Monday 31 March 2014

One super simple tip to get more comments on your blog

As part of the 2014 Pantone Quilt Challenge (the entries are still available to view here, if you haven't checked them out already), I've had reason to visit and comment on lots of new-to-me blogs recently. I noticed that a LOT of bloggers had word verification turned on, and that those bloggers with word verification turned on were not getting very many comments on their quilts, even though they were often gorgeous.

Oh no! It's the unreadable number of dooooommmm...

I have to be honest, I don't often bother to comment on blogs that use word verification, because it's just too painful!  Since I noticed such a strong correlation between the use of word verification and the number of comments people were receiving, I felt I had to do a public service announcement.  If there is one super simple thing you can do to get more comments on your blog, turning word verification off is it!

What about spam?  Well, I have word verification turned off, but I only allow comments from registered users, and I get about a dozen spam comments a year.  I can live with that.

Here's a mini tutorial for people using Blogger blogs:

Step 1:  Click on "Settings" in your blogging menu.

Step 2: Click on "Posts and comments".

Step 3: Under "Who can comment?" click "Registered User" and under "Show word verification", choose No from the drop down menu.


Easy as pie!

I hope that's helpful - let me know if you have any questions.

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16 comments:

Lucy | Charm About You said...

Amen!! I hope you psa reaches those people! I've tried countless times!! I rarely comment on blogs that have it either!

Leigh Anne said...

Agree 100% But I also wonder how many of those folks now that they have it turned on? I didn't until someone let me know. I think it might be the default setting for blogger.

Heather D. said...

I agree! I don't have it on my blog and I rarely get spam. Almost never actually. I don't allow anonymous comments and I think that solves it just as well as the word verification.

Karyn said...

Totally agree. Partic annoying whn commenting via an ipad.

Wendy @ Wendysquiltsandmore said...

Thanks Adrianne. I had reluctantly turned on word verification last week, because I'd started to get spam. However, I've now turned it off again, and opted for Registered Users only instead. I didn't realise that restricting comments to Registered Users would be enough to prevent spam. Thanks for the tip.

Schulz Family said...

Oh I so agree with you. When I go to comment on someone and word verification is on I just get seriously annoyed. Lots of people seem to at the moment too, so a well timed post. Thanks

Ali w said...

Interesting. I am not overly phased by word verification but I don't like that I have to be registered and signed in with Blogger to post comments. I resisted for a long time but eventually wanted to post on here and on another blog and so bit the bullet.

I dislike the way it keeps me logged in and then tracks everything I do, or else I have to manually sign out in again each time. I dislike the lack of privacy. I am quite a segmented person and like to keep my quilting separate to my work separate to other private interests but to do that with Blogger sign in is very tedious (ie having multiple IDs).

I'd much rather be able to guard my privacy and forego a reply from the blog author, and have to type a random word to prove I am not a robot!

Linda @ kokaquilts said...

Thanx for that! I had no idea whether mine was on/off, but have checked now & hopefully it's more user friendly!! Linda

Jan Briggs said...

Thanks for the tip Adrianne. I just turned mine off! I didn't know that the settings were like that already.

jeifner said...

I'll usually leave a comment still. I figure if they took the time to write the post that I enjoy I can take the extra 6 seconds to verify. If it doesn't work the first time I write it, I rarely try a 2nd time. If I'm on my phone the numbers one is annoying as those are on the secondary character page and I have to toggle, which takes too long.

Cille said...

I hear you. I nly comment if I really have something important to say or I am super impressed by a project if the word verification is on.

Soma @ inkTorrents.com said...

So true! I usually don't bother with leaving a comment when there is word verification turned on. Akismet plugin works really well for Wordpress users . With Akismet installed, I hardly ever have to deal with spam comments.

-Soma

FlourishingPalms said...

Good idea to share that. But, I'm guessing that the people who need to read this, aren't! Same goes for "no reply" commenters. Drives me nuts when I cannot explain to someone who comments why I'm not replying to say thank you or answer a question... or why they didn't win my giveaway.

Lyndy at Stitchbird said...

OK - I have done it. I put word verification on when I was getting a lot of spam comments. Will see with interest what happens.

Adrienne said...

Amen sister! This has to be one of my biggest peeves, I hope people follow your instructions and get rid of those pesky verifiers!

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