Tweet

Commenting etiquette

Guest post by: Bonnie Harris

Article Overview: To promote your blog, it’s a good idea to make it visible to people all around the Internet. Commenting on other blogs is always a great strategy, provided you do it the right way, or you might turn people off the idea of your business rather than invite them to read your blog. Some of these tips might seem like common sense – but I think it’s pretty fair to say that with all of the spammers and lack of thought commenters out there that sadly isn’t so!

Commenting etiquette

To promote your blog, it's a good idea to make it visible to people all around the Internet. Commenting on other blogs is always a great strategy, provided you do it the right way, or you might turn people off the idea of your business rather than invite them to read your blog. Some of these tips might seem like common sense - but I think it's pretty fair to say that with all of the spammers and lack of thought commenters out there that sadly isn't so! 1. Make your comment insightful - how many times have you read a comment on your blog and thought "that person didn't read my post at all, did they?" Don't be that person when you leave your comments. Yes, you might make yourself visible, but this type of shameless promotion is received about as well as spam to many bloggers and their fellow readers. Trust me; no one will be clicking on your link if it's clear you've tried to pull a comment out of your hat just by reading the title of the post. You don't need to write an essay when you respond, but at least look at the post long enough to see what it's actually about. If you leave an intelligently formed comment, people might just be curious enough to see who you are!

2. Don't leave a link when it's not relevant - here's the thing: with most comment applications, you can leave your blog or website link that people are connected to if they click on your name. Again, if you link to your blog with every comment when it's irrelevant, it just looks like shameless self-promotion...and if you missed that point above, well, nobody likes that. Only leave a link to your blog or to a post in the body of your article when it's relevant. For example, if you're written on a similar topic and agree or disagree with a blogger's opinion, you can summarize your thoughts in the comment and invite people to read more on your original piece.

3. Don't make it personal - we've talked about dealing with rude comments before, now please, don't be the one to leave them! A personal attack because you disagree with someone's point on a blog is never appropriate, even if you feel they deserve it. Rise above, keep it relevant to the point, and draft out your intelligent rebuttal.

The shared element between all of the above tips is to keep it relevant. If the comment you're thinking of leaving seems out of place on the blog or the thread, and if you ask yourself "what am I contributing" and then answer is "nothing", then your comment is off-course and won't do you any favors! Got it?

If you have any particular pet-peeves that commenters do on your blog, share with us to help others learn how to comment the right way!

Related Articles
  What’s the right blog comment format?
  “Powerful Business Etiquette Tips From Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach”
  Three Business Etiquette Tips You Absolutely Must Know In Network Marketing
  Email Etiquette - Part 1
  Is My Time More Valuable Than Yours?
  The Value of Blog Commenting
  Email Etiquette - Is the Money Really in the List?
  Blog Comments: 5 Steps to Creating a Group to Comment on Your Blog
  Mobile Manners – Cell Phone Etiquette Tips From Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach
  BUSINESS ETIQUETTE
  Legal Marketing: Commenting on blog posts
  Business Etiquette Seems To Have Gone Out The Window
  How to Find and Attract Highly Targeted Prospects to Your Website
  How Failing Business Etiquette #101 May Be Your First Obstacle to Increase Sales
  Email etiquette - Part 2
  The Motown Etiquette and Style Coach Maxine Powell
  Drive Traffic to Your Site with a 6-Step Blog Comments Blueprint
  Brush up on your Business Etiquette
  The Ritual of Tea in our Fast-paced Life
  Personal Branding: Using Your Blog

Article Tags: blog, blogging small business, business blogging, starting a blog, writing a blog



Related Forum Posts
Re: Blog commenting - does it worth? - Commenting on do follow blogs & popular blogs is good. But usually i don't spend much time, very few minutes in a day or week. But it is also important how value you are adding to that post and on the blogs related to your blog niche. That makes sense ! Thanks, Mr. Ven
Subject Line Etiquette - For myself, it's not so much "etiquette" as common sense. If you're emailing someone with a business offer or to strike up a relationship, you do not put "Hello" or "Hi" or something cryptic in the subject line. You make it clear what your email is about - just as you would on a message board. So instead of "wff" for example, the guy who emailed me a couple of days ago should have said, "Feedback on Your WFF Article" - so that I would have known what it was about without having to look at it and try to think...
Re: Ideas on Using Twitter for Business - Thank you evieparsons you gave some very important Twitter etiquette lessons that I wish more people would put to practice. I hate Twitter spam and I had to unfollow a few because they did not show a single tweet that gave any concern for anyone or anything besides sending as many spammy messages as possible. This is the quickest way to lose the support of the Twitter community and also destroy your business image in one swoop. Ringo thanks for the info on TwitterFall. I will have to try using that sometime for my research.
Cell Phones: blessings or curses? - Do you really want to be available for anyone and everyone on a 24/7 basis? What do I mean? A famous person once said that the more available you make yourself; the more available everyone will expect you to be. People will actually be annoyed if you are not instantly and constantly available rather than being pleased when you do call. People expecting you to be available all the time may be annoying. Cell phone calls follow you everywhere you are including your bathroom. Even during nighttime when you want to rest, cell phones continue to ring and annoy you. If it is important, no problem but if it is very menial, why you need to be bothered so late. Today in this modern society, we live in and the proliferation of cell phones we see people talking anywhere and everywhere. If used for business, this may prove to be very effective and worthy. However, for very menial issues being bothered in your sleep and even during your bathroom time may be quite annoying if not outright disgusting. However, if you make yourself available all the time, you created your own nightmare. Cell phone etiquette is getting to be a forgotten concept. You will see people talking on the phone loudly and disturbs people nearby in restaurants and even in offices. I am sure by now, once or twice in a meeting you will notice that when a cell phone rings, almost everyone around will immediately look for their cell phones. If you were the one talking, and then the person in front of you talks on his phone, how would you feel? I am sure you will feel belittled and ignored. Rude practice, and should be changed. It may help people who use cell phones to follow certain degree of etiquette with respect to the use of cell phones specially in places where you may seem rude if you use or even when your cell phone rings. When you are in a place of worship, it may be necessary to leave your cell phone in the house or at least turn it off if you do not want to be away with it. This is because ringing cell phone will not just disturb you while you pray it will also disturb others. You do not need to show off your expensive gadget in a place of worship. During meetings, please turn off your cell phone; it is rude to have your phone ringing while somebody speaks. Disruption may cause problems especially when the meeting tackles extremely important issues. However, if you are waiting for terribly important call, you may use the vibrate mode of your cell phone to alert you when a call is in-coming and leave the meeting if you need to answer the call. You may also inform the possible caller that you are in a meeting and that you cannot be disturbed. When traveling and if you are on-board an aircraft, you will be required to turn off your phone. This is because electronics devices may interfere with the aircraft’s avionics. Thus, it is a requirement to turn of your phone for safety reasons. However, for extremely long flights, airline companies allow cell phone usage at a certain time, if you really need to make a phone call, use this time allotted if necessary. Cell phone have become to be a necessity nowadays, that is why most people use it and cell phone manufacturers have continuously develop different usage and functions for this very small gadget. Be globally competitive, but you should understand that being rude is not part of modernity. Follow certain degree of etiquette; this will be very helpful to you and your business.
Re: Blog commenting - does it worth? - [quote="MrVen":7gq0moxl]Commenting on do follow blogs & popular blogs is good. But usually i don't spend much time, very few minutes in a day or week. But it is also important how value you are adding to that post and on the blogs related to your blog niche. That makes sense ! Thanks, Mr. Ven[/quote:7gq0moxl] Yes Mr Ven you are right. It is important to leave a comment that gives some value if you want to benefit from it. I never comment on a blog unless I read the post first and then only if I can make a good comment. I don't ever want to spam. MichelleJ


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Getting The Media Attention You Deserve

Fear Factors in Small Business: Sales & Marketing

20 MORE Must-Have Search Engine Marketing Tools

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.