I mentioned in my last post how important it was to comment on other blogs.
Especially if you wanted to raise the Domain Authority of your blog.
However, the process is not as easy as it could be for some blogs. In fact, on some blogs it’s downright annoying and cumbersome! A complete barrier to commenting that is time-consuming and frustrating.
Let’s look at this example below.
Go comment on other blogs, she says
I decided to be a good girl, and do some commenting on other blogs. I found a suitable recipient that was relevant to my blog’s subject and wrote an appreciative comment.
As you can see, it isn’t the most wonderful example, but it is reasonably substantial and responsive to what the blog’s author wrote. I included her name, mentioned something that was in the post, and offered her an action I will be taking in the future.
Before I clicked on the Publish button, I needed to submit my name and blog’s URL.
This is important if your blog is to benefit from search engine attention with a view to increasing your DA. This creates an acceptable link back to your blog the spiders will take note of, unlike any within the comment itself.
So I clicked on the ‘Comment as’ drop down menu to reveal the options.
And selected the Name/URL option (see below).
I could have selected the WordPress.com option (alicedesigns), but that wouldn’t have helped the SEO of my Fairy Blog Mother blog, which is the one I was focusing on for this exercise.
So far so good. I entered in my details.
And now you would have thought it would be OK to click on the Publish button, wouldn’t you?
Uh oh, you have to prove you’re not a robot
But no, this blog commenting system had other ideas.
This button next to ‘I’m not a robot’ started to ring some bells in my head. We’re in for some trouble here. This isn’t because I’m a robot, it’s because I’m a human who can’t be bothered with all this hassle.
OK, I know there is a need for moderation – but this wouldn’t stop any human spammers from doing their worst. Not all spamming is automated nowadays, because bloggers put in place prevention measures as standard.
But I just new what I saw below would increasing the amount of time I had to submit this comment, another barrier to commenting I could do without.
Click on that button above, and you end up with this. A picture puzzle only humans can complete. Except that the images are so crappy it is very easy to make a mistake.
Like I did the first time. I missed one picture out. So I had to do it all over again with another set of pictures. Grrrr.
Finally! That all important green tick. Now I can safely click that blue Publish button.
And we’re published! Another barrier to commenting overcome
Yup, my comment is published. Finally, after a lot of extra time and hassle.
But how many people would have bothered to get this far?
I know for a fact that at least one person confessed to me he wouldn’t have bothered. One potentially beneficial commenter put off from contributing a valuable comment that would have benefited both commenter and blog owner.
But don’t let this put you off. The dividends of commenting, especially if you do it right, eventually will outweigh this barrier to commenting that annoys so many readers.
And what this blogger needs to do is to also change their blogging system. There is no need to have such a cumbersome method of submitting a comment. What I have just experienced is so outdated and unnecessary.
If you want to see a truly easy way to comment, just experience my comment box below! Go on, leave me a comment and find out!
Tell me how you react to a barrier to commenting
Take advantage of the lovely smooth commenting system I have (I use the Thrive Comments plugin) and let me know how you cope when you come across a moderation system that is really complicated and off-putting.
Or if you have any stories or anecdotes about commenting barriers to entertain us, please share them. We would love to read them.
The commenting box is just below my other post recommendations (so take a look at those after you’ve commented!) >>>
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Thank you Alice, I’m new to blogging and this wasn’t something on my radar…Even though I’ve had those pesky experiences myself! I’m going straight away to test my commenting barriers!
Thanks for your comment Alice. Many commenting systems are very off-putting for potential commenters. This is due to the theme designers not understanding the value of interaction and engagement, and little knowledge of internal moderation processes. There really is no need for robot protection nowadays.
I hadn’t thought of this either – I simply switched on commenting and assumed it would be easy… off to double check that now!
Thank you for your comment Jennifer – I wonder how many blog owners have any idea how easy or difficult it is for their readers to comment! If your commenting stats are low, it’s worth giving it a try to see if there is a problem that may be hindering this function.
Great information. I need to go check my commenting process now too. Thanks Alice for the information
Hi Sally, thanks for commenting. I know you tried to do this on your phone, and even though you got mixed feedback on whether you succeeded, you did!
This is a real problem, and is another barrier to commenting. Mobile devices are not geared up to encourage or facilitate commenting. Many times have I been frustrated because everything froze at the last moment, or the link was not accepted. And with more and more people reading posts on their phones, I wonder how many have been put off from commenting because of the difficulties in doing so.
Not sure what to do about it – this may need to lie in the hands of the phone manufacturers!