are plenty. Extra free time would be like having free cash in hand to spend on anything you like!
From the start of my blogging journey, in a little more than 3 years, I must have made about 4000 comments on other blogs, besides 6000 comments on my own blog.
I haven’t earned the title of “queen of blog commenting” for no reason – my average comment length could be 100 words, while many usually extend to 500 words and beyond!
If you make a simple calculation, I’ve written at least about 1,000,000 words in comments in these past 3 years. Yes, that’s a staggering 1 million words already!!
Had I put in this time and effort in writing posts, I could’ve written about 500 posts of about 2000 words each, which is the average length of my posts.
Do you see what difference saving time by not commenting would’ve made?
Recently I celebrated writing 200 posts on my blog. Instead, I would’ve celebrated 600 or 700 posts, which could’ve been a post every alternate day on my blog!
Would that have benefited me in any way?
Definitely, it could’ve boosted my ranks.
Well, maybe not. I don’t think I can use the word “definitely” here.
I’ve come across many blogs that publish posts frequently, yet do not achieve high ranks.
If you read the recent interview of Ana Hoffman on my blog, you must have noticed what she said about posting frequency. I quote her here:
“About two years ago, I decided to post almost daily to see what happens with traffic. Of course, there were in-depth posts by any means; more like quick tips.
My traffic did go up; unfortunately, the quality of that traffic went down. The bounce rate was high, conversions low, and I was exhausted!
Now I can definitely say from experience that sticking with less frequent quality posts is the way to go.”
So, even if I close comments and post frequently, things may not really work for me.
Anyways, even if I’d written quality posts every alternate day, would you come to read them if there were no comments allowed on the blog?
It’s a million dollar question, or you can say a million words question for me. 🙂
Tell you what, I’m envious of +Leo Babauta. In case you haven’t heard of him, he manages a top-ranked personality development blog called ZenHabits.
Now, there is no option of commenting on his blog. Not only are his posts devoid of blog comments, but even the social media buttons are missing.
Then, what do you think makes his blog rank so high?
Maybe he’s just lucky or an exception.
Nevertheless, I still think that blog comments are not useless, and you could be missing more if you do not comment on blogs, including your own.
“Blogging is a conversation, not a code.” ~ Mike Butcher
What Would Happen to Your Blog Without Blog Comments
Blogging is not only about writing content. If it were so, then why do you have a blog, why don’t you have a website instead?
If you think only writing posts without enabling comments can make you a problogger or an authority, you’re wrong.
Not everybody is Seth Godin, Leo Babuta, or Amit Agarwal!
In any case, if you’re a newbie or struggling blogger, having no blog comments would eventually mean death to your blog. I’m sorry to use such a harsh word, but your blog would definitely be lifeless.
Do comments bring life to your blog? Absolutely! For me and for you too – they are the lifeline of a blog!
The reader’s reactions and opinions make the post more interesting. Discussions bring dynamism to the otherwise static posts.
Without comments, it’s not a conversation anymore – it’s like you’ve to listen to somebody but you can’t convey your thoughts, feelings, or complain about anything.
Seriously, only two kinds of people can have such kind of blogs – celebrities and top-notch experts.
People are willing to read whatever they write, even if there’s no opportunity to contribute to those posts in the form of comments.
Though a blog can have posts in the form of a journal and not have comments, which would be like reading a diary, but we picture a blog to be interactive in terms of engaging dialogs, don’t we?
For us, a blog is a way to be social, and you can’t have that without the blog comments, can you? I doubt you’d visit to my blog, if you can’t read or write comments. Would you?
Not to mention that bloggers consider the opportunity to leave links of their blog as a reward to have read the post and contributed to it qualitatively, on CommentLuv enabled blots especially.
It’s a token of appreciation of the time they spent on your post.
You have blog commenting systems like Disqus and a few others where you can’t directly leave your blog links.
So, it all comes down to quality content. If your content is great and writing is compelling, people will come to your blog, no matter what commenting system you’ve enabled, or even if you don’t have it at all.
Agreed, but to get to that level, you first need to develop relationships with others to create awareness among people that you write well.
You can do that by commenting on their blogs, and have comments enabled on your blog, so they can give a return visit and comment at your blog too.
More so, when people visit your blog and read your posts, and they find valuable and helpful posts full of knowledge, they’d always stop to comment, provided you have a commenting system enabled.
If not the traditional commenting system, have you ever thought about having an alternative to the comments on your blog?
Alternative to Blog Comments
Well, +Brain Clark of Copyblogger did. He recently closed his blog for comments. Yes, you read it right – you cannot comment any longer on Copyblogger. Read more about it here.
Though he’s not the first one to do it. +Seth Godin did it long back in 2006.
Many business blogs and popular bloggers have done it too and the debate to have or not have comments on your blog is ensuing for a long time.
Here’s an example of one such debate between +Pat Flynn and Everett Bogue. It might interest you.
But here’s a twist in the story. Instead of not commenting, Brian wants you to take the conversation on to Google+ or Twitter.
What’s more, +Sonia Simone mentioned in her post that after reading the blog posts at Copyblogger, you can discuss your ideas on your own blog.
Now, that’s interesting, isn’t it? Would you call it a good marketing tactic?
Of course, if people talk about your post and blog, it definitely catches the eyes of Google and you benefit. If bloggers link to your post, you gain more than commenting on their blogs.
If you’ve observed, even +Ana Hoffman has the Google+ commenting system on her blog. And she prefers it more than the usual, native commenting system, which doesn’t get very many comments.
She takes the conversation to Google+, which she says is the hub of influencers or people with authority. They matter more than general folks, because Google values them and rewards you more when you connect with them.
So, it’s obvious that pro bloggers are getting their strong grip on social media. They already know that Google is going to treat social signals as strong ranking factors.
It’s more beneficial to have the conversations on Google+ than on your own blog – you get a wider reach, more social signals, and contact more influencers.
Also notice that the pro bloggers are converging on Google+ and Twitter, while almost isolating Facebook.
This is not all, it seems like the linking business is coming to a near end. Co-citations and co-occurrences, or associations are becoming more important.
Therefore, even if you have comments disabled on your blog, you’re getting ranked because you’re being talked about and referenced by influencers.
That gets you organic traffic, and people automatically start following you or come flocking to your blog.
These pro bloggers are thinking ahead and putting their money where their mouth is.
However, I wonder if having no blog comments will hurt the loyalty factor and weaken your blog community?
If you want to know more perspectives on this new development, read this post here, that is a direct response by Alisa Meredith to Copyblogger’s recent announcement.
What are your thoughts on this issue and what do you think of the Copyblogger act of removing comments? Could his strategy work for you too?
If you want to know whether blog comments are really worth the effort, then read this post here, which gives you all the “for and against” arguments.
Do you think you should use the social media instead of blog comments on your own blog to further the conversation?
Are you thinking of doing away with commenting too?
Don’t Remove Blog Comments from Your Blog
If you’re a newbie blogger and still trying to get a hold in the world of blogging, then don’t do it yet – don’t copy Copyblogger!
I understand why they did it – to save time and resources and deal with other important matters than spam and useless comments.
Probably, when my blog becomes their size, I too might be tempted to take a similar step. When you reach the next level, your priorities change.
But you need to do what is required at your level.
I did say in the beginning of the post that blog commenting did a tremendous job to boost my blog.
Whatever and wherever I’m today is due to this particular important tool of blogging. In fact, Copyblogger too rose to success using blog commenting as one of the aspects all these years.
Commenting helps you to create relationships and develop a community. It helps you launch yourself and your blog.
Remember that there may be exceptions, but it’s better if you follow the general rules in the beginning. Your comments are still worth the effort, read here to know why.
Considering that you now value blog comments, here’s how you should treat them.
“As I have repeatedly written in one form or other, blogging is not about writing posts. Heck, that’s the least of your challenges. No, blogging is about cultivating a mutually beneficial relationships with an ever-growing online readership, and that’s hard work.” ~ Alister Cameron
How to Use Blog Comments for Your Blog Success
Blog commenting isn’t worth it if you don’t do it in the right way.
If you’re interested to know how to become an expert on commenting on blogs and benefit from it, then read my guest post here.
Use blog commenting efficiently and smartly on your own blog.
Treat comments as an extension of your blog posts
Sometimes, it is not possible to include all the aspects and finer details of your topic in the blog post.
The comments you write on your own blog post while replying to the visitors comments, give you an opportunity to expand on your topic.
I do this sometimes and it helps me to make the blog post more wholesome, while it facilitates the reader to get more information out of the post.
More importantly, the commenters too add their knowledge and experience related to the topic and that adds different perspectives and more value to the post.
Thus, the comments are a valuable resource.
Treat comments as conversations you have with your blog visitors
Comments are your way to talk to your blog visitors and develop relationships. Don’t miss on this opportunity!
Always value and respect each comment as that in a way is valuing and respecting the commenter, even if you disagree with their views.
The longer and more your conversation, the better and more are the chances of developing a long-lasting and mutually beneficial relationship.
Some pro bloggers don’t have the kind of time to reply to all the comments, or interaction with readers hardly matters to them. That’s entirely their choice, isn’t it?
Accepted that you need to copy the habits of pro bloggers to become successful like them, but don’t copy the habit of replying curtly or not replying to the comments at all.
You can’t afford to do that at your level. You can take the liberty to do that later when you become a pro blogger, when and if your priorities change, and it might not hurt you or your blog.
Treat comments as a means to increase the SEO of your blog
When you reply to comments, you can explain your topic in different ways and use semantic variations of your keyword phrase. Just adding the keyword might not help you much.
The more you talk about the topic of the post, more valuable it seems to the search engine bots. Comments also increase the interaction and engagement, and the time people spend on your blog.
These are all factors that Google considers for ranking of your posts too, no matter how small they may be.
I’m sure the comments add SEO value to the post. I can observe my SERPs getting better as the comments increase on my blog posts. Of course, they reach a saturation level after some time.
Treat your comments on other blogs as your blog ambassadors
Each comment of yours has the potential to improve or degrade your image. Your personal image is directly related to your blog traffic.
If you make good contributions through comments on other blogs by adding value to the conversations, you’ll get noticed and people might check your link to visit your blog.
I get a lot of traffic from various blogs where I comment, so can you. 🙂
The owner of the post where you commented might even mention you in the comments or a future post, that will not only earn you backlinks, but even credibility and recognition.
Or even a third-party might be impressed with your comment on a blog and build a story on it. Here’s a post by Ankit Singla about the types of commenters, and I got a free mention there.
Eyram wrote a blog commenting guide on his blog, and he pasted a comment of mine that I had made on Neil Patel’s blog, which probably impressed him.
I get many useless comments on my blog, which obviously the commenters submit for getting backlinks.
Little do they know that more than linking, it’s the image and relationship that matters through your contribution.
If you use the blog comments in these ways, you’ll certainly feel that they are necessary for your blog as they’ll bring success to your blog.
“I believe the term “blog” means more than an online journal. I believe a blog is a conversation. People go to blogs to read AND write, not just consume.” ~ Michael Arrington
Okay, before you go, take this poll!
[polldaddy poll=7936570]
What do the results tell?
I hope by now you realize that blog comments are necessary for those who aspire to be successful in blogging.
Blog comments are dialogs that you should not ignore. I believe having comments on your blog turns the post into a useful resource that is helpful to any reader as all the information is available at one place.
For some bloggers, the number of comments on a post becomes the benchmark of the usefulness or popularity of the post. However, that may not be true in all cases.
In the end, I guess I’m giving what Sonia wanted – a post about my take on Copyblogger’s idea, and a link back to their site. 🙂 But would this work every time for them?
Can’t say. But it did give me a seed thought to plant another thinking tree. 🙂
Concluding lesson: Till you’re not a pro blogger, remember quality blog comments are important for your growth as a blogger and success of your blog.
Over to You –
Do you think blog commenting is overwhelming? Do you favor a “no blog comments” approach? Do you believe you can take up the social media as an alternative to blog commenting? What tips would you suggest to make best use of blog comments? Share in the comments.
Photo Credit: FreeDigitalPhotos, 123rfphotos
wow what a great Articles about the Comment blogs
I think Blog Comments are really important for you as well as for your readers.
Its shows the importance of your blog and your readers so that they can give their opinions about your blog good or bad.
Comments are really important on a website because it forces engagement with other people who are commenting. Plus, comments allow feedback on your posts and overall a much more pleasant experience when browsing a website.
Blog Comments are really important for you as well as for your readers.
Its shows the importance of your blog and your readers so that they can give their opinions about your blog good or bad.
As per my own experience blog commenting is very important through blog commenting we can drive traffic to our websites. Blog commenting should be a two-way conversation.
Blog commenting really useful and effective technique to generate traffic and backlinks.
Hello, Harleena!
Oh my gosh…. Why I am seeing this post so late???
Truly awesome! You expressed the real need of the blog comments quite great!
Whether most bloggers think blog comment is the waste of time… But the reality is, it is not.
I have seen many bloggers turning off the commenting system but they then re-enabled as they admitted the traffic went low.
I know there are many authority sites and even the authority bloggers who first have the commenting option closed and don’t do the comments on other places.
They hardly get the comments back on their content. Yes, they would have done it aggressively in the past but that’s not working for them right now.
And I am hitting hard on the comment thing because I am not utilizing it to the max.
I am still active in leaving the blog comment but not so good at replying back to the comments which I receive on my blog.
And that’s the reason the bond is not building up with my readers.
I will so work on it! Will definitely work on this weakness from now!
Thank you for the awesome one, Harleena!
Happy to share! 🙂
And see me often!
~ Adeel
Hi Harleena Ma’am,
Interesting post indeed 🙂
Blog comments are essential for any blog. In my view, blog comments are the simplest way to connect and hang out with the readers 😉
Thanks for putting up your thoughts!
~ Ahmad
Hi Harleena ma’am,
I would say an Epic post.
I think comments are really important for any blog because we get feedback from readers and these readers adds different perspectives to our posts. Many people point out things which we never thought about and that’s an addition to our knowledge base.
I had used Disqus on my blog but I was not getting many comments though I have decent traffic. Now I am using CommentLuv to see if Disqus was the issue for my readers. You know as a blogger we have to test lots of things to see what works and what doesn’t.
I have started commenting on blogs and I have seen a drastic improvement in my Alexa ranking. I have seen my blog metrics such as MOZ, backlinking, Page Authority etc.
I have seen many blogs do not allow comments but they have their own reasons. These blogs have huge traffic and they don’t want spammy comments.
Copyblogger not only disabled commenting but they don’t have Facebook page either. Can you believe that?
I think, blogging is about sharing, networking and community and that’s why every blog must have comments.
Thanks,
Yogesh Shinde
I came across this post via a comment you left on Pat’s SPI post about using Disqus. For some reason, when I read your comment there, it stated you were sold on the CommentLuv system which does not seem to be active on this site.
I found that interesting. Granted, that comment was 2 years ago and it appears you have successfully grown your blog to a point where you don’t feel the need to use it anymore. But after reading all the comments here, I can understand why.
Just like any product in the real world, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer and sometimes, it’s a matter of “changing planes” to get to your designation. What I am particularly interested in at the moment is how people responds to my comments.
I had zero responses to my comments using Disqus, somewhat slightly more than zero responses to my comment using Jetpack, and a better response to my comments by those using either CommentLuv or an “email notification” like you are using.
They all seem to be on the same airplane, a jumbo jet carrying a lot of “growing” bloggers, except for those on private jets who never responds. The funny thing is that they do respond at their hubs (Twitter, Facebook, etc…)
Maybe the commenting sphere is too big for anyone to conquer?
Very informative thank you, Comments are very important especially when you’re new to blogging. I remember the elation of receiving comments on my first blog, just to get an acknowledgement that people are reading your content! It’s a shame copybloggers have got so big/successful that they can no longer reply to their audience, I was part of a company that started small that we all knew one another to a multinational company that no one knew the person sitting next door to them which is the reason I left. Anyway, my “comments” box will remain.
What nonsense! how will i disable blog comment section on my blog? That’s selfishness, that shows you don’t care about your readers. Blogging is a world, blogs are solution centers. Like what you quoted @Harleena, blog is a play where people read and write, like a school where you learn and a must, views must be made known.
Copyblogger, got to where he is today because of his readers. Must you have to disable commenting because you want to build other channels, because this is how am viewing it. The question now is do copyblogger still have email lists of his subscribers? because he can’t tell me he wouldn’t be doing some promotions and marketing, link adverts with those list.
We just have to realistic, if they know they can’t handle numbers of comments then there are plug ins that set available numbers of comments that can enter a blog, then i think limits should be put on numbers of comments, not disabling commenting.
Well, i don’t blame copyblogger….
Thanks for the post harleena, you are awesome.
It took a long time to read out the whole post, but I enjoyed it and learned something new about comments. Actually I am not a good commenter but this helped me a lot
Quality and good comments are signs that your post is getting popular and is being loved and read by many people, so they are must for a blog.
Hi Harleena Mem,
These day google organic and informative content, and if post have have post associated result then these type post easily get high ranking into google search result, I think commenting participating great role for make engaging content. inside this article I learn some useful tips about blog commenting.. hope next time I can implement into my blog.. such a nice article..
Regards
Mohd Arif
Hello Harleena,
Wow! I can never ever for heaven’s sake think of disabling comment. Not any sooner and later.
Same as you, I believe blog commenting is not just about leaving the link and disappearing in the desert BUT to make a loyal readership, fans and relationship to help you in your blogging journey.
Those big names are above par, they do have worked from long when we had a little idea of what was the internet.
So, my advice to everyone; don’t copy anyone. Use it to attract your readers.
~ Adeel Sami
Hello! Ma’am first of all its a great MUST read post for all the bloggers Infact a new biew like me and other coming new bie in blogging fields. Agreeing to you point comment is life line of a blog doesn’t matter if its new or old being the quality of comment is maintained. I still remember when I’d my first blog, i was added to a group in fb where in all the post i use to comment. and seeing to it they did same. What i observed within a couple of month my site started being productive. Though if I see now, that was simply a waste of time corresponding to today’s time. But what I did that time was worth I know now.
And Comment also help to make a blogging community where you can either go or against any topic that is been detailed. And as i was told positivity and negativity and dealing with those comments does help to know about our own post, blog and ourself as we have different tastes in a single bite.:)
Great Post Ma’am
Comment is the soul of a blog though I’ve come to realize it later.
I used to disable comments for my blogs because I though there is no value of them. But after reading this post, my decision has completely changed. Now I feel how wrong I was before.
Thank you Harleena for such an wonderful post…
Hi Harleena,
Wonderful post with answers to many questions that many Bloggers
don’t even realize they need the answer to.
I did read a recent article on SEO by an expert and one thing he
said that imprinted was this: Comments are treated by Google as content
on the post or page…so it is a definite extension of what you have written, augmented by others.
Wonder if comments are regarded as mini guest posts?
Would like to call you Aharleena. You see, there are many posts out there that are more informative than yours. And so many sites out there that are ranked more than you are. But here I see something through your posts. And it’s nothing but CONNECTION. Whenever you make people engage with your posts through their minds, you should expect good comments. And such engagements do come with great learning.
Thanks for being one of those who makes blog comment available for learners like us.
For sure commenting rally help bloggers, especially the aha-learners like me.
Hello ma’am,
Once again a very nice post by you. If you remember we first had an conversation on the Enstine Muki blog, there you asked me whether I am a secret admirer of your blog. Well, now I am an admirer – no more secrets 😀 … I have been reading your blog from a long time (from 7th class, I am in 9th now.) but I never bothered to comment. It is not that I did not like reading your blog, it was just to tiring for me to comment (As I read many blog post/day) … my writing this post you solved my problems. Now you will see my comments more often on Aha-Now, I hope you don’t mind on that 😉 …
THank You
Apurva Nagar
I am new to blogging but I feel encouraged when someone comments on my post. We need to know how the viewers feel about a particular topic.
Your post help me to know the importance of comments. Thank you and may God bless you.
Comments are real feedback of a blog. By reading blog comments one can understand the popularity and Blog Author’s responses. Whether he/She is interested to interact with users or not. Whether users can get help of blog post related queries or not.
Hello Harleena Mam
Really nice post with simple and clean wording. i love your blog. some times i visited there for new post.i agree with your all points that you have mentioned in post. yes blog comments is very useful in Blogging sections.
Thanx for these awesome post.
Hi Harleena.
I don’t think I’ve commented on your blog before now, but I have certainly enjoyed your articles and comments on other blogs in recent weeks.
I agree with the thoughts that you expressed in this article. Yes, commenting is important, for the reasons that you developed. What Copyblogger did sounded very interesting at first, and I almost decided against allowing comments. But after I reasoned it through, it became apparent that Copyblogger were wrong in the long term. They own their blog, and don’t own Google or Facebook. Therefore, it could suddenly all go wrong at some point in the future, especially as Facebook seem intent on self-destructing.
Hi, although the issues mentioned in your this post are complex and specific to certain bloggers and purpose of their blog, their level of fame and status and all that, I feel I related more to the one for new bloggers.
As a relatively new blogger, I think Comments are one of the few things that keeps me going as the first stages are the most trying of all.
When you look for reasons to stop, Comments can act as a real motivator and gives your blog that go ahead every new beginner needs once in a while.
This post is good well written and helps a new blogger’s to know what is the importance of commenting on blogs and placing comment option on their blog
All i can say about this post is wow and as for me trying to get comments to my new blog…. this is a quite useful one m’aam…. Kudos
Hi Harleena,
Another good topic which encourage debate on your blog. You have provided very dtailed insights about blog commenting.
I am completely agree with you that though commenting consumes our time, it is very useful. Comments encourages discussion and adds more value to our blog.
Great piece of content.
Really beneficial post. This will open the eyes of selfish bloggers who don’t allow/approve comments even if there is no spamming. The way I think, blog comments not only boosts the exposure of a post, but also helps to build relations between different bloggers.
Thanks a lot Miss Harleena.
thanks for sharing such a grt article.Your ideas and tips really work for me. After using your idea i find that my back link are increasing 🙂
Blog comments can be very helpful in creating some sort of community on your site, your readers can ask you questions about your articles and in turn you can communicate via the comment section and provide additional answers to their questions and also in turn making your readers come back to your site.
Hey harleena,
Nice post and Yes, blog commenting is really very important factor in blogging as it helps in making relationship with other bloggers and also helps in promoting our blog and drives traffic. Social media appearance is also very important these days.
With the help of commenting, we make good relations with other and learns lots of important factors of blogging with others. I also spend most of my blogging time in commenting. Thanks for sharing this post. this post really gonna help many newbies.
“my average comment length … usually extend(s) 500 words and beyond!”
Yikes! That is my average blog post. Wow. You do definitely put a lot of effort into it. A good goal to strive to for sure.
I agree with you completely on this one… I realised the importance of commenting just now…. I hope i get good results by this.
Hi Harleena,
Wonderful topic and lots of thoughts to pour in 😉 I can see that through the comments you have got already.
Of course, I’d stop by and share even if you had comments disabled up here 😉 Else I guess I would have strike off yours from my favorite list of blogs already. Always love your topics and unique style 🙂 But, SORRY, I couldn’t follow every topic from some time though.
If no comments, may be our conversations would grow more on Social Media instead? I think so. But the starting point is right here. In the meantime, I might have save some time as commenting takes more time than reading.
However, I can tell you that we wouldn’t have get to know each others very well if you had comments disabled. Isn’t it? I wouldn’t be confident to share more of my personal experiences and get your thoughts on ’em personally. I would have known your blog, but not the person behind it much. Beauty of relationships, right? 🙂
For my blog, comments are required and consider they are part of the blog too. I’ve witnessed how comments helped new visitors find answers to their questions instead of posting ’em over and over again. Again, I could help them personally on related issues. Plus, some thoughts inspired me to write new posts too.
Even I can talk about the positive aspect of having comments enabled through my experience and ask why someone think of blogging with no comments in the first place, I respect the decision bloggers make when they decide to disable comments, Harleena. Unless they following blindly, they have a reason. Hence I can’t really answer whether comments are necessary or not, even I prefer having comments enabled. I believe it’s really subjective and relies on the vision and objectives of the blogger.
Yet I agree blog comments can be the key to grow and glow among other blogs on blogosphere 🙂 Aside from Marketing aspects, it makes readers feel the blog is alive and surrounded by interested readers like ’em while inviting to connect with awesome personalities. It’s indeed a great way to build meaningful and like-minded relationships with people than social networks as I have learnt too. Well, your blog is the perfect example to observe on this 😉
Enjoy the rest of your week, Harleena 🙂
Cheers…
Hii i’m new to blogging and i too started commenting on other blogs from a while.But still i’m not getting comments 🙁 . What to do ? 🙁 .please help me.
By the way i liked your article a lot.I wonder how you manage to write such lengthy quality articles and also give time in commenting and replying 😮 .
It is really important for a blogger to do comment at some famous blog. The main benefit is by commenting bloggers can make connections with many other bloggers in a creative way. And in the field of blogging networking matters a lot. There are good chances to get back link from some do follow blogs which is helpful in boosting a blog’s rank. I always wondered why comments are so worthy that bloggers are trying to do as much comments they can do in one day? But later after entering to blogosphere I realized the mind striking stuff about it.
Thanks for your guidance.
Hi Harleena,
Interesting piece worthy of discussion. Did not catch this one early because I am working on 2 books at the same time. One on effective IM and the other on car cure.
Anyways, different things work for different bloggers.
In the ZAHET commenting guide, I mentioned that, blog commenting had different benefits. This was discussed under the goals that the commenter wanted to achieve with the commenting practice.
As long as there are blogs with comments enabled, blog commenting will be valuable. I will not advice any new blogger to turn off comments on their blogs unless they do not want to engage with their readers.
We should remember that, third party platforms like facebook and gplus as important as they are will remain third party. What happens if oneday google decides to give up gplus and facebook goes out of the social networking business?
How would you follow all the important discussions that could have been documented for posterity?
Anyways, as bloggers, we all have the burden of comment moderation considering the huge size of cooment spam.
In my opinion, each blogger has to weigh the merits against the demerits. That, copyblogger started off with commenting and maintained comments on their blog for a long time is a sign that they got value from it.
Hubspot and other big brands still maintain comments. The discussion will continue even after I have posted this piece.
What is in the interest on my blog right now is that, I have to give an option to anyone who wants to relate with me on my blog to be able to do so. Each reader is important to me and I will do well to keep them relating with me the easiest way they can.
Eyram
Hello Harleena Singh,
I am new to blogging so I want to learn a lot of things from your blog. Today I learned about blog comments. Now, I can say that blog comments are really important to get more traffic for blog. Thanks for sharing this kind of information.
~Dr. Diana
Hi Harleena,
I don’t think comments are necessary for blogging success.
But I do think the reasons for getting and giving comments is what makes the strategy successful.
I like your point that comments may not be necessary but they are a good start to developing relationships and trust with people, and that should be what motivates you to get and give comments.
The problem I see is that many bloggers run through blogs commenting like crazy with the hope of bringing back links to their blog and to help generate more comments on their own blogs with the idea that the more comments you have the more popular you’ll be with Google.
That should never be your goal. Those are spammy motives.
Even if you’re making the most thoughtful, concise quality comments, if you’re motives are to get back links or more comments on your own blog for Google’s sake, that’s spammy.
Just like there are spammy motives with regard to guest blogging and we all know what’s happening there.
We already know that Google’s value of sidebar, footer and comment links takes a backseat to quality, relevant content links on high quality sites. So commenting on tons of blogs or getting more comments on your own blog won’t get you better ranking.
However encouraging useful comments from quality bloggers that value your blog and share good information with you gives your readers the perception that your blog is trustworthy, well liked and notable.
Use comments to focus on building real relationships with your readers; not build ranking with Google.
Blessings,
Liz
Thank you for your great info on Blog commenting. I think blogs without comments can n’t survive since they are confined to their small circles and can not able to know about their content whether it is worth or not. so that one can improve his blogging skills also. Thank you once again …
Hi Harleena Singh
There is no denying the fact that Blog commenting helps a lot in bringing traffic to our blog as link exchange is done in high amount.As a seo analyst in the beginning of my carrier i was only doing other off page task like social bookmarking, directory submission but then i came to know later about blog commenting.It helps a lot to bring traffic to my website and several blog.
Nice and informative article 🙂
You did a very exhaustive job on this commenting subject, if ever there was one. Now, as lawyers would always say: “it depends”. Certainly coppyblogger can “afford” to switch off comments. They might lose traffic from all those who were not bona fide commenters, i.e. they did it to get backlinks (mainly, but see below about the logic of this).
On the other hand, they also use valuable feedback, because hardly any one is trying to find their email address to share their observations that way. And sending emails precludes another, third, party reading the pertinent observation and doing another pertinent follow-up comment. So for this reason, as you advise as well, the incumbent may consider turning off, but the “rookie” should weigh the advantages and disadvantages well!
there’s another risk involved: I’ve seen (esp. political) sites that may not even have turned off comments but moderated them restrictively, so that some clever guy opened another site specifically to host those comments that were either not published or for articles not allowing comments on the original site. After a short while these “copy blogs” (pun intended) receive as much if not more traffic than the original.
So again, shutting off comments may not be a good idea if one’s articles actually are inspiring bona fide comments. As for backlinking via comments though, maybe we’d get less spammers, if they knew it may not be worth it: PageRank, patented by the founders Google, meant to evaluate ‘votes cast’ by other Internet sites in favor of a site they pointed to. These inlinks built PR and all outbound links diminished it. Commenting threatened to dilute the PR of all comment sites.
The nofollow attribute was created to be able to control that. It exists to neutralize PR leaks from comments! Most blogs use it since years, son how can commenting contribute to your PageRank? And if it doesn’t, why should commenting still be a valid backlinking tool? It just advertises one’s blog or site to the readers of the thread, but this is not what the word backlink means?!
thanks for shearing such a wonderful article with us, your idea and tip really work for me. After using your idea i find that my back link are increase my site traffic is also increase and money too.
Hi Harleena,
I give you credit for writing such a wonderful post that really is on the minds of all of us. Blogging definitely will help you increase your business but also builds relationships. I have used many of the bloggers with my site and I have referred many of my bloggers to my friends. Comments are necessary on may levels. It not only builds relationships but also you get to see a person’s personality through the commenting. Blogging is very time consuming, but I look at it someone has gone to the trouble to make a comment on my site, I reciprocate. It is like getting an invitation and not responding to event like a birthday, etc.
Hi Harleena,
We’ve been talking about this exact same subject in brainstorming hour, especially since Copyblogger stopped comments on their blog.
I still don’t see how that’s going to work for them though. What happens if someone visits a post on their blog in a year from now and they want to leave a comment. It won’t be possible because the social media update will be long gone.
Personally, I’ve not invested enough time into commenting so far but I’me aware of the importance of it, not just for traffic and seo, for relationships too.
But like you say, it’s VERY time consuming and right now I’m still getting into the groove of blogging and all the tasks needed to be done on a daily basis.
Love your blog btw. Keep up the good work.
Kerry Russell
Harleena, “Blog comment is useful or not” is a million dollar question for bloggers who have wish to make million dollar from their blog. Recently copyblogger shout down blog comments on its blog due to lots of spam there as blog comments. Before shout down they repeated “Blog comments are good for blog as these help to gain popularity, build relationships, and achieve high rank.” as you shared above. But low quality and spamming was big issue for them.
The debate “Blog comment is useful or not” may stop if Matt Cutts say something about it in 2014 because these days SEO means Matt’s rules and nothing.
Hi Harleena,
Awesome post as usual!
For me, the blog comments are very important. I get a lot of benefit from it. I can get useful knowledge and build relationships from other bloggers. It makes me excited!
However, sometimes a blog comment also made me overwhelmed. As you said, it’s really time consuming. If we assume to read the article and make a comment takes 20 minutes, then a day I can only comment as much as 10-15 comments. sometimes it’s frustrating.
I wonder, how many comments you make a day, Harleena? Do you make 10-12 comments like you said in this article?
Regards,
Nanda
I always love blog commenting section,even feel worried if found no scope for commenting when some post need serious opinion or when I need to solve some queries.But comment section should be full proof,rather it will be entrance of spammers.But who had already remove this commenting section must have alternate options to think.
Hi Leena: I have seen a real drop in Comments almost everywhere (apparently not here). 😉
When I read the sensational headline at Copyblogger, my immediate response was one of disagreement. I am a firm believer that everyone has to find what’s right for them and their business. That being said, one of the things I loved about blogs was the ability to share views and interact. Even those blogs that don’t receive comments (or very few – like mine), I still think the possibility helps keep blogging real.
It reminds me of my corporate days. Unlike some of my colleagues, I liked to travel as I felt it kept me in touch with my clients and the “real world”. Comments (for me) are the road trip without the airplane.
Giving your visitors the possibility to share their opinion about topic being discussed is THE choice to success I’d like to say, however comments must be moderated because there’s plenty of people so-called spammers, simply leaving a comment for the sake of leaving a backlink and nothing more.
I also preffer Commenting on other blog and also like if someone comments on mine as it increase the moral that someone is there who is reading this and hope he or she will come again so we need to post something better so that they come again and again
Sure, now I have to comment on this topic about whether commenting is necessary. lol
Let’s start with the question the way it’s worded; no, comments aren’t necessary.
Let’s ask the question that should be asked; are comments craved by most of us? Absolutely. Comments are what drives us to write more, to write better, and to communicate with our audience, some of whom become pretty good online friends and confidante’s. Without the comments, we’re talking to ourselves; unlike what you stated earlier in some regard, if you have your blog attached to your website and don’t get any comments it helps with your SEO greatly, thus you may keep writing for that reason, so it’s not totally useless. I also believe that for some people it’s a great outlet for releasing tension and getting one’s feelings out, comments or not.
You know the thing about blogs that don’t accept comments? Those aren’t really blogs, and I don’t read them. I don’t comment about them on Google Plus or anywhere else either; matter of fact, once I remember they don’t accept comments I don’t even read them because I’d rather treat social media as a social medium.
Thus, it’s why I comment, why I hope people stop by and comment on my blogs, and why I’m always urging people to not only write content that shows some personality while they’re writing about whatever topic they feel is necessary to write about, and to go and comment on some blogs here and there that interest them enough to comment on.
Goodness, this was close to being a post wasn’t it? 🙂
Wow Harleena!
You have shared so many excellent points in this post! But especially where you advise us to view blog comments as the gateway to an ongoing dialogue!
That’s a great way of viewing it and also an additional chance to provide ongoing customer service.
Thank you for sharing your amazing journey! There’s simply no way to totally appreciate how much hard work, dedication and consistency you’ve put in, to reach your current level of participation!
I’ve seen your comments all over the place, but I initially saw your comments on my coach, mentor and friend, Adrienne Smith’s excellent blog.
Now it makes a lot more sense, why I see you everywhere! And why you have such a loyal and devoted following!
Your comments, like Adrienne and another coach of mine, Donna Merrill’s are always very thought provoking and attentive!
I’ve read several of them. Now I’ll definitely be stopping by more often, plus sharing you extremely valuable comment as well! Thanks for sharing your thoughts on very engaging topic!
Hi Mark, and welcome to my blog!
I’m so glad you like the post. Yes, comments are basically discussions, which are in fact, extended conversations or dialogue.
Blogging is hard work – it’s a profession where you give more than you receive, of course, initially. If you set the base and fundamentals right, you can then go on to reap benefits later.
One thing you mention is very important in blogging – participation. Try being standalone and see how successful you’re as a blogger. You’ll then realize the importance of being social and networking, which is blogging is all about, besides being helpful and useful.
You need to be social and participate through blog comments and social media. Ah.. Adrienne is a blogging guru and Donna is another one, so its good that you learn from them.
Yes, I think its blog commenting that’s helped me to develop relations, build a community, and make myself a face in the crowd.
Thanks for visiting and sharing your wonderful views. Hope to see you around and have a great week ahead! 🙂
Hello Harleena Maam,
This is the best post of your blogging section on Ahanow.com. Blog comments play an essntial role in every bloggers life. When I was a newbie I got no shares and comments due to which I thought to gave up with blogging. I got frustrated and thought that I should push it aside. But after connected with a reputed blogger he advised me to be consistent. After few days I got my first blog comment. It was a miracle in my life and I gifted that person a free premium template. Slowly and slowly I started getting comments. I discussed their problems by starting long conversations with them.
This is also helped me in Strengthening my SEO strategy by insterting essential keyword phrases within my blog comments.
Thanks for sharing this ultimate article.
Do enjoy your weekend Maam 🙂
Hi Nikhil,
I’m glad you like the post. Yes, I agree that blog comments are very important and helpful too. And, they’re a great way to connect, network, and have extended conversations.
Whoever told you to stick on, gave the right suggestion, and you did the right thing to implement that. Yes, blog commenting also helps in SEO by getting you back links, which isn’t really that big a ranking factor, but still.
Thanks for visiting and commenting on this post. Have a great week ahead! 🙂
Hi Harleena,
I think they are vital to new blogs but I can see the point of the blogs that get 200+ comments, how can they keep up with it all unless they hire someone or outsource it?
I love comments for it lets me know what readers think and I can plan better follow up posts along the way. It’s a great way to thank people too when you leave a comment on someone else’s blog. There are more pluses for comments than negatives but time would be the negative for me. There are days I don’t have time to leave comments on other blogs and feel a little guilty. I eventually do get around to it. I found this post very interesting and read from the day it came out but am just getting around to commenting today.
I’m not a big fan of the Google+ comment system, it’s okay but sometimes I may skip if I come across one. I prefer CommentLuv and Disqus is okay too.
It will be interesting to see how the blogs who turn off comments will do. Time will tell 🙂 Thanks Harleena for a great discussion here and have a wonderful weekend.
Hi Lisa,
I totally agree with you. Comments are good for the growth of new blogs. And getting excessive comments too turns out to be a problem. However, when we talk of a site or organization like Copyblogger, that’s not a problem because they keep employees, who take care of the comments. But I understand that it might become overwhelming even for them, and of course, the company would like to save the resources and put them to some other better use.
Definitely, comments are helpful in more than one ways. But blog commenting is time consuming. Time is a great resource and we all find it difficult to take out time to comment as we really should do. I can understand whenever you’re not here to comment, so you don’t have to feel guilty; we all are in the same boat! 🙂
Well, I don’t think Google+ has officially rolled out its commenting system for WordPress, so until it does that, it no use putting that onto our blogs. But I might do that the day an official version is out.
It’s very clear that the big blogs will keep doing as usual, while the smaller blogs might suffer from a loss of traffic, engagement, and community.
Thanks for visiting and sharing your views. Have a great week ahead! 🙂
Hi Harleena,
I hope you don’t mind, but I haven’t read your whole post. Way too long, nothing new.
While I didn’t expect anything new to me on this topic, I wanted to see how and what YOU write. As opposed to many blogs I’ve recently read, my first impression is that you know what you’re talking about.
Don’t even think that I’m trying to flatter you in order to get a backlink. I don’t need it and it’s quite worthless (keep reading to see why!) Actually I’m quite known as a bad guy telling what he thinks 🙂 I don’t post positive feedback for the sake of being polite and creating so called relationships.
I have a question, that’s why I post this comment. I’m always interested in finding out what other bloggers think on different topics that may be controversial. And by “other bloggers” I don’t understand the tons of copycats or people who post these days their garbage online.
Here’s the question… Blog commenting has to be a win-win case. While you’re happy to get comments on your blog, what makes you think that commenting on this type of page like yours is something good?
Here’s what I mean… Your blog post is very long. Time-consuming for a reader. After the blog post, there are 70-80 comments. I don’t think that too many people will spend even more time reading these comments. They’re quite hard to read anyway because of the tiny font size. Therefore, if almost no one reads the comments, who will click the links? Only the worthless groups of bloggers who are not interested in the content the other bloggers post, but they click the links to find out other blogs where to post their worthless comments and get backlinks.
So… forgetting this special case when I wanted to “meet” you and see how and what you think… why should I waste my time commenting on such a page?
Commenting on such a page is counter-productive and a waste of time (and money). That’s one of the reasons many bloggers don’t make money online. They waste too much of their time by doing things with zero ROI.
Now… if you don’t mind… just curious… What’s YOUR take? 🙂
Hi Adrian, and welcome to my blog!
I’m sorry if you find the post long, but that is what my blog readers like. And, you’ll be surprised to know, if you haven’t already, that Google too loves long pieces of content that are more engaging and contain more value.
However, I did not intentionally make the post long keeping that in view. It’s just that when you try to make the post complete by including all the diverse views so as to present the big picture, it gets lengthy.
There’s nothing ever new in this world, we’re just repeating everything that has been said and done for thousands of years. Even closure of blog comments was done way back in 2006 by Seth Godin, so there’s nothing new. But we’re here to discuss the event, not matter if its new or old. And I’m sure you’ll agree that there’s an engaging discussion on this post and people have their own views that they’re eager to share. So, isn’t that a good thing that this post has been able to bring about, even if its a bit long.
It’s good to know that you came here to see how and what I write, so how do you find it? I know blog commenting inside out and its like my religion to me, because I’ve been using it successfully in blogging. So, I had to write about it, even if a lot about it has been written before.
I like your attitude of saying it on the face and that means total transparency, which is a good thing. In that case, I’m more eager to know your views. 🙂
I know that the value of links by commenting is not much, but not all bloggers comment just for the sake of getting a link. They do it for developing relationship, network, and getting traffic back to their blogs.
You’ve asked me why your or other blogger’s commenting on my blog is good for me. Let me tell you the different perspectives. One is that Google loves this activity. If you ask why and how, so know that the more time you spend on my blog, I benefit. The more you read or write, I benefit. This is because Google like more “time on site” and “engagement” on the blogs.
Now, what do the readers or commenters get in return – they get new information or get to know different perspectives, it helps them develop their own viewpoint and the chance to express them and be a part of the discussion. They also get the value of their time spent on this post by getting traffic back to their blog through the links they leave on this post. So, its a win-win case as you suggest it should be.
Of course not everybody will read all the comments here, but some will, so there’s something for everybody. There are all kinds of people with different choices and liking, though you cannot please them all, but you can provide them with options that they can choose if they like.
I agree that the font size in the comments section is small, but you’re the first one to even raise this point. However, I’ll honor your suggestion and try to have the font size increased a bit so it becomes easy to read. Thanks for the suggestion.
You won’t believe that commenters to my blog do get traffic back to their blogs, and if they didn’t, why do you think they’d come back? Of course, not all come to get traffic, but CommentLuv helps them to display their latest posts, which does attracts other readers and many click on them.
Sorry to say but I think that’s a pessimistic view that only worthless group of bloggers will click on the links. By the way, I do not know of any “worthless groups of bloggers” and I don’t know your definition of such bloggers. For me, no one who comes to my blog is worthless, even you’re not. No matter what your views are, you’re worth and I value you. And I don’t think its a bad strategy to find the links of posts of other bloggers and comment there to increase your network and reach. Now, what is a worthless comment is also debatable and very subjective, I’d say. For some, even your comment would seem worthless, you see?
Each one to own, if you think it’s a waste of time to comment on long posts, then you should not comment, because then such comment would be worthless, and you’d waste the time of the other blogger in replying to it, isn’t it? I hope you understand that when you comment without any interest, you won’t be able to give any value, and valueless comments are worthless comments, and those who do that are worthless bloggers, aren’t they?
Now, if you only had to convey that commenting on long posts is a waste of time and money, you wouldn’t have left such a long comment yourself, and leave your CommentLuv link of your latest post too. How ironical! 🙂 You wouldn’t have left a comment here if it didn’t help you in anyway, and “meeting” me could just be an excuse. 🙂
It’s not about making money only all the time. I think you should clear the misunderstanding that you have. Even businesses have blogs and they too have conversations with their clients. Many bloggers are able to create networks and relationships through commenting that help them develop or propagate their business, and earn more money!
You need to look ahead, have a vision and some insight, see the big picture, and then you realize that blog commenting is a step to success. This might be a zero ROI activity for the time being, but it can bring you greater rewards more worth than the time you spend on commenting.
So, its all a matter of having different perspectives, ability to see possibilities, broad mind, good attitude, and positive thinking. If you’ve that, you’ll see the value in commenting. I hope I’ve been able to satisfy your curiosity. 🙂
Did you like my take?
Hi Harleena,
Thank you for your reply.
I didn’t plan to post a reply because I was expecting a certain position and I didn’t plan to start a debate. However, without debating anything, it seems that I should clarify some things…
1) Regarding the “long post” thing, I never claimed that it’s something bad. Not everything that I dislike is bad, I don’t have an “I’m a God” approach. I’ve only wanted to admit that I didn’t read the whole post. For a writer, blogger, whatever, it really doesn’t matter what one single reader thinks – if that’s contrary to the largest part of the readers. As for “there’s nothing ever new in this world” I completely disagree 🙂
2) “You’ve asked me why your or other blogger’s commenting on my blog is good for me” – that’s not true, I didn’t ask you such a question LOL – I know that it’s good for you, that’s why I said “while you’re happy to get comments on your blog…”
3) “You won’t believe that commenters to my blog do get traffic back to their blogs, and if they didn’t, why do you think they’d come back?” – I’m not interested in what the crowd is doing. Why should I? 90-95% of the people fail online; I’m here since lots of years 😉
4) “if you think it’s a waste of time to comment on long posts, then you should not comment” – I don’t do it. Extremely rarely I comment on blog posts where there are already a lot of comments. Commenting on your blog post was an exception.
5) “How ironical! 🙂 You wouldn’t have left a comment here if it didn’t help you in anyway, and “meeting” me could just be an excuse.” – I was unpleasantly surprised by this paragraph. I think that it’s the first time when someone suggests that I lie. I repeat it… I posted my comment only for the sake of asking you that question and see what you think about that topic. However, irrespective of what my main goal is, I always try to get the most of my time. That’s why you see my links on this page. And there was yet another goal for having THAT link posted under my comment. I suspected that you’ll tell me about creating relationships – and you did it! – and THAT was my response, posted in advance. But I guess you haven’t read that article.
6) “you should clear the misunderstanding that you have.” – I don’t have any misunderstanding. Maybe you have some misunderstandings (see for example the point 5 above) or maybe I’m guilty because I didn’t express very well my question. I guess that I should have been offended by your type of “teacher-student” approach, but I’m not. I had a good laugh. BTW, my question didn’t refer to “blog commenting” in general, so I don’t see the point of your paragraph that starts with “You need to look ahead”. My question was very specific and it referred to commenting on blog pages like this one that already have tens of comments. If my comment was the first comment, I see value in it. Maybe my question wasn’t very clear. If that’s the case, I do apologize.
7) “Did you like my take?” – It doesn’t matter whether I like it or not. I was expecting a position contrary to mine, and I wanted to see your reasons for that position 😉 It doesn’t even matter whether I think that you responded to my question or not. Thank you very much for your time & response.
Adrian,
Well, I guess you’re right that you probably didn’t express your question clearly, because I replied to what you exactly asked. Here’s your question:
“Blog commenting has to be a win-win case. While you’re happy to get comments on your blog, what makes you think that commenting on this type of page like yours is something good?”
You wanted to know my position and I told you about my views on how it is a win-win case, how do I benefit, and what do the commenters benefit. If you think you didn’t phrase your question as you wanted to, then kindly ignore my answers.
It could also be that I didn’t understand your question. If you wanted to ask me “why should I comment..”, then I’d say it’s all up to you, and you should find the reasons yourself if you don’t find my answers as convincing. But it’s okay to have diverse and different views, and that doesn’t make me or you, right or wrong on this issue, so there’s no reason for a debate. However, if you’re trying to create one, then it all depends on your motives.
As I said in my reply that “each one to own”, which means if you feel commenting on long posts is not good, then its okay. If yo don’t believe in building relationships, that’s absolutely fine. You can be as you want to be. That’s your view and life, and I respect it. I only tried to answer your specific question in totality in my reply, and it was not to refute your stance. As I said “There are all kinds of people with different choices and liking”, so it’s okay if you’re different, or I’m different, as you’d say. 🙂
Now, if you feel our discussion to be a teacher-student talk, probably its just how you take it, and I can’t do anything about it. And I’m sorry if you didn’t like my straightforward answers.
Of course, we’ve a contrary position, but the difference is that I respect your position, while accepting that my position is right for me, for the present.
I’m glad you commented and made my blog post an exception, I’m honored. Thanks for your visit, or your re-visit and I do hope to see you around! 🙂
Do have a great day ahead!
That’s me again. I just figured out that some people (including you, Harleena) may need more than words…
FACTS: Go to each commenter’s latest blog post (check the comments posted under my comment; you may check also the comments posted right above mine). On the left side is the title of the blog post and the link to it. On the right side, next to the headline, you’ll see a nice red heart (or something). Hover it. You’ll see “X clicks on this link on this comment”. I guess you’ll be surprised. Usually X is 0 😉
Q.E.D.
Adrian
P.S. Re: “You won’t believe that commenters to my blog do get traffic back to their blogs, and if they didn’t, why do you think they’d come back?”
Adrian, May be it happens to you that people don’t click on your comment links, but I do get lots of clicks on my comments. You can check that for yourself by using the same procedure as you described in the comment.
There could be lot’s of reasons for that and you need to make your own research, assessment, or guesses. If you really want clicks on your comment links, then probably you can try changing your comment strategy. If not, then it should hardly bother you. Please know that people just don’t click on every CommentLuv link – many reasons compel them to make that click, and I know that you don’t want a discussion on that. 🙂
I also don’t want to carry the discussion further, but just wanted to let you know that there are people who read the comments even if it is not in the beginning of the comments section, and Mitch’s reply to your comment is a proof.
Thanks for trying to prove your point and take care. 🙂
Harleena,
“I do get lots of clicks on my comments” – Don’t you want to understand that none of my comments refers to your results? All my comments refer to your commenters and their results. I didn’t include you in the expression “your commenters” LOL
This isn’t the first time when you make me think that you read only half of my comments… The part “FACTS” did NOT refer only to the link to my latest blog post:
“check the comments posted under my comment; you may check also the comments posted right above mine”
Have you checked the numbers before replying?
Last time when I checked them, the TOTAL number of clicks on ALL commenters’ latest blog post links posted under my comment plus some comments posted before mine was… ONE.
Just in case you won’t “understand” it again 😉 => one blogger got one click and all the others got ZERO clicks on their links.
That means that your commenters who didn’t have the chance to be the first commenters… got NOTHING in terms of traffic.
These facts support my original point.
You can keep making assumptions and pretend that my questions and comments aren’t clear. I’ll keep being polite and pretend that they aren’t clear. The facts are still facts though 😉
This was my last comment on this blog post. That’s a promise.
You’re funny, Adrian.
I meant to say when I comment on other blogs, provided there’s substantial traffic, I get lots of clicks, no matter where my comments is positioned.
As per the point you’re making, you might be right that commenters here are not getting the traffic. However, this also proves one more point, that people come to my blog not for traffic or links, but they really come for the content, to take part in the discussions, and for the relationship. Thanks for helping to clear other myths and reveal this fact. 🙂
I can see your politeness, and thanks for being that. I’m glad we can end the discussion on this post. You’re always welcome and we’ll meet on some other post. Till then, take care! 🙂
Wow, if you thought this post was way too long don’t ever visit my blog.
I’ll say this. Everyone has the right to decide what they will and won’t read, and has the right to comment or not. Then again, every blogger has the right to determine whether to accept the comment or not.
As soon as you said you didn’t read the entire thing and that you wouldn’t find it worth your time to comment on a blog with so many other comments, but you were commenting anyway, I’d have deleted your comment and logged your IP and never had to worry about it again. You might as well have just said “I don’t care what you have to say but I wanted to say something anyway.”
That’s how I take it, especially with your final shot at all bloggers about zero ROI; so condescending…
Hi Mitch,
I didn’t say I don’t read long posts. I haven’t read THIS blog post on THIS topic. That’s different.
Well, actually I’ve read part of it. Because I liked what I’ve read (Harleena’s style) I posted the comment (the question).
It may not have any sense to you. I cannot force you understand that someone may like other person’s style but may not be interested in reading a specific section of an article.
I understand from your comment that admitting the truth is something very bad and may get me banned. Well, that’s it, I can survive such a shock. Or drama? LOL
As for the rest of your reply, I won’t comment it. When it comes to your blog, you do whatever you think it’s best for you.
Thanks for joining in and making your point, Mitch.
I agree with you that we all have our right to be and do as we want. In addition I’d say that this is a world of diversity of personalities and plurality of views, and the best approach is to accept the differences, and stick to what you believe in instead of trying to prove the other person wrong.
I do like to have different perspectives on my posts and that is why I approved Adrian’s comment. But I guess you’re right, if a person comments without reading the post, that comment does not deserve to be answered.
Thanks for visiting and sharing your views. I appreciate it. Have a great week ahead! 🙂
Hi Harleena, This is great! Advice on commenting from the Queen of Blog Comments!
I am more mixed about blog comments than you are, Harleena. I value them as much as you do for the reasons you state. Blog comments are the lifeblood of a blog. An article without comments just seems lonely. But one with a vibrant conversation seems like a wonderful gathering of friends. Even, or especially when, there is lively debate a conversation is engaging.
I have also made friends through blog commenting. When you think about it, how did I get to know my blogging buddies such as you? Through blog commenting! While it may seem a strange way to get to know someone but it really does happen.
On the other hand, comments can be poison. I have visited sites where the comments clearly aren’t moderated and the comment section is like a cesspool. This is especially prevalent in the tech world. In fact, my brother didn’t want me to start a blog because of the commenters I would get.
Fortunately, his predictions didn’t turn out to be true. Commenters at The Wonder of Tech are the most treasured readers, offering insights, tips, praise and support. I get many article ideas from commenters who have questions about tech.
Google+ comments may work for some like Ana, but I have plenty of readers who don’t have a Google account. Yes, many tech newbies come to my blog for the basics. I want commenting to be as easy as possible, no logins or accounts required.
I’m with you, Harleena, native WordPress commenting with CommentLuv. Reward the commenters who are gracious enough to leave a valued comment. I also agree with you that your time is well spent commenting. A million words is impressive but not surprising. You’re everywhere leaving valuable comments. When I arrive at a blog and see a comment from you, I know that I will be reading quality content.
Have a lovely weekend, Harleena!
Hi Carolyn,
Ah.. I really want to give up that title! Lol. Well, yes if I don’t speak up about blog commenting then who will! 🙂
Well said about how and what are blog comments. But you’ll be surprised to learn their views on their latest follow up post, where they’ve ridiculed the common view that “a blog is not a blog without comments”.
Yes, absolutely. Blog comments help to create a network, which is good for the blogosphere and the web, and even for Google. I don’t deny that social media commenting would not serve these purpose too, but blog commenting has its own charm and there are other advantages too.
Blog commenting extends the visit of the visitor to a blog that results in higher “time on site”, which is one of the ranking factor, and the engagement is valued too.
You’re right that comments can be bad too and spoil the image of your blog too. But then, this is nature’s law that there’ll be some bad where ever there’s good! And, that doesn’t mean you stop doing or being good.
Yours is a great site and I agree that the comments and commenters are great there. I agree that not all have a Google account and probably that’s why Google wants the conversation to shift on Google+ so that the rest will also have to migrate there and create their accounts. This is just a speculation that Google could’ve influenced the big players in the blogging world to make such moves.
No matter what, the native commenting system stays, and CommentLuv is a great value addition. Blog commenting is rewarding and definitely well worth the time spent. There might be thousands more bloggers with a million words in comments or even more, and I’m sure they all are of the same view that we express here.
Thanks for sharing your so thoughtful and valuable comment. I really appreciate it. Thanks for visiting and have a great week ahead! 🙂
Great post Harleena!
I was kind of shocked when I read Copyblogger’s post that they were taking off the comments. I also was surprised that they’re encouraging people to take the conversation to Google Plus because they’ve always stressed that social media should complement your blog/website. After all, Google Plus could be deleted tomorrow. What would you do? Hopefully, if you use social media, you drive people back to your blog/website.
I still have comments activated on my blog. However, I need to play “catch up” with regards to commenting on blog post. The three month contract I have is keeping me busy. I’m trying to use the weekends to read blogs and comment. 🙂
Have a great weekend!
Hi Amandah,
Well with time people change, situations change, and so do the strategies change. I’m sure Brian Clark is thinking well ahead of us, and probably he’s aware of some changes that are going to happen that we’re not even slightest aware of. Taking off the comments was a big decision and probably they’ve a big reason for that, other than what they’re telling everybody.
They’ve come up with a follow up post trying to justify their position and rubbish some of the views expressed that are similar to the views on this post. One point that state is that we should not be possessive about our comments, so if Google+ goes away, let your comments go too!
I agree that blog commenting is not an easy process, especially for us freelance writers who’ve to devote time on other tasks too. But in any case, the rewards are always there, no matter how much or how less you use it.
Thanks for visiting and sharing your views, I really appreciate your time and efforts. Have a great week ahead! 🙂
I agree with you that it depends where you’re at. I definitely see the value in taking the conversation to Google + but not everyone can do that effectively. I would not close my blog comments at this point, because I’m not big enough. I do like the sense of community it brings…I have a lot of people who frequently comment and you get to know people that way. Great discussion!
Hi Michelle,
You’re absolutely right – it all depends on where you’re at. It’s not bad to take the conversation to Google+, but discarding the native commenting system is way out of question.
Definitely, we get a community, develop relationships, create a network, and have a support system too. You might not get these if you’re not blog commenting, isn’t it?
Glad you like this discussion. Thanks for being a part of it. Do have a great week ahead! 🙂
Hi Harleena,
This is quite an epic post and thought provoking, too. I have often felt that if I didn’t have to do blog commenting, I could have had 3 or 4 new products, written an ebook for publishing etc.
However, blog commenting for me, is about making new friends and learning. I would not know 1/2 of what I know if it weren’t for blog commenting. I love it when I go to a blog and can implement a traffic strategy or a blog strategy right now and it doesn’t take an army to help me.
People might dislike what I’m going to say but, here it goes. When top bloggers become too big for their britches, their humanness seems to dissipate.
I say now, that I will never stop blog commenting unless, I have to.
Thank you for this excellent post because it was a great read.
Geri
Hi Geri,
I’m glad you like the post.
Definitely, you could do many things more and probably earn more money too if you don’t interact with other bloggers and engage in blog commenting. Same way you can say that if you don’t be social then you can devote all time to your work, but that doesn’t happen so. You have to be social to balance out your life, and blog commenting too is a balancing act that even rewards you.
Yes, commenting is a great way to know people, develop relationships, and get traffic too. Well, I’d agree with you that closing the comments was a very selfish act, but then we don’t own Copyblogger or they aren’t obligatory to us, so they can take any decision they feel is best for them. They’ve probably thought of everything and have a strategy in place.
But the strategy for us is to keep the blog commenting and carry on our conversations the humanly way, right?
Thanks for visiting and sharing your wonderful views. Have a great day ahead! 🙂
Hi Harleena,
Wowowow…what an incredible post. 🙂
As always, you always write a very detailed, informative, killer content. Wow, you just blow my mind. I am keeping this post on my Pocket. And the rest of the links you’ve included here are also on my Pocket for more reading. I have never heard this before, pro bloggers closing down their blog comments. Wow…I don’t think I can do that.
Do you think commenting is overwhelming? Yes. Absolutely. I sometimes just want to quit because I feel like I have to comment back in order to keep my landing page traffic, but then this is better than organic search because we just never know how search engine like Google will change again to another interesting animal. Though blog comments can be overwhelming, the reward on this is tremendous. This is how I gained trust and respect from others, so I’m not sure I want to diminish from this.
Do you believe you can take up the social media as an alternative to blog commenting? Wow. I’m not sure. It’s kinda scary to do this specially when you just started. I’m not sure I would want to put my eggs in one basket. Look what Facebook did, change their edgerank, and lots of people are pissed off. After you gained “likes” and now they expect you to pay for your viewers in order for your fans to see your posts. No way! Some of my friends use Google+ and WordPress comments platform…which can be confusing to newbies. To me, why would I give all my comments to Google+? I will never own my comments…have they ever decide to dissappear on me the next day I’m screwed up. So, how do I know Google+ will not do the same thing like Facebook did? Do you really think that social media are here for FREE? Absolutely not. They are here for money. If Google+ goes on public and they want to build their stock to billions of money, I don’t think they’ll have a second thought to think small potatoes like me.
If I become big someday like Neil Patel, Brian Clark (copyblogger), Pat Flynn…I’m not sure whether I’d do the same thing they’re doing now. I can’t say it now coz I’m not in that position, yet. It’s hard to say. Maybe I will. Maybe I won’t. If I want to continue the blog commenting, by that time I am prolly making 6-7 figures, and I’m sure I can afford to pay a virtual assistant, right? But then virtual assistant is not really you but someone else’s voice. So its hard to say. And yet I don’t really trust social media all the way coz once I give them full control as an alternative to blog commenting, they might take it for granted and hold you hostage with your viewers, fans, and audience. The only thing I can be sure of here is the Email List, which nobody can take away from you. Organic search? It’s nice to have but unpredictable. Social media in replacement of blog commenting? I’m not sure about this. Anyway…
Thank you for all of the hard work you put into this post. I don’t know how you are able to answer all your blog comments, write 2000 words per post twice a week, read 10-12 blog posts a day and at same time comment on their blogs…you must be SUPERWOMAN. I can see you might go in the route like Copybloggers are doing. It’s exhausting to write 100-500 comments 10x/day. Look, I hardly read 5-blogs a day though I try to attain this goal day-after-day, its very complicated, I only post once-a-week, and I’m already exhausted. So I can understand when you said it’s very hard to have quality time with your loved ones. I can see the point.
Anyhoo, great post as always. Have a lovely weekend.
Angela
Hi Angela,
I’m so glad you like this post so much!
Well, yes many probloggers have done this before so this is something not new. It’s understandable that When the comments get enormous and out of bounds, you’ve to find a way to deal with them. It’s just a bit puzzling that they chose this way of dealing with them.
You see, every one of us finds commenting as overwhelming and would reduce it if given a chance, isn’t it? But then, it is essentially a necessity too.
You’re absolutely right that blog commenting is a reliable mode of blog traffic that will work even if Google or any other social media fails. That’s really a great point you’ve made here. I agree that the comments give us the individual recognition and respect that we look for, and it is sure rewarding in spite of the hard work involved.
Yes, like FB, even G+ can change its rules or criteria and we’d be left stranded no where if we totally rely on them. As about owning up the comments, you can read the follow up post on Copyblogger and their view is that you should not be possessive about the comments.
Again a great point – no social media is here to give all free services. Of course, they’ve their ulterior motives and which is to directly or indirectly earn money. They’ll definitely go for the big money than think of us, you’re right!
It’s difficult to say what we’ll be doing when we become big.. probably disable the links and not reply to the comments at the most, but closing the comments is a bit rude thing to do, isn’t it? Can you imagine that Copyblogger has full time employees and even then they found it overwhelming to manage the comments?
I agree that there’s no way one should discard the blog’s native commenting system, but there’s no harm to leverage the social media too along side, just like Ana Hoffman is doing. Social media commenting as replacement of blog commenting – that’s a big NO.
Ah.. you see I try very hard to do everything, but I may not be able to do them all or in time. For example, this comment reply comes to you after about a week. So dear, I’m a human too and have my limitations. 🙂 It’s a fact that the more successful or popular your blog becomes, the more hard work you need to put in. Since nobody is a superman or super woman, you need to find a way that suits you, helps you manage things, and solves your problems.
As for me, I’ve sort of lessened my activities and I give more time to my family now. After all, the blog is not your life and should never be, right?
Thanks for this marvelous comment and your great insights. I really appreciate the value you’ve added to this post. Thanks for visiting and do have a great week ahead! 🙂
HI Harleena Mam,
Nice to see your post related to blog commenting . yeah i like to get more and more comments on my blog post just like you and any other bloggers . In this case i am using Intensedebate on my Blogger Platform blog . some pro blogger advises me to use intensedebates it will help you to get more comments it provides to put blog link with comment. SO, mam after the read your post it is mind blowing . And just look like a complete research .
Thanks Mam.
~Sanu~
Hi Siddharth,
I’m glad you like the post.
I hope you’re getting comments now on your blog, at least at my interview post. 😉
It’s good if you use intensedebate, whereas CommentLuv too is good in that respect.
Thanks for visiting this post and commenting on it. Have a great week ahead! 🙂
I don’t know if I can add anything to this that you haven’t already covered, but I would like to say that whenever I get a new comment on my blog, it makes me happy. I like the engagement factor! I also try to add something to my comments to newcomers the second and third time around that is personal. Often I check out their site and make a mental note of some fact about them, and then mention it in a roundabout way in my reply. This makes them feel valued, and more likely to leave a comment in the future!
I’ve been doing this with my other blog, Poetry Perfected, this month, as I am participating in the A to Z blogging challenge. (My poetry blog is my other, more neglected blog.)
I love blogging, and commenting, and all it entails. But Jeevan’s recent post about commenting really made me think about why I do what I do when it comes to commenting. Some weeks, I comment a lot; others, very little. It depends on my schedule, as it is time-consuming.
But I don’t have to tell YOU that. Do I? 😉
Hi Lorraine,
Comments work as great incentives for bloggers and writers. It’s really nice to know other people and build relationships through the comments, isn’t it?
Not to mention that the engagement helps you as the visitors “time on site” increases, which too is Google’s one of the ranking factors, I guess. You’re just doing great for your blog commenters to make them feel more at home! Of course, everyone likes to be valued and be heard, and relationship through commenting is a win-win for all.
It’s good to know about your Poetry blog, and yes it becomes difficult to manage more than one blog. My writing blog too stands neglected.
Blog commenting is time consuming and you should follow a schedule that suits you and your work, and yes, I too need to be reminded that as well! 😉 As for me, I love it too and its my passion.
Thanks for visiting and commenting on this post as it adds more value. Have a great week ahead! 🙂
I confess I have mixed feelings about blog comments. First of all I think it’s worth acknowledging that many of the comments we see on blogs come from blogger communities. And while I value those comments and the associated social shares, it’s also the reason that I now resort to manually approving each comment because some people are more concerned about presenting their own expertise than contributing to the conversation. Even then I don’t mind it so long as what they say actually has to do with the article, but I’m regularly having to filter comments that are self serving to the extreme, often completely missing the point of the article, or little more than cut and paste from the article – both of these are automatically deleted. Oh my, that was like a mini rant. Anyway, I have no plans to close comments any time soon, but I will be honest enough to admit it’s a goal I aspire to …
Hi Marquita and good to see you here!
You’re absolutely right that most of the comments we get on our blogs are by fellow bloggers themselves. I think approving comments manually is being wise and I’ve been doing this from day 1. People do try to use the comments to their favor by either promoting themselves or their products, recently I had a comment where the blogger shamelessly inserted his cloaked affiliate link. So, while all this happens, because you cannot expect total purity and ideal behavior everywhere, I still value blog commenting because majority of comments that I get are valuable.
I guess if you ever want to avoid useless commenters and irrelevant comments, you should disable the option to link back to their website. That would automatically filter your commentaters and only the ones who’re really interested in carrying on the conversation will comment. What do you think of that?
Thanks for visiting and your mini rant which really is important and I appreciate your views. Have a great day ahead! 🙂
Hi Harleena,
You have a great blog.I have read your above article from start to finish. I think blog comments are very much required. Because of the popularity increases post. Thanks
Hi Oyunlar and welcome to my blog!
Thanks for reading and appreciating the post.
It’s nice to know about your views on blog commenting.
Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
Hi Harleena,
How are you? First, congratulations for your 1 million words journey and absolutely you deserve for that. 🙂
Last time when I posted my comments at Mayura’s blog, I did mention about you and your writing effort. You are really exceptional. I am not just telling by word and who ever see your postings can recognize and feel it. The words, the way you express your emotional stuffs on subject are in depth and very detail. Wow…really great and tremendous effort needed. I love it. 🙂
In short, blogging means sharing, communicating, discuss, understand and of course if possible make money out of it. Again, This would differ to every individuals.
The right answer would be, where would you like to head? What’s your set target? If, your goal is just fun and share…then I would say commenting is crucial. If your target is becoming a prime tech blogger, or business then there are enough no of sources available where you can open the success gate without commenting on others blog. Social media helps thousands of ways now.
As you have pointed Amit and other pro bloggers are great examples. Think your niche and put creative effort and present it. It will surely grow. Time and effort does matters. Otherwise, I am a great lover to pass comments when we really read great posts and informative scoops.
Thanks again for the great post Harleena. 🙂
Have a great week end..!
Hi Manickam and nice to have you back!
I’m fine and how are you? Thank you for your wishes if reaching that milestone in commenting is really a feat to be proud of! 😉
Thanks for all your kind words and it all surely means a lot to me.
Yes, I totally agree with your description of blogging. It’s more than just writing good content, isn’t it?
I think blog commenting helps on all fronts and even helps you create great relationships to build your business, and eventually make money.
I enjoy comments and loved reading yours too!
Thanks for taking time to visit and share your wonderful views on this post. I appreciate it. Have a great week ahead! 🙂
RIght off the bat, I completely agree with you, Harleena – DON’T rush to remove blog comments. They truly are the life of every blog that wants to grow readership. I have no idea who Mike Butcher is, but what he said was very true “Blogging is a conversation”.
And here’s blog commenting in action and generating results – it was the result of all your comments at Traffic Generation Café that I got to know you. It DOES work; that’s hard to dispute.
I am still not sure what I think about Copyblogger closing down their comments. Link fishing? Possibly. However, I doubt it that their readers will rush to “discuss” their posts on their own blogs, wouldn’t you agree?
I do love G+ comments. It wasn’t love at first sight, but once I saw how much more engagement I get from them, I was sold. Of course, as you rightfully noticed, I still keep the native WP comment system and not planning on getting rid of it any time soon.
Thanks for the very thoughtful post, Harleena, and the shout is always much appreciated.
Hi Ana,
Sorry this reply comes a bit late, but its good in a way so that I can let you know that there’s a follow up post on Copyblogger, which doesn’t like some of the views that are similar to the ones on this post.
Very true, blogging is more than just content creation, as it includes content dialog or conversation to make it complete and unique too. But as per their latest post, they reject the necessity of comments and suggest that people should not be possessive about comments.
I consider our comments as part of our personalities, or at least as significant indicators of who we are – and we judge or come to know people through their comments. At least this is what is the case on my blog. Comments are thoughts and emotions in form of words, and you probably liked my personality and emotional value, which led you to develop relationship with me. So, yes comments work.
I don’t think it’s link fishing – they’ve the option to disable all comment links in that case, rather than close the comments. I think it’s more about leveraging Google+, create more powerful links and rankings, and of course, saving time and money in managing the comments on their blog, which I agree might be in enormous quantity.
However, I do agree that only a fraction of readers will go to their social media accounts to discuss the posts, which is probably what they want, to filer out useless comments, and besides this post, I don’t think anybody will discuss their posts on their own blogs.
I’m sure G+ comments are good and valuable in every way, and coming from you, I believe it more. There’s absolutely nothing wrong in leveraging G+ for its value, but if its at the cost of degrading something else, then its a different matter, right?
Thanks for taking time to visit and share your intelligent views on this post and make it more valuable. I really appreciate it. Have a great week ahead! 🙂
Hi Harleena mam,
Nice to see you talking about comment. As we all know that comment has nothing to do get traffic but even I admire the process of comment. It looks on your blog good and make look flourish. I even cant see my blog isolated that will kill me and something like nightmare for me.
To get the gimpse of external appearance of my blog I love to embrace blogs comment.
As we all know that you are queen of comment and I know it kills our time but even we love to have discussion which make us alive.
Comment makes your blog look active also which is only possible through conversation and long response.
Love to read you always great write up I wish I could have presented this way on my post about comment. Thanks for sharing
Hi Shiwangi,
Well, I and many other bloggers would politely differ with your thought that comments has nothing to do with traffic. First thing, blog commenting should not be done with the sole aim of getting traffic through them, but the fact is that if your comments are good, they bring you lot of traffic, again that depends on where you’re commenting.
And comments are not a cosmetic value addition, but they are extension of the post, feedback, and conversations based on the post. However, it’s true that many people don’t treat them this way.
Yes, comments do make our blog active and at most times the comments are worth our time.
Thanks for your kind words and thanks for stopping by and sharing your view. 🙂
Hi Harleena,
Again you have come up with Great post.
You have right to say here that blog commenting is the prime way of link exchange, link building, and driving good traffic to our blogs, but we can also do by social media sites……can you suggest me which one is better???
Hi Sarah and welcome to my blog!
Of course, you can do it all at the social media sites too. Google+ and Facebook are the two big names.
Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
Very well said. Thank you for this informative post. I am pretty new to blogging and quite frankly running myself ragged with it. But to hear that it might actually do some good helps me to keep on. I am sharing your post with my blogging buddies. Hopefully they’ll start leaving some in depth comments instead of just “Nice post.”
Hi Kim and welcome to my blog!
Thank you, I’m glad you like the post.
The initial days of blogging are definitely bit tough, but things get a bit easy once you get a hold. Comments will come, just keep writing great content and keep promoting them.
Thanks for sharing this post and commenting here. Have a great week ahead! 🙂
Hi Harleena,
Blog Commenting is certainly a part of work for bloggers. But most of sites don’t use it properly or get success without it.
I think blog commenting is a great way to interact with other bloggers. It helps to know other bloggers. We’ll never meet other bloggers in our life. But through blog commenting we can know each other in a better way.
I also agree with you. If we stop commenting, we can spend that leisure time in other works too. Another thing blogging helps to get traffic, increase earning & above all helps to promote new bloggers site.
Have a nice & safe weekend 🙂
Hi Ahsan,
You’re right in that blog commenting is a useful resource only if it’s used in the right way.
Interaction and engagement not only create relationships but also value for the blog where the comments are.
Blog commenting has its pros and cons, but we can weigh out its pros more.
Thanks for visiting and sharing your views. Have a great week ahead! 🙂
Hi Harleena,
Another great post that is not only a good read but also mind expanding. The theme you repeat over and over in this post is building relationships. When I first got into Internet Marketing it was about making a buck. As I read more, follow influencers in IM and closely related fields, it is obvious that money comes from people and people only give you money once you have a relationship built with them and they trust you. It’s about engaging people, the money is an amazing side deal.
Not only that, but the relationships you build will not only expand your business but expand you as a person. An additional side benefit to commenting is learning from others like your amazing blog. So, blog commenting will remain an opportunity I continue to take part in. Thanks…I’ll be back to comment some more 😉
Hi LeslieZ,
I’m glad you like the post. Yes, you’re right – commenting is all about developing relationships, and its the relationships that bring you business. That’s right – money is a side deal. Without relationship, you get nothing.
Oh yes, I too find comments a great resource and sometimes the valuable golden nuggets there are more valuable than the post itself. Like what you just mentioned here, I did not in the post, but it makes so much sense and the post would be incomplete if your view weren’t an extended part of it.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts, I really appreciate them. Have a great week ahead! 🙂
Hey Harleena,
So what are my thoughts on this, huh!!!
I’m aware that Copyblogger closed their comments and great, they want everyone else to talk about them all over the place and that will help their site. Okay one up for them right now but trust me, that conversation is going to be gone next week and then what! They are going to have their work cut out for them and this time they’ll have no control over what’s being said.
Now I’ve learned how some big named bloggers started out having a successful blog without any comments to begin with and those came later. It’s 100% possible but like anything else, it’s a lot of work.
In my opinion, comments make the blog because it gives our readers an opportunity to voice their opinions, share their thoughts, teach us as well, help answer questions and just be part of the conversation. To me blogging has been moving more toward community and without comments then you just aren’t able to achieve that.
I’ve read why Copyblogger is testing this out and that’s definitely their business. If they’re worried about spam then they obviously have not tried everything. I think that’s just an excuse. I really find it surprising that they would want the interaction to go to social media, sites they do not control nor own for people’s opinion on their content. That is telling me that they’re putting all their eggs in the social media’s basket and we all know what a huge mistake that can be.
Too many people once again are relying on Google because of their commenting system and how enticing it is to help them rank. Great, terrific but what’s going to happen when they start getting spammy comments there that they can’t control and once again Google gets tired of that crap and changes things again. Huh, wonder what the heck they’ll think about that then. Or like Twitter considering doing away with hashtags and the @ mentions, how will that affect the conversations there.
I don’t know, they’re big businesses and obviously a whole lot smarter then me since they are up there and I’m way down here. One thing is for sure, I continue to keep totally 100% control over my own content and that means my comments too. Sure, us little guys I think would be stupid to close ours but I think these big bloggers are just moving away from blogging per se because they’re now running a big business so for them this might be the right solution. For us, not so much.
Okay, that’s all I’m saying on that and all the more power to them.
~Adrienne
Hi Adrienne,
Sorry for being a bit late here, but I totally agree with you that people are not going to talk about your posts for long if you close the comments, even if its Copyblogger (let’s call them CB). In fact, they’ve come up with a follow up post justifying their act and decision, and ridiculing some of the points that were similar to the ones made on this post.
Well, as far as comments are concerned CB says that the conversation continues at Googel+, so they’re not closing the door on that. But then in a way they’re because it’s like – you’re not welcome at our home but you can go out and talk in the park, where you’ll find many other people too.
Yes, I don’t think its the spam issue and that’s simply an excuse. One simple action can reduce all their spam – don’t allow any kind of links in the comments. Obviously, spammers come for backlinks, and even the vague and meaningless commenters will fade away when they find that they can’t leave their link on that great site. But the good thing that happens is that interested people can continue their conversation where the content matter is.
Although their logic is that on Google+, since the comments are tied up with their real identity, they’ll be decent and meaningful. And of course, only the seriously interested people will go there and that drastically reduces the comment volume, so that is more easy to manage. In today’s post, they state that they don’t even consider the comments as “eggs”, and they don’t care even if they lose them.
Yes, you got it all right that its all about Google, its links and ranking. On the other hand, they save a lot of time and money too that is spent on managing the comments. So, its a wise decision business-wise, but only they can take such a risk because they already have their private community on their site, which is quite enough for them.
I agree that its totally a different story for us, the normal bloggers. I’ve observed that the overwhelming reaction on this site and else where has been to have the comments where the matter is.
I know a lot can be said and discussed on this issue, but we better close it and get on our jobs while we let them be happy with what and how they want to be, right?
Thanks for taking out time and contributing your so valuable thoughts on this matter and adding more meaning to this post. I really appreciate it. Do have a great week ahead! 🙂
I am so glad I came across your blog. Great post and great advice. Us struggling not-so-newbie-but-not-so-overwhelmingly-popular bloggers need advice such as yours to keep us on our P’s and Q’s. Thanks so much.
Hi Nikki and welcome to my blog!
We all need advice, ideas, and help from each other time-to-time to follow the right path, as we share the same journey, right?
Glad you like the post and the advice. Thanks for stopping bu and hope to see you around! 🙂
Hi Harleena!
I agree with you, I believe beginning bloggers to accept comments on their blog, and also leave comments on other blogs. Commenting both ways will definitely help a blogger create a community. To comment on feeling overwhelmed, I believe it depends upon the person. For me, the only time I do not feel overwhelmed if I am not following a schedule or sticking to my schedule. In most cases people forget that discpline trumps talent everytime. I encourage anyone to find a schedule that works for them and practice self discipline to follow through. It does not matter about the number, but that you follow through. Instead of commenting on 10 blogs per day, maybe 3-5 starting out. Once again, great article. I enjoyed reading it.
Hi Karl and welcome to my blog!
Glad you agree with the views expressed in the post. Without comments there can be no blog community. However, if you take the conversations to the social media, you can have a community there, but that won’t be like the community you can have at your own blog, right?
“Discipline trumps talent”, that is certainly true and well said. It’s good to keep a schedule and follow it.
Thanks for visiting, reading, and sharing your views. I hope to see you around and that you’ve a great week ahead! 🙂
Well said Harleena.
Like you said the importance of having a way for your readers to interact with you on your blog is vital for a growing blog. It’s one of the main ways you can tell if the content you’re creating is striking a chord with your audience. I get why CopyBlogger shut off their commenting system. The time vs value for them was no longer balanced.
Again, great job!
DJ
Hi DJ and it’s so good to see you here!
Sorry I’m a bit late in replying, but it’s better late than never, right?
Yes, the growing blogs do need interaction, and comments are great means to achieve that purpose. Of course, at times comments can be your yardstick to measure the effectiveness of your posts.
CopyBlogger might’ve had their share of problems and we can respect their decision. But for the new and not-so-new bloggers like us, comments are good. 🙂
I’m glad you like the post and thanks for commenting to tell me that! Do have a great week ahead. 🙂
I love comments on my blog! It really helps me to get to know my readers as well as increase the interaction I have between them. I’d like to add a plugin that helps them receive my responses once I’ve replied to them as I believe this will help me better stay in touch.
I’d like to improve my reader relationship even outside of the comment area. So, I’m figuring out ways to do that!
So, I’m all about comments on my blog. I try to answer as many a I can the day the comment is posted, but fall off after that. I do answer the ones that ask a specific question. I’ve had readers personally say how much they appreciated me reaching out to them. I generally do that through email. Since, I’m still getting to know Social Media, I doubt I will move the conversation over there any time soon!
Thanks for this post. It’s definitely timely as I consider how to improve relationships with my readers.
Hi Jennifer,
Great to know your views that you too love comments on your blog! I agree with everything that you mention here in this comment. Good that you mention about the comment notification plugin, which I find that many of probloggers don’t have them on their blogs.
Improving your readership out of your blog’s comment area could be in way of feeds, social media, and forums. I understand that answering to all the comments is not possible all the time. Yes, certainly, if I comment on your blog post, it will make me feel good if you respond to the comment, and if I feel so, the others too would probably feel the same.
However, I’d not completely discard the social media and we can’t undermine it’s growing potential too.
I’m glad this post was timely to you and I thank you for visiting and sharing your wonderful views. Have a great week ahead! 🙂
Great advice as always Harleena.
I love getting feedback aka comments on my posts. I think it is a way for others to chime in and put in their two cents too. Sometimes commentors also add additional points to the original content and can even take the conversation to a deeper level. I know that I personally need to work on responding to comments in a timely manner, because thanking people for their comment is very important, it shows that you value your readers for taking the time to leave a comment and give you feedback.
Hi Christy,
Sorry for replying late. I’m glad you like the post.
Yes, comments are feedback, though not all are always good, but many are helpful and pour in different perspectives that really add value to the posts.
You’re right – responding to comments in a timely manner is not easy, and there may be many reasons that very from blogger to blogger.
I thank you so much for taking time out and visiting my blog. I greatly appreciate your comment and wish you’ve a great week ahead! 🙂
Hey Harleena,
Great write and lovely input. Blog comment = sins. Haha.
Imagine hundreds of spams etc daily. Guess that’s what you are getting right?
Back to the topic. Do you need blog comment? I came close to you, Harleena.
If you are nobody or just moderate peeps like me, get a blog comment. It will drive your traffic and you can easily grow your readership.
If you are around the popularity of Brian Clark, heck you don’t need a blog comment and people will still folloe your blog.
Can’t be best of both worlds but remember thag you have many options like G+, FB, disqus and commentluv to choose from.
Excellent share!
Hi Reginald,
Sorry this reply comes late but I’m glad you like the post. Blog comments are the blessings of your blog visitors, aren’t they?
Genuine ones, of course. I agree there’s a lot of spam in comments these days, but I’m glad that Akismet and GASP do a good job at keeping most of them away.
Yeah, blog comments to help develop readership and traffic on your blog. You’re right – once you reach that level, nothing can pull you down and all will follow you, no matter what you do.
Of course, you can have the social commenting and the native commenting go along side, just look at how Ana Hoffman does it.
Thanks for visiting and sharing your frank views. I appreciate it. 🙂
Comments are very important to me. I love when I get a lot of comments on my blog post. Without comments it seems no one is reading! I love it and I am not gonna shut it down ever! 🙂
Beautifully written post 🙂
Hi Atish – nice to have you back 🙂
Yes indeed, comments are important to all of us, and I think every blogger loves to hear the feedback about what he/she has written. I agree with you there – no comments means perhaps no one’s read the post, or they haven’t liked it, at least that’s how we take it. Good to hear your positive thoughts about it 🙂
Thanks for stopping by, and glad you liked the post 🙂
Hello Harleena,
Excellent blog post as always! I would never disable comments on my blog. It is a way to communicate with my readers. Also, I love to receive comments even though I don’t receive that many but that makes me really appreciate the ones that I do. I don’t think social media is meant to take the place of blog commenting like people are using it as such. It’s just supposed to add to it. It is supposed to help you reach a broader audience. One should not replace the other both are tools that should be working together to help you get to know your readers.
I consider my blog my home on the web and my blog readers as my guests. It’s nice to have company at my home.
Thanks for sharing this with us! 🙂
Hi Maketta,
Glad you liked it, and I think we share the same views about disabling comments, which I would never also – at least no thoughts about it as yet 🙂
We all love to receive comments as blog comments are a great way to express our views about what we might have read on another blog, and our own too when someone comments on our posts.
I agree with you there – social media is a great place to start conversations and share your posts, or comment on other posts, and all of this helps build relationships with others. But to have just the social media for your post comments might not be a good idea, at least for most bloggers like us. I like what you said about your blog being your home – so apt 🙂
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts with us 🙂
Hi there Harleena,
I do lose track of time reading and commenting on blogs so I can understand how some would feel it to be a little overwhelming.
While there are days when I could save a lot of time by not commenting, it’s the connection and the relationship with the blogger that I would lose out on if I don’t. So no, I don’t think I would do away with blog commenting.
I did one of those “what” out loud when I read about Copyblogger and the others who closed comments on their blog…but I see they are meeting up on Google. That made me realize the many Google commenting systems I’ve seen on a few blogs lately – my aha! moment :).
Still, I don’t know if I should do away with CommentLuv, although I have seen blogs with two types of commenting systems. What are your thoughts on that?
I do believe comments so be a way to add more insight to the topic or ask questions to learn more about it.
Thanks for another great post Harleena! Have a wonderful night or is it Friday morning?
Hi Corina,
Don’t worry – we sail in the same boat where losing track of time is concerned because blog commenting is a never ending activity, if we really take it seriously 🙂
I agree with you there – it’s the relationships that we value more, and that’s why we visit and comment each others posts. Had we not done that, we certainly would have saved a lot of time and done other things. But I wonder how we’d have met and become good friends, if it weren’t for our comments and frequent visits to each others blogs, isn’t it?
I can well imagine the surprise when you might have heard Copybloggers decision, and yes, many people have added the Google commenting system to their blogs too. However, just to have those might not be a good idea because you can never say what and how they might change tomorrow, and you might just be stuck with nothing of yours, which you have presently on your blog presently – your own comments.
I tried adding both the commenting system once, but the load time of the blog increased and you cannot keep a track of any spam comments or any comment that might come on your G+ commenting system on your old posts. I prefer CommentLuv any day, though you can certainly share your post on the G++ communities and build relationships there as well.
If commenting is done the right way, it certainly adds to the blog post and becomes an additional resource for those reading it, just like yours 🙂
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your views with us. Ah…it’s Monday this end 🙂
Harleena, when it comes to comments, you are the Queen!
Each time you come to my blog, you ALWAYS leave a good comment. Never a one liner. Instead, you read the blog, and give an intelligent comment. Yes, it can be long, but I love that!
I’ve seen your comments on other blogs also and it’s the same thing. One can tell that you have read the blog and not skimmed over it. Plus you always write great content.
If one is going to be a blogger, one must leave good comments on other people’s blogs. This s how you gain traction. I cannot tell you how many times people come to my blog because they have seen a comment I have written.
On our own blogs, when people comment, we need to reply to them specifically. This is what starts a great conversation.
Blog comments to me is the backbone of blogging. Then we get into the social sharing. Personalizing it when sharing is always a great thing to do. If you have taken the time to read and comment, you need to take that extra step in sharing what you have read and tell people why they too should read what you have gotten from that post.
Gone are the days of SEO and I’m sure glad. I never liked it, rather I liked to grow organically. Just like all the information you have given in this post.
New bloggers may have a “graveyard” in their comment section. This is why I encourage them to get out there and put their best foot forward to read and leave good comments on people’s blogs. The favor is most likely to be returned.
-Donna
Hi Donna,
Ah…thank you for saying that, though I think Adrienne’s the fastest – not to mention the beautiful way you comment too 🙂
I can never leave small comments, and my hubby keeps telling me so often that the length of your comments keeps increasing instead of decreasing day by day. You could’ve have written an ebook by now if you gathered all the comments you’ve done so far…lol…So, I think it just wouldn’t be me if I were to write short ones.
Oh yes…I wonder how some people just skim the post and some of their comments are just a few lines about the initial part they’ve read – you can easily make that out as well. All it takes is a few extra minutes to read through and leave a meaningful comment that adds to the post.
You are absolutely right about that – leaving good comments on other blogs showcases your work and enhances your image as well. I love it too when people visit from other blogs to mine, just because of my comment they read there, and that’s what I love about CommentLuv too, which helps us in getting connected to other bloggers, isn’t it?
Sharing each others post is what takes blogging and the relationship we develop to the next level, though sadly, not very many people are good at sharing each others posts, I wonder why? It would be such a lovely place if we all could share each others post, without keeping any kind of thoughts in our mind.
SEO was never my cup of tea either, nor do I know much of it, except the little I keep trying with a few of my posts. I guess when you share what you know and learn, it gets across to people in a much better way.
I remember that post about the ‘graveyard’ you had written so well. Reminded me of the time when I was in a similar situation, being a new blogger too. But it’s with time and patience that relationships are built once we visit each others blogs and start commenting. I’ve more online friends as compared to the offline ones now, all thanks to the blog comments 🙂
Thanks for stopping by and adding more value to the post. Have a nice week ahead 🙂
Hi Harleena,
Oh yes, I definitely believe that blog comments are required, both enabling your visitors to leave them and also your replies to their comments. I know that when I visit a blog that has both visitor and owner comments it gives me the impression that the blog is active and interesting and I’m more inclined to want to get involved myself.
Having said that, I suppose it can depend on what the purpose of the blog is. I know that some people have minisites that are purely traffic generators and/or backlinking tools, so perhaps they’re not inclined to get involved in commenting on those or even have the time to do so. After all, as you said, commenting can take up a large amount of time and can be quite tiring at times.
For someone whose blog is the central hub of their online presence I think it’s absolutely essential to have active comments and to be actively commenting, especially for beginners.
Blog commenting is an excellent way to gain exposure, social proof, authority and to build valuable relationships. Apart from all that, it can be quite enjoyable, even if tiring at times!
Thanks for this excellent post, Harleena. I hope you’re keeping well and having a great week. 🙂
»Glenn«
Welcome to my blog Glenn – good to see you here 🙂
Absolutely! I’m glad you agree with most of us about this. It’s the interaction and conversation that interests me too, rather than visit a blog with no comments, which seem similar to a website that are mainly static.
I agree with you there, in some cases comments might not be required or they might have some other ways to generate backlinks, or as you mentioned, they don’t have the time for commenting or replying to the comments, though it’s not my cup of tea! I know it takes a LOT of my time, but I wonder if I’d ever have it any other way. I guess I would prefer taking my own time, but I do make sure to reply to the comments on my blog – after all it’s the least I can do in return for the visitors who also spend their precious time reading and commenting on my posts 🙂
I think comments are essential for new bloggers, or even like you and me, while some probloggers who have already achieved great ranks, still take out the time to reply to every comment they receive on their blog, though they might be short replies as the comments run in a few hundreds, but they do reply to most of them. So, if they can do it, why shouldn’t we?
Oh yes…it is a never ending and tiring activity for those who are really serious commenters, but it’s such a pleasure to visit different blogs and read new things, which increases your knowledge too, besides building relationships with fellow bloggers.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts with us. Have a nice week ahead 🙂
This was very interesting, Harleena.
I absolutely love interacting with my audience via comments and replies. I think if that weren’t happening I would feel like my blogging was simply talking to myself and what’s the fun in that? As a writer I spend much time alone as it is, I want company on my blog!! I believe the comments and blogger’s value of them depends a lot on the subject and focus of the particular blog. Some blogs don’t need comments to make it better but mostly comments are what make it interesting and fun for both visitors and the blogger, too. I know Copyblogger has changed their policy and I really don’t get it. I think it’s a google ranking move and I kind of think it’s cheating their readers. Again though with their focus and subject matter I guess it’s more important for them to google rank high.
Personally, I feel there is too much emphasis on google ranking and not enough on personal interaction with some of these blogs. I stop visiting blogs where the host doesn’t respond to anything I contribute. We all want to be heard. Sorry this is so long… 🙂 Great topic!!
Hi Lisa,
Yes, I agree that it’ll get lonely without the comments on our blogs. Interaction and engagement is so good and important with blog commenting.
You’re right – its all depends on what kind of blog you’ve and what is your end purpose? I think there’s more to Copyblogger’s move that we can see and think, and it may also be associated with their new products that emphasizes on social media alone for marketing purposes. So probably beyond the ranking move, its their way to hype marketing using social media. More so, they’re thinking ahead about reinventing their business, and I think they’ve grown way too big to care for normal readers.
Though I agree with you that personal interaction through blog commenting is the best way to develop relationships, you cannot also ignore the growing strength of the social media. I’d not rule social media commenting out but I’d also not discard the native commenting system.
Why not, everybody wants to be heard and cared for, and that’s why small blogs like mine and yours will always be there and not wiped off by these big players! 🙂
Thanks for visiting and sharing your wonderful views, I really appreciate them. Do have a great week ahead! 🙂
Hi Harleena,
How could you read my mind? Lol, I wonder! I just created a post on this topic that I was to publish on Monday and you’ve read my mind.
Being quite a new blogger, the confusion that is going on right now because many top blogs are quitting their native commenting system and going to social media commenting system was making me think what should I do. However, finally I took the decision of keeping my blog to the native commenting system because I wanted to hear direct feedback from my readers as to what they say and interact with them more about the post.
At this level or even if one advances to the level of Copyblogger, I wouldn’t go with social commenting. Even if I integrated social commenting, I would keep the native commenting along with social commenting.
This word should be out to everyone, so you got to have a tweet! 🙂
Mainak.
Hi Mainak,
Great minds think alike! It’s good to know that you too are going to post on this topic, and I’d look forward to it.
That is the purpose of this post, to help the new bloggers decide what to do in the present scenario. My advice is very clear – do not remove your native commenting system but take up social media commenting also. Use this combination to maximize benefits and to be on the safe side.
Getting feedback from your blog visitors is very important. And, your native commenting system is more suited for that purpose.
I’d personally suggest not to develop polarity, because social media commenting is not bad for you and your blog, but you should do what you say, keep the native commenting system along with social commenting.
Thanks for your visit and sharing your wonderful views. Have a great week ahead! 🙂
Hey thanks for posting this article i was not knowing that comments are so necessary for the blog and because of that i have disabled the comment system from my wordpress blog. But after reading this article i will soon enable it.
Hi Utkarsh,
I’m glad that you got to know the importance of blog comments through this post. Disabling or enabling of commenting system at your blog should be your personal decision and I’m sure you’d do that after much deliberation. Having said that, I can say with confidence that commenting has helped me a lot.
Thanks for visiting and sharing your views. 🙂
I allow comments on all but certain posts on my blog. If comments start to get out of hand (off topic, personal attacks, etc.), then I disable comments. Otherwise, comment away!
Hi Heather, and welcome to my blog!
I allow comments on all of my posts but not pages. But I close the comments on the guest posts after sometime. I haven’t faced with comment problems other than spam, so I haven’t had the need to disable the comments, but you’re right if that happens then you don’t have much choices in hand.
Thanks for visiting and sharing your views and hope to see you around. Have a great week ahead! 🙂
Hi Harleena,
Talking about blog comments, I’ve seen you everywhere I went this week as per usual, expcet maybe on my blog(s) 😉 I know of a few bloggers that I’ve decided to shut down their comments, but to me a blog without comments is a dead blog.
Now, not all comments are genuine. Some blogs get comments first and formorst because they are popular and people want to be seen their to build their own traffic.
Replying to our comments and commenting on other blogs do take time, indeed, but I guess that’s the price tag to pay to get conversations going and build relationships.
Now, I have to tell you that I must be doing something not right still, because I haven’t gotten as much in return as I’ve given so far in this area. Still trying to figure it out. At times it even depresses me and I’m like “I can’t believe I’m getting depressed for that!” That’s not right! But you might be able to tell me… 🙂
Have a great day!
Hi Sylviane,
I think we just criss-crossed each other that day and you know that I do visit and comment on your blog, and may be not all your blogs! 😉
I totally agree with you and taking comments off the blog is like taking life out of it.
Yes, all comments may not be really meaningful and helpful, but then that’s the way it is. I don’t think getting comments first or later matters much as far as you get them. Even even getting comments is not a sign of success in terms of better ranks, as I’ve seen people having good site ranks but poor comments on their blogs.
That’s the most time consuming part – replying to the comments on your own blog, and yes commenting on other blogs too. Yes, that’s the price or “time” tag that you got to play!
There are so many factors that make comments successful on your blog, and you know them all and nothing more that I can tell you. I don’t think you should take it to heart because sooner or later you’ll figure out what’s not working for you if you keep making changes in your strategy and secondly, comments are not the only means or signs of success!
Now that you’re a professional life coach, I’m sure better days are ahead of you. People will now have one big reason to come to you, and that is to take your professional opinion and suggestions!
Thanks for visiting and sharing your thoughts and feelings, I really appreciate it. Do have a great week ahead! 🙂
I love to do blog comments and get comment on my blog posts too.So that it also help me to know about my blog readers taste and view about that post.Blog comments help us to get backlink and build relationship with other bloggers too.Another positive part of blog commenting is it also drive certain amount traffic too.Though spam comments and useless comments are sometimes real annoying but still I believe blog commenting is great way to interact with each other and many more great things.
Hi Debarpan,
Sure, blog comments are a great way to get feedback from your readers and their choices or preferences.
More than the backlinks and traffic, they help in developing relationships and engagement at your own blog.
Blog commenting is definitely productive and spam is something that you’ve to deal with these days, and that happens to your email too, but then you don’t stop using your mail for that reason, do you?
Thanks for visiting and sharing your thoughts. Have a great week ahead! 🙂
nice post harleena, what i think blog commenting is not just for getting link back to blogs but blog commenting also build a relation between two bloggers.
Hi Harshit, and welcome to my blog! 🙂
You got it right, blog commenting is a great way to develop good relationships with other bloggers.
Thanks for visiting and sharing this comment. 🙂
That’s a nice one, Harleena!
You have clearly clarified the need of blog comments for us, the struggling bloggers! Though commenting seems a bore and a mere waste of time, blog commenting is what adds life to a blog, and thanks to commentluv, a source of traffic for some, isn’t it true?
Thus it is true that blog comments are necessary, but how to gain them? I think you should write a post on that topic as well!
I love it when someone leaves a comment on my blog, even if it is only a mere “Nice one” or “Great post”. The blog would seem lifeless without comments. It would be a bore to write on such a blog!
The most important thing for blogger is to reply to the comments because it paves way for a healthy relationship between the author and the readers. I have learn’t this from you, by looking at your cheerful replies!
Your blog has also taught me to write lengthy comments and replies. Let me know how is this one!
Thanks for posting, keep sharing great content!
Hi Yashraj,
The struggling today can become successful tomorrow! But for that one needs to have the right strategy in place, and blog commenting is a great tool at least for the beginning phase as it helps you launch yourself and your blog.
Comments do add life to your blog and it all depends on your outlook and needs for what and how they seem to you. Yes, CommentLuv helps, but its not a source of quality traffic all by itself, as that depends very much on your content.
I’d written a long post about blog commenting on Adrienne’s blog and you can find that link in this commenting post. There’s no secret or magic to get comments – just write great content, promote others, and comment at blogs of other bloggers. And you should then have the traffic flowing to your blog!
Yes, comments do help motivate us and provide the right kind of feedback. Replying to comments is actually the hardest part that takes most of your time if you get many comments on your blog. But nevertheless, the relationships thus created are helpful and good.
I think this is a great comment from you that adds value to this post! Well, not all comments need to be lengthy, but they do become such when you write from your heart and let the words loose, and that doesn’t take much efforts, does it?
Thanks for visiting and sharing your views, I really appreciate it! have a great week ahead! 🙂
Hi there!
You’ve said it right! Hardwork today would get awesome results tomorrow. That is what needs to be followed by every individual, no matter what he/she does!
Thank you for appreciating my comment. Well, I think I do not deserve the credit. There are many others out there who know how to write better comments. After all, commenting is a skill too! 🙂
And yes, writing from our heart is the secret to valuable comments. That’s true from your part. Of course, they do not take much efforts. We just have to write what we believed in!
Thanks for replying! Have a nice day!
It always does Yashraj – voice of experience I would say 🙂
I agree with you, blog commenting is a skill and the sooner bloggers learn it, the better. Yes, there are many better than you and me, but it’s good to learn from each other and proceed further, isn’t it?
Your heart can never go wrong, so listen to it and write away! Thanks once again 🙂
Hi Harleena,
A truly insightful post here.
From the beginning I was quite aware of the importance of blog comments. That was why when I started blogging I had to install commentluv and also use some other tactics to encourage comments.
However, it is unfortunate that most blog comments these days are nothing but spam or some convert way of building backlinks.
I recently removed commentluv from my blog and frankly, today I really don’t give much value to comments. In the area of social proof they are great but when it really come to determining a blog’s success, they are simply deceptive!
Yes, I agree with you that if you are just starting out do not remove comments however do not put much faith in them.
Hi Chadrack and welcome back,
I agree, comments are helpful to launch your blog in the beginning, and CommentLuv is often the right choice.
Yes, comment spam is really sad and the way some people go about using them to build links. That makes manual approval necessary, which makes the process of blog commenting more time consuming.
I get lot of comment spam, but Akismet and CommentLuv’s GASP help a lot in fighting them. I find it easy to manage the ones that happen to trickle in.
I agree with you that blog comments do not guarantee you blog success and blog traffic. But they do increase your chances of achieving them and are one of the various ways a blogger can use, in combination with other tactics and ways.
In one of my readership feedback survey, I asked if they would comment even if CommentLuv was not there, and majority of them had no problem with that option if it were implemented.
One thing is sure that if you want to be successful and make money, you need to be helpful, and comments are a tool to let you help people.
Thanks for visiting and sharing your views and experiences, they matter a lot! Do have a great week ahead! 🙂
Hi Harleena,
I remember meeting Brian’s team members right here in Dallas in a WordPress meet where they were marketing their websynthesis business. They are too big to fail at this point with the kind of resources and connections they have. So, obviously Copyblogger’s move is not surprising that they decided to close comments.
But, as you said, we can’t afford to copy them. In fact, it can be a suicidal move for many blogs.
We blog to build relationships, network, gain credibility, build traffic and more than anything else, to engage. We are not copyblogger and so we won’t copy them.
What you have done is absolutely amazing! More than a million words in comments? That is absolutely an amazing feat! Congratulations 🙂
Thank you for sharing and inspiring us with this post!
Regards,
Kumar
Hi Kumar,
Yes, we know Copyblogger is too big to fail, and to make any move it wants to make as the implications would hardly matter to them much. But, new or normal bloggers simple can’t afford to take such risks. So, it’s in fact good of them to take the lead and try out such a system and to make sure its safe before other too start doing what they’re doing.
Very true, there’s a great difference in our motive to have blogs and their motive. They’ve in-house forums and private discussion facilities, where those people come who mean business to them, so they’re aren’t bothered about the other comments of people who don’t bring business to them. After all, they’re not on a social venture there and have a business to run.
Ah.. that’s just a rough calculation and I’m sure there are plenty out there who’ve written more comments than me. 🙂 But yes, my efforts have not gone in vain.
Thanks for visiting and share your point of view. Do have a great week ahead! 🙂
It must depend on the sort of blog you write. The blog page of my website is merely an update of news; where I’ve been, what I’ve done, sometimes satirical news spoofs. All of which are for audience entertainment and to publicise my services. I rarely ever get comments although comments are enabled.
If I was supplying information that invited discussion then I suppose I would get more comments. At the moment I am not particularly unhappy with this situation.
Hi Simon and welcome to my blog!
Absolutely, the decision to have comments or not depends largely on the kind of blog you decide to keep. I’m sure you can get visitors to comment on your blog, and you might’ve to develop the right strategy.
You’ll need to actively promote your blog as well as others’ blogs on the social media, and comment on other blogs too to drive the commenting traffic home. You need to do “good” first to people, so people be good to you. 🙂
I don’t think people always look for useful information on blogs. Some can be particularly interested in your point of view, know more about you, and the things you do. But what matters most is how you feel about the whole thing, and if you’re happy, so there’s nothing to worry about. 🙂
Thanks for visiting and sharing your thoughts. Do have a great week ahead! 🙂
Yes i think comment is too important. Because Everybady want to know what’s the people think is is your content is interesting or not. They also have some sujjession any querries etc. so i think comment is too important
Thanks
Hi Vivek and welcome to my blog!
Glad you agree with the post to have comments on your blog. Of course, feedback is so essential. Blog comments are the best form of feedback.
Thanks for visiting and sharing your point of view. 🙂
Some blogs make it so hard to comment that I give up. A comment system is something blogger need to consider when they set up their blogs.
Hi Clara and welcome to my blog!
I don’t know what problems you faced while commenting, but I agree that while setting up the blog, the blogger should carefully choose the best suiting commenting system.
Thanks for visiting and commenting. 🙂
Hi Harleena,
I suffer from the predicament ‘to have or not to have blog comments’ once in a while. And after reading that particular article last week about Copyblogger turning off blog comments, my mind is in over thinking mode.
I agree that comments are helpful for a blog and also help in forming meaningful interactions with readers, fellow authors/writers or friends online. But it’s also extremely time consuming and then there are people who love to do nothing else but leave spammy comments or say rather strange/weird stuff, completely unrelated to the post.
I don’t want to sound rude but commenting is a tiresome activity. Some days you read a blog post, like it but don’t have anything to say. And I rarely comment on blogs.
Frankly, these days I comment more on blog posts that have Google Plus comment system as it’s easier to share & comment and keep track of all the follow up comments. One downside to this is, conversation on Google Plus sometimes just don’t stop. Another one is, it’s slightly annoying & difficult activity to remove link-filled comments with no quality from G+ comments.
I’m still not sure about turning off comments completely though. I like it when people chat about what I have written or shared. If nothing else, I think comments make blog or even a website look alive and not give a feeling of staring at a desert.
Thank you for writing this post and presenting a different view!
Have a wonderful day! 🙂
Hi Priya,
To be honest, commenting tires me out too sometimes, and you’re right that its not an easy job to do. But first, there’s no doubt that a blog should have comments.
Yes, they do help the blog in multiple ways and make the web a better place. Interactions, engagement, and relationships – these are all necessary in the beginning stages of blogging at least. But it all depends on your outlook and your desired output.
There’ll be all kinds of people everywhere and all the time. Even the web is full of hackers trying to break into our sites, but that doesn’t stop us from still running our sites. So, it all depends on our motive and our deep driving desire. If we decide to go on a path, we learn to make our way and find solutions to the problems that we face.
Having said that, I agree that blog commenting is a time consuming process. You don’t feel like commenting on every post, and that’s perfectly okay – it’s better that you comment only when you feel like and when you’ve something good to contribute rather than write a few lines just as a formality for the sake of commenting.
It’s sad that Google+ doesn’t have a commenting system especially for WordPress like they’ve a feature packed one for the Blogger platform. I’d too love to have it on my blog but certain limitations hold me off.
It’s a good point you’ve put forth – conversation carries on on Google+ and that too might prove to be counterproductive. That’s right, even Google+ comments can’t be guaranteeded to be qualitative.
I think you should do what you like best and what your heart sides with. But you’re right that comments make a blog lively.
Thanks for visiting and sharing your perspective, I really like it. Do have a great week ahead! 🙂
Yes I think having comments are important on a blog. As you pointed out, what is the point of having a blog if you are not open to communicating with your readers.
I have over 500 RSS feeds in my RSS feedreader (just added yours. I found this post on Biz Sugar) including Copyblogger who I have followed pretty well since he started. Do I comment on every post in my feedreader? No. I actually don’t comment very often (bad me) but I do share a lot of posts on social media.
When someone writes about something controversial or upsetting to an industry it is really interesting reading all the comments and discussion of both sides of the issue.
Do I think taking the conversation to social media instead is wise? No. You have no control over the future of any of the sites used. They can change the rules and/or how it is run at any time on their whim. Whereas, if the conversation was on your own blog you are in control of how it is run. Yes it is quite a bit of work but IMHO if you are not willing to put in the work then why have a blog in the first place. Just build a regular website and hope you get a following.
Yup, you fell right into Brian’s plan. Perfect link bait to get the incoming links flowing for their new model. (wink)
It is a shame that, like many other things, spammers have ruined blog commenting for the rest of us.
Hi Emerson and welcome to my blog!
I’m glad you feel that comment are important. Absolutely, it won’t remain a blog unless you change the definition and the globally accepted concept of a blog to a blog without conversations.
Thanks for adding my blog to your RSS feedreader, I’m honored. It’s okay as most visitors do not comment, but spreading the post through social media is also a good way to reciprocate and respond. However, I’m glad you decided to comment here. 🙂
That’s the beauty of a blog, that readers can contribute their views, whether for or against, on the post itself so it helps the other readers develop a better perspective.
I respect your views about not taking the conversation to social media and your point is well taken. Yes, you’ll have no control over the comments you make on a third party. Besides, Google is infamous for closing down half the things they start, so you never know if Google+ is going to stay if in the future they find something better and more lucrative system evolves.
We’re witness to how Facebook changes its rules and the users have no option but to comply, or run to other social platforms like Google+. I totally agree with you that the conversations are better placed on our own blog, though its not bad to leverage social media platforms too.
Absolutely, blogging is hard work and blog commenting is a tough task. The early days of having just a website of few content pages were better because they’re easier to manage I guess, and some people are trying to revert back to them!
Yes, I did knowingly fell into their plan because this topic is very dear to me. Blog commenting is special to me, so I had to tell and ask people their opinions too.
It is a perfect link bait, but it won’t work every time for the rest of their posts, would it? I think spammers can be dealt with like we deal with hackers, and this doesn’t mean that we abandon blog commenting altogether and degrade them as time wasters.
Thanks for your visit and sharing your thoughts, which I value and appreciate very much. I hope to see you around and wish you a great Sunday ahead! 🙂
Hi Harleena,
Great Post Harleena. Blog comments are important for blogger to build relationships with your readers. What copyblogger and other popular blog do it’s a different thing because they already have well established readership for their blog and now they move to the social signals.
If we try to follow, what copyblogger do without building readership, we will need end our blog soon. I suggest first build readership with the trust of your audience and then experiment with it.
Thank you for this great blog post. 🙂
Hi Nikhil,
I agree with you there, blog comments are essential, at least for bloggers like us, who still haven’t made it up to there. Perhaps once we reach the stage where Copyblogger is, we might start thinking differently, we can’t say, isn’t it?
However, I would love to see and know whether there’s as much interaction on the social media as compared to the blog, which again time will tell. Building a strong blogging community of readers is important for new bloggers, and even others. Once they do that, perhaps they can decide on what they want.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts with us 🙂
Thank you providing such a detailed researched post on the significance of blog commenting.
I agree with you.
But I believe that blog commenting should be done on a handful of blogs rather than posting comments here and there.
According to me, spending too much time is also a waste of time.
What do you say?
Hi Hitesh and welcome to my blog!
I’m glad you like the post and agree with it as well.
You’re absolutely right – actually, Google does have guidelines for blog commenting too. That includes sticking more to your topics, not commenting for backlink purposes soley, and use of your real name, real site, and no anchor texts, etc.
Of course, you need to balance your blogging activities and have a proper time management to be successful in blogging.
Thanks for sharing your views and have a great week ahead! 🙂
Blog commenting was a must until a few years ago. It certainly helped a blog to gain popularity and visibility. Later, when social engaging was considered more important, blog commenting was sidelined.
You have spoken out loud on the pros and cons of blog commenting and also stated your preference clearly. It is up to a newbie blogger to heed your suggestions.
I admire the way you have put forward your arguments on whether or not to comment and open up for comments. Brilliant blog post.
Hi Malathy,
Well, social engagement might’ve affected and damped blog commenting a bit, but its definitely not out. I guess its good if you use both the great promotional and visibility tools together.
This post is specifically written for all new and common bloggers like us to realize the importance of blog comments and improve the art of blog commenting.
I’m glad you like the post and it aspects. Thanks for visiting and sharing your views. Have a great week ahead! 🙂
Hello Harleena,
You are absolutely right that blog commenting is really need and this is key behind very successful blogger. Especially, blogger stop blog commenting while they become popular or only choose few of the blog sites to do commenting.Then what about the newbie blogger , everyone wants to get more comments in their specific post. I’m also think that while anyone get more comments in their blog posts the moral automatically becomes high.And one can write more effectively in future.
Hi Manu,
Yes, every successful blogger does use the power and goodness of blog commenting initially. Once they’re comfortably placed as pro bloggers, some decide to devote that time elsewhere for more productive and useful work, for the benefit of everyone.
I agree that more comments act as incentives to write more and better. Comments also give useful feedback that help us improve our writing and blogging.
Thanks for sharing your views and do have a great rest of the week ahead! 🙂
This blog comments issue is two sided, i can boldly say its a necessity or not, i think it’s a part of a blog, its vital at first. I can only get boring when its too much and uneasy to replied or fill with spam so, the only option left is disabling it. Copyblogger did it for a purpose, being like then is non cool but being oneself.
Hi Daniel and welcome to my blog!
I agree with your comment. Comments are good as far as they’re genuine, good, related, and manageable. Once they grow out of bounds or become difficult to manage, you need to take some regulatory measures. And that depends on your outlook and state of affairs.
Copyblogger did whatever suited best for them, and we’re not complaining. In any case, that development did make us all realize the importance of comments.
Thanks for your visit and candid views, I really appreciate them. Do have a great rest of the week and hope to see you around! 🙂
Hi Harleena,
Great post. Like you said, whether or not there are comments on a blog may not necessarily make or break a site. Your part about wanting to focus on comments for newer sites is good advice I think, as you want to build a sense of community and connect with your readers. And as far as our own commenting goes, it can be a very powerful way to get exposure to your site and reach a new audience. I just commented on a blog the other day, and over the last few days, have gotten 30 visits to my site just from that one comment.
Hi Kelli and welcome to my blog!
Glad you like the post. Well yes, blogs can survive without comments too, but they can grow and excel if comments are enabled, and actively nourished.
Definitely, blog comments are absolutely necessary for the new or beginner bloggers. That is, if they really want their blogs to grow. In that case, they need to develop relationships and a community, which social media promotion alone can’t help with much.
Wow, 30 visits from a single comment is good. The better and meaningful your comments are, the more traffic you get, besides exposure and new audience as you state.
Thanks for visiting and sharing your thoughts and experiences, I really appreciate it. Do have a great rest of the week and I hope to see you around! 🙂
What a great, thorough post you’ve written.
I haven’t had time to comment on your site in a while, Harleena, but this one seemed important enough for me to take a few minutes to share my thoughts.
I’m a fairly new blogger-I’ve been blogging about eight months. The conversations that I have with my readers let me know what they’ve enjoyed and, as you mentioned, they give me an opportunity to add additional thoughts that I didn’t include in the post.
I respond to most with a few words to a few paragraphs. I think it’s respectful and it’s built a loyal following. Blogging isn’t an online magazine or a book. As you said, it’s an engaged conversation.
If I get as big as Copyblogger (Ha!) then I might need to rethink.
I’m curious if any of you bloggers have also gotten ideas for future posts? Recently I had a post on the good men project blog and there was a whole conversation that got going, debating one of my points. I responded by promising to write a whole post on the subject. Very fun. Makes all the hard work and time expenditure worth it.
Hi Winifred,
I’m so glad you like the post and your compliment means a lot to me.
I do understand that it’s not possible to comment on all the blogs all the time, though I’m happy that you could make it this time! Your thoughts and contribution are valuable.
I agree that comments are great way of feedback and I always say in my posts that they are incomplete without the different perspectives and views of the readers. I don’t boast of a complete post that doesn’t need any correction or addition, because that just can’t be. But the commenters help achieve that purpose through their comments.
You do just the right thing by responding to comments on your blog, which many bloggers don’t do, and I don’t like to go there and comment. If comments are a waste of time for them, then they don’t deserve them.
Even Copyblogger needs conversation, though their means and ways maybe different. Of course, every blogger should change their strategy as per the needs and demands.
Absolutely, comments sometimes give us seed ideas that lead to birth of new posts. It’s great to know that your comment could spur a useful discussion and you’re able to develop that into a post. That’s great blogging!
Thanks for visiting and sharing your wonderful views and ideas in this comment. Do have a great rest of the week! 🙂
Hello Harleena,
Blog commenting is a life source of any blog. I still wonder why some bloggers would disable theirs.
Our blog is like a community and a place where people drop their problems hoping to get a good answer. So if you can’t provide the facility for that, then to me, you’re just as wicked as wicked could get. Blog is meant to help people… that’s my honest opinion
You have put more light to the post and that’s great. Thank you for letting me express a little about this 🙂
Do have a wonderful week ahead
Hi Babanature,
I can’t agree more – blog comments are the pulse of a blog, the more it beats, more interesting the post becomes!
I don’t see the new or common bloggers like us close comments on their blogs. Well, I do close comments on my guest posts after a certain duration so my guest bloggers are not bound to reply to comments there and they can move on and spend more time on their own affairs.
Actually and honestly, we keep comments because we need them, as simple as that. If there were a easier and better way to bring traffic, develop image, authority and relationships, we would’ve chosen that and dropped blog commenting, don’t you think so?
Having said that, no doubt blog comments have their own charm and they’re very meaningful and helpful addition to blogs. I agree that blogs will become incomplete without comments, and they’ll not serve their full purpose.
You’re most welcome always to express your views on Aha!NOW, whatever they may be, they’re always a source of learning to me and fellow readers. Thanks for your visit and time, and do have a great rest of the week ahead! 🙂
Yes indeed.
As a blogger, how can we survive without comments. Getting comments from readers are the real boost to every blogger. We get encouraged by the comments. I don’t say, without comment, we can’t lead our blog and earn money.
Nice write up as usual. Thanks for sharing this awesome post mam. Have a nice day.
Hi Nirmal,
That’s right, our survival as bloggers depends on commenting, meaningful commenting to be precise. Yes, they’re means of appreciation and motivation that every bloggers needs.
Actually, commenting and developing relationships help boost your business too. But then people have the right to think and act differently.
I’m glad you like the post and thanks for commenting. I appreciate it. Have a great rest of the week! 🙂
Sometimes I wish I didn’t have to comment. It’s hard for me to think of things to say. But I do see great traffic from my comments, plus I love the relationships that I have built. Soon they will be affiliates and these relationships will get even closer! I do spend tons of time on it, but the links are very helpful for SEO also!
I think of it a lot!
Hi Jodi,
I’m sure every blogger who’s busy and juggling with multiple tasks would wish the same – anything that saves them time is welcome!
But then, you’ve to realize that somethings are important and sacrificing them would actually be a loss, and commenting is one of those aspects.
Well, once I get into the frame of mind of the writer and empathize, I can’t stop my flow of words. 🙂 You’re absolutely right about the traffic that blog commenting bring us, and even better, the relationships that we develop. Of course, I’m looking forward to your products!
Thanks for sharing your candid views and do have a great rest of the week! 🙂
Hi Harleena,
What an interesting topic!! Blog commenting, to my mind is the soul of your post…where would your article be without the soul? It may be fine for the established pro bloggers to do away with such an important aspect of blogging…but how did they start? Is it fair to push all those on whose shoulders you climbed to reach wherever you are and then push them aside? Isn’t that what we call selfishness? I am sorry for using such harsh words, Harleena but that is what, in reality it would be! How ironic! My post this week talks about the need of appreciation.
A discussion always follows a good thought or article. A mute blog can be useful for business alone, it would lose the humanistic touch. We are all here for a meaningful conversation and a good conversation is a two way process. Have you ever seen a speaker who just comes to a hall full of audience, speaks his words like a robot and then leaves, without even a smile?
Every idea has a flip side but that doesn’t mean what the other people, who consider themselves to be successful and self sufficient are right. We learn so much besides developing loving relationships through our words. When I entered blogosphere, I found such wonderful and warm friends, I could get that warmth only through comments. I wouldn’t like a cold, indifferent blogging world. Even if some people turn their backs on their followers, there would always be emotional persons like me and the world thrives on relationships!
Thanks Harleena, for such NICE, WARM way of welcoming your readers and reciprocating…it is not time wasted but time well utilised! Have a nice week.
Hi Balroop,
Glad you like the topic! What a beautiful analogy, indeed blog comments are the soul of the blog posts.
You’re absolutely right, all bloggers used blog commenting when they started, and some dropped them off when they realized they’re well off on their own. But that’s the way it is, you’ve to move on in life. Like once the children grow older, they don’t want to remain stuck with their parents or friends and move on to find their own way and chase their own dreams.
In case of Copyblogger, they haven’t said NO to commenting or discarded their followers, but its just that they think they can manage it better on the social media than on their own blog, and they believe they can provide better value this way. So for them, its not a mute blog and they’ll continue discussions by taking the conversation to the social media. Each one to own, and they’ve the right to do what they believe in. In one way, they know they provide value, so people will follow them no matter what. However, it will be interesting to watch how many do follow and take all that double trouble.
But this post is not about Copyblogger. In fact, it is addressed to all common bloggers like us and about what we should do and not let get ourselves carried away by what the biggies do – we should do most of what they do, but also know what not to copy. Everything has its own time – probably they felt it was time for them to change, and that’s okay, and honestly, that doesn’t make any difference to us, does it?
Having said all that, I totally agree with you that a modern blog is all about having meaningful conversation. And, the warmth you get through the blog comments and the kind of relationships you develop here, is much better than that on the public platforms of social media.
It’s so good to know your views and this is a great discussion. I’m so glad you visited and that we TALKED. It’s indeed a time well utilized and I appreciate your participation. Do have a great rest of the week! 🙂
Hi Harlena,
I personally hope that more bloggers don’t do away with comments. I prefer the format even discuss over posting to google plus. I enjoy getting the replies in my inbox and being able to easily find the link to take me to where I can respond to the blog author’s comment. And my blog has climbed up the rankings since I started taking commenting seriously. I also leave long comments. adrienne smith has called me a chatty cathy. smile but she noticed me, remembered me, and featured me in one of her blog posts. my other opportunities have com from leaving quality comments. And some days it does feel like work.
When you add the time to share the posts you have commented on, you are even busier. but you are right without commenting there is no way to meet new people and build relationships with them. I tell people all the time that if more people knew how supportive the blogging community is; everyone would have a blog. I will understand if you get so popular that you have to close comments, but i hope you never make that decision. thanks for sharing and take care, Max
Hi Max,
I hope they don’t, and I think if you’ve taken the poll – so far most prefer the comments, so we don’t have to worry 🙂
Some bloggers prefer Disqus, though G+ comments are coming up in a big way because it belongs to Google after all, so that’s valuable and helps you rank better.
I haven’t really subscribed to many blogs – prefer to keep my inbox clean, but they are all in my RSS or Feedly, and I also love commenting on the blogs, though I wish the number wouldn’t increase, which does as you make new contacts – becomes overwhelming at times, especially if you have lots on your hand, isn’t it?
Adrienne’s given you a nice name indeed, and yes, your comments are wonderful. I like the way you make the extra effort to reply back to the answered comment, which further generates the conversation. I agree blog commenting is time consuming but it is so worth the effort because of all that you gain in return.
Commenting is one aspect, and sharing the other that also takes time and effort, but then who said blogging was easy if done the right way 🙂
I hope that day never comes Max that I have to close comments on my blog, but if it does ever, I wish to tell everyone that it’s not something I want, but perhaps have to do because of lack of time – nothing else. But I guess I could still manage to find time to reply, though perhaps in fewer words (would that be really me then- I wonder!)Time will tell I guess – but for now…we are all here and busy commenting 🙂
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your wonderful views with us 🙂
Hey Harleena,
I think commenting is one of the reasons blogging has become so popular. It enables readers take part in the discussion. Blogging is conversation and the commenting part is what boosts the interaction.
I think a blog will cease to be one without the commenting feature. I understand the plight of big blogs but I don’t think the solution to spam is taking down what makes blogging exciting.
I just read Copyblogger’s move but his 3 reasons don’t make sense to me. I respect the decision but it’s funny to give up the fight against spam and ask your readers to move to social media and continue conversation after reading your post.
Well, let’s see what becomes of my blog after some few years 😉
Hi Enstine,
Absolutely! Blogs without comments would seem so lifeless. The commenting section is the place where all the interaction takes place.
It’s like an open platform where the commenter share their views with the blog owner, good or bad – at least there is some conversation going on, which helps other readers too who stop to read. Not to mention the great connections that are made this way too.
I think most bloggers have now got used to the spam and keep finding ways to fight it, and that is hardly a reason to stop comments I would say. It hardly takes a few seconds to pick out the spammers and trash them, or an additional minute to blacklist their IPs if they trouble you often. Yes, having enough time to reply to all the comments could be a reason one can understand. However, most top blogs have guest authors who reply mostly, or they can easily hire someone for other tasks. I guess it’s the choices they make at the end of the day, isn’t it?
Yes indeed, moving to the social media isn’t my cup of tea either, unless I write my posts on G+ and want all the interaction there itself. More so, we can never say anything about the ever changing social media – they might just lay down some rules, and all your comments or shares just vanish! At least with your own blog, your comments stay with you. I wonder if they realize this factor.
Lol…I guess we wait and watch till we reach that stage and then decide what we want to do. Perhaps we cannot make out what they might have gone through sitting afar 🙂
Thanks for stopping by and adding value to the post as always. 🙂
Hi Harleena,
This is an interesting post. A blog without blog comment wouldn’t be a blog. For me, comments are what makes a blog worthwhile. If it wasn’t for blog comments I wouldn’t have met many of the friends I’ve been introduced to through blogs.
It’s helped me in lots of different way. Plus readers have left comments telling me how grateful they are to have found my blog. Commenting does take up lots of time, especially for someone like you who gets lots of them. But it’s worth it. Through comments, some good relationships are formed.
If I don’t get any comments when I write a post, it make me quite sad. 🙁 But when I do, I know that I’m writing useful content that someone finds worthwhile enough to comment on.
Thanks for sharing this Harleena. Have a great evening. 🙂
Hi June,
Glad you liked the post, and I agree with you there, it wouldn’t be a blog if it had no comments 🙂
Yes indeed, I would also have not met any of my blogging friends, had it not been for the comments that we exchanged. After all, that’s how we all met, isn’t it? I think it’s THE best way to build relationships and great friendships online as well.
Oh yes…the feedback you get from your readers is what makes blogging all the more worth the while. Blog comments honestly take most of my time, and as the numbers increase it becomes tough for me to cope with all of them. I try my best to reply to all the comments, but being human and having other commitments at home, some of the old posts still have a few pending ones and I feel bad about that – perhaps once I take a long break, will catch up with them 🙂
I agree with you there, there was a time when no comments on my blog used to sadden me too, but no more – sometimes I wish I get less of them instead 😉
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your experiences with us. Have a nice week ahead as well.
Thank you so much for including me in your fantastic post, Harleena! I rarely comment on blog posts myself, because of the time factor you mentioned. However, sometimes I just HAVE to. On those occasions I have noticed that sometimes I end up with a lot of website traffic from that site. That wasn’t my intention, but it does work, so I should probably do it more 🙂
I like how you point out that comments are the life of our blogs, and without them, why even have a blog – why not just have regular old pages? I hope I never get too big to value blog comments.
Hi Alisa and welcome to my blog. 🙂
I’m glad you like the post and you had to be in it because it’s only through your post that I got to know of the recent developments.
I love to comment, and this has really benefited me in a big way. Comments do get you substantial traffic, and you get popularity and become known as an authority too.
That’s right – if you don’t want comments, don’t have a blog. Have the old fashioned HTML website. Comments are what make blogs, blogs. 🙂
Hope you take up more of commenting and that I see you around here more. 🙂 Thanks for your visit and I really appreciate it very much. Have a great rest of the day!
Hi Harleena
Good point on to comment or not to comment. I guess those that don’t want to be bothered with the comments are confident enough in the fact their blog can stand alone without the support. Most of us are nowhere near that level. I think sending everyone over to social media is counterproductive for a possible sale. Unless you have enough of a client base to do so.
There are a lot of sites I would probably not take the time to read often if they did not have comments on. But it also works both ways. I have gone and made long interesting comments on some blogs quite often, although they thanked me for it and even asked me to guest post, but yet never once come and posted a comment on my site. I don’t waste my time with them anymore. You are so right, it takes a great deal of time to read and comment.
Loving to write is one thing, but if all you want to do is write, then the time would be used better as producing a book and not commenting. But truth be if we want to write a book to sale, we just might need a group of interested buyers…hence we need a blog and a lot of loyal readers.
Mary
Hi Mary,
Yes, I agree. Those who’ve got enough resources and backing to help them get unlimited supply of blog traffic, and who feel that the kind of traffic they get through comments is neither converting nor making much of a different overall, they can drop blog comments. Those are the people for whom sale are important than real relationships.
I believe even at their level, there are different kind of people – not all abandon blog comments for whatsoever reasons, some still value them.
I think what they achieve by sending commenters over to social media is more and richer social signals. Large engaged groups on Google+ probably give more SEO, ranking benefits, and authority over there. I’m sure they’d have some strategy to tap on the potential clients even there.
Very true, I too get disappointed when after reading the post I find that comments are disabled there. However, come to think of it, the percentage of visitors that convert as commenters is too low. Probably, the rest are very light commenters and they may open up better on the social media.
I believe reciprocation is essential in blog commenting for building a durable relationship. That’s right, I too wouldn’t visit that blogger who doesn’t reciprocate. Yes, time is of essence, and that’s what the hullaballoo all about. 🙂
You’re absolutely right, everything is so connected and related – you need to have a network to sell your book or product, and for that you’ve to visit blogs and comment too. Who has the time to make a double visit – visit the blog, and then visit the blog’s social media account to comment there?
Thanks for your visit and your valuable comment. I really appreciate it. Do have great rest of the day! 🙂
Hi Harleena,
I agree that blog comments are necessary. I also seen where Copybloggers aren’t taking any more comments.
Using you as a great example. I remember when I first started commenting on your blog. It was like being part of something. And I always looked forward to seeing what you had to say about my comment. I would not have gotten to know you if it was not for the comments and you answering them. I always check the ‘notify me of replies to my comment.’
Also with comments you can find out about your followers and what they are interested in. Sometimes you can even take a comment and write a post about it.
Love the way you have sorted through the good about comments and ONLY when you should give up using comments on your site.
It is a fun way to build relationships with others and it is no different that sending a text message at times.
I do think that you have to save so much time in the day for comments, so you can get other things done. For myself I do comments for 1 hour.
I have to admit that sometimes I get behind, because life gets in the way (kids and grandkids, errands that need to be taken care of.)
Many especially women are using FB for there commenting I have noticed. However those comments can be made to show on your blog just like regular comments. Google+ does work very good also like you say.
For me I do like the people I can meet by using the comments. It is great.
Great post Harleena and I am glad that I have gotten to know you through your post and COMMENTS. I thank you for always clicking to my blog post and leaving your comment. That is ever so sweet. 🙂
Hugs to you,
Debbie
Hi Debbie,
I’m glad you agree with the post. I feel it’s altogether a different ball game for Copyblogger. But for us, comments on our own blogs are our identity and very important.
I too remember your early visits and I was very impressed with your wisdom and clarity of thought, which is still there. I’m fortunate that I came into your contact and that you’re not only a part of my blog community, but a dear friend as well.
There’s something special about blog comments, which is different from those we make on the social media. I guess the conversation here is more personal, and one-to-one. I feel like you’re a guest who has come to my house, and it gives a different feeling.
Oh yes, that’s a very good idea and possible too! I can make plenty of posts just using the comments that I have on my blog. 🙂
I don’t think I’m going to give up comments on my blog, though I might try to find more about how the conversation works on Google+.
I guess this communication is much better and personal than text messages. The way you can express yourself here, is some times better than verbal communication, though at a slower pace.
Yes, with all the things to do in the world, its time that we run short of, but you never know that in the coming future, even the commenting would be “voice based”, so it’d get faster and easier! What do you think?
I think FB commenting system hasn’t got much success on the blogs. Google commenting system was basically for the Blogger platform, and it lacks many key features when used on WordPress. But if you want success in blogging, you better choose Google+, and if you’re more interested in Chats, then FB is there.
I’m glad you like the post and yes, blog comments do create a special bond and I like how it has helped develop our association.
Thanks for visiting and sharing your so beautiful thoughts, I love them. Hugs to you too and wish you a great day ahead! 🙂
There was a time when I used to comment a lot but now I don’t do it as much as I would like. I have a handful of sites that I comment and that’s about it.
Like you say, its pretty tiring and I see no point in frantic commenting. You do have to weigh everything though. Ask yourself, do your commentators buy your services, do they advertise on your site or do they make you money in any way (if that’s your goal). Comments do help but they are more of a decoration. Think of it as a picture on the wall. Is the wall more important or the picture? If you have a nice wall, then the picture is of little value.
But they are important as well – a blog looks popular, advertisers like it, alexa rankings get lower, commentators share, you make connections etc.
Hi Shalu,
I understand your decision to be selective in commenting on other blogs. I’m happy that my blog is one of them. 🙂
Definitely, blog commenting is a tedious and tiring job but it all depends how you go about it, isn’t it? If you do it to build and maintain your network and relationships, its okay, but if you use it to build backlinks, then Google won’t like that either.
Well, you really don’t know that some of your comment buddies could turn out to be your clients. I’d always consider everybody as potential partner in profits and success. Just reason why Neil Patel answers to each and every comment, including ours, when we know that we aren’t going to purchase his products. But he’s smart because you never know, and somebody when we’ll find ourselves wanting such a product, we’ll go to him because we’ve a relationship with him.
So, I guess its more than a decoration, comments are strong relationship building aids, and yes, they’re important too!
Thanks for visiting and sharing your views, I appreciate it. Do have a great day ahead! 🙂
Hi Harleena!
This is so beautifully written, as usual. 😉 I think blogging would be so much easier if we didn’t have to leave comments, however, if you’re goal of blogging is to network with others, what better way then to leave a comment? I believe commenting on one’s blog is essential, regardless if you’re small cookies or big cookies. I honestly don’t care for the G+ commenting system and btw, not everyone has a G+ account. I prefer to see comments on my blog or on other social networks, preferably my blog though. It inspires me and motivates me to continue on. I couldn’t have a blog or site without comments. For me, it would be a lonely world.
Thanks for sharing this and bringing it to light. I’m sure you’ll get a variety or responses that I definitely look forward to reading!
Hi Bren,
I’m so glad you like the post. I agree with you that we’ve a sort of love and hate relationship with blog commenting. We love it because it helps us build relationships – didn’t we too come to know each other more through the comments! It brings many other goodies with it, however, the only aspect we don’t like is the amount of time it consumes, especially when you’ve to make return visits to all and promote your posts.
I’d too settle for an easier system, but I agree not everyone has a G+ account, so may be it’s time to have one? No doubt, blog comments are the best way to network. Nothing better than the comments on our own blog posts. You make a good point of blog comments being a source of inspiration. A blog without comments would be barren, right?
Thanks for sharing your preference and I’m with you on that! 🙂 I’m surely we’ll have contrasting views and it’ll be interesting to read them, isn’t it?
Thanks for taking time out to visit and comment, I appreciate it very much. Do have a great day ahead! 🙂