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Friday, May 14, 2010

Is Your Comment Area Easy To Navigate? »

Lately I’ve been having some problems with leaving comments on certain blogs that I was visiting. It made me wonder if I was the only one that was running into these problems and if it bothered anyone else? I wondered if I was just being too anal about leaving comments? Ever since I first started blogging I’ve always been big into commenting, I really like the interaction that a comment allows between the blogger and the reader. I know we all read a lot of blogs everyday or at least try to and I for one always try to leave a comment after reading ones post. Then I started to hit roadblocks now and then on certain blogs, where I was unable to find their comment area or the owner of the blog had you jumping through hoops just to leave a comment on their blog.

“Make sure your site is easy to navigate. Nothing is more frustrating than navigating a site where it’s easy to get lost. This will negatively impact your profitability since potential customers are unlikely to stick around if it’s too difficult to find what they want. Simple and direct navigation is key!” from webreference.com/authoring.

Do You Make Your Readers Jump Through Hoops?

I think some blog owners are unaware that their comment areas are too involve for some bloggers to take the time to either register or sign in to leave a comment. There are some blogs that I’ve noticed that are so cluttered that after you read the post you expect to see the comment area and your unable to find it, you try putting your cursor everywhere to see if you can find the exact spot where you are suppose to leave your comment. If I can’t find the comment area within so many seconds then I’m on my way to another blog, or on to another project that I have to do online. We are all pressed for time lately (what with work and some of us working more than one job) that sometimes it seems we spend far too much time online and we just can’t wait to get off-line and put the computer away for another day. Time is precious to a lot of us whether we work at the office for 8-10 hours a day and some of us come home only to go online and put in another maybe 4-5 hours on the computer. It wears on all of us after awhile and we should make it easier on our visitors that come to our blogs to read a post and leave a comment on our blog. Also keep in mind that some of the people that come to our blogs are new to blogging and may not know much about leaving a comment, so make it easy on the new reader to leave a comment. After all it’s to our benefit to grab those new readers when we can.

I had read a statement that the Pro-blogger Darren Rowse had written awhile back it was in regards to: Make it Easy to Comment - I leave a lot of comments on a lot of blogs each week – but there is one situation where I rarely leave a comment – even if the post deserves it – blogs that require me to login before making a comment. Maybe I’m lazy (actually there’s no maybe about it) or maybe there’s something inside me that worries about giving out my personal details – but when I see a comments section that requires registration I almost always (95% or more of the time) leave the blog without leaving the comment that I want to make. While I totally understand the temptation to require registration for comments (combatting spam in most cases) something inside me resists participating in such comments sections. Registration is a hurdle you put in front of your readers that some will be willing to leap but that others will balk at (the same is often said about other comments section requirements that go beyond the basics). Keep your comments section as simple and as easy to use as possible”

Is your blog comment area set up so it’s easy on your readers to leave a comment? If you’re at a blog where you have to register or sign up to comment will you follow through to leave a comment, and if not care to tell why you wouldn’t leave a comment?

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