One of the things that I love most about blogging is the community that can be developed through reading blogs, but mainly through the personal comments that are left at the bottom of the posts.
I used to reply to every single comment, promising to never become “too big” to reply.
My heart still desires this, but the reality of balancing computer time with actually being a responsible mom has come to the forefront.
So let me give you a blogging tip/request. It is possible for you to enable your email in the comments section.
Do you know that every single day I respond to a bunch of commenters, shoot out the email, only to find out you all never received my response? It’s always such a bummer since you may think I ignored you.
When I learned this tip, it was a complete blogging highlight for me. So take a minute right now, and it will make a difference. If you are on Blogger, go to your dashboard and then click “edit user profile.”
Once there, you will see many options, one being “show my email address.” Check that little box.
If you’re nervous about making your email public, just quickly set up a new one through gmail or yahoo. Easy peasey. 🙂
Guess what? Now, when you leave me a comment, I can immediately reply right back to you if you ask me a question, and I will…answer questions, that is.
(Now, if you just leave a comment like “nice outfit,” I’ll probably wait until you actually ask “what thrift store did you get that at?” 🙂
If that option isn’t enabled and you ask me a question, then there is a very real possibility I may not respond because it’s a little odd to go to your site, and leave an answer on a random post.
Also, check to see if you have “word verification” enabled. That is when commentors will have to punch in a bunch of crazy letters. Sometimes I will leave a comment and then have to try a few times, or I just give up. If you’ve never checked…do that now and turn it off. It scares people away from leaving comments.
Don’t worry, in my year of blogging, I have only had one spam comment with it turned off.
Does that make any sense? I hope it does because I want to answer all the questions that come my way.
From talking with other bloggers, this makes the difference between how many people we can respond to each day.
I am no technology guru by any means, but when I first understood I could do this, it made a big difference.
I love hearing from you all, and just love sharing life with you. Thanks for the privilege.
You can always feel free to email me directly if you have something more personal you want to ask. Every once in awhile, things will go in my spam box, so if you don’t hear back from me within two days, please resend it. 🙂
I think I am the first to comment today! Love your blog! Love it when you show your frugal fashionista posts! I have gone to our salvation army store several times and I just can't get the same stuff you get! But maybe one day! Happy Labor Day! Nancy from OHIO
I am SO glad you mentioned this. What about the precaution to type in those random letters. Is there some reason for this? It is such a pain….I think people have left it "on" because they didn't know to turn it off (mine was on by default and I had to change it) I don't know why they would want it on….maybe there some reason that I don't know about. Boy did I ramble!
Yes, good tip, Jenn! Y'all have a great weekend!
suzanne
Thank you for explaining this! I try to respond to comments and most of the time I can't… now I know why!! 🙂 I will have to pass on this tip, most people probably don't know it.
people can't say this enough. i always link to folks who explain this because even though i have explained it on my blog, my commenters will still ask me a question without leaving me a way to respond. it always makes me frustrated.
Testing this! I totally thought that I had my email enabled, but I didn't! How embarrassing!
Love, love, love this Jen!! Too many times I have typed out an e-mail just to realize they don't have the e-mail address there. And it is fastest to just reply. And sometimes I just like to talk back to my friends. I hope lots of people see this! 🙂
I have posted about this in the past and while I have had a few people take care of the problem, there are STILL TONS that don't make their e-mail able to be seen! I'm glad others are spreading the word.
Also, if people are worried about their e-mail address "being out there" they can go get a free yahoo or gmail account just for their blog!
Jen – you are so right about how much more of a community e-mailing brings to blogging.
I had my e-mail set up in this way for some time and was blessed by the relationships I built through e-mailing after comments. But because of some circumstances that brought our family to the forfront of the public, the Lord led me to disabled my e-mail for a time. I wanted to continue blogging, but needed to keep some things private.
Hopefully soon, I'll be able to enable this feature again.
Blessings to you on this Saturday… Jennifer
Great post Jen, I need to post this on my blog sometime too! Do you know I also get messages from people who ask me "how do I leave a comment" and some people that ALWAYS reply to my posts via email, so I'm pretty sure they don't know how to leave a comment either.
~TidyMom
I just found your blog and I am happy I did! This is a great idea. I just started my blog, but already have responded to people through comments (which I think is messy and you never know if the person knows you responded), so I am going to do this for my blog. Thank you!
GOOD tips, Jen! I've had a handful of spammy comments since turning off the word verification thing, but nothing that I can't delete.
I LOVE it when I can reply to a question directly. Sometimes I want to comment on a person's specific post, but if they had a question, it's easier to email. 🙂
Hopefully this will help some bloggers! 🙂
Thanks! I agree – I love responding via email to the comments, but often there is no email to send it to!!!
You are so sweet to even WANT to respond to people. I love that.
And I don't usually post if I have to type those random letters in – it drives me NUTS!!!
So. Nice outfit.
*wink*
It is so nice of you to try to respond!!
Many blessings!
Hi Jen, I do have a question. I think you live in Charlotte. If so, would you please tell me your favorite thrift stores? Thanks
I must check this in my setings….i DO love hearing from you tho …you're my kind'a mom
GIVEAWAY OVER AT CITYFARMER … POP ON OVER!
As someone new to the world of blogging I am thrilled to have these suggestions. Thanks for a great post.
Thanks for posting this. I feel your pain about not being able to respond. If it's okay, I'd like to repost this on my blog and link to yours. Thanks.
I've done as you asked and enabled my email. Looking forward to learning how to get my name on my pics and to chatting more often. I'll also explain why I disabled my email to begin with.
this lil tidbit of info is the best thing ever…one of my major pet peeves is when i reply to a comment via email i always check properties and sure enough it says 'noreplycomment@blogger' I have always wondered who gets all my noreply emails lol
another feature i LOVE about blogger is the blogger in draft feature it is awesome and lets you embed comments below your posts and easier when adding pics to a post love it….
beverly sent me over
Huh..I hope mine is enabled! I e mail people when they comment if I don't respond directly in the post. I will have to ask my husband who I call my blog IT guy!
Great tips and blog. Thanks. I attempt to paste your gadget on my blog, I think it worked. I have SO much to learn abut blogging.
Great post! Now what do you do about snarky comments? I have only had a couple in about 3 years of blogging, and I usually ignore them. Do you respond or just let it go? I'd love to know!
Great post! Thanks for the tip on the word verification… I turned mine off. Never really knew it existed, just thought it was a random thing that came up on some blogs and not others.