30 Days to a Better Blog: Keep Up With Your Comments
Conversations are a HUGE and integral part of blogging. And the first place a discussion usually takes place is in your comments section. Keeping on top of your comments should be just as important as writing your next post, and there are several steps involved:
Field Spam. Everyone hates spam. Bloggers hate weeding through it, but honestly … readers hate seeing it too. It is the first way to signify to a reader that you don’t really care about your blog. The first step is to activate Akismet (or another anti-spam plugin) but many comments and trackbacks will slip through the crack. Flag them as spam and keep them off your blog.
Conversations are a HUGE and integral part of blogging. And the first place a discussion usually takes place is in your comments section. Keeping on top of your comments should be just as important as writing your next post, and there are several steps involved:
Field Spam. Everyone hates spam. Bloggers hate weeding through it, but honestly … readers hate seeing it too. It is the first way to signify to a reader that you don’t really care about your blog. The first step is to activate Akismet (or another anti-spam plugin) but many comments and trackbacks will slip through the crack. Flag them as spam and keep them off your blog.
Approve Comments. If you have your blog set up so that you must manually approve comments, you must keep on top of them and commit to approving them immediately. If a reader took the time to offer feedback or continue a discussion, they’re not going to come back a day later to see if their comment made it through.
Reply to Comments. If someone responds to a post (even to say “great idea”), take the time to respond back. They took time out of their day to read your blog and give you feedback. They are opening the door to becoming a repeat visitor and starting a dialogue with you. Respect your readers, talk to them, and they’re bound to recommend you to others.
Start a Debate. Face reality. Not everybody is going to love you or your ideas. But controversy and debate can fuel very interesting conversations and bring in pageviews. If someone disagrees with you, don’t ignore their comment – start a debate. Acknowledge their viewpoint and counter it. Be respectful, but this is your opportunity to show that you care about your topic and are knowledgeable enough to debate it.
Bring Comments Into Your Posts. Browse your comments for ideas for future posts, or pull together several into a follow-up article. Your readers will love seeing themselves brought into your content and will continue to comment on the blog. You may even ask a commenter to contribute with a guest post of his/her own.
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