I’m not sure if everyone knows that I’m also co-owner of Easy WAHM Websites. I know, who can keep track right? The scary thing is I’m actually getting better about how many sites there are.
But my partner Loretta started a theme this week on our site when she posted How NOT to Leave a Comment on a Blog. I have a post that went up today in the topic, “Spam vs. Trash“.
The more popular your blog/site becomes, the more spam you have to deal with. It doesn’t matter if you have a spam plugin, you still need to skim through that folder a little to make sure no one was put there by accident. As some of my sites have gotten larger I’ll be honest and say it’s rare I get the chance to even skim the spam folder. So don’t put links in your replies or it has a good chance of not getting posted. Especially if you have never commented on a blog before.
Now I’m feeling a little silly about something. I’m not afraid to admit it. Goodness, if I knew everything you wouldn’t get to learn from my trial-and-error posts right?
I never paid attention to the keyword loaded names in the comments. I thought they were odd, but for some reason it just never clicked as to why they were doing it. I guess a big reason was they were actual comments with thought put into them that you could tell they read the posts. So I didn’t necessarily pay attention to the name. Just kind of shined it on. Well Loretta woke me up to that thankfully and I’ve either changed the names to names that were in their contact email addy or I made up a name. No wonder why one of my blogs gets hit so hard with a certain site. DUH! If I’m approving their comments of course they will come back frequently and load it up.
I did comment to Loretta that she was much nicer than I am. It takes some effort to only get sent to my trash file. Most of the irrelevant comments get sent to spam. With the amount of blogs I have, it gets pretty easy to see a pattern over the years for spam comments. Yes, there are days I’m feeling nicer and I will just send most things to trash, but those are really rare. I just don’t have any tolerance for spam. Put some thought into a comment or move on. I don’t need them taking up my time and they aren’t worth my time.
Not when I have so many awesome people that are commenting with tips, suggestions, and encouragement that aren’t afraid to put their name with their comment and earn some link love the right way.
Now don’t get me wrong. I’m a total comment whore, just like any other blogger. I just don’t want my blog filled up with these fun comments, “Great blog! I have you bookmarked. I look forward to reading your future posts.” Really? You can’t get more creative than that? lmbo
So don’t be a spam commenter. Put in your name, you can include a quick description sometimes in that name field as well. But that will depend on your comment. If it’s no more than a great post, then don’t load up any keywords at all in that name field, it’s rude. You aren’t contributing to the quality of the post, just trying to ride the wave of the traffic created by the blogger. A quick example might be my putting a comment on a food blog with the name as Val – menu planner, or a health blog as Val – personal trainer. Typically I won’t though. I’ll let my comment speak for itself and my url is in the appropriate place as asked.
Hey Val ~ Yes, the blatant spammers are annoying but to tell you the truth it’s usually not an individual posting … it’s a program they’ve paid to get them links back for those keywords. Some of them get through on my blog and it really upsets some of my readers (they email me about it LOL). I agree with what you’ve said which is if you really are legitimate and want to “tell Google what your site is about” in the name field … I usually suggest people comment several times on a blog w/just their name … and once they’ve est a relationship with the blog author … then they can add the keyword with their name (like you mentioned above). But with that said you should always check to see if there is a comment policy posted first so you don’t end up in the spam/trash folder. I saw some comments just today on my sf.com blog that need to be sent away … and yes, it’s a lot of extra work. Thanks for the great post … Great blog … I have you bookmarked … (jk) LOL LOL *huGs* Suzanne
Thanks Suzanne. But you forgot to say that you looked forward to further posts on this topic. lmbo
Yes, I forget that most are a program. I wonder what kind of success they have with these programs anyway.
They must do OK because the services are still in business and for hire! LOL I think they’re used for more of a niche site or an adsense site where they reputation isn’t on the line … not for their main blog where that matters. They are just in it for the keyword link to build backlinks. *sigh* The more of us who recognize it and “spam” them … the less successful they will be but they use all kinds of tools to “mask” it … so it won’t go away completely. S