Sunday Seven #391

At a recent edition of the #Bloggab Twitter chat (Tuesday nights at 9pm ET), we discussed strategies for increasing the number of comments you receive on your blog.

During the chat, we talked about things that make people not comment. Some are within a blogger’s control, but a few are not. I came up with seven reasons that came out during the chat.

Most of these are within the blogger’s control, so they should definitely be considered if you feel you’re not getting the number of comments you expect.

After all, if you know something you’re doing may be keeping people from commenting, why wouldn’t you consider changing that?

7 Reasons Your Blog May Not Receive Comments

1. Your posts are “poorly written.”

@NHDaveH says good writing definitely counts for something. For me, if it’s too difficult to figure out what you meant to say, I will probably quietly leave.

2. Your content doesn’t “move” your readers.

@mssackstein says she needs a reason to comment. This isn’t a call to be controversial for controversy’s sake, but taking a real stand on something, even if it’s the wrong stand, or just being passionate about what your subject matter can help get your readers fired up, too.

3. Your readers really don’t feel they have anything to add.

@audaciouslady added that she doesn’t like to comment just for the sake of commenting. It’s nice to have people agree with us, of course, but this is where the “ask a question” idea kicks in. Sometimes a question might help. (It won’t always help: anyone who’s tried the question strategy will tell you that.) But sometimes, it can.

4. Your comments are moderated.

For @NHDaveH and others, including me, comment moderation is a turnoff. A lot of people fear spam comments, yet they get an email every time a comment is left; so, theoretically, they shouldn’t miss notification of any comment, spam or legitimate. When a comment appears the moment it’s left, it means your other readers can discuss something and debate instantaneously. It builds community. Just look at Facebook: your comments appear instantly, and other friends can respond to what your friend wrote and what you wrote as well! That’s how conversations happen.

5. Leaving a comment is too complicated.

@audaciouslady says if it’s too complicated to leave a comment, she’s outta there! Captcha is a popular way to weed out comment spam. But people despise captcha. (If you don’t know the term, it’s those hard-to-read words with squiggly or distorted type that you have to decipher and then type into a window to confirm you’re not a spambot. But not everyone has 20/20 vision, and sometimes even for those who do, those captcha words are hard to make out.

6. You have too few comment options.

@MCtheWriter wants to be able to use her Facebook or Twitter login to leave a comment. A lot of people don’t want to create their own login on yet another website: we have too many logins and passwords to remember as it is. A commenting system like Livefyre or Disqus allows users to use existing social media accounts to leave comments without having to create a new account.

7. Facebook comments are the only option.

Not everyone wants their first and last name broadcast for the world to see when they leave a comment. There’s nothing wrong with allowing commenters to use their Facebook account as an option to post with, but forcing it on people as the sole option could be a turnoff.

How about you? Is there something not on this list that keeps you from leaving a comment?

Thanks for reading the Sunday Seven and I hope you’ll be back next week!