Are You Clark Kent or Superman?
In my last post I said I loved Seth Godins blog but hated that he doesn’t have comments enabled. He responded to my complaint with an email saying he reads and responds to his own email. I’m honoured. That’s great. It’s good to hear, but who would know?
The public perception is still, and please do correct me if I am wrong, that closed comments means comments of any kind are not welcome.
Seth writes about business theatre, how some things are done for show rather than being based in any practical reality. Where is the blog equivalent of the suggestion/feedback cards in restaurants. Where on Seths blog does it show that feedback is welcome?
If you hunt around you might find the email link. Not exactly a welcome mat.
Knowing this, what percentage of readers will ever email? Only the most determined and savvy. A smaller number than the total who have burning questions I would say.
OK, he allows Trackbacks. This is good. It is how he noticed my criticism probably. What about non-geeks though? Seths audience is people interested in marketing, right? I worked in marketing agencies for years, I guarantee 99.9% of my ex-colleagues couldn’t tell you what a Trackback even is. You need a blog to send a trackback, so this is like in the early days of fax machines removing your 800 number in favour of the fax line.
My recommendation would either to re-enable comments or to make a bigger show of welcoming communication.
You could be the most brilliant person at whatever it is you do, but if you do not show it hardly anyone will ever know. Nobody cares about Clark Kent, it is the guy in the tights and cape people notice.
Tags: seth godin, marketing, blogging, tips
