Are your site comments lazy or thoughtful?

byAliMos

404 followers

5 years ago

I’m scratching my head here. (No, that pic isn’t me, but the sentiment is!)

I know the issue of quality site comments has been written about before, but I decided there’s no harm in mentioning it yet again, as we all know the more we absorb information on a particular issue the more likely it is that eventually it will stick!

Yesterday I asked for site comments on a post I’d recently added to my site. When I checked this morning I was delighted to see that I had received 4 comments. However, when I read through them I concluded – very reluctantly – that I would have to disapprove 2 of them.

Why?

Because they didn’t sufficiently reference the particular topic that the post was about.

These two comments glowingly praised my article or website in very general terms, but therein lies the problem. These comments could have been written about any post on any subject, and no-one would be any the wiser. Sure, it’s easy to write a comment like that, and when you’re trying to earn credits so you can ask for comments on your own posts, or maybe you’re trying to gain Certified Commenter status, you need to write lots of comments in a relatively short space of time. I get it. But a lazy comment, for the person on the receiving end, is worse than no comment at all.

Why?

Because you still have to read it and take the trouble to decide whether or not to approve it. And don’t forget, for every comment you receive, you have to leave 2. That makes each comment you write a precious resource.

Comments are very valuable

Comments on your site are very valuable, but only if they look genuine. They show that people are engaging now with your site, and if you keep asking for comments over time it can make even an old post look up to date. But generic comments look suspicious, and negatively affect the integrity of your site. Site comments are also a key component to ranking in Google and other search engines – but again, only if they look genuine and from real people.

So, what makes for a good site comment? When researching this post, I thought I would go back and review the ‘guidelines’ about site comments, and post it here as a gentle reminder to others. (NB. I’m not going into the whole Site Feedback vs Site Comments issue here – this post is just about site comments.)

However, within the Site Comments area itself, the only rule I found is that your comments should be unique. Have I missed something? If so, please let me know in a comment.

In Level 4 lesson 2 of the training Kyle says:

"Google also has a good idea of what is a real comment and what is a fake comment. The more substance you have to your comments and the more thorough your responses are, the more powerful they are to your site."

Lazy comments may not be fake but they are certainly not powerful.

Examples of good and bad comments

Here are a few examples of what I think are good and bad comments. Please accept my apologies in advance if you read this and realise that one of these comments is yours, but I hope you will take this feedback as an opportunity to improve your comments, both for your benefit and for the benefit of other WA members. Remember that Site Comments is a pay-it-forward system, and the more effort you put in the more you get out. Also, if a comment you write gets disapproved you don’t earn a credit on it! So even if you trotted the comment off in no time at all, it was still time wasted.

First the bad

These are the two comments I reluctantly decided this morning that I’d have to disapprove, because they don’t sufficiently – or at all – refer to the topic of my post (a flexible garden hose).

"Hello there, This i a beautiful article that you have got here. Your website is beautifully constructed and arranged and it has always been of immense help to us viewers. I enjoy the fact that your website is always easy to navigate through. I really enjoyed going through the content you offered. The flexi hose is perfect and great for use."

Ok, so the above comment did mention the topic of the post, but only just, and not in any meaningful or engaging way.

This next comment, however, could have been written about anything:

"Hello dear, wow what wonderful content you have here, I was actually doing some research online when I saw your post online, thanks a lot for sharing such amazing concise information with us all, your choice of words and writing skills is really something to save and come back for future reference, you have alit of nice and quality post here thanks for the info"

Now the good

Compare both of the above comments with the following, which directly responds to the content of my post:

"I’ve seen this type of hose advertised on tv, but usually those commercials are a turn off to me even if the product is good. Lol. But I’ve never actually used one. To learn a bit more about them in this review is helpful. There are a few negative comments as you transparently brought to the forefront, but they were all about one single issue: the hose didn’t seem to expand to the advertised length. Of course, as an advertiser, the optimum performance is always what is put forth and on display. Certainly water pressure would play a significant role in the length as that’s what makes it expand. So, sounds like a reasonable product with lots of good reviews to support it. Maybe I should try one now."

Here too are a few examples of posts I’ve left for others, that were all approved:

On the topic of straw golfing hats for men (not a topic I’m particularly interested in!)

"I really like the Columbia straw hat, but can you tell me if it has a strap to go under the chin like some of the other hats you reviewed? I would hate for it to blow off my hubby’s head on a particularly windy day and spoil his shot!"

Or this comment, on the topic of blending vegan smoothies:

"Reading your smoothie recipes made me want to go and blend straightaway! I must say I’m not very adventurous when it comes to smoothies, and haven’t ever tried adding pea protein so I will give it a go. I do always seem to add banana to my smoothies, not because of knowing about eliminating after-tastes (good tip, thanks!) but because I’ve always got them lying around and I don’t like eating them beyond the greeny-yellow stage. Now I’m going to try making a peanut butter smoothie ????

Your recipes call for oat milk, but I prefer rice milk. Presumably there’s no reason why I shouldn’t substitute?"

Or this one, on the topic of Nike Techno shoes (another topic I’m not really interested in):

"I’m afraid I’m one of those people with gorilla feet – must admit I’ve never heard them called that before! But I’m looking for some trainers for my husband, who likes to go to the gym, doing a combination of spinning classes and gym workouts. Would these trainers be suitable for both those activities? He’s often at the gym for at least an hour and a half at a time. Thanks."

What if you don’t like the look of the post that you’re being shown?

I must admit that I look at some of the posts offered for comment and think OMG how can I possibly write a review of that? Some I try, some I just give up. But if I do decide to write a comment I will take the trouble to write a decent one, whether it’s a topic that interests me or not.

If a particular site/article isn't your cup of tea (whether you click on the 'View site' button or not), but you don’t want to click the ‘I’m not interested’ button because you don’t want your skip rate to increase, remember that you can simply close the browser and return to WA later when that particular offering has been replaced.

Remember, too, that you can edit your interests list so that you are only offered sites to comment on that are broadly within your range of interests.

In conclusion

Perhaps all this can be summed up as follows –

• Read the article offered and note what sort of comments the content owner is looking for
• Write a comment that directly references the content of the article
• Remember that a real person commenting on an article or post has a genuine motivation for commenting:
  • Either to get something off their chest because the topic is relevant to them
  • Or because they have a question about the topic that they want answered
  • Or because they are answering a question from another commenter
  • They really wouldn’t bother to say blandly how wonderful they think the article/site is
• Choose your interest areas so that on the whole you are only offered sites to comment on that broadly engage you
  
• Write the sort of comment that you would like to see on your own website

Thanks for reading, and I hope you’ve found this post useful.

I’d love to hear what other people think about the issue of site comments. Leave a comment!

Alison