The Savvy Entrepreneur

I'm tempted to turn the comments off on my blog. It's not because I'm trying to preach or climb up into my pulpit or whatnot... it's this: my blog is very much in the developmental stages. I'm kind of in-between and waiting for a crucial step before I start into the meat of what I want to write about. In the meantime, I have lots of posts that have ZERO comments. There's nothing more sad than a blog that nobody reads. If I'm only getting 20 hits a day, then I want to keep that to myself for now.

WOW!! I can't believe the response I'm getting from this post. This entry has the most comments on a single post to date. How exciting!

@ Eric: Thank you so much for joining us. I look forward to getting to know you better. Those who allow only pings/trackbacks are sending quite an arrogant message as well. It's as if they're saying "You can leave a comment, but only if you write about me first." Very self-serving, don't you think? Then there's the other issue you bring up... What if you don't have a blog appropriate enough to use as a trackback venue? Ugh. The more I think about it, the more it makes me sick. And, yes, it's true you have to do what's best for your business, but you have to think about what your audience wants too. Let us know what you decide to do on your blog. (PS - I removed your link to JB's site).
@ Bonnie: Well, now you know how non-tech-savvy I am... I wish I could help. Let us know when you find the solution.

@ Bob: Welcome to The Savvy Entrepreneur. I'm so glad you shared with us. Captchas are an extra roadblock to commenting for sure, but it's much better than requiring registration... And you don't have a choice of adding some sort of spam deterrent. That's why I love using WordPress... One word "Akismet"! I totally agree that without comments, you have a very lifeless blog, no matter how great the content is (well, it appears this doesn't apply to big guns). It's my hope that posts -- and comments -- like this one, sends a message to everyone.

@ Jacki: Thanks for the reassurance!

@ Jenn: Yes, ain't it so cool the conversation we're having here!! I can't imagine missing out on all this action! Plus, it gives me that little bit more insight on my blog readers and their position on the topic (whether they agree or not, I'm not attached to being right).

@ Chelle: Another first-time commenter! Thanks for joining the conversation. Oh yeah, the whole 'jumping through hoops' things really grinds me too! In the special report I'm writing, I put much emphasis on how commenting roadblocks turn, not just commenters away, but readers as well.

Keep the comments coming. I'm still waiting for bloggers who don't allow commenting to share the benefits of doing so. To steal Jenn's expression, please 'open my eyes to new thoughts and ideas'!

Completely agree.

I think the other thing that bugs me are the hoops to jump through before you can post. Not the usual "put random letters and numbers here so I know you're not some strange robot with typing skills" but actual hoops like registration or, as in the case I just went through, actually having to wait for an email to come through before I was allowed to post my comment.

Which never came through, btw.

That told me all I needed to know about what that blogger wanted with me.

Great post!

What a great conversation... see what you would miss if you turned your comments off?? LOL!

I agree with Eric in that, you need to do what's right for your business - but allowing comments is a great way to get to know your readers, and make real connections with them.

I love having comments on my blog... it builds a great community of supportive, like-minded business owners. I get to connect with my readers, and understand them at a deeper level. And, if they don't totally agree with what I say, I get to open my mind to new thoughts and ideas :)

Warmly,
Jenn

Hi Cristina,
I don't mind the ads on your blog because you can clearly see that the BLOG is what is important. I never get the feeling that you are trying to sell me stuff as some other blogs do. Also, the ads on your blog for the most part are related to your business and may be something else that I'm looking for.

Hi Cristina,

What I do on my blogs is to just enable the captcha, so somebody doesn't automatically fill up a blog entry with spam.

I think that, as long as you prevent continuous automated spam, you can handle comments, because if you have one spammy post, you can delete it.

But, I think that, if you run a blog without allowing comments, you are really missing out. Comments really add value, color and life to a blog.

Eric mentioned the website of James Brausch - he has started allowing comments on some of his posts. So, I think some of the more popular bloggers are getting the message.

Cristina,

Thanks for the info. That isn't what I need to do in the template. Disabling the comments from the admin, still makes it look like a blog. This is how you know it is a blog post--and it will usually say that comments have been disallowed. However I need to go into the html code to stop it from printing out that comments have been disallowed. Then no one ever knows that you had the option to comment. It looks tidier and more professional!

Hi Christina,

I know what you're talking about. I always have a hard time deciding about turning comments/pings on or off. There are advantages and disadvantages to doing it both ways.

One blog I read often [link removed by moderator], which is not for the faint of heart, has comments off, and pings on so that the only way to leave any kind of comment is to ping his site with a trackback from my own blog. I can see the value in it for him, but it is hard for me since I don't have a marketing blog, so it doesn't make sense for me to ping his site from my own blogs even if I want to make some kind of comment.

I guess that in the end you need to do what is right for you in your business - which isn't always the thing that is most palatable for your readers.

Good post that made me think through this important topic again.

Cheers,
Eric

John, I get that bloggers, especially the bigger names out there, have to deal not only with tons of spam, but they also have to contend with reams of stupid/degrading/childish/useless comments that add nothing to the conversation.

My post was directed, in part, at the big guys who have disabled commenting, but I understand that they are in a league all their own. Most of them have been blogging "since the beginning" and can make up their own rules and still get tons of blog readers.

My rant was directed particularly at smaller (compared to the big guns), run of the mill coaches, consultant, trainers, speakers, writers and other professionals who call themselves marketing experts. They preach about how blogs will help their clients get more business, but either (1) say nothing about using a blog to connect with their readers on a personal level, or (2) talk about using a blog to connect with their readers on a personal level, but they themselves don't practice what they preach on their own blog (by disabling comments).

After a year and a half of blogging, I still consider myself a newbie, so maybe I'm not aware of all the issues that they have to deal with when it comes to managing a blog.

That's why I want the lines of communication to stay open with this post, and I encourage people who bar commenting on their blog to explain why. I may not agree with your reasons, but it'll help me better understand your position.

I've had offline discussions with colleagues and friends on the topic, so I think this deserves a whole other post.

Thanks for adding to the conversation, John.

Hi Bonnie. Thanks for joining the conversation on this topic. My post was primarily about bloggers who know that they are blogging and are using their site as a blog, but have chosen to disable the comment feature anyways.

If you have the full version of WordPress for your blog, here is how you disable the comment feature for a particular page:

1) After logging in, select the Manage tab.
2) Go to the Pages option, where the pages of your blog are listed (for your blog they would be Home, About, Contact, and Sitemap as well as any other hidden pages).
3) For the blog page where you want to disable the comment feature, click Edit. You will be on your Write Page.
4) Of the options to your right, click the + sign for the first option, Discussion (unless it's already expanded). There you have 2 check boxes: Allow Comments and Allow Pings. Simply uncheck Allow Comments.
5) Click Save.
6) Repeat these steps for the other pages.

Hope this helps. If you have the free version of WordPress, I'm not sure you'll have these options. Please let me know if this helps.

Your blog looks very interesting and I look forward to looking through it some more. I know some practitioners who could use your advice.

I agree with that. I also want to add that some of those people aren't really expecting to blog--or may not know what blogging is.

The latest thing is that a lot of people are using wordpress for small niche sites. They aren't intending to blog, as in creating conversation. They just want to use wordpress to manage their content and keep it organized. And let's face it, typing into wordpress (or even joomla) is WAY easier than having to hand code everything. So you find these blog-like sites that have comments turned off.

If they were really good on these niche sites, they'd remove the comment php code so that it didn't look like you should be ABLE to comment!

After all, if we see a site that doesn't offer the ability to comment we think one thing. If see a place where there is a note that says comments are turned off, it creates another thought. I have that on some of my static pages on my site for my offline business. It looks bad, but I'm not sure how to do it for one or two pages (like my office hours, but I really don't want comments on that on the blog! :)).

I agree, I find it disappointing when I can't begin a conversation with the blogger. However I think some of the bloggers in question just suffered from too much spam.

Jacki, thanks for sharing about the annoyance of ads on a blog. I agree with you on that point too. I hate it when the ad it right in the post.

It's a topic I struggled long and hard over. I finally opted for Google Ads, but only if they weren't too many and only if they weren't the main focus of my blog. They are only found at the top and bottom of my blog page. Nothing in the actual post.

I'm glad you started this conversation, Jacki. I'd love to open the floor on any improvements that can be made on my blog. Any annoyances that turn you off? Please share. I love constructive criticism.

What bothers me most even more than having the comments turned off is having Ads by Google (or other ads) all over the place, so much so that you can't tell whether it's a blog or a big commercial!

If people are advertising too much on their blogs I feel like we aren't having a conversation, they are just trying to make money by me being there.