In my opinion, one of the key characteristics of your Blog and one that you need to work with is the ability for people to comment on what you have posted. Some people take an even more rigid view and say that it is not really a blog without this!
This facility on your blog helps to open up and develop channels of communications between yourself and your readers and can be the perfect way of starting a business relationship. For some blogs, the comments (and what they can lead to) are the main reason they are written in the first place.
So, contrary to some views I hear in organisations thinking about using a blog, your decision should not be whether to allow comments or not, but rather how to elicit comments and how to best handle the ones you receive. Whether you moderate them or allow your visitors to comment freely (having filtered out the spam comments of course – Akismet is great for this), you should consider the fact that people want to comment and want to get involved to be a compliment to your post.
You should also look to encourage it. Ask an open question at the end of your post which is actively looking for responses – this will give people something to focus on in the responses. If you are talking to someone about a subject that you have written on, refer them to the post and ask them to join in and give their view as well.
You should also aim to respond to the comments that are made – after all, you are writing to pique people’s interest in your subject and looking to engage with your readers, so if they respond and ask a question then make sure that you reply to it.
Of course, there are going to be occasions where the comments will not be favourable – this is to be expected. You cannot please all the people all of the time. However, in all but the most extreme cases (I’m thinking primarily here about libellous comments), you really should allow the comments to appear and respond to their points by presenting your point of view. While tempting, it’s best not to ignore this type of comment: after all, you are there to put forward and argue your point of view and you will often gain greater respect by handling objections with grace and tact in this way.
So, comments, and the interaction they bring, are a key element of what make a Business Blog so effective. If you were ever considering not allowing comments then I would urge you to rethink because you would be slamming the door shut on some of the key relationship building opportunities you’ll get.
How do you encourage comments on your blog?
