Top Tip Tuesday

So I mentioned this before and I hope it is going to turn out good.  Louise from Adori Graphics has been kind to start us off with our first handful of tips.  Beyond that you can give BYUTATORTOT followers a tip you find helpful to blogging. 

Today's first tip is...

Reply to your comments

I believe this is one of the most important rules in blogging and, if there's just one thing you take away from my "top tips" feature, it is that you should reply to your comments!

Why is it important? Well imagine this. You land on a blog for the first time and think "hey I have a lot in common with this girl, I'll leave a comment to say hi". You feel all excited at the prospect of finding a new bloggy friend. You're feeling quite excited now, so you go back to this person's blog to read the reply, only to discover your comment is still unanswered. How do you feel? Sad? Dejected? Hurt? Embarrassed? Would you be keen to go back to that blog? This is how I (and many people) feel when I leave comments on a blog and don't get a reply. Don't be that person!

Essentially, commenting is about giving AND taking. We all love comments don’t we? Some of us even had a little image in our sidebar asking people to leave a comment. But, the thing with comments is that you take comments...you have to GIVE comments. It's a 2 way thing...and it's good manners too.

Here is my strategy for dealing with comments:

1. If somebody comments on my blog for the first time, I try to respond to their comment and also leave a comment on their blog, even if it's just to say "thanks for leaving your comment, I'm glad you enjoyed my post".

2. If you have a large, busy blog, you probably can't keep up with every new comment, so answer your
comments in bulk. Wait until you have 2 or 3 comments and then reply to them. This is easier if you enable comment moderation because you can keep a mental note of what posts your comments relate to.

3. Enable comment moderation so that you know you have a comment which needs replying to. It also keeps spam off your blog.

4. If somebody who hasn't commented for a while leaves you a new comment, welcome them back and sound pleased to see them.

5. Get rid of the "Captcha" thing, it takes too long to load, readers hate it, dyslexic people tremble at the thought of it (trust me) and if you have comment moderation anyway then Captcha is pointless. Get rid of it...today :)

6. Allocate some time to reply to your comments. I do mine before going to bed. I save up all the comment moderation emails and then do them before going to bed.

How do you deal with your comments? Do you have any tips for dealing with your comments? Let us know by leaving a comment.

I hope you found this feature useful, if you have any questions or comments, then leave a comment below and I'll do my best to answer it :)

About Louise: I am 35 years old, married and live in the UK. I am a blog designer with over 20 years experience producing digital graphics and over 10 years writing on blogs. My main blog is my blog design blog, Adori Graphics, where I sell custom blog makeovers and premade blog templates as well as  posting tutorials and blog freebies. I consider myself an "ethical blogger" and believe that everyone should give something back to the blogging community, which is why I write guest blogger articles, offer sponsorships to blogger conferences, sponsor giveaways and run a free blog makeover program called Write From The Heart.

Thanks Louise!  Head over to her blog and be sure to check it out!