Making your blog more visitor friendly

Has the presence of word verification ever stopped you from commenting on another's blog?

How about the good ol' noreply when you email another?

 As a weekend host of a fairly large linkup event, I visit a lot of blogs. It's been really fun getting to know more and more of you!

However, some visits require jumping through hoops to get my comment of gratitude to you. Or even an email. And most of you aren't even aware of it.

Let's look at it this way.  Have you ever answered your door to a guest, only to immediately hand them a dish cloth, requesting they do your dishes before you can visit? Silly scenario, isn't it? Well, some blog default settings sort of do the same thing to your blog visitors. The settings make your guests work in order to leave a comment.

The problem?

Default settings

 When you start a new blog, there are default settings in place. With a few minor tweaks, your blog can immediately become more visitor friendly!

Having our visitors feel welcome is critical for blog success. And making it easy to leave comments and emails back to all is even more imperative if you wish for those comments. Trust me, I use to use all these safety gadgets in my earlier days of blogging. But today, I've found better ways around the issues. So, allow me to help your blog become more visitor friendly this very instant!

 
Word verification

What it does:

 When a visitor makes a comment, a funky or sometimes scrambled word comes up, where they must type it out in order to have the comment go through. This keeps spammers from leaving comments on your blog.

Lecture

This is not only a spam deterrent, it can also be a comment deterrent. :) At times, it's a 3 step process to leave a comment. First you comment, then do word verification, then sometimes a third to verify. (I don't know why this is!)  I miss the 3rd step nearly every time, as I have to manually scroll to read whether the comment took or not.  And if I don't verify, my comment will not be there. Which happens to LOTS of my comments. And I don't go back to enter again.

So what about the spam issue then? Some of us will get hit, and then you have a reason to put it back on. However there ARE other ways to deal with the spam. I use email notification to keep track of where it goes. And with the new blogger templates, there's now an auto spam filter that catches most of it.

So, I vote remove word verification TODAY and let's ease the pain of 2 or 3 clicks it takes to leave a comment on your blog.  

99% of you don't know you have it activated. Guaranteed. :) Check it out.

How to deactivate (or activate) word verification

dashboard
settings
comments
scroll down to: Show word verification for comments?
please select NO. :)
click save settings

Comment notification

What it does:

Every time someone comments on your blog, you'll get an email which makes it soooo easy to reply back to your visitors! (IF they have comment notification enabled as well)

Lecture

You know how much work it is to hunt for someone's blog in order to find their email to comment back. This makes it a breeze! Just do it and thank me later. This is also how I gauge spam.

How to activate comment notification

dashboard
settings
comments
scroll down to: Comment Notification Email
fill in your email
click save settings

Comment moderation

What it does:

 When someone comments, you have a chance to moderate the comment before allowing it to be published on your blog. The comment will not appear until it is approved by the blog owner.

Lecture

 I honestly LIKE seeing my comment publish right away on your blog. I like to check for spelling errors and if I sounded like a dork or not and may wish to redo it. :)

Ask yourself why you're still moderating comments. 99.9% of them are super nice! And now you have comment notification on so you'd get an email on where to locate it in order to delete it if desired anyway. Same with spam. So go ahead. Live dangerously. Deactivate this one. It'll save you work and offer your guests instant gratification.

How to activate/deactivate comment moderation

dashboard
settings
comments
scroll down to: Comment moderation
select NEVER ... I mean, if you want :)

click save settings

 Activate your profile / email

What it does

If your profile is activated, this provides a means in which we can #1 email you IF you activate email, and #2 - you'll show up in other's email notifications. Which is truly what you want. Trust me.

Lecture

Let's say you leave me a comment and I want to write you back. If I need to go hunt down your blog (which one, anyway? many of you have more than one), then leave a comment on some non applicable post in order to reach you, chances are I won't do it.

How do I KNOW you don't have your email or profile activated? Because when I go try and email you, your email address shows up as noreply. Which really means NO REPLY. Which means I can send it but it won't get to you.

Leery on having a profile for security reasons? Leave your profile blank but at least activate a new hotmail email account you can later delete if going public isn't working for you. However, if you're public with a blog, you really ought to go public with an email. It's good PR for your visitors.

How to activate your profile and email

#1. CREATE a profile if you don't have one already. This is somewhere in your initial blog settings.

#2. Once created, you need to activate it.

dashboard
look to the upper left
select edit profile

under privacy - 
select - show my profile
select - show my email address

under identity -
ADD - your desired online email address

click save profile

Embedding comments under post

What it does

If embedding is chosen, your comments will show up underneath your blog post in one long scrolling page after you click your home page. No popup boxes or separate pages applicable.


Lecture

Ever wish to comment but wish you could scroll up to take a gander at the post while you do so? My comments are MUCH shorter if I must rely on the memory of what your post just showed me.

But this option does more. When someone clicks on your post, they don't have to select COMMENT in order to make one. The comment window is just there and open and ready for you.

I also don't care for the little popup box that jumps up at me when commenting. #1, they're too small and I feel like I'm typing inside a postage stamp and I must manually grab and enlarge it if I want it bigger, and #2, if I click on your post to scroll, the comment box disappears. Just not as user friendly as embedding.

How to activate embedding comments under post

dashboard
settings
comments
scroll down to: Comment Form Placement
select Embedded below post
click save settings

then sign out of your blog, and go and try and comment to make sure it works.

 Contact Me Button

What it does

A properly functioning contact button on your blogface allows visitors to email you through one click. The feature automatically opens up their email account so it cuts down on additional steps.

Lecture

I personally don't love them because it opens up a weird more simplified email box area on my mac. However it's alot easier than cutting and pasting someone's email into your own email which requires extra steps. This is quick and easy.

Tip: if you right click a contact me button done right, it'll give you the option to simply COPY the email address if you so desire which is very handy!

 How to create a Contact Me button

1. Choose your blog button (picture) of choice.

(creating blog buttons needs to be in a post by itself... one day I shall)

2. Upload your image to any image hosting website.

(I use Photobucket)

Once uploaded, html codes of all kinds will be attributed to your image. Keep all those fancy codes handy. You'll need the image one. (starting with http and ending with jpg, png or whatever)

3. Go back to blogger, and go to 

dashboard, 
design, 
page elements, 
add a gadget, 
scroll down to the 6th that reads HTML

4. Enter this code as is except for tweaking in your own applicable info:

red - your email

teal - your image code
magenta - center coding

You won't be able to cut and paste the above code as it's only a picture. There's alot of work and learning in making codes show up in blog posts correctly, so for now click HERE  where you can cut and paste the code from. It works! Just remember to replace the applicable info with YOUR email and YOUR image info.

Want the button to center? Add the center info before and behind the code (as above) like I did which wasn't included in that website.

5. Save changes, position where you desire and you're done! Test it out to ensure it's working.

 

Music

What it does

Some blogs have added a playlist of music. When you enter a blog, you're either greeted to music automatically (which you can deactivate by FINDING it first) or you have the option to activate the play yourself.


Lecture

What it REALLY does is scare the daylights outta me when I late night blog hop. :)

Other than that, this feature slows down dial up computers, causes my high speed connection to slow down and run glitchy, and encourages me to exit quicker than I may have originally wished to.  Where it's true you can mute,  I don't want to each time music hits me at random. I vote to at the very least, disable it and leave it as an option for visitors, not a mandatory feature. Or leave it off altogether.

Commenting back

What it does

When someone comments on your blog, many of us love to comment back as a blog courtesy.

Lecture

I get emailed a fair bit asking what I personally do. And then I email others and ask what they do. 'Round and round we go!

In a nutshell, you need to do what's right for you.

Are you wishing you had the time to comment back to each comment you get? Me too. There was a day when I did just that. And at times I still do. But if some post receives 80 comments, and my son needs to be fed, you can guess which comes first.

This is my feeling. If I give someone a kudos, while it's nice to get an answer back, I don't expect it unless I asked a question. We all have busy lives. If you feel you can comment back, by all means, do so! But to put that pressure on yourself that you MUST to each and every one is in my belief, somewhat self inflicted. It's easy to do in the early days of blogging but gets increasingly difficult as your blog grows.

I suggest:

- respond back if you can. I believe interaction creates bonds that are not soon forgotten. If you can't, at least address ALL the questions.

- Answer questions within your comments (for the benefit of all) AND emailing them back as well. Remember, not all (if any) will actually return to your post a 2nd time to read possible comments from you. I do it for the benefit of new commenters.

- Fire up a Facebook account and ask/answer questions there. It's a breeze (and very fun!) to communicate with all! Join us! FJI Facebook is a chatty and fun group!




- It pays to check it out and play around on Twitter and see what you think. It's so universal. I found out about the photo contest I entered there ( and won) and bloggers from far and wide got to the Nate studio, thanks to Twitter. You just never know!

ID yourself with your blog url 
in emails and comments

What it does:

A blog url is your blog's home page address. If you click on your header, this is your blog's url. Mine reads as http://funkyjunkinteriors.blogspot.com/

Lecture on emails

I get emailed alot to check out someone's blog. Or a specific post. I just weeded through 70ish emails today so can you imagine how much is on the go when this transpires? :)

Please look into your email settings and at the very least, add an active blog link as an automatic signature so you don't have to do it every time you email someone. This helps to identify you as well as making you easily found! I don't consider it spam. I consider it good blog biz. Maybe I WANT to check you out, ya know? :)

Want me to spec out a specific post? Please include the url for THAT post too. I'd rather help 5 of you than just one of you in the same amount of time. Thanks!

Lecture on blog posts

Got more than one blog? You may even wish to leave your direct URL under your name in your comment. I do that at times so one doesn't have to search all my blogs to find the 'real one.'  I think I only have 5 or something ridiculous like that. :) If you comment on a blog, many times they follow your comment back to you. Make it easy for them!

Homework

I totally suggest to sign out of your blogger account, then go make an attempt to comment on your blog. See for yourself all the hoops that must be taken in order to do so. Then go ahead and tweak to your heart's content. You now know how. :)

And by all means, please share this blog link to whomever you feel could use a little blog savvy help. I thank you in advance! :)

What do you think?

Did I mention any pet peeves of yours?

Have any suggestions on doing something better than above?

Feel free to share!

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