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!