I've been blogging full-time for the past 6½ years. One of the questions I often get asked is, "I visited your blog, but I'm unable to leave a comment. Why do you not allow people to comment on your blog?"

There are several reasons why I do not allow comments on my blogs. The main ones are;

Paid Advertisers
All of my blogs include paid advertisers. 88% of my paid advertisers are recurring. In the past, I've had advertisers pull links, refuse to renew their ad spot, or deny a request to become an advertiser simply because they didn't like what was said in the comments section of the blog.

Content Control and Moderation
I want 100% control of the content that appears on my blog. I want control of the amount of words, the keywords and phrases, keyword percentage, and links that are on my blog. Comments add words, add links, and can dilute your keywords you are trying to target.

If I allow comments, I have to spend the time going through each comment, checking links, and decide whether or not I want to allow the comment to appear on my blog. The time spent moderating comments can be much better spent updating the blog, advertising the blog, networking with others, and increasing blog revenue.

Social Media
Social media outlets such as Facebook and Twitter are much better designed for user interaction. Blog comments are usually a link drop off with few people engaging in actual conversation. People are more likely to interact and participate in a discussion using Facebook due to the very nature of the Facebook set-up. Most people have a Facebook and/or Twitter account, so they don't need to register at yet another place in order to leave their comment and/or participate in a discussion. If people like an article, they are likely to comment and/or retweet the article using Twitter.

Registration Issues
To leave a comment on a blog often requires a user to register first. The procedure often requires giving out your email address and reading a CAPTCHA phrase or answering a simple question like, "What is 2+2?" to verify you are human. The problem with this system is that not everyone wants to register with an email address just to post their comment and CAPTCHA images can be hard to decipher. There are often script errors or some sort of "bug" that prevents a reader from registering.

There have been plenty of blogs that I have been to that I had one problem or another with trying to register just to leave a comment. It can be quite frustrating and can turn one off to the whole blog in general.

I know that I'm going against the norm by not allowing comments on my blogs. It's like I'm violating some unspoken blogging rule of sorts. I just simply know what has worked well for me over the years of blogging through simple trial and error. I'm not going to upset advertisers, lose income, spend time moderating posts and fixing issues, when there are tools such as Facebook and Twitter to allow for reader feedback and interaction. My blogs are not a hobby - they are a valuable part of my online income.

Jennifer E.
Pregnant At Forty
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