If you blog, make it easy for people to comment

I read dozens of blogs regularly and scan hundreds of others in an average week. Maybe you do too.

A big part of what I like about blogs are the comments. (I especially like the comments on this blog! Thank you.)

Of course, if you blog, the choice of permitting comments is yours to make. Some people choose not to.

However, I've noticed recently that many bloggers who allow comments are discouraging them and they probably don’t even know it. Mainly this is because the blog is set up to only accept comments from people who have an account with the particular blog software that they use.

This is silly. Don’t do it.

For example, if you use Wordpress for your blog and only allow people who have a Wordpress account to leave a comment, then you are eliminating the comments from more than 99 percent of your audience because they do not have a Wordpress account.

Here is the Wordpress comment panel. If you use Wordpress, in this panel you want to leave unchecked the button that says: "Users must be registered and logged in to comment."

I see this mistake made most frequently on the Blogger platform. I’ve gotten so frustrated by blogs built on the Blogger platform requiring that I sign in to my Blogger account that I actually registered for a Blogger account (even though I do not blog on this platform) just to be able to leave comments. But I am a rare person who will do this. Almost nobody else will go through the hassle.

Do you want comments? Then make it easy for people to leave them.

The answer is to flip the switch in your blog software that allows comments in multiple ways. People should be able to comment with just a name.

If you are worried about inappropriate (spammy) comments, use a Captcha program on your blog like I do. This eliminates comments made by machines by requiring humans to enter a "secret word". Or you can flip on the moderation mode and approve comments one by one.

Photo: Kraska/Shutterstock

Comments

[Nick]

I allowed comments and the comments I got were from spammers. If anyone want to make a comment they can - but they have to create an account, meanwhile I feel I'm doing everyone a favour locking out the spammers. Should I go back to the old system of accepting the spammers, and moderating them manually?

[Nick]

Hey - after all - I had to go through a Captcha to post my comment on YOUR blog so you don't practice what you preach!

[Adine]

Hi David,
Thanks for the tips. We would love to have more comments on our blog and this reminded me to go in and recheck that the settings are conducive to allowing this to happen.

[Joe Roy]

Excellent advice. There is so much friction in our world; why introduce more?

[Mark Welch]

Sigh. I made the mistake of choosing Joomla as my blog platform. It doesn't support comments and my attempts to install a comment plug-in failed.

Commenting on another comment: a Capcha is entirely different - it is essential to block spambots.

[Elizabeth K. Barone]

It also helps to encourage comments in your posts! Ever since I started ending my posts with, "Leave a comment and share what you think about blah blah blah," I've noticed an increase in comments. I'm hoping to continue this and build up a nice community on all of my blogs.

[Dave Burke]

I agree with you 100% in principle, David, but even with captcha I was getting a ton of comments from those SEO lamers who leave comments like 'Thanks, I didn't know that', or 'I am so enjoying yur blog.' (Mis-spellings are the first clue of SEO-driven insincerity.) It was frustrating so I required users to create a site account to comment. That still didn't block the SEO'rs, but it cut them back 98% I'd say.

If comments were more important to my blogging effort I'd probably investigate an alternative comment monitoring tool or employ moderation, but that would require more intervention on my part whereas requiring site accounts requires none.

I also feel that my friends do not mind creating a site account.

[Jodi Kaplan]

I find the Blogger account requirement really frustrating too.

Even worse, there's a marketing blog (of all things) that requires you to enter your name, web site, email, state, country, occupation, and title, plus fill in a captcha form before leaving your comment! Naturally, they don't get many.

If you're on Wordpress, the Aksimet plugin will catch the spam.

[Geno Prussakov]

Good points (both in the post, and in the comments). I'm using WordPress, and the Akismet plugin that Jodi has mentioned helps me deal with spam. I haven't seen many blogs using Captcha's, but may play around with the idea.

[Jonathan Kranz]

There's another advantage to allowing people to more easily leave comments: when people comment, they have skin in your post, making it more likely that they'll tweet it.

[Jeff Ramos]

ha! did you make this post because of the email you sent me! either way, a great way to inform other people like me who weren't aware!

[Lisa Pfister]

Thanks for the helpful tips!

[David Meerman Scott]

Thanks for the great discussions here.

Jeff -- Yes I did. Your blog reminded me that I wanted to blog about this.

Nick - A Captcha is different than requiring you to create an account. My blog is written in TypePad. I do not require people to have a TypePad account to leave a comment. But I do require people to enter a secret word.

Yes, I still get spammy comments (many from SEO firms). I manually go in and delete them. But there are a few dozen a week and I can handle that in order to facilitate the great discussions here.

Thank you all.

[John Moore]

Great post, thank you. I find that 1-way blogging (blogs that make it hard to leave comments) are missing the point of blogging.

In today's world you must seek engagement, 2-way communication, discussion. The conversations are happening, with or without you. You're best served being part of them. See my post from a couple of days ago on the same topic:

http://johnfmoore.wordpress.com/2009/08/15/the-one-way-blog-a-waste-of-time/

John Moore
http://twitter.com/Followers

[Kelly M]

Heh. I also signed up for a Blogger account without using it -- just grew tired of wanting to respond and not being able too. Doesn't exactly encourage me to blog with them either.

I also like commenter Elizabeth's note about signing off her posts with "Leave a comment." Good idea!

[Nick]

David,

I do appreciate the personal reply which makes you one of the good guys in my eyes. I'm just a bit ticked off by the robotic spam that my blog gets and I guess that my point comes down to:

For the same effort of filling out a Captcha, someone wanting to leave a comment on my blog could register and having registered they would never have to go through the process again, whereas in 5 seconds I am going to have to prove to you that I am human for the SECOND TIME Grrr

It's not you that I hate, it's the spammers who spoil things for everyone.

[Jo Couchman]

Great advice. I think changing the text above the comment form (in WordPress blogs this is in the comments.php file) to something more encouraging, appropriate to your blog and more personal can help.

[Keith]

Good point but I go a step further an suggest making commenting as familiar as possible by using a commenting platform like Disqus or Intense Debate.

(As a matter of fact Typekey is a perfect example because it's easy to mistake the text above the comment box as asking you to sign into your typepad account to comment.)

I made my argument in "Comments the Missing Link in your Social Media Toolkit" http://knowthenetwork.com/blog/2009/08/comments-the-missing-link-in-your-social-media-toolset/

[Omar Halabieh]

I believe that blogs are meant as an engagement forum, and having a blog without an accessible way of leaving comments makes it more informative less interactive, which in my opinion defeats most of the purpose. I think David, what you are referring to here is a slight "Nudge" in the choice architecture to make leaving comments easier and thus more likely. The biggest proof: all of the above comments!

Regards,
Omar

[Andrew Webber]

The timing of this post (RT'd,thankfully, by Jenfrahm)could not have come at a more perfect time.

Although I will refrain from putting the full-sized-rant-hat on.

I am an Australian living in the Middle East and am a new blogger who is still juuuust outside the small but apparently elite group of ex-pat bloggers here.

Yesterday I happened upon an article written by a blogger from Dubai:

http://some-like-it-not.blogspot.com/2009/08/myth-dispelled.html

Highlighting the frustration about red tape when trying to do anything in the UAE - like open a business for instance (the red tape is not exclusive to business, but is an experience we all share over here in the great sandy climes).

I glanced, as I habitually do, at the blogspot engine. It looked to be post friendly so I launched into a rant-o-rama - as I have had similar troubles down here in Abu Dhabi.

When I had got to the end of the post, after a couple of edits to wipe at least some of the vitriol from its paragraphs, I realised that I was far too exuberant in the writing bit rather than the: REALLY-make-sure-you-can-independantly-post-comments bit.

In short, the "Post without account" aspect of blogspot had been disabled. I toyed with the idea of opening an account and then redirecting to my own blog.

But then simply deleted my post.

And made coffee.

People like to be involved, particularly in small blog communities like the Middle East, where we all face the same hurdles every day...

...a situation that any niche blog would do well to remember, because what is a blog, really, if connection is a chore?

Thanks for your post - I hope people take heed.

[Amelia Vargo]

Your last comment (Andrew Webber) describes something I've been through myself many a time. I agree blog comments should be encouraged, it creates a connection between you and your readers which is a great thing to have. We manually approve blog comments one by one, and although its a chore (why do people bother commenting in Russian when the site is all in English?) it keeps the trash out. A well worded, and considered comment will always get through.

[David Meerman Scott]

Great discussions here.

Andrew - your frustrations are exactly the things that a blog should try to eliminate.

I think that there is a continuum at work here.

1. You (the blogger) can do all the work to eliminate spam by allowing comments with just a name. But you'll be deleting a lot of spam.

2. You can make your readers do all the work by registering for the blog software. But as Andrew proves, not everyone will do this.

3. You can have a compromise. Your readers need to enter some text as a challenge to make sure they are human, but you need to delete a few spam comments each day. This is what I think is the best way to go.

[Justin Locke]

well everyone else has said my responses already except 2 little things, sometimes i post a comment and think i'm all done and 2 hours later i will realize the blog is waiting for me to type the letters in the box. and second, how clever are these spambots that they can read those letters when *I* can barely make them out?? :-) - jl

[Panayiotis Pete Karabetis]

Aside from writing, comments are my favorite part about spending so much time blogging. I had a reader write me a comment through e-mail and I wondered why she didnt' just post it on the site?!

It's a lot easier to moderate comments when they're waiting on the dashboard for you, and besides, it's exciting to know that what you write stirs up conversations! I know you know this feeling all too well; it never gets old.

In fact, I just made the background on my comments alternate so they are easier to read. Promote your comments, people! Your readers are all you have! If you don't think so, go back to writing in a journal :)

Pete
The Tango Notebook

[Denise Wakeman]

Wow, you hit a nerve here, David. Thanks for this post. Your position is one I share and am adamant about when I work with clients on their new blogs. Commenting is about creating the engagement with the reader. It brings them one step closer to you when they make the conscious decision to click the link and type in their ideas, thoughts, beliefs, suggestions, etc.

I simply don't comment on sites that require a log in. My feeling is that the author isn't interested in what I have to say or hasn't bothered to figure out how their blogging software works.

Blog on!