Having no comments on your site....

[ragtag]

I'm working on a new comics site that will have a regular free comic, and later on some books for sale and other stuff. I really want the focus to be on the comics, and not bother with comments and other interactive features (other than a feedback mail address and a poll every now and then). I'm not planning on having ads on the site either.

Is it a huge issue not to have comments on the site? Will I loose a lot of traffic, or will be people still come if the content is consistent and good? Anyone tried?

[CJAnyasor]

Steve Pavlina doesn't use a comments section, but he has the forum. You can't just completely block out social interaction, lest your site become unpopular.

If you have an active forum you shouldn't lose that much traffic. Value begets value. Write valuable content to attract valuable customers.

Hope this helps.

[ballhit2]

Worry about that when you get emails begging you to add comments.

[ssandra]

Or instead of having a forum or comments to be social, link to the facebook/hyves/hi5/linkedin/twitter accounts where people can become your fan/linked/follower/friend etc.

That way you are intune with the web2.0 stuff, yet your website is how you want it to be.

Dont forget to put new updates also on facebook/hyves/hi5/linkedin/twitter which might even get you more followers.

[MillennialMind]

Comments can be important especially because it can provide an outlet for people looking at your site to say what they like and dislike about your site. This in turn can help you create more valuable content for future readers, and followers.

[ragtag]

Thanks for the feedback. As a side note, I'm planning to include a field or link where people can send feedback directly to me by e-mail, as well as doing the odd survey now and then. The problem I have with comments or forums, is that they require moderation, and that other people will be creating content on my site through their comments...stuff I might not find agreeable. I also figure that there is less need for a comments on a comics site, where the stories can stand for themselves, than on for instance a self-help blog, where people will want to discuss the issues brought up in a posts.

I may be shooting myself in the foot by not doing comments and not linking to all the social sites, but I'll give it a go my way to begin with. I guess I can always add the other stuff later if I feel like I need it.

When it comes to Facebook, Twitter etc. I'm really old fashioned. I know that a lot of people live their lives there, but I just find them completely boring. I recently deleted my Facebook profile, because I simply never bothered to log in. People would send me messages on Facebook, and I would read them three months later...literally.

Advertisments, like Google Ad-words, can have some of the same issues as comments. For instance, the Google ads over at GimpTalk (a forum for users of the open-source graphics program GIMP), tend to be for Photoshop...a directly competing product. I've seen similar things on other sites, such as an ad for ex-gay ministries on a gay geek site. :P These are ads that are more or less directly the opposite of the site owners goals.