Does Less Blog Content Lead To Less Blog Traffic?
Having a policy like requiring blog registration prior to posting comments can reduce your blog to a one-way web publishing medium.
While not as extreme as banning blog comments altogether, it can severely reduce the number of comments you receive in your posts.
Let’s face it, we already deal with a multitude of usernames and passwords, and blogs are designed to be an easy communication platform to set up, publish to and for readers to access.
By adding additional layers of registration, and requiring users to login each time they’d like to comment, you’re increasing the frustration level for your users, even if they are able to remember their passwords 99% of the time.
If spam comments are an issue, use a spam-administration plugins like akismet or spam karma.
Enable comment moderation if you have to.
Sure I get more than my fair share of junk comments.
I also get comments (some from well meaning folk) which have no value and which would destroy that 5 to 10 seconds of your time if you read it. So I delete those.
It takes some time, but I’m not about to shortchange you by blanket approving every single comment that comes in.
If the blogger isn’t out to protect his or her readers interest, who is?
They say in the service industry, “the customer comes first”.
As a blogger, my mantra has always been, “the reader comes first”.
Reward your readers, and they will reward you with their loyalty.
Ginene
April 4, 2007 at 9:21 am (17 years ago)I agree. If I have to register or log in to post a comment then I just give up and don’t post.
Farinelli
April 4, 2007 at 9:38 am (17 years ago)That is an interesting point of view. Most of my friends and I have users-only and word-entry barriers just to block spam out. For most of them, and to a much lesser extent me, aren’t as dedicated to the blogs. So your post made me consider whether I should adopt your methods.
Cool! 🙂
Larry
April 4, 2007 at 11:25 am (17 years ago)I agree. I don’t require registration for comments on my blog because I hate that. But on my bigger sites (approx. 25,000 visitors/day), I’ve turned off commenting altogether because I know I probably won’t have time to deal with the comments – both legitimate and spam.
Jim Kukral
April 4, 2007 at 11:46 am (17 years ago)I never, ever leave comments on blogs that make me register. Make it easy, or I’m gone.
Andrew Wee
April 4, 2007 at 12:15 pm (17 years ago)If you have a 25,000 visitor/day site and you’re monetizing it effectively, I shouldn’t think paying a freelancer $25 to moderate your comments should be an issue, shouldn’t it?
I’d think you’d want to make it more interactive and build a relationship with your readers, rather than shun them because of a little inconvenience. Akismet and other plugins already get rid of the 99% of spam I receive.
I guess you have a different strategy.
Andrew Wee
April 4, 2007 at 12:18 pm (17 years ago)Jim,
Phew! I’m glad I don’t have mandatory user reg on my site.
I used to go through the whole reg rigmarole, but have resorted to posting and firing a trackback if it’s noteworthy, otherwise like you say, I’m gone.
Larry
April 4, 2007 at 1:27 pm (17 years ago)Money isn’t the issue but trust is – a big one too.
I’ve heard about anti-spam plugins but being new to blogs, I guess I still have a bit to learn before I can get comfortable with using them.
I’ve activated the comments for my site as per your advice to see if maybe my fears are a little overblown. The thing is my 1,000+ visitors/day wallpaper site can get up to 20 spam (mostly about drugs) sometimes, so I was a bit worried with a 25,000 visitors/day site. Anyway… keeping my fingers crossed.
Andrew Wee
April 4, 2007 at 1:35 pm (17 years ago)I get significantly more spam on a daily basis, and my plugins catch them.
The plugins have a ‘learning’ ability too, so you’d only need to flag it only once.
lee
April 4, 2007 at 9:05 pm (17 years ago)Andrew, Going to someone’s blog is a lot like shopping in someone’s store. When I was a kid my dad, who was a businessman, took me to two different hardware stores. At one, the salespeople were too busy to even say hello. At the other, the owner himself shouted out a greeting as we walked in the door. Dad knew the owner of the second store and explained to me that he did several times the business done at the first store. Making his customers feel welcome was a large part of the reason. Great post!
rookie
April 4, 2007 at 11:51 pm (17 years ago)way to much work to log in and it doesnt seem to work.
Andrew Wee
April 5, 2007 at 9:59 am (17 years ago)Works fine for me the first time. It’s just a hassle when you want to post the second and subsequent times.
Dating Specialist
April 5, 2007 at 2:09 pm (17 years ago)Yeah I agree. Shouldn’t log in to comment, as commenting is a great way to invite readers to participate and give their share of opinions. I’m quite irritated with those spam coming in lately again – was gone after I installed the security word to input before they can submit, thought that would stall them.
Well it did, but only for a while. Maybe I should install the anti-spam plugins…
Michelle MacPhearson
April 6, 2007 at 4:08 am (17 years ago)And should bloggers need a more self-serving reason to make commenting easier on the reader, they should keep in mind that when people comment, it adds content to you site. And the SE’s love content.
Andrew Wee
April 6, 2007 at 11:42 am (17 years ago)It does help the content creation effort when you have intelligent readers adding relevant comments to the posts.
I’ve found that good bloggers generally leave good comments on other blogs.
Simon Ettison
July 27, 2010 at 1:17 am (14 years ago)What a fantastic theme you have 🙂 your site articles are quite informative too! Many thanks 😀
Josie
May 13, 2011 at 1:30 am (13 years ago)You?re the one with the brains here. I?m wahtncig for your posts.
immobilier
January 5, 2012 at 3:24 pm (12 years ago)Salut vous quel est votre point de vue de mon nouveau site sur l’immobilier?