In the olden days the first bloggers used their blogs – or ‘web logs’ – as simple online diaries.

It didn’t take long for people to discover that blogging is a superb way to update a site regularly and easily. And it soon became clear that blogs, used wisely, have very significant SEO benefits. 

But do you have to open your blog up to comments? And if you don’t, will it still deliver SEO juice?

If you disallow blog comments:

• your content will still have a significant positive effect on site visibility…
• … provided you include key words and phrases in your posts wisely and consistently
• fewer people will recommend your blog to friends and colleagues
• you’ll might also get fewer inbound links from other sites
• on the bright side, you’ll avoid aggressive feedback and comment spammers

If you allow blog comments:

• your content will have the same positive effect on site visibility, provided you write it with SEO in mind
• audience participation means you’ll probably get a lot more recommendations…
• … and reader numbers will increase faster
• you will probably also win more inbound links from people who enjoy your stuff
• on the down side, you may have to deal with aggressive feedback
• and you’ll need to watch out for comment spammers  

It’s common knowledge that posting regularly into a living, reacting blog encourages a loyal following.

Hm. I’m a fine one to talk. Some weeks I’m just too busy to write a post and other times I’m stuck for a subject.

Now and again I’m full of ideas and inspiration, and have a couple of hours spare to rattle off a post or two. So as far as regularity goes, I’m as crap as the next person.

A nifty WordPress function, however, makes life a bit easier for sporadic bloggers who should know better. It’s simple but elegant: when inspiration strikes, write like the wind. Stash as many posts as you can for a rainy day then drip feed them automatically into your blog, one or two a week.

I hate to quote a supermarket advert, but every little helps.