Copyblogger, a very high profile and active blogsite, recently decided to stop allowing comments on its blog. Although the owner of Copyblogger tried to turn back the tide of negative pushback citing it was a simple business decision, several online pundits have challenged the purpose of this action.
Here’s what I think about allowing or not allowing blog comments.
1. Yes, it is each business owner’s decision to allow or not allow blog comments on their own blog. But…
2. Some of the best exchanges on high profile blogs are actually found in the comment section as other pros in the industry weigh in. In many cases I have followed links, researched additional products mentioned in a comment, and in some cases even expounded on a post and comments on my own blog.
3. If you only want to have a conversation about the blog on Google+, Facebook, or Twitter, where your real tactic is to drive links to boost up your blog, it seems weird to me to then have valuable content and just point to it, driving traffic away from your blog. Keep the conversation where the content is. Don’t say “read our blog, but if you want to comment on it go to our Facebook or Google+ page.”
4. Blogging is about commenting and soliciting comments. Although I will not chose to not visit a site that does not have blog comments enabled, many times I do read a post and scroll to see what others say to weigh the validity of the information I just read in a blog post.
5. I allow comments on my own blog and recommend that client do so as well, but encourage pre-approval of comments and a periodic review of what to publish. Not all comments on my blog are published as I will net out spam and self-promoting comment posts.
Click our comment link and let me know what you think, do you allow comments on your own blog?