In recent times many blog owners have taken the initiative to remove the comment section from their websites. This is a big way has been as a result of poor site comments and spam.
Good comments can be very beneficial to a website and improve SEO. However poor comments and spam can have the opposite effect.
While we are very much interested in having comments on our websites. The time spent moderating spam can be very exhausting. This is why so many sites have made the choice to turn comments off.
What Is A Good Site Comment
Site comments is a section in our website that makes it possible for site visitors to leave us feedback on our content.
A good site comment is detailed and informative.
A good site comment is direct. It comments on the actual content of the post. It may question ask for additional information or clarification.
You should not comment on an article about road conditions in Ghana with a comment about the dangers of buying certain toys for your children.
This shows that the reader is either deliberately trying to leave spam or did not read the article.
What Is A Bad Site Comment
Bad comments lack the information above. Additionally, they add no value.
Spam: Spam are typically comments that seek to redirect the reader to the user’s site but in no way add value to the content of the article.
Short: Some commenters may be well meaning in leaving their comments, however, the content of it may be so short that it in no way add value. These are comments such as “Good point”, “Well done”, “well written article”, etc.
Avoid sentence fillers that goes like, “I enjoyed reading this informative post. I think you did a great job in writing the review and I enjoyed reading it.”
Comments like this are more in the nature of fillers and do not in any way add value.
Why We Should Always Have A Site Comments Section
1. Regular Feedback On Your Content
Consider this, if you have a website that is putting out content frequently. Your users visit your site but are unable to communicate with you to ask further questions or leave feedback.
How can you the owner be sure that you are meeting their needs? How will you know what it is that they need from you. What if they have follow up questions.
All these things are served by the site comments section.
Related Content: 10 Ways TO Write Great Site Comments
2. Build Relationships
Site Comments add a human touch. Even though you are on the internet, your willingness to interact with your visitors make you appear more real.
As a result we should allow site owners to build a relationship with our visitors. When this happen visitors develop a greater loyalty and tend to often return.
Additionally when site owners interacts with users it helps to build trust.
This is a bloggers dream so why not cultivate it?
3. Return Visit To Ask Questions
Visitors are actually more likely to return to a site that allow them to ask questions than one that is closed to interaction. This is another great reason to ensure that your comment section remains open.
4. SEO Value
To Search Engines Blog Comments Are Added content. You can actually rank in searches for information given in the comment section of your website even though it was not covered in the main section of your site.
This is an added great reason to leave your comment section intact.
What Type Of Comment Should You Allow On Your Site
Comments that questions, add information to what is already on the site or give feedback should all be allowed on your site.
While many people do not like controversial comments that can be good for ranking. Your site visitors may be more open to voicing their opinions if the author is open to criticism from time to time.
As the content creator you can in responding to these comments add valuable content or clarification.
Deleting these comments can actually alienate your visitors or make you seem a bit dodgy so be thick-skinned. Responding with valuable information that adds to the content can on the other hand help to open doors for future interaction and garner the respect of your visitors.
Handling Site Comments
1. Respond In A Timely Manner
Always respond to comments in a timely manner to keep your visitors engaged. At the very least this should be within 24 hours.
Failure to respond in a timely manner may result in loss of interest, and missed return visit.
2. Full Response In New Article
Comments can sometimes give ideas for fresh content.
When this happen you may still respond within the 24-hour period. However, it is also a good idea to write a new article that covers the topic adequately then leave a link to it in the comment section with your original response.
In this way that user and any other users who may read this comment and are interested will be more likely to visit your new article for more information.
3. Make A Habit Of Responding To All Comments And Requests For Information
When readers know that you respond to their comments they will begin to expect it and leave more queries.
Why It Is Great To Leave Valuable Comments On Other Sites
Comments can be valuable to both the commenter and the site visitor. Comments are usually set to link to the contributor’s site. When you leave a comment of great value site visitors are more likely to follow your link to your site to learn more.
You do not even need to leave an additional link to any content for this to happens. It happens because you would have shown yourself to be an authority through your insightful comment.
Combat Spam Comments
A recent perusal of Moz blog cause me to stumble on an interesting valuable piece of information.
They had fought spam comments for a long time until they found something that appears to work well for them.
They would use writers to introduce interesting, quality comments as the lead comment in their post. This in turn spark discussion and resulted in better comments from those who followed.
This seem like a great, well worth a try to improve site comments.
Conclusion
Even though dealing with bad comments can be time-consuming and disheartening good site comments are still of high value. As such blog owners should think carefully before removing the comment section from their site.
Leaving a call to action on your site may be a much better idea to promote good comments on your website.
Before You Go
Give one reason why you may have left a bad comment on someone’s site. What have you learned since then and how has it impacted the way you comment?
Candy Benn