How to be a good commentator

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Some of you probably spend minutes (or hours) commenting on other blogs either to connect with the blog’s owner, for a link back, or hoping for a free traffic to your blog/site.

Here are my tips on how to be a good commentator from my personal experience.

PS: There’s also a debate on the web whether to call someone who comments on a blog a “commenter” or a “commentator” :)

Basically, to be a good commentator is to comment genuinely. If you really want to have a good connection with the blog’s owner, you must be genuine when you write your comments. The blog’s owner is not stupid. If your comments are not genuine, one day he/she’ll find out. You wouldn’t want that to happen, would you?

How to comment genuinely

  1. Be truthful to your words and show it.
    If you say in a comment that you are going to follow the tips on a blog’s post, it’s always a good idea to come back again and leave a comment on how it went. If you keep on saying how good the tips are without actually trying it yourself, you will never impress the blog’s owner.
  2. Don’t say things just to please the blog’s owner.
    Often when you are trying to make an impression to the blog’s owner, you say things. Things that are nice to be heard but it simply comes too often that makes the blog’s owner wonders. If you really appreciate the posts, say more than just a “Thank you” short sentence. Explain why the post helps you or your site/blog personally. If the post doesn’t interest you, don’t say “Thank you for the news” because you know that you don’t care about it.
  3. Stop being a “Yes” man.
    If you agree with the blog’s owner on the post, say so. If you disagree, say so too, in nice words, of course. Using an abusive and non-constructive language is a one way ticket to go under. You may be remembered by the blog’s owner, but not in a good way. I don’t mind if you disagree with my opinion but I’d certainly want to know why you disagree with it.If you think that you won’t have the time to try whatever the blog’s owner is suggesting on the post, then say so. It’s better than lying to the blog’s owner that you are going to do it. It questions your integrity as a commenter.
  4. Don’t abuse the “Top Commentators” widget.
    Whenever I go to a blog and see the Top Commentator’s widget, my eyes go wider. I admit that sometimes I abuse it and start commenting like crazy so that I can be on the widget to get free back links. Afterwards, I stop commenting and never return to the blog (I know, it’s bad). To give a good impression to the blog’s owner, don’t stop commenting. Come back once a while and comment on the new posts. And don’t write short comments to trick the blog’s owner thinking that you are being genuine. I don’t mind if you are abusing it (that’s why I put the widget for anyway), but try not to be so obvious ;)
  5. Don’t put a link to your blog posts too often on your comments.
    I appreciate if a commenter shares his/her blog post if it’s related to the post he/she is commenting. However, if you put your links on every single comment that you write, it’ll trigger a red flag. It’ll be pretty obvious that you are only aiming for traffic rather than a connection with the blog’s owner.
  6. Quality vs Quantity
    Writing 1 quality comment is better than writing 5 non-quality comments. But quantity matters too. The more your name appears, the more the blog owner remembers you. Maintain the balance. Try to put quality comments in quantity, whenever possible.
  7. Check your questions in the comment
    There is nothing more embarassing than asking something that’s already been answered on the post. It shows that you didn’t actually read the post or maybe not thoroughly. Why you even asked the question is questionable by the blog’s owner.

I have to admit that I haven’t been a good commentator myself at times and I’m not attacking any of you personally with this post :)  I know there are a lot of Dos and Don’ts here but the point is: if you are really genuine in what you are saying, these lists don’t really matter to me.

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