1. Top 3 Reasons to Allow Blog Comments<br />The decision to launch a blog shouldn’t be taken lightly. After all, it takes a lot of time and effort to develop a blog and gain a loyal following of blog readers and visitors. Blog development and writing should be done well, or not be done at all. In order to be successful, it’s important to update a blog on a consistent basis, preferably every day or at least a few times a week. Since the blog content should be of good quality, it takes time to think of a topic, write it, edit it, and incorporate targeted keywords for SEO purposes. Another aspect of blogging that a blog operator needs to think about is blog commenting. Some bloggers decide not to allow blog comments because it’s one more thing that they need to monitor. That is the wrong approach. <br />Here are 3 business reasons to allow comments on your blog:<br />Networking Opportunities<br />If you own or operate a blog within a certain niche it will attract a specific target audience. For many individuals and companies, that is the goal of a blog. When a blog visitor posts a comment, it initiates a conversation. By responding to a blog comment, a connection and relationship can be established. A blog commenter is usually able to leave a link to their own website or blog, which the blog owner can then choose to click on to learn more about the individual. Maybe they offer services or products that are in line with your own and you could become business partners and assist with referrals. Allowing blog comments and making connections with those who comment is a great way to broaden your network. <br />SEO Factors<br />Blog commenting on industry related blogs is a good SEO strategy because it typically involves submitting a link along with the comment. The search engines then connect your website or blog to that blog in which you are commenting. However, the SEO benefits work both ways. The blog owner gets something out of it, too. The search engines like content and they like new content, therefore a blog that receives 25 comments over time will gain more search engine traction than a 300 word blog post with no comments. Blog comments can also help from a keyword perspective. It’s likely that blog comments will include the same keywords or keyword phrases that were used in the blog post, increasing the chances that the blog is found for those words. Comments might also include key phrases that you weren’t targeting, but that are related, resulting in the blog post being found for those additional words. <br />Goodwill <br />Blogs that don’t allow comments can be a turn off. Blogs, in a way, are the founding fathers of social media and helped pave the way for sites like Facebook and Twitter. Before those social media networking sites existed people launched blogs to share their thoughts and communicate with others. Blogs are meant to be a social medium. If you don’t allow comments, essentially you are saying that you don’t care what others think about your work. <br />About the Author:<br />Brick Marketing is a Boston SEO and SEM company that offers social media marketing management services. For more information please call 877-295-0620 or visit http://www.brickmarketing.com. <br />