Book Blogger Confession is a new blog meme hosted by Tiger of All Consuming Books and Karen of For What It’s Worth.
The meme will run on the 1st and 3rd Mondays of every month to
discuss some of the frustrations that are unique to book bloggers.
You can read the introductory post here.
Here’s this week’s question:
Comments. The holy grail of blogging success! What type of
posts do you leave comments on? How do you try to encourage more
comments on your blog? Do you respond to people who leave comments on
your posts? How do you handle negative/spam comments? Do you use
captcha?
Commenting is something I have struggled with since I started blogging. There are days I don’t even get on my blog and then there are days I spend a lot of time on my blog and visit other blogs. I try to leave comments on all the blogs I visit. I mostly tend to comment on reviews – especially on reviews of books that I have already read. I sometimes will comment on reviews of books that I want to read, although to be honest, I don’t always read the entire review as I don’t want to read any spoilers. The times I am most successful with commenting are when participating in memes. I participate in It’s Monday…What Are You Reading and Book Blogger Confessions on Mondays and Book Beginnings on Fridays. With these memes, I try to visit as many of the bloggers that are participating as possible and comment. I find with memes that they are almost easier to comment because it’s either about a common post (Book Blogger Confessions) or about what’s going on in our reading lives.
To encourage more comments on my blog, I’ve been doing something a little different. With my reviews, I’ve been ending with a question. I am finding that this is encouraging more people to comment. Now, I can’t take credit for this – I participated in Bloggiesta a few weeks ago and one of the mini-challenges (hosted by Sheila at Book Journey) was all about commenting and this was a suggestion. So far, I think it might be working as I’ve been getting more comments than I had been. The other thing I have been trying to do is to make more of an effort to comment on other blogs. I try to visit at least five blogs each day and leave a meaningful comment. I think this is going to be a slow process, but as I get around to different blogs repeatedly, I hope they will start to visit me.
One of the best changes Blogger has implemented is the ability to have threaded comments. When I first started blogging just over two years ago, this was not an option. I would have to leave a comment myself to respond and I felt it wasn’t beneficial – I rarely was able to be the next commenter and so it would get messy. At one time, I tried to install another commenting system – Intense Debate – but that didn’t work as I had hoped. Finally I realized Blogger had threaded commenting and have been using that since. Now I can respond directly to all comments left on my blog and I really try to get to all of them. I really like this.
I recently went through a period where I was getting a lot of spam comments. I finally realized they were spam and stopped publishing them. Now when I get a comment that looks fishy, I try to go to the source of the comment. If it’s one of those “Just another wordpress blog” I delete the comments. As for negative comments, I have only had one or two of them and let them be published. Not everyone has the same opinion of a book or idea. As long as the comment isn’t accusatory or threatening, I am ok with them.
I decided to turn off the word verification on my blog. I am hoping this does not lead to more spam. Do you have captcha? I find that half the blogs I visit have it and half do not? Those that do, why? I’m not sure I know what the benefit of it is.
How about you? What are your thoughts on commenting? What makes you comment and what helps you get comments on your blog?
I like Blogger's new reply-directly-to-a-comment feature, too. If I wanted to address a few specific people's comments in the past, I'd have to do something like—
@Suzy I agree!
@Maggie Sorry you didn't like it.
And so on. It kind of deterred me from using my own comments section!
I used to do that, too and I found it to be more annoying than anything so I wouldn't always comment back. This threaded commenting system is so much better!
that's a good suggestion about a question at the end of review posts. I will have to think about doing that! thanks for stopping by!
It seems to generate a response to those that stop by.
I'm enjoying the new blogger threaded comments too. I'm not sure anyone comes back to see my reply but I feel like it's easier to find if they do. and I've been able to carry on a few conversations.
I had too many on-going conversations, but I do try to go back to those that I leave comments on to see if there was a response.
I'm totally with you on asking questions at the end of each post. I've noticed a difference at my blog since I started doing that.
Spam is lame, but after awhile you start getting a sixth sense about stuff that like — it feels fishy, like you say. It's gotten to the point where I can spot a spam comment from across the room. 🙂
Yeah…I'm starting to get that sixth sense about it, too.
I like the threaded comment system to and it is the reason I switched back to blogger comments. I comment a lot on reviews and I don't mind commenting on books I haven't read because with my list, I will probably have forgotten by the time I get to it. Plus, bloggers are usually really good at warning you when a review has spoilers. But I have been upset more than once when a review gave way more away that I felt they should.
I'm so glad that updated to it – I was so frustrated that I couldn't reply directly to a comment. Now it's much easier!!!
I see your point about the long list and commenting…something to think about!
The question at the end of the post seems to be the best bet. I might have to start doing that at the end of my reviews, too….
It seems to generate a response, rather than just good review.