Commenting 101
In a previous post Kathleen Cragun pointed out that blogs are social. One of the most important ways that a blog differs from a web site is that they do promote social interaction through comments. Readers can comment, which allows both the readers and the writer to have a conversation. Blogs are a conversation and a way to meet people. Some of those people will become clients, and some will become friends.
Only a small percentage of readers comment on blog posts and blog writers are more likely to comment than non-blog writers are. Don’t gauge the quality of a blog post by the number of comments.
The easiest way to encourage commenting is by responding to comments with a comment. If you ignore commenters they will go away. They are social, just like you, and don’t like to be ignored. Does anyone like to be ignored?
A great way to meet others, create back links, get comments on your posts, and increase traffic to your blog is to leave comments on the blogs that you read. On most blogs the comment section allows the commenter to leave a link back to his or her own blog. These are called back links and they help build readership and blog authority.
Commenting on local blogs in your community or market area is best. Commenting on real estate and mortgage blogs is also a good idea. That is how I met the Cragun’s. My St. Paul Real Estate Blog has close to 2000 comments on it and the last time I checked there were over 4000 links to it. A percentage of those links come from comments that I made and the rest are from articles that I have written that were cited, or linked to by other bloggers.
It isn’t OK to stop by a blog and leave comment spam. Comment spam is when commenters say “nice post” and then write a short ad for their business and leave a link back to their blog or web site. I delete those comments on a daily basis. Only comment if you have something to say. It is alright to disagree with the blog writer but make sure that your comments are respectful. There are no do-overs on the internet and comments with your name on them can be found through Google, forever.
Perspective clients and other bloggers will judge you by your comments and by the way you handle comments. If someone leaves a comment on your post disagreeing with what you wrote, leave it alone, or respond to it with a comment. Resist the urge to attack commenters, respect their opinion and know that you wrote something that was read and that had an impact. Personally I would rather be argued with than ignored.
I have had a few hecklers on my blog. In most cases we either agree to disagree or we become friends. If someone leaves a comment that you don’t understand, send them an email and ask about it. I never attack and seldom delete.
Visiting blogs and leaving comments and responding to comments on your own posts are an essential part of writing a blog, and are the essence of what makes blogs a social web 2.0 media.
