I read a lot of blogs. A LOT. I have my secret stash of bookmarked blogs set up in organized folders on my computer and go through them almost every morning whilst drinking my coffee. Then there are the posts I find through Twitter and Facebook. All in all, it's about 25 to 30 posts per day. I try to leave comments but only when I feel I can add to the conversation because comments are IMPORTANT. Not the "great post" or "LOL" comments but comments with meaning. While Twitter is great, it can be difficult to have a detailed conversation using 140 characters, but the conversations through blog posts? Those are magical. Comments also let you know people are not just reading but connecting with something you've written whether it's to agree, disagree or share their own story.
So it drives me ABSOLUTELY CRAZY when I read a post, want to leave a comment and I can't. And why can't I? Because you've set your Blogspot blog up to have only five options for signing in to leave a comment and I am not signed up for any of those options.
EXAMPLE ONE:
In this case I wanted to leave a comment but I can't because I don't have a Google, LiveJournal, WordPress, TypePad, AIM or OpenID account. Nor do I wish to get one because I have enough crap in my inbox and passwords to remember thankyouverymuch.
If you aren't getting many comments this may be your problem. So how do you fix it? I'm not sure because I have a Wordpress blog that I didn't set up and am often accidentally deleting comments because my spam filter is overenthusiastic. But I do know blogspot does allow for a Name/URL box or an Anoymous option.
EXAMPLE TWO:
See? I can leave a comment on this blog because I have a name and a URL.
For awhile I had been quietly DMing people to let them know they need to add in this option but this just ended with DMs going back and forth asking 'how do I do this' and I don't know how—it's all I can do to keep my own blog from imploding. Also? I can't fix everyone. So this is your PSA. If you have a Blogspot blog, please drop everything you are doing right this very second and check your commenting options to make sure you have Name/URL and Anonymous set up so everyone will be able to comment on your blog that you've worked so hard to create, then pass this along to anyone else you know who hasn't done this.
Page views and number of visitors might be the king and queen of the social media world, but it's the comments connect.
Don't leave your readers disconnected.
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