The Value of a Comment

Have you ever thought about the value of a guestbook on your lens? I mean, besides answering questions, what good does a comment section do on your lens?

First of all, it is important to know how to use the Guestbook or Comments module. For that, I will refer you to a lens by Kimberly, called Guestbooks and You. In this lens, you will find all the answers to how to use a Guestbook module, and control the comments that you receive.

Now that we have that down pat, why bother with a comment section at all? You may notice from time to time that some lenses do not have a comment section, and some of those lenses are by well established lensmasters.

So let's start with some Squidoosophy about Guestbooks. The majority of active Squidoo lensmasters including most of the Squid Angels prefer that you have a Guestbook or Comment section on your lens. It is the easiest way to contact you. If you don't have a Comment section on your lens, at minimum it is a good idea to turn on your Contact Me button on your profile page, otherwise there is no way for one of us to contact you.

Now, if you turned off your contact button and you don't have Guestbooks on your lenses, don't be upset if no one contacts you. So, first of all, having Guestbooks on your lenses makes you seem friendlier. You may find, however, that some of your lenses get a lot of spam comments due to subject matter. You have the ability to screen your comments before they are public, but the only way to turn that off completely is to delete the Guestbook module. You can also set it for signed in lensmasters only. But this is one big reason why people sometimes do not have guestbooks.

However, if you want to be an active member of the Squidoo community, it is a good idea to have your Guestbooks active on at least the majority of your lenses.

Another issue about guestbooks is whether to leave a link in your comment. And I would have to say, that unless the link is absolutely going to add to the value of the lens, do not. Most links left in comments are essentially self-promotion which many lensmasters delete. It is considered a kind of spam in many cases, and I can tell you that I have the html turned off on all my guestbooks, and will delete most comments that include a link in them. The only exception is to a link that will add to the value of the lens.

Beyond philosophy, Guestbooks can give you some "Google juice" if your commenters make valuable comments. And here is where we as lensmasters can help each other. When I first started on Squidoo, I thought it was enough to just leave a "great lens" comment. But really, that does nothing for the lensmaster except to make them feel good. A true benefit to the lens is if you leave a comment that is relevant to the topic being discussed. Even better if you include some keywords related to the topic. Why? Because Google scans the entire lens, and sometimes the comments are part of that scan. If a comment is valuable, it may add to the worth of the lens itself in the "eyes" of the search engines.

So do your friends a favor. When you comment on their lenses, say something about the topic you just read about. You can help raise the value of what you are reading.

And a personal plug, my newest lens, just published today is Pink October: The New Color of Fall. I would love to get your views on it. :)

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