Are You Making It Easy to Comment on Your Blog?

Is it easy for your readers to comment on your blog?

This is a question that has been very much at the forefront of my mind lately. Why? Because I have been trying to branch out and comment on other people’s blogs. Maybe even yours! But in some cases I have gone away frustrated and not commented and not returned to that blog.

Why?

Let me share my thoughts:

1. You can only comment using Facebook. I ran into this for the first time the other day. While it was intriguing and is a great way for the blogger to get their blog posts noticed via Facebook–when people comment, the comment goes on Facebook and into that person’s update stream. But what about people who do not use Facebook or do not want Facebook integrated into their whole entire life? Or how about people who don’t want their Facebook friends to know they are commenting on this blog or have serious issues with the privacy implications of linking their blog comments with Facebook? Who has this blogger just excluded from the opportunity to engage with this blog visitor due to their desire to have their blog shared on Facebook via others? Was the visibility worth the trade off?




2. Captcha. Yes, captcha is great for captchaing the spammers. But does anyone ever get the new Blogger captcha ‘prove you are not a robot’ right on the first go? And if they don’t, do they keep trying or do they leave–informal survey says (via the Shoutbox on agentqueryconnect.com) they leave. I gotta tell you, this weekend I’m going to have a chat with my parents this weekend and find out if I’m a halfblood robot. My advice: leave off the captcha. See if you get more comments. It might be worth the uptick in spam.




3. OpenID. What the heck IS OpenId anyway? Seriously. Whenever I try to use my WordPress account (which I then have to go and sign into) to use OpenID nothing ever happens. It never, never works. I’ve tried all sorts of different ways. No luck. I don’t use it. I hate it. It wastes my time and I avoid blogs that leave that as my only option. Question: Who else are you excluding by using only OpenID?




4. Gmail. I don’t like using Gmail to comment on blogs. It is not the email I use for business. And commenting on blogs is business. Plus, my Gmail account is not linked to my blog. Last time I tried to use Gmail (after having to go over and sign in), I wanted to see if I could link my Gmail to my blog so I could have that link appear in someone’s comment section if I used Gmail to sign in. I ended up signing up for Google +. Seriously. I was PISSED. I did not comment on that blog.




5. Name/URL/email. This one I like. I can pop in my name, my blog’s URL, and email address. Done. I don’t have to leave the blog to go sing in somewhere and then click back. I enter it, I comment. I’m done. BTW, if you want your avatar to pop up on comments, the free site, Gravatar, is easy to use. You can link a gravatar with an email address (or more) so when you use that email to comment on a blog, voila. Your avatar appears making it easy visually for people to recognize that it’s you. That’s easy branding.




6. Name/URL. This one is easy, but does not make my avatar pop up because my avatar is linked to my email. So far I haven’t figured out how to link my avatar to my URL. (If you know how–let me know in the comment section. I’d appreciate the advice.) If you are worried about spam with this option or the one above, make it so people have to have their first comment on your blog approved. After that, they can comment without approval. I do wonder though… could others comment pretending to be me? (Don’t get any ideas!!!) Is this the new frontier of identity theft? Eep!




7. Call to action. And lastly, are you giving your readers something to think about? Something they can respond to? I know I haven’t been so great at this in the past, but I’ve learned a little lesson from Jemi Fraser, Chris Brogan, and Derek Halpern in this regard. If you don’t ask you readers a question and don’t ask them if there is something they’d like to add it may make it difficult to comment in a meaningful way in your comment section. I know there has been the odd time where I’ve wanted to comment, but didn’t have anything I could really act upon.




8. Comment link location. You comment link should really be at the bottom of your post to make it easier for your readers to comment. I know mine isn’t, and my readers have to scroll to the top of the post in order to comment. I haven’t figured out how to change the code so it appears at the bottom, but it is something I’d like to change. If you can change it on your blog, do! Make it easy for your readers.

Is it easy to comment on my blog? What commenting options do you like (or don’t like) when you comment on a blog? Am I forgetting some?

New Blogging Spot

It’s been a year since my good writing friends over at AgentQueryConnect started their own group blog, From The Write Angle. Three times a week they post great info for writers. And now, I will be joining them!

I’m trying hard not to be the over-excited new kid, but I’m super thrilled and totally honoured. My first post will be next Friday, the 17th of 2012. It will be part of my Fabulous Five Fridays which will be five tips on various writerly subjects. The first post will be five tips on making memorable, layered characters.

The reason I’m telling you all this is because today they are ‘introducing’ me over on From The Write Angle and I’d love it if you stopped by to say, “hi!” See you over there. (Are you going there yet? Yes? Okay, I’ll zip over and say, “hi!” back!) Click here.

Work in Progress

Hey there.

I am playing with the blog’s theme again. Slowly, things will shape up and change, so if you see some strange things, fear not. So things will shape up or I will discard the whole thing and start over. (Again.) I wanted to pull my banner into the blog, but I’m having trouble finding a suitable theme to bastardize. My hacking skills when it comes to code is very limited.

 Hang in there and let me know what you think of the new theme/look.