Comments or No Comments – The Big Blogging Question

Why is it that when we hear of blogging we tend to link it almost instantly to post comments? Because the conversation blogs harbor, the ingredient that makes them part of a community, what turns them into a critical part of social media, the instant feedback and interaction, all that makes blogging so wonderful is mostly powered by comments.

Yet, there are blogs that choose to have no commenting options. Is that something we define as wrong? Does that make the whole 2.0 aspect of blogs simply disappear? Well, it depends. Just as enabling comments does not guarantee a meaningful conversation with your readers (if there are any readers), not having them does not imply there’s no way to build great relationships with blog visitors.

Given these many shades of gray, I thought analyzing both options might be quite helpful for both new bloggers and those who have been an active part of the blogosphere for quite a while.

What to Do when Comments Come Your Way?

Having or not having comments is not the only decision you’ll have to make. There are other questions heading your way, such as:

• Should you moderate comments?
• Should you ask readers to login to comment?
• Is a comment policy necessary?
• Should comment links be “no follow”?

I think moderating comments and having an anti-spam solution such as Akismet is a great idea. Alternatively, you’ll have to closely monitor your blog and delete spam. Leaving spam messages hanging around your blog has a pretty bad impact on you and your posts, it makes you look careless and some might even think you leave spammers be to brag with more comments on each post.
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