People hate spam! But not as much as we hate spammers! I mean, they are the kind of people we all avoid at any cost. We would never do business with a spammer or risk having our good name associated with a spammer, right?
So why do businesspeople leave comment spam on blogs?
Comment spam is the name given to those comments you see on blogs, which are just thinly disguised sales pitches. They add nothing to the other comments or the blog itself and are regarded as totally unprofessional, just like email spam. Sadly, you see comment spam on every well read blog, including jimsmarketingblog.com.
In this post, I explain the dangers of posting comment spam, PLUS share a few tips on how to use the comments section of a blog professionally, to help you and your business!
Comment spam doesn’t work
The primary reason not to use comment spam is that it just doesn’t work! In fact, it will simply damage your reputation and hurt your business. By the way, the kind of comment spam I am talking about here are comments posted by people – not those that get caught in your spam filter and are sent by spambots.
Comment spam: Counting the cost
Just 30 minutes ago, I spoke with a business owner, who highlighted the danger of posting comment spam. In fact, our conversation is what’s prompted me to write this post. He told me that he had spoken with a business consultant last week and was really impressed, so impressed that he was going to hire him.
However, before deciding to hire the consultant, he decided to check the consultant out. Part of this was a simple Google search on the consultant’s name and business name. After 5 minutes, he quickly changed his mind and decided not to hire him!
Why?
Because he found a number of comments this person had made on blogs, which were clearly just spam; comments that were cheesy sales pitches for this consultants services. As he put it to me;
“Jim, why would I hire a spammer, I hate spam! This man clearly has no idea about business or the importance of acting like a professional.”
Comment spam = Self-generated bad publicity!
The reason people post comment spam is simple. They believe that by getting their spam in front of the readers of a blog or forum, they will increase the number of people who are aware of them, and that this is universally a good thing for their business. It isn’t! Comment spammers are simply telling everyone who reads their spam that they are spammers – something to avoid! It’s nothing more than self-generated bad publicity.
Comment etiquette
If you want to use commenting on blogs as a way to build your reputation and increase your reach and influence, use the opposite approach to the comment spammers.
Here are a few tips, based on comment etiquette:
- Only comment if you have something to say that’s worth sharing.
- Remember that the comments you leave on a blog will be searchable by potential clients / customers, so only leave comments that you are happy for them to read!
- Don’t include your website or blog’s URL in the comment. It’s already included in the link where your name is. Adding a SECOND link is generally regarded as looking cheesy (at best) or just plain desperate! It’s not easy to negotiate your fees with a potential client / customer if you give the impression of being broke.
- Most blogs (like this one) have anti-spam software that automatically removes any comment with more than one link. If you do link to something in the comment you leave, make it relevant to the other comments or the original blog post.
- Avoid OTT self promotion. It’s fine for you to show your brilliance with the value of your comment, but people are turned off by blatant self promotion.
I believe that if a comment spammer could see themselves the way you and I see them, they would stop instantly. I read somewhere that when a businessperson spams a blog, they think it’s okay – that when ‘they‘ do it it’s different; because ‘they‘ don’t see themselves as spammers.
There are many ways to professionally position a person and / or a business as a valuable must have for one’s target market. Comment spam is not one of them.
What are YOUR thoughts on comment spam?
Share your thoughts or experiences regarding comment spam – Plus, do you have any tips you would like to share on how to get the most from commenting on blogs? Let us know!
Jim,
Learned again a lot about promotion and spam! Hope you will write more and more articles.
Thanks and keep up the good work. Mow it’s tme to tweet this article
I think this kind of spamming is just like the traditional “flyer-in-the-street-guy”.
They are just so anxiously willing to get noticed, that they forget that part of making good publicity is that it needs to have useful information for your future/actual consumers.
They just become annoying.
As I think most of us understand, posting a comment that adds value to the conversation is best for several reasons:
1. Comments prevent blog posts from being one-sided and static. It’s all about building a conversation, right?
2. Let’s face it, posting a comment on a post encourages the author, letting him/her know that the post matters. Encouraging others is just a nice thing to do.
3. Leaving a valuable, thought-provoking comment speaks volumes to other readers of the blog. That’s always good publicity for your own brand.
Thanks for the great post, Jim!
Jim,
Totally agree, but there are some out there that are cleverer than others!
The ones that I just don’t get are the spammers who just cut and past loads of text and links to their websites into the comments box.
They also post the comments on old blog posts.
Do they think we won’t notice?? Maybe some blogs get so little traffic that they actually like getting this ‘attention’?
For me there is a six letter word that works for me…D-E-L-E-T-E!!
Julie,
You just demonstrated something beautifully. You made a very interesting comment, so…. I checked out your blog!
Bet I’m not the only none either!
Andy,
I think the kind of spam you are referring to is from spambots; the name given to a piece of software designed to send the same spam comment to hundreds of thousands of blogs.
Comment spam and any other form of spam works otherwise spammers would not be doing it. Spam will not die until people using the internet will be educated enough to recognize spam and act against spammer’s wish. Luckily for the spammers there will always be a supply of uneducated users.
I know this is a bit pessimistic but it’s how things are at the moment.
I agree spamming would damage your business image but I don’t think spammers care about that.
I guess you’re writing this post for the type of spammers that do it because they don’t know what they are doing. ( yeah there are a few like that)
Mihai,
Thanks for the comment. However, I think you are making an incorrect assumption, regarding the kind of spam I am talking about here.
It is not being used becauae it works – it’s being used out of ignorance.
Auto-generated spam is a different matter because it’s sent to millions of people & only needs a tiny response rate – with reputation totally irrelevant. It’s exactly the same as email spam.
What I am talking about are individuals. I assure you, everyone with a business DOES care about their reputation.
Jim,
Thanks for tweeting me the link.
Regarding comment spam, I must make two confessions:
1. I have spammed.
2. I have read/responded to spam.
I personally have spammed. Yes. I didn’t realize I was spamming, but it was brought to my attention. This was when I was very new to business. I thought that my comment was okay, but definitely wouldn’t fit my standards today.
I also, because of the lack of knowledge on spamming, have bought in to spammer comments.
Thank you for this post. It provides valuable guidelines. I wouldn’t come close to spamming now, but those early net years are full of innocence and naivety, eh?
Thanks again.
Jessie Ann Heekin
Jessie,
I read your blog and follow you on twitter – you are a valued member of my network and the kind of unintentional mistakes you mentioned are likely to be quite different from deliberate spam.
I’m curious, Jim, if you’ve seen any increase at all at this point in your own comment spam since switching to “do-follow” links. I think that, in some instances, is what attracts the “copy and paste” spammers mentioned in another comment here. They’re just trying to get their search engine results up higher.
The type of spam that I think you’re referring to more in this post is the more subtle type – and sometimes I don’t think people realize they’re doing it. It goes along with the “It’s OK if _I’m_ doing it” idea.
It’s very tempting for someone to post a comment on a blog that adds nothing to the conversation, but gives them an opportunity to link to their own site. However, the motivation sometimes isn’t that at all, but more a sense of, “Gee, I really like this post and feel like I ought to say _something_, even if that something is just, ‘Yeah! I agree with you – now here’s a link to my site.’” So, do you consider that spam or something else?
Russell,
Great question. I saw a small increase in spam – mainly on the post where I announced the do-follow link change.
Very little increase in spam generally though. I get more spam, but I have have a lot more subscribers / readers here.
My readers are almost exclusively BRILLIANT!
I would like others to answer your question, regarding where the line is drawn between obvious spam and a legitimate comment?
Jim, thank you for presenting your post on blogging spam.
Sometimes I many not have anything direct to add to the conversation/blog, but think the info is a good read. In this regard I like to let the blogger know that I enjoyed the information as most of us like kudos from our efforts.
Would you consider this comment spam?
JaWar,
You make a great point!
I think your final paragraph adds massive value to the comments; by asking a great question.
So, what do the readers think of your question. Me, no – it’s not even close to spam – selling nothing and no links.
Jim,
Yet another great informational post! Everyone encounters spam on there blogs whether it be obvious or thinly disguised sales pitches. Whatever the reason people post these spam messages on blogs, it always comes back to “EVERYBODY HATES SPAM”! Good post by the way!
Another point about comment spam is that the spammer’s IP will be blacklisted if you flag their comment as spam…
For Internet Marketing newbies, Do’s & Don’ts are overwhelming. After leaving relevant comments, I can remember a time (l-o-n-g time ago
)when I’d include my URL.
Veterans should know better though and thanks to Pros like you, Jim, we’re learning more & doing better!
Excellent post, Jim. I was thinking about the manner in which people do this type of meaningless, blatent self promotion earlier today. My thoughts were fuelled by a particular twitter user who’s behaviour is precisely what you’ve spoken about here. No content, lots of self promotion and linking.
While twitter is a very different medium to the comment field on blogs, at the end of the day both are two way forums for the voicing of thoughts and opinions. When spammers inject their mindless drivel into these mediums the only person that really suffers is the spammers themselves. Readers are getting smarter and employers are getting more tech savvy. As in your example Jim spammy behaviour could be the difference between a big job and the unemployment line.
It’s happened again – The comments here are far more interesting than my actual post.
Thanks for some great insights.
Great post Jim,
This is something I’ve noticed myself a number of times on blogs and internet business forums. It certainly doesn’t make me want to contact the spammer. If anything, it makes them look so desperate that I just run the other way!
Jim, I follow you thus far.
You mentioned about not selling anything. Aren’t we all selling something even if it’s information?
Is it wrong to include something to sell if it contributes to the conversation or blog? I don’t have a quick example, but in some instances someone may be selling something that is related to the blog and is of benefit to the readers. Is this then spam merely because the person posting the comment offered something to sell?
Hi Jim,
Question for ya …
When I post comment on blogs I
usually use the keywords “Send Out Cards” for my name as I have done here because thats what my site is about
If I’m gonna put a link it might as well be a keyword rich one
Would you consider that Spam? ( because I am using a keyword rich link)
also how did you get that Extra “Twitter username” field in your form?
Great blog by the way
Jack Bastide
SendOutCards,
The think about spam is that without obvious exceptions, it’s a matter of where each of us as individuals draws the line.
I see what YOU do as business-savvy SEO. Using anchor text in a comment is a great idea. So long as the comment adds something to the debate, like yours always do, there’s zero issue for me.
The twitter plugin I use here is called TwittipId and it was installed for me by my blog tech guy, Mark White from betterbusinessblogging.com @blogcoach
Hope that helps!
Web surfers and especially blog readers appear to be very wary of any obvious marketing. People have gotten used to the idea that the web = free or else web = fraud. So any effort to “market” just creates resistance.
The only option is to create so much value that people come to regard you as an expert. Which Jim clearly is!
Mike
jawar
If someone goes to a blog with the only intention, to spam it with comments, most would say thats wrong.
Whats that got to do with offering value?
Jim
Amen. Here is my take: Spammers spam. They justify it in all sorts of ways. Using programs because “you don’t have the time to be social” is no better of an excuse than “I am a weak minded, money hungry manipulator”.
Sorry, I have grown to despise the act of spamming. Putting links in your signature line is one thing. Running from one blog to another (or one social network wall to the next) just to put your pathetic links in…that’s just sad.
That said, I no longer have to worry about any of this! Why?
SOCIAL MEDIA!!!!!!! Winners win. Spammers lose.
If you can’t add massive value in this emerging technologically driven SOCIAL movement, you won’t matter.
Jim, you add value. People love you for it. Period. You could spam people and they wouldn’t recognize it as spam. That is the beauty of “getting it”.
Love ya!
Danny
Danny,
Thanks for a very concise insight.
Good comments. I run a tourism website at ……just kidding. I do run a tourism website though and it is disgusting the amount of worthless chatter that gets posted. I just love to moderate them out.
Great post Jim.
Frank
All good stuff – but I would add one caveat: when you search for a person online to see what kind of web-droppings they’re leaving (as you mentioned early in the post), make sure you’re tracking the right person. Unless it is a really unusual name chances are very good that there are possible dozens of folks with that same name. How do you know if the person you’ve determined is spamming someone is the same person you’re trying to do a little digging on?
Be careful of jumping to conclusions…I’m just sayin’…
Hi, I do make a living selling flowers, if you want great flowers, call me on… just kidding.
Great post – again, Jim.
I don’t like spam, spammers or comment spam much either – you make great points, and hopefully encourage those who practice spammin’ to find proactive ways to add value (and drive people to their product because of it).
I found this well thought out and helpful. Thanks again! Cam
[...] last night while in my room contemplating writing this post I wondered across this great blog post by Jim Connolly that echo’s my thoughts (only in reference to blog commen…. Jim points out that: Comment spammers are simply telling everyone who reads their spam that they [...]
Jim
Great debate about what is and isn’t spam as it refers to Social Networks.
Interestingly, following your advice of last week, has instantly put me in the cross hairs of those who think they are the moral gate keepers of the web.
Same people who have ads on their blogs, make use of FREE gmail apps etc.
Strange but then again, it’s always in the eye of the beholder.
Fantastic post Jim. It’s interesting that even in a post about how ineffective spamming is, someone actually posts a spam comment. You couldn’t make it up.
Thanks for your post Jim – that certainly stirred up the responses!
Good comments all – I had to read through them to see if I was adding or just repeating!
I want to ADD that comment spammers, like those who stand out when they do it in Twitter, are SO 20th Century (a bit like Bankers at the moment!)
Here and now in the 21st, we all seem to get so much more from the social media – it just becomes fun to comment, as long as it’s relevant. Spam might be in the eye of the beholder, as some have said above, but we all know it when we see it & we are just becoming less tolerant of it – there is simply NO NEED FOR IT. PERIOD.
I love your posts, they’re so thought provoking, so you’ve scored again with this one!
I finish, as always, with “Keep ‘em Coming!”
Thanks Jim.
I loved what you wrote about comment spammers. I wonder if many of them just need it pointed out. It could just be over enthusiasm (ha, who am I kidding!) Is there a “Social Media Navagating for DUMMIES” out there. I would love a copy so I am not one of “those” people! I need to be careful. I am within 100 miles of where they make SPAM!
Great read! Thank you!!
(by the way, I don’t know if you are familiar w the Nottingham Panthers Hockey but I am a huge fan, in Iowa, no less!)
Jim:
As always, a great post as well as thought-provoking comments.
I’d like to say two things – as a novice to blogging, I’m still learning about the do’s and don’ts. I think that the spamming you’re referring to is basically bad manners – using someone else’s space to self-promote. What I’ve been doing (& I don’t know if this is acceptable or not so would welcome feedback) is going in to the offending comment and deleting the obvious link, as long as the rest of the comment has something relevant to contribute.
The other thing I’d like to say is that, for we “baby boomers” who have been in sales for many years, a lot of the rules/guidelines/accepted practices for blogging and social networking are counter-intuitive for how we were trained. We were trained to be promoters, to “pitch” our products, to maintain a professional (distanced) relationship with our customer, and to throw as much —- on the wall to see what sticks. So, now we need to incorporate blogging and social networking into our “marketing” but that requires an entirely new skill set – one that requires us to be much less obvious and more subtle, and one that doesn’t yield the quick and direct responses or results to which we are accustomed.
So, as the “boomer” generation becomes more actively involved in this internet world, you “young un’s” may need to cut us a little slack as we learn the ropes.
When I first started making websites allowing comments, ie OrionRobots this was in a pre-captcha era, and without any sophisticated spam filtering. I was inundated with spam. Consider my site was meant to be family friendly, dealing with Lego etc, some of the spam was extremely inappropriate. The first thing I had to do was remove anonymous comments, and force register/login. However, that put off some of those with something to say. It is a difficult game to play balancing allowing genuine comments – ie those relevant and not overlinked, against those that were total spam. If it is somebodies robot website or blog, I let it slip normally. But there is a line drawn when they post the same post on each of the forums.
Hi Jim,
But, I’m now building my confidence level, and, like Andy, above, I am learning to simply use DELETE. I have learned that I don’t need to allow the nasty stuff/spam in to begin with since I can moderate it.
First of all, thank you so much for putting all this info out there for us. I’m glad I found your site! For someone like me who is very new to social networking and blogging, finding someone willing to help guide us through this jungle is of great value. I was quite nervous about allowing comments on my different blogs because I was afraid of “nasty-grams” & inappropriate content. I figured that I’d rather not have any comments than risk having my sensitive ego crushed.
After reading this, however, I do think I need to go back in and delete some comments that I “approved” initially. I now suspect are not serving any real purpose other than a link back to whoever left it. There is still a learning curve, but this post (along with the comments) has been truly helpful. Happy Holidays, and thank you again for providing a great service!
Kath
Agreed but many sites go way too far in what they consider comment spam. altMD, for example, pays a full-time acupuncturist to contribute to conversations across the web. Most of the time, we already have expert content on the topic so he writes ~200 word response 100% specific to topic/question and then posts link to full expert info on altMD. 95% of the time, however, our posts get deleted and/or we get banned, which is crazy. Yes, the intent of our posts is to promote expert content on altMD. BUT, what we do is FAR from spam. Like my comment to your post on do-follow links, I think that restricting quality posts like ours on blogs, forums, etc. is a major challenge to the future quality/success of the web.
altMD,
If you pay someone to mass-comment on other people’s blogs – you are deliberately using these blogs as unpaid advertisers. This is not about commenting at this point, it’s about advertising.
That’s going to hack-off a lot of people and might be why you find yourself getting deleted?
Yes…BUT…This is an $80,000/yr. doctor personally responding to each specific issue, adding tremendous value to all the sites we post to. This is not a bot and it is not copy and paste and it is not OTT self promotion. It is a doctor specifically answering questions. That today’s web treats that as spam is a big problem IMHO. And for the record, we would LOVE for others to pay doctors to come to altMD and contribute expert content to us for free…
altMD,
Regardless of who you pay to do this for you, it’s still YOU using another person’s blog to provide YOU with free advertising.
They are not going to like it, hence the deletes.
I think it’s also likely you will find your sites URL blacklisted if enough people ‘SPAM’ your comments!
Hi Jim,
My blog has been getting what are called “PingBacks.” Is that also spam? Should I be deleting those? There is no actual comment attached – but they are coming into my blog as a comment “needing moderation.”
I also got a comment that said words to this effect, “Love your blog. By the way, if you are interested in…” with a link in the text to their site. Is that also something that I should be deleting?
Since I’m still new, the thrill of seeing someone seemingly take interest in what I have to say is still there – do these folks instinctivly look for people who are obviously new with the hope that we’ll just “approve” the comment?
I hope I’m not appearing too paranoid about this! I just want to incorporate best practices right at the get go.
Thanks for your insight.
Kath
if what we do is spam, then there is no community (as you reference in your do-follow link post).
Contributing EXPERT content to websites that rely on UGC to drive traffic is hardly free advertising….
Treat others as you would want to be treated and we will take all the EXPERT UGC that we can get…Not spam but QUALITY content…
On YAHOO answers, we are selected the best answer 95% of the time. Elsewhere, we are selected spam 95% of the time…Same content…IMHO Blog and forum owners are nuts to allow YAHOO (and GOOGLE) to benefit from our content while they turn it away.
The irony is that we are the ones who are actually concerned about posting to all these sites because we are basically helping them generate expert content that costs us hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to produce and that will ultimately compete with us for top placement for competitive keywords.
We’re not looking to fight with anyone and certainly arent looking for anything “for free”. We’ll contribute our content where we’re appreciated and do our best to add as much value to those “partners” as we can.
Kathy,
Some pingbacks are fine, others are links to sites that have copied your post and are seeking to get a link – from your blog to theirs.
Check the pingback link and if you like it – allow it.
altMD,
I’m ok about people including a link in their post – so long as the info’s good I see no problem.
The Internet is just a series of links – I am always MORE likely to allow a link than to not allow one.
I even have posts on this blog where I TELL people to tell everyone else who they are and what they do – This one’s had 430 comments:
http://jimsmarketingblog.com/2008/12/11/building-your-twitter-network/
Please feel free to add your details.
Comment spam is almost worse than email spam. Spewing self-promotion on blog comments is pure Internet evil.
I engage on blogs that I love and I join the conversation with my commentary. I think I respect the value in comments because I’m a blogger myself and have to address the issue of comment spammers.
When it’s appropriate I may link back to a specific entry when there is a need to do it. Otherwise I retain my links back in the comment forms. I also leave my Twitter ID (@JoeManna) in the comment too.
When it comes down to it — you need to give a damn. Give a damn about the blogger, the conversation, your contribution and yourself. Otherwise, you may just end up in my Akismnet filter.
~Joe
I kept wondering why people think comment spams will enhance their brand visibility, if it does at all, it only damage the image they think they are building. I wish we all take a que from this insightful piece
Your already thinking…hey up! here’s another spammer! Partly true. I was looking for blogs to post on and found this one. However, given the blog was actually on subject for what I am actually now doing, in this, it may not be spam, if that makes sense??
Anyway, regarding the reputation side of things, you are right but there are times when it could be seen from another point of view. Take what I am doing right now for instance. OK, it hasn’t turned out that way but I just came here for a free link…a link to my business directory. Surely that tells people that my directory is being promoted and if it isn’t already, it may be heavily linked to and backed up with links in the future?? That is what people want from a web directory where they’re are in turn advertising their businesses. I think as long as it’s done sensibly, then posting in blogs can sometimes be seen as good.
Just found this post and really enjoyed it. It’s funny that people don’t understand what comment spam is. Google would consider this a spam comment if I merely changed my name from Dan Deceuster to Cool SEO Blog or something. I don’t see why they are so against that. I mean, if a comment is a valid comment, I don’t care what the name and URL are associated with the comment. Obviously I make sure the URL isn’t to a spam site as I don’t want those link on my website. But if someone reads my blog and leaves a comment with a name link, why not approve it? How is it spam? I think the world just needs to agree on what comment spam is and what it isn’t. A spam comment would leave links in the comment for sex pills, casinos and loans. Its not spam to simply make your keywords your name in my opinion…as long as you still have a valid comment.
I agree with Dan. spam needs to be defined better by people sometimes – not every link is spam. Spam is useless and detrimental to a website; real people reading a blog and posting a useful comment that includes a link to their site is beneficial. Thanks for the differentiation.