I’ve been blogging for six years now. While there are certainly bloggers who have been around longer than that, six years still puts me into the “longtime blogger” category. In that time, I’ve written thousands of blog posts (on my own blogs, as well as blogging on many other blogs), so I’ve been able to experience all of the joys and all of the headaches that come with blogging. After fighting off nearly a million spam comments during those six years, I consider myself to be extremely jaded when it comes to assessing the worth of a comment.
I know that the large majority of comments are spam and are, of course, trashed. The next largest group of comments is legitimate, but very often doesn’t contribute much to the conversation. Those comments merit approval, and are appreciated, but in a month, I’ll very likely not remember the person who made the comment.
Who cares if I remember a commenter?
Big deal, right? Well, honestly, I think it is a big deal. I believe that the truest value of commenting on blogs is establishing a relationship with the blogger, and the visitors to that blog. That relationship may foster future gains that you and I cannot imagine at the moment, but may be the impetus for changing your life forever. If the comment you make on a blog makes no impression on the blogger, however, the likelihood of ever seeing any results from that comment are extremely low.
So what do you have to do to make an impact on someone like me with your comment?
How do you impress a longtime jaded blogger?
- Use my name in your comment. Seriously, if it’s at all possible to figure out what my name is, then take that extra time to find it and use it. If your comment starts out with, “Donna, …”, you’ve immediately made a good first impression with me.
- While all bloggers appreciate a bit of flattery now and then, don’t make flattery the focal point of your comment. I’ve seen the standard spam flattery too many thousands of times, so even your legitimate flattery gets filtered through the part of the my brain that houses suspicion.
- Do comment on the actual topic of the post itself! That seems like common sense, right? Sadly, many comments are completely unrelated to the post’s topic, and that just sets this old blogger’s teeth to grinding. I want to know what you think about the topic I spent time writing about. If you take the time to discuss that topic with me and my visitors, you earn brownie points with me.
- Make sure you’ve really READ the post before commenting. We’re all guilty of quickly scanning what we read these days (my best friend accuses me of that all the time). And that’s fine if you’re just quickly reading, and moving on to something else. But don’t make a comment like, “Well, you forgot to mention xyz”, when in fact, I did mention it, and if you’d not skimmed through the post, you’d know that.
- Finally, alternate viewpoints are great. If you disagree with me on the post’s topic, let me know. I’d love to have my views challenged, and my knowledge expanded. Just make sure you approach the argument with respect. If you treat me and my visitors with respect, even if you are disagreeing, you’ll make this old jaded blogger smile.
If you manage to impress an old, jaded blogger with your comment, there’s a good chance you’ll be remembered six months from now. That might mean the difference between a new project succeeding or failing. You never know, so make that first impression count!
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