Why I Allow Comments On My Blog
written by John Chow
After going seven days without comments, Kumiko has made an updated on what it’s like to have a blog that doesn’t allow comments. After laying out her findings, Kumiko contends that Cash Quests is better off without comments. While I respect that decision and reasoning, you won’t see me turning off comments on John Chow dot Com anytime soon. Here’s why I allow comments on my blog.
Your No. 1 Communication Tool With Your Readership
Nothing gives instant feedback like the comment system. Yes, you will have to contend with some spam and other negative stuff that comes with offering blog comments but those downsides are far outweighed by the upside. Without comments, the only way your readers can talk to you is via email and I get enough emails as it is.
A Blog Without Comments Isn’t A Blog
A blog is a two way communication tool between the blogger and its readership. By removing the comments, you turn off the number one way readers communicate with the blogger. Comments and blogging go hand in hand like peas and carrots. I dare say that a blog without a comment system isn’t a blog.
Without Comments, Your RSS Readers Have Very Little Reason To Visit
Kumiko said her RSS subscription increased by 5% since turning off the comments seven days ago. That’s great but the real money is made on the blog itself because monetizing a RSS feed is far more difficult. The best way to make money off the RSS is to get readers to visit the blog and comments are one of the best ways to do that.
Unless a reader subscribes to the comment RSS, he would need to visit the blog in order to check out the comments. If there are no comments allowed, there’s isn’t much reason to visit the blog. This will result in a page view decrease, which was exactly what Cash Quests experienced.
User Generated Content Means Less Work for You
I find that my daily page views is pretty constant whether I make one post per day or five posts per day. This is because there is always something new for the reader to check out. If there isn’t a new post, I can pretty much guarantee there’ll be new comments to read or respond to.
Content equal traffic and allowing comments means your readers are helping to generate that content, which mean more traffic for the blog and less work for you.
A Blog Is A Community
Despite what Kumiko believes, a blog is a community. A community doesn’t mean everyone has an equal voice. All it means is that everyone can have their voice heard and that is what the blog comment system allows. If you kill that, you kill the community and readers will no longer have a sense of belonging to your blog.
Comments Enhance The Value of a Review
When I ordered my review from Cash Quests, I wasn’t aware that the comments were turned off. That was actually quite upsetting because I wanted to hear the feedback from Cash Quests’ readership as well as Kumiko. Feedback from the readership can sometimes be more valuable than feedback from the reviewer.
I have received more than a few ReviewMe requests saying they are ordering the review because they wanted feedback from the John Chow dot Com readership as well as hear what I had to say. Getting multiple points of views generally allows for better business decision making.
In the long run, I believe that turning off comments will actually hurt Cash Quests’ chance of getting future reviews instead of help it.
It Doesn’t Take That Long To Read Comments
It takes me more time to delete the spam I get in my email everyday than it does to delete blog spam or moderate blog comments. Akismet does a great job at canning the spam and that frees up my time to read or reply to the comments left on the blog.
Getting Comments Is Very Rewarding
Whenever I talk to other bloggers, one of the biggest complaints is not that they get too many comments, but they get no comments. When they do get a comment, they feel absolutely great because it prove someone was reading their stuff and liked it enough to leave them a comment.
I look forward to reading the comment on my blog every time I get back on the computer. Getting comments on my posts is one of the most rewarding part of blogging and I will never turn it off. You can read another view on turning off blog comment over at Blogging Tips.
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(14 votes, average: 3.21 out of 5)
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Blogs should definitely have comments in place, because, like you said, it provides readers with the instant ability to voice their opinion and/or provide feedback. Far fewer people are motivated enough to use a contact form or send an email than they are to leave a comment. For example, if there was no comment form in place here, I probably wouldn’t have bothered sending John an email.
And yes, getting comments is very rewarding for the blogger, because it gives a good gauge of the level of interest in each post. The number of comments is perhaps more indicative of interest than the number of page views.
You’re right Michael. Receiving comments is quite rewarding and does provide instant feedback. I do miss it, but the emails that I’ve received from readers have provided much more valuable feedback than 90% of comments.
But that would still mean that you’re missing out on the 10% of comments that are actually useful.
True. You can’t have your cake and eat it too. I weighed up the advantages (and disadvantages)of both and went for emails.
You are absolutely right john. I can’t imagine how those people live without having comments from these lovely people
That’s why I’m 100 links to my commentators!
-SeeJay
And it’s that type of link-dropping that influenced my decision. While I’m guilty of doing it myself, I don’t want it on my own site.
I’ll agree with you there Kumiko. For my own blog, I let people say whatever they want, positive or negative, but I remove any blatant link dropping, unless it appears to be genuinely adding to the conversation.
Yup,i also agree..need listen to ppl comment,positive or negative also can….Feel free drop me a comment at my site!!!
I only link-drop if it’s relevant. I’ve done it lately on sites where the comments were on…well…comments, and I had just wrote a post on that. If you have good content and be patient, a top blogger will write a post related to yours, and if there is truly something missing or something that can add value, then you can drop your link in.
Don’t you find value in giving your readers a way to communicate with each other? Regarding the links, why not just delete these comments and make a rule about it?
If you want people to read your blog, then there has to be comments. If you are writing just to write and you don’t care who is reading it, then feel free to shut them down. At least that’s how I’ve always looked at it.
You’re so right there, Goob. If you care enough about what your readers think, then you should leave comments on. Comment moderation is one thing, but completely turning comments off altogether is another.
i just think it’s easier to leave a comment than to write an email about something minor
Yeah, and that’s why people rather do it. Besides - why pass out on all the spam-fighting fun?
I just can’t stand moderated comments.
Sometimes they do tick me off, especially if I really want the blogger to know how I feel about their post. But I don’t mind it as much as having no option to comment at all.
personally, i think kumiko’s doing this as a publicity stunt . . . much like her bold agloco statements . . the “going against the grain” way . . . . reminds me of this quote from that ol’ wise movie “Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift” . . . “a nail that sticks out gets hammered!”
That’s an interesting thought, he did get on John’s blog for doing it
I think it’s personal prefrence. If you wnat to interact with your audience then let them comment. My first impression of a no-comment blog is always fear on the writers part, for not being able to hanlde the negativity that inevitable associates itself with comments.
Besides, comments maintian variety on your blog, and everyone knows that variety is the spice of life.
your definately right about User Generated Content. I’ve wrote a lot of posts which came from comments on my blog and on others.
I get the impression Kumiko was finding dealing with comments a hassle sometimes so for her this may be a good thing.
JohnChow.com would be strange without comments!
I think that if your blog provides a service to people like mine does, turning comments off would be a mistake simply because that’s how I know what my readers want to see on my blog. I ask them to tell me what they want featured, however my purpose is to provide knowledge that seems obscure to the general public. Maybe in Kumiko’s blog that’s not necessary, it’s more one-sided…different strokes for different folks…
It would be a ghost town! Part of the reason why I frequent this site is that I’m just as interested to read what others think as I am with John’s posts.
Half the fun of reading JohnChow.com is in the comments! Without the discussion that comments bring, a blog is like a college professor who simply talks to themself at the chalkboard.
Would you still feel the same if that college professor was showing you how to quit your job and make a living online?
In a sense, yes.
A big part of university for me was in-class discussion. While the professor’s knowledge and opinions are infinitely valuable, it is also interesting to hear what everyone else has to say on the matter.
From a blogging point of view, it’s re-assuring to hear the experiences of people other than the original poster (blog owner), because it adds credibility. If one guy just talks about how much money he can make using XYZ method and no one re-affirms this assertion, you may have a hard time believing it. If the same guy says the same thing, and then a whole bunch of people comment on how successful they have been with this method too, that gives you some re-assurance. It’s also good to hear stories of people who did not succeed, because then you’d know what methods to avoid. A balanced viewpoint is usually better.
Agreed. Hence, I will always be aiming to provide both points of view in my posts and I would always encourage people to do their own research.
It also gives the writer a way to see what people think about his/her posts. Maybe they can contribute stuff you never though of.
Michael I fully agree with you.
Cash Quests - It seems that on John Chow, because he has a higher volume of comments than any other site I’ve seen, it actually encourages people to leave a comment. So I don’t think the 97% figure is completely accurate.
It really doesn’t matter if a blogger is teaching you how to quit your job and make a living online or a professor is teaching you the skills necessary for a career in Finance or Psychiatry. Discussion is essential to the dissemination of knowledge.
I think the long-term effect of not having comments will begin to present itself given some more time. I can’t imagine it will be a positive change.
My research tells me that 97% of those who read this post won’t leave a comment. Does that stop the information from being disseminated?
I admit that there will be some negative long-term effects, however I’m confident that they will be minor and I’m prepared to accept them as I believe they are outweighed by the advantages.
I agree with you, comments are essential to blogs and I think a blog without comments is just boring.
I’m not sure that I agree with this a “web log” is simply a listing of thoughts and ideas arranged in chronological order. In any case, I’m attempting to move my site away from “blog” and more to “site”.
I guess then you could just call it a content site and not a blog.
Perhaps this is a good move to start a forums or discussion page on your site.
or
Have people register to comment, if they really have something to say they’ll go through the pain of registering. That way you’ll have more serious comments and better ones at that too.
Also, If people were “Rich” they wouldn’t actually subscribe to your site feed, they’d be vacationing in the tropics.
P.S - I think if your writing from a personal perspective, some “personalization” of the site is a good call to make.
I don’t understand why people make BLOG sites without comments. That’s something only people are just all about making money off the site do. The fill it up with ads & hope to get rich.
Is this your site?
http://www.johncow.com
How do you explain Cash Quests which is all about making money but doesn’t display ads?
ad·ver·tise·ment - a paid announcement
“Sponsored posts” are advertisements. “Affiliate links” are advertisements.
Just because don’t have the telltale “ads by Google” under the links. Doesn’t mean you’re to making money off ads.
blah… typos…
you dont*
you’re not* making
there we are ^-^
John Cow isn’t John Chow — although sometimes I think the former thinks they are.
Thanks for you point of view. Whether I’m right or not, it’s definitely an interesting experiment!
I’m quite interested in your thoughts on monetization through getting your RSS readers to visit. By my calculations even if one of your posts receives 100 comments, that is only approximately 1.5% of your RSS readership and I’d predict that it’s less than 1.5% of your daily traffic. How much money would that make?
In terms of pageviews and traffic, you have to keep in mind that my site (not blog
) doesn’t display any advertising and is actually moving away from the little monetization that it does have.
I don’t believe removing comments is for everyone and definitely wouldn’t work on JohnChow.com, but I do believe that it is the right decision to achieve the long term goals of Cash Quests
Unfortunately, even with all your analysis and stats, I still believe that with comments on, it’s a better strategy for the long run.
Talking for myself, I can say that I prefer reading a blog with comments on. It’s just more enjoyable and that’s not something that you can calculate with stats, even if they go up.
And I don’t understand the analysis you just made with 100 comments being 1.5% of RSS readership. That doesn’t make much sense. The point John made is that your RSS readers will go to your blog to view the comments, the number of comments on the blog is irrelevant.
Succeed With This || Your Success Starts Here
True. It would be good if we could measure how many RSS readers visit just to read the comments. The enjoyment factor is indeed a valuable commodity yet if the statistics said that you could earn an extra $5000 per year with no comments, would you keep them?
Well if you can make significantly more money, you would opt for the better strategy of course. But are you sure your stats are THAT conclusive, I mean there’s 2 things here:
1)It’s been running for only 7 days.
2)The increase/decreases are in the range of 5-6%.
This kind of fluctuation happens all the time without any change at all. Unless your stats are in the millions, 5% is very regular and normal. Check your stats back when your blog was with comments and look at the stat from week to week, did they really not fluctuate at least from a few percent?
Yes, 7 days isn’t a long time in statistics and there are actually quite a number of other factors that come into play. The 7 days was compared against the weekly average for the past two months.
At this stage a lot of it is still theory, but I spent a lot of time looking at other blogs without comments and spent even more time doing a discourse analysis to judge what type of readers leave comments. A lot of my theories can’t even be measured with available software so I’ll have to wait for the final verdict.
I’m one of those who ordered a review from John Chow at ReviewMe. So, will I have the privilege?
One more point regarding paid reviews - while many reviewers may be interested in receiving commentator feedback on their site, let’s not forget that I still send targeted visitors at less than $0.20 per click! Beat that AdWords!
I hate blogs without comments, especially better blogs with thought-provoking posts. Even on my newspaper’s website, we are trying to work comments in because user feedback is SO important. But hey, to each his or her own. I guess it’s a personal choice.
The posts that are thought provoking are what make the comments worth it…
I don’t hate blogs without comments per se, but they’re definitely missing out on a lot by disabling it. A blog SHOULD have comments for it to be considered a blog, as John mentioned. But since Kumiko said she’s working toward making Cash Quests more of a site instead of a blog, then I guess everything is settled then.
If people think they have such pressing comments on Cash Quests, they could always hit that contact tab.
I agree, blogs should have comments, otherwise it’s just a website. Nothing wrong with websites without comments, but you loose out on the immediacy of comment making. Oh yeah, and spam.
It’s funny, because even keeping an open mind when I clicked over to Kumikos site, after reading her latest on turning off comments - I wanted to comment!
I feel that if I don’t have a chance to say anything (and I’m not a comment whore), then I feel like that little sense of ownership I had is gone, and I lose interest. Not to say her blog doesn’t have great articles, because it does…but the one thing that keeps me coming back to most other blogs is the ability to voice my thoughts, give praise, or even give criticism if necessary. Without that, it’s like any other website.
I’m trying to understand her reasons for this, and I respect them, but overall I think this isn’t the greatest move, especially in the long run. Her main goal, as she states obviously, is to make money. While it’s still possible, I think she’ll make significantly less in the long run with comments turned off. It seems that for a blog to thrive monetarily, it needs a community to back it up. Look at the “big dogs” in our niche - not many have comments turned off…if any.
I think I speak for more than just myself when I say that I’m not opposed to viewing her site, but my interest will definitely wane as time goes on - especially when a post comes up that I would really like to comment on and want others to see.
In conclusion, I think turning off comments should be nothing more than a case study - at best.
Best of luck to her though.