8 Tips to Get Your Blog Comments Approved
I’ve seen some comments left here recently that has left me debating with myself whether I should approve them or not, so I’ve update this post I’ve written in September.
In a previous post I explained how you can use blog commenting to attract traffic to your website and I warned that you have to avoid being mistaken for being a blog comment spammer. In this post I am going to elaborate what blog comment spamming is and what you must do in order not to be mistaken for one.
Spams are out of place or unwelcomed advertising. Spam blog comments are comments that are left with the sole intention to get the readers of the comment to visit a commercial website. Those comments may have been left by a person or an automated software (also referred to as a spam bot). You can recognise those comments because they are often totally irrelevant to the post, they are too general in nature, and they do not add any value to the post.
The reason why a comment doesn’t show up immediately when you leave a comment for the first time on a blog is to filter out those spam or low value comments. The owner of the blog must approve your comment first before it can show up on the blog.
Now, if you are new to blogging and or haven’t been commenting much, it’s possible to be mistakenly taken for a spammer and not have your comment approved if you do not comment the right way or if you comment just like the spammers do unknowingly.
Below are 7 8 tips on how to ensure your comments get approved and even impress the readers of your comments.
- If you want to get your first comment approved it is important to show yourself to be a real person: use your real name and not your search keywords or chat name. This is very important for me, I seriously hesitate to approve comments that have been left by people (or software) who are trying to hide their identity online.
- Next, show your face next to your comments. You can do that by signing up with Gravatar. Gravatar allows you to setup your picture to accompany your blog comments. Your Gravatar picture will help you be recognised on the Blogosphere. If the blog owner on whose blog you are commenting has seen your picture on another blog before, it will be less likely that you will be mistaken for a spammer.
- Use your blog as your website and not your commercial website, a sale page, squeeze page, or worse an affiliate link. If you don’t have a website yet, I suggest you may use your Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn profile page. If you don’t have any of those, you I suggest you create those asap. I always delete comments that put a website that’s obvious not theirs such as Google as their website.
- When you leave your website URL with your comment, make sure your website has some form of identification or contact details. This is again to show yourself to be a real person. I’ve seen some comments lately with links to websites that has no form of identification or contact details on it, I consider those websites spam sites. If your website has no form of identification, I may not approve your comment.
- If the blog has a comment policy, read it, they are usually great source of information on how to comment well. They tell you what to do and what not to do, what’s acceptable and what’s not. Your comment is less likely to be rejected if you complying with the written policy.
- Make sure you’ve read the blog post and some of the comments before you leave your comment.
- Make sure your comment is relevant and add value to the post and well thought. If you only write, “Nice blog post” or “I agree with you, this was helpful.” Your comment will most certainly be rejected.
- Last, if you have a blog, have a read at the spam comments that Akismet has trapped, these are examples of how NOT to comment.
Conclusion
Blog owners want comments from real people, so make sure you show yourself to be a real person by every means.
I hope by now you’ve got Google Analytics set up for your website because in my future post I am going to delve into some more search engine tools.
Action steps
- Sign up with Gravatar if you haven’t done so.
- Check if your Akismet plugin is activated. If it isn’t activate it.
- Check if you have some form of identification on your website and remedy this straight away.
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Welcome, my name is Ben Wan. I help people get started online by building their website. I also train them to run their own website.
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Hi Ben, Do you recommend that we set up ‘comments’ policy on our blogs? Do you have one? What sort of guidance should go in the comments policy? Thanks. Julia
julia hayes recently posted..Swanbourne Business Centre
[Reply]
Ben Wan Reply:
September 5th, 2010 at 3:19 pm
Hi Julia,
Comments policy isn’t that essential to me unless you want to regulate the quality of comments people leave on your blog. There are more important policies to put on, like the privacy policy and affiliate disclosure statement.
Ben Wan recently posted..7 Tips to Get Your Blog Comments Approved
[Reply]
Shazar Robinson Reply:
September 6th, 2010 at 11:16 am
Hi ben, okay that’s food for your next post please .. more on privacy policy.. how to write this.. tips for it..and also the affiliate disclosure statement.. what’s that please!
Shazar Robinson recently posted..Buckyball Day
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Thank you Ben!
I really enjoy or blog! This post is great! You have covered the basics to educate us as bloggers! I can tell that is your purpose! Keep it up!
Question. Do I have to click on ‘notify me of followup comments via e-mail’ to hear your reply? And will I be getting all the comments left by everyone in doing so? Because I’d love to hear how you answer this comment, but I’d rather not hear everyone comment to this post.
Linda G. Cox recently posted..Keyword Research Success with Google Wonder Wheel
[Reply]
Ben Wan Reply:
September 11th, 2010 at 12:56 pm
Hi Linda,
Rose has done a post on the comment notification. I’ve implemented her recommendations. Now it’s clear which checkbox you have to check for what you want.
Ben Wan recently posted..7 Tips to Get Your Blog Comments Approved
[Reply]
Thanks Linda for your compliment and visiting my blog.
Yes, if you want to be notified of my reply by email you’ll have to click on the ‘Notify me of followup comments via e-mail’ check box, and you will be notified of all replies for this post only.
Ben Wan recently posted..How to Get Started With Social Bookmarking
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Hi Ben
Wow you are the third person this past few days who is blogging about how to comment on other peoples’ blogs! Must be a problem for some people and I think that is why the high volume bloggers have comment policies. Cos my blog is relatively new, I don’t need one as yet as my anti-spam plugin seems to filter okay for now. Although on saying that an experienced blogger visiting my site did point out to me that I had let a spammer through so I then deleted the post! Still got a bit to learn.
Also it can at times be hard to discern if it is spam or not. I visit the site of all new commenters as I want to check out their site and if they are genuine commenters, return the luv and comment on their blog too. If English is their second language at first glance it may appear as spam but in fact be a genuine comment. I guess as I spend more time commenting and receiving comments I will get better at knowing what is and what is not spam.
Patricia Perth Australia
Patricia@lavenderuses.com recently posted..Lavender Recipes- Culinary Lavender
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Hi Ben, great post on proper blog commenting. I too have been seeing more blogs talk about this subject lately.
I think it is a good thing, I seem to get tons of comments I delete because they stink.
Anyhow awesome blog I am going to re-tweet this post.
Larry Rivera recently posted..Home Based Business – Fall Is Coming Are You Ready
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Hi Ben – the subject of comments seems to be a ‘trending topic’ amongst us. I had my first batch of spam this morning. At first it looked like a genuine complimentary message, but a few more similar followed and I learned quickly. Like Patricia I let one through then deleted it. Thanks for your help. Julia
julia hayes recently posted..Swanbourne Hardware Store
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Hey Ben, I think it’s great that there are more and more people stressing how important it is to leave good structured comments, because the more that do so the more that learn how to do it properly and the better our posts become. I say that because comments can add to the value of the post.
I was on another blog yesterday where a blogger wrote how disappointed he was about the quality of comments that were left as part of a challenge and there were people who felt he was attacking the quality of the posts, He wasn’t, he was merely stressing that certain commentators were leaving rubbish comments in an effort to meet the challenge and in doing so belittled it.
Personally I don’t mind if people use affiliate links as long as they adhere to my policy of using a name and take the time to leave a quality comment.
Sire recently posted..Teaching People The Proper Way To Comment
[Reply]
Ben Wan Reply:
September 8th, 2010 at 1:34 pm
Hi Sire,
I’m quite surprised you don’t mind someone leaving an affiliate link in on your blog.
Personally, I don’t find such practice acceptable.
However, you’ve raised my curiosity, I would like to hear the opinion of more bloggers on this:
Here are 2 questions I would like to ask my readers:
1. What is your feeling if someone leaves an affiliate link in a comment on your blog?
2. Would you ever leave an affiliate link on someone else’s blog?
Ben Wan recently posted..7 Tips to Get Your Blog Comments Approved
[Reply]
Sire Reply:
September 8th, 2010 at 1:49 pm
Naturally I would check to see where the affiliate link linked to, just to make sure it wasn’t something I don’t want to be associated with.
When you think about it commentators can use any url, it could be to their blog or a website, either of which could be full of affiliate links. One could even link to a squeeze page. To me the important thing is that they took the time to leave a good comment.
Sire recently posted..Have You Ever Thought “It Should Have Been Me”
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Good point Sire. Not something I have thought of yet. Cos I have commentluv and keywordluv on my blog; they are getting plenty of link juice and so far people seem happy with that. Will have to give that question more thought Ben. I wouldn’t leave an affiliate link in a comment on someone else’s site and most commenters I have come across wouldn’t allow it anyway. You are very generous Sire. Probably why your blog is so popular.
Patricia Perth Australia
Patricia@lavenderuses recently posted..Lavender Health-Lavender in treatment for hair loss
[Reply]
Sire Reply:
September 9th, 2010 at 9:30 am
It’s not like I advertise it Patricia, so don’t go spreading it around
Sire recently posted..5 Killer Tips for Your Discount Marketing Strategy
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YouTube generates a bit of spam commentary but they have a button for reporting it as such. Not sure how effective it is as I’ve received the same message, from different users, a number of times.
Spam on my blog for companies/services gets deleted straight away. The verification required to post comments has slowed span considerably but they’ll always find a way to circumvent it. The tools to moderate comments need to be more and more powerful if your site happens to be popular as you may find that being a moderator is too difficult and perhaps a bit overwhelming.
Even if you don’t have a spam policy written on your site you have to maintain consistency for the comments you allow. There are one or two attention seekers that I tolerate but they are told when they overstep the mark.
I think your checkbox for notifying via email when someone directly replies to a particular comment is very useful and a welcome addition.
Hammy recently posted..Update of a Saying
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Hello Ben, I am glad to see someone sharing what they have learned with new bloggers. I agree with all these points, but especially six. I can’t stress enough how important when commenting to keep your comments relevant to the post. Great tips!
Rose recently posted..What reading level is your blog
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Generally, i only leave comments that are highly opinionated or can be replies too. Majority of the comments published nowadays is just thanking someone for the post, which does absolutely nothing for interaction.
Peter J recently posted..Special Birthday post- Things you don’t know about me- updates and future plans
[Reply]
Ben Wan Reply:
December 21st, 2010 at 9:49 pm
Hi Peter,
Yes, leaving an open ended comment that calls for further comments is a smart way to comment: hurray, no more boring comments…
Ben Wan
Ben Wan recently posted..Don’t Go Broke Trying to Build an Online Business
[Reply]
Great set of tips, Ben. I’d add that you should avoid posting links in your comments when possible. I’ve been marked as a spammer by Akismet only one time, and it was when I linked to a relevant forum post (that wasn’t even mine).
I’ll also add that if you ARE blacklisted by Akismet, it’s pretty easy to get unblacklisted. Just Google “contact akismet” and fill out the form that’s one the #1 result there. Again, I know this from experience
Tristan recently posted..How to Create the Perfect Blog Footer
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Ben Wan Reply:
December 21st, 2010 at 10:00 pm
Hi Tristan,
Oh yes, I’ll add your tips to the above list the next time I update this post. Yes, no link in the comment unless the blog owner know you already.
That’s cool info about akismet.
Ben Wan
Ben Wan recently posted..Don’t Go Broke Trying to Build an Online Business
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Hi Ben, in regards to ‘real photos’ I’m not sure that is a good way of checking if it’s a real person as I’ve noticed a lot of spam coming through that have photos of people as their gravatar.
Sire recently posted..Why The List Hater Has His Very Own List
[Reply]
Ben Wan Reply:
December 21st, 2010 at 9:46 pm
Hi Sire,
It sounds like the spammers are reading our posts. Now I’m judging if a comment is a spam by the quality of the website they link to.
I apply the same rule to a website as an email spam: if the website has no public identification (aka address or contact details) I consider it a spam website. A comment leading to a spam site is a spam comment.
Ben Wan
Ben Wan recently posted..Don’t Go Broke Trying to Build an Online Business
[Reply]
Sire Reply:
December 22nd, 2010 at 6:04 am
No, I’m pretty sure they’re robots, I can usually tell from the comment that’s left. Also it stopped once I installed GASP.
Sire recently posted..Why The List Hater Has His Very Own List
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Mitch Reply:
December 22nd, 2010 at 6:58 am
I think he was kidding, my man. lol
Mitch recently posted..My 2010 Goals – A Review
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Sire Reply:
December 22nd, 2010 at 7:58 am
Are you sure Mitch? And All this time I thought he was serious about spammers reading our posts. My bad
Sire recently posted..FlexSqueeze Latest Update Can Make Your Posts Rock
Ben Wan Reply:
December 22nd, 2010 at 8:10 am
Hi Sire,
Let me be clear about my last comment. I’m reading comments that looks like the commenter have actually read the post: but the commenter has got no gravatar and the site they are linking to looks like blogs with PLR articles and with no contact details.
So, I speculate that either the spamming software are getting better, or may they may be newbies (they are not yet educated on how to blog and comment properly), or they are using outsource commenter (paid people to do commenting).
Anyway, I think I might just email them and ask.
Ben Wan
Ben Wan recently posted..8 Tips to Get Your Blog Comments Approved
[Reply]
Sire Reply:
December 22nd, 2010 at 8:41 am
No worries Ben, I get it now mate, reckon I was just having a blond moment
Sire recently posted..Learning How To Use Market Samurai
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I have to admit, Ben, that I’m not such a stickler for # 4 or #5. I have one commenter who leaves a different link with every post, but he comes back all the time with the same email address and he actually is commenting on the post. I was wary for awhile until he actually responded to a question I asked of him. But you’re right, it’s best to try to make sure overall.
Mitch recently posted..Why I May Not Comment On Your Blog
[Reply]
Ben Wan Reply:
December 23rd, 2010 at 1:40 pm
Hi Mitch,
It was very interesting to reads you post and mine on blog commenting. I do care about comment spamming because it wastes my time and it’s also a duty of care to not send my readers to suspicious sites.
Ben Wan
Ben Wan recently posted..GetResponse Autoresponder Holiday Promotion Bonus
[Reply]
Awesome buddy!!
This is my first time in your blog and I already like it. You really have covered the topic well. Good job out of you Ben!
Looking forward to see some more of you awesomeness man!
[Reply]
Ben Wan Reply:
December 23rd, 2010 at 1:33 pm
Hi Adam,
Thanks for visiting and leaving a comment. May I say your comment reads just like the comments that Akismet traps a spam. Anyway, I look forward to read more of your comments.
Ben Wan
Ben Wan recently posted..GetResponse Autoresponder Holiday Promotion Bonus
[Reply]
Hey Ben!
I think it all comes down to comment relevant stuff, I mean if you are talking about cats and I comment about dogs, that would just be crazy!
Thanks for the share, hope to see you around!
Fernando recently posted..Do You Have The Passion To Become Rich
[Reply]
Ben Wan Reply:
December 23rd, 2010 at 1:35 pm
Hey Fernando,
Oh course, relevancy is very important, but I’ve seen of late relevant comments but linking to suspicious websites… so that leave me wondering if I should approve them or not.
Ben Wan
Ben Wan recently posted..GetResponse Autoresponder Holiday Promotion Bonus
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Very good collections listed out here, i love the 2nd and 4th actually. good job.. go ahead Retweeted
Praveen@Techperk recently posted..13 Less known benefits of Guest Blogging
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Ben Wan Reply:
December 23rd, 2010 at 1:36 pm
Hey Praveen,
Welcome here, thanks for your retweet. Your website is full of good info.
Ben Wan
Ben Wan recently posted..GetResponse Autoresponder Holiday Promotion Bonus
[Reply]
Great tips Ben.
One other tip too, is to avoid putting a link to your personal website within the comment body. Webmasters hate that, even if your website is relevant to the topic being discussed in the blog post.
Amr Boghdady recently posted..German Cases
[Reply]
Ben Wan Reply:
December 23rd, 2010 at 1:38 pm
Hi Amr,
You are right no link in the comment, at least not the first time you comment on someone’s blog. Get yourself known first before daring doing that.
I’ll add you tip to the post the next time I feel I want to update it.
Ben Wan
Ben Wan recently posted..GetResponse Autoresponder Holiday Promotion Bonus
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Very useful info. I have just checked on the spam comments that Akismet has trapped on my blog. Its funny how I sometimes make the same kind of comments. Just glad Akismet is still good to me.
Claire@Wireless Networks recently posted..HP Pavilion dv6-3225dx Reviews- Specs & Sale Price
[Reply]
Hi Ben,
I found your blog through Mitch’s blog.
I’m quite new in the blogging world so I’m learning everything I can about blogging.
Thanks for these tips.
Ruth
ps. Do you edit comments? Is it advisable?
Ruth recently posted..What Every Internet Marketer Needs To Know When Starting Out In The Internet Marketing World
[Reply]
Ben Wan from Wordpress Technical Support Reply:
December 29th, 2010 at 6:13 pm
Hi Ruth,
A very warm welcome to my blog. You are using the same theme as me, that’s cool.
I don’t edit comments unless the author of the comment ask me to correct their grammar mistakes. Is it advisable? I’d say no, because you don’t want to get the reputation of tampering what people actually wrote. If you don’t agree with a comment, just don’t approve it.
What else you could do is to remove the link.
Hope to see you around again.
Ben Wan
Ben Wan@Wordpress Technical Support recently posted..How to Get Highly Targeted Traffic through Social Bookmarking
[Reply]
Loved the list and now I have a question for you.
When you get a comment that shows that the reader did not read the post or doesn’t really follow your commenting rules but it was made by a blogger whose blog you have visited before and considers him/herself a “serious blogger”, do you approve the comment anyway?
I have done so with three bloggers. One of them tried to get another link from the same post, writing another non related comment.
Do you just ban them or delete those comments. What do you do?
I kinda don’t want to get on anyone’s bad side, especially as a new blogger, but it kinda annoys me.
Brankica recently posted..Blogging tribes What did I learn today
[Reply]
Ben Wan from Wordpress Technical Support Reply:
December 29th, 2010 at 10:54 pm
Hi Brankica,
That’s a very good question to ask. I think if someone is commenting just for getting some backlinks it will harm the reputation of the commenter in the long run.
On your blog you have to remember you are the owner. If you find a comment, however nice, doesn’t add any value to the post, then delete it. If the comment links to a “spammy” sites, then delete the link, or remove the commentLuv. That is what I would do.
I think the commenter will respect you more for doing this.
Ben Wan
Ben Wan@Wordpress Technical Support recently posted..How to Get Highly Targeted Traffic through Social Bookmarking
[Reply]
comment luv actually marked me as a spammer once, there was a simple reset on their site, it wasnt the amount of comments but the fact i was opening too mant tabs at once that were hitting their servers, all is good now!
greg urbano recently posted..Photo of the Year 2010
[Reply]
Ben – You have made some great points here in this post. I liked all your tips on getting your blog comments approved by the blog owner, but I especially believe that number 1, 6, and 7 are very important.
The biggest thing you need to do especially when it’s your first time commenting is show yourself to be a real person. And that means actually reading the blog post and understanding what the post is talking about, and then add your 2 cents to the conversation and stay on topic.
Another thing you should do is use the author’s name in your comment like I did with your name here. It shows the blog owner that you genuinely paid attention to the article and will further prove you’re a real human.
John recently posted..Tips For Effectively Treating Underarm Sweating
[Reply]
Ben Wan from Wordpress Technical Support Reply:
January 8th, 2011 at 5:50 pm
Hi John,
You are exactly right. Great to see you. One tip you haven’t implemented: get a gravatar for yourself. This is important, and it’s very simple to set up. I hope to see your face soon.
Ben Wan.
Ben Wan@Wordpress Technical Support recently posted..How to Get Highly Targeted Traffic through Social Bookmarking
[Reply]
Hi Ben,
I haven’t put up a comment policy yet on my blog. For now, as long as the comments in my posts are relevant and adds value to the topic talked about, I usually approve them.
I agree that using a real name, having a Gravatar photo and directing to their own blog are the most common ways that a comment will likely be approved.
Johanna @ GIJoh.com recently posted..URL Shorteners and their Security Issues
[Reply]
Ben Wan from Wordpress Technical Support Reply:
January 8th, 2011 at 5:53 pm
Hi Johanna,
I don’t have an official comment policy page yet, but I think this post is a good guideline of what I expect from my commenters. I’m glad you agree with me.
Have you seen the buzz caused by Brankica, up her blog at http://live-your-love.com ?
Ben Wan
Ben Wan@Wordpress Technical Support recently posted..How to Get Highly Targeted Traffic through Social Bookmarking
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Hi Ben, I stumbled to your site through nittygriddy and thought I’d love to drop you a line. Interesting post. I know exactly what you mean by spam bots and it’s very evident because everytime I post a blog the comment would be there soon after. Funny thing they were indecipherable language and the link was that of a dodgy site. But I’m glad they have stopped now.
Anne Sales @ You Love Coupons recently posted..Micfo
[Reply]
Hi Ben,
I couldn’t agree more with you on this post and here’s actually an idea that not only might exist already (if it doesn’t I’ll build it myself!)
How about having a plugin that counts the number of words in the visitor’s comment box and if it’s not under n-amount of words the comment is automatically sent to spam (with a prior notice for the visitor)?
The more I read about successful blogging and the right way of connecting with others, the more I see that’s where we’re heading already.
People don’t like the “great post”, “great info” and I believe everyone can relate that leaving something like that, may be a bit rude or something but the worse thing for the blog’s owner is that they can’t benefit from a comment like that, hence the amount of words.
Anyway, just wanted to share this with you, have a great day!
~Sergio
PS. I keep blaming my blog uglyness to my choice of themes and I keep finding great looking blogs with the same themes I already used so the problem it’s me! LOL nice job!
Sergio Felix recently posted..Analysis Of A Bad ClickBank Product
[Reply]
Ben Wan from Wordpress Technical Support Reply:
March 15th, 2011 at 12:20 pm
Hi Sergio,
Thanks for the visit and taking the time to leave a comment.
About the minimum length plugin, it exist already, it’s called Minimum Comment Length.
I think the point is: show yourself to be a real person, then I’ll approve your comment.
Your blog looks fine, it’s not ugly. Well I know html and css so I can make my blog look better.
Ben Wan
Ben Wan@Wordpress Technical Support recently posted..The 3 Biggest Mistakes Online Business Owners Should Avoid Making
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