Book Blogger Confessions is a new bi-weekly meme hosted by Tiger @ All Consuming Books and Karen @ For What it's Worth Reviews.
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?
First of all – DEATH TO CAPTCHA- if you use CAPTCHA on your blog I ask you to kill it please. A little part of me dies every time I click post or publish after I type a comment and I see that thing pop up making me type out letters and numbers I can barely make out. Blogger already has a SPAM filter in place and CAPTCHA is just an extra, unnecessary precaution that wastes commenters’ time and leaves them frustrated (I am pointing to myself).
Now onto the other questions.
What type of posts do you leave comments on?
The type of posts that generally have me writing comments are most often the opinion/discussion type posts because they get me thinking and they generally ask the reader to voice their own views and thoughts. The topics are also interesting and of course book or book blogging related so it’s things I can talk about at length. I just wish I had topics popping into my head that I could post about and get discussions going on my own blog.
How do you try to encourage more comments on your blog?
When I used to have the time I found that leaving thoughtful comments on many other people’s blogs usually generated comments on my blog, and being social on twitter also surprisingly got people coming to my blog and commenting as well. Sadly I can’t say I have much time to do those two things as much as before. Memes are also not only a great way to get people viewing your blog but commenting as well, especially if you visit people signed up for the meme and leave a thoughtful comment on their post with a link back to yours below your name or something. But make sure you leave a sincere post not just a “great pick here’s mine” I consider that a spam comment and I basically ignore them.
Do you respond to people who leave comments on your posts?
Not always right away but yes I do because I like getting responses to comments I make on other people’s blog so I figured some people might like replies to their comments. For some comments though I respond in other ways then replies. Like with Waiting on Wednesday or other memes instead of replying (or only replying) I like to visit the commenter’s blog and comment on their meme post or just another post by them and sometimes also thank them for stopping by my blog.
How do you handle negative/spam comments?
I have luckily never received a negative comment, yet. Unlike places like YouTube people in the book blogging world for the most part are quite civil and understanding when they don’t agree with your opinion on something. The most negative thing I’ve received in fact is someone commenting on a listopia post of mine about graphic novels I wanted to read this year and telling me that they aren’t graphic novels but manga and not saying anything else about my choices. I replied telling them manga are graphic novels, just a specific type. Whether they’ve seen my reply or not the discussion has not continued. As for spam comments where it’s obvious the reader didn’t even bother to read the post or think of something meaningful to say and just want me to visit their blog, I don’t bother clicking on their link.
Meme's are tough for me. I know it's to encourage visiting other blogs but honestly most of us are either getting/reading the same things. After awhile it's just "great books this week!"
ReplyDeleteI feel like we're just rushing through the links so we get more hits.
That's not to say that I don't enjoy or participate in those meme's because I do but I can only comment on so many before I burn out.
I figured if I got a negative comment then I had made it to blogging. I hate captcha with a passion. I do try to leave comments on blogs :)
ReplyDeleteI have only gotten a couple of negative comments and at the time it was more about the background color and font color hard for them to read. I ignored that person. If you don't like it don't read it.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the memes but usually try to pick links randomly instead of starting at the top of a linky. I try to spread the wealth. haha
Maybe I should try harder on twitter. It's just difficult for me when there are so many tweeters that I follow and it updates so quickly. Thanks for the tips!
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you about commenting on blogs, being social on Twitter, and participating in memes -- those are some of the best ways to find new blogs, meet new people, and get your own new followers.
ReplyDeleteWhen I do memes, I try to comment on at least a few of the other participating blogs. I feel that if I am going to link up to a meme, I should at least visit others doing the same. Some times, like with this meme, I get to all the participating blogs (even if it's a day or two later) and with others, like It's Monday...What Are You Reading? it varies. If I'm home and have the time, I'll visit a lot (sometimes all) and then I end up with a lot of comments back. I guess the bottom line is, if you put the time in to visit other blogs, you get the rewards of lots of comments.
ReplyDeleteI recently started ending my reviews with a question and I find that it is generating more comments. I also try to respond to all comments left on my blog.