Suave + Commenting + What are the best Commenting Essentials?
On commenting:
What tools or essentials do you choose to use when commenting on other people's sites? Please be specific. The more people that participate (comment in this Post), the better commenters we will become.
What Is good commenting? Well… folks when I first began to comment I sort of used a recipe, as follows:
- Be considerate and nice.
- Possibly touch on keywords to boost indexing.
- Be nice; if you disagree with the author, offer a polite comment.
- Engage by delivering meaningful conversation.
- Ask questions that are specific.
- Keep comment length to 150 words.
I got this recipe from a site about commenting. Its not a bad tool; what else would you add or take-away. What do you think?
Maybe we ought to let our innate abilities do some of the work—like just be yourself. Read the content and tell people what it did for you. Did it move you or compel you to want to get involved by asking relevant questions on the topic?
Maybe we should approach the content like a dialog? I mean, if we you talked to a friend would you remain focused on the subject you are talking about, or would you start talking about how his shirt and hat looked like and possibly a white hat instead of a black hat would be better to wear?
What is the difference between feedback and commenting? I leave the answer to this question for the reader.
This is an open discussion—yes, for comments 😊. I love transparency. Thanks for any input on this subject. All comments are Golden and extremely helpful for all of us here at WA.
Thanks, a heap.
Audrey J.
Recent Comments
33
When I comment I never use a negative angle. If I don't like what is being said, I have found that insulting anyone does no one any good. Positivity has helped me forgive myself and others in my almost 60 years on this planet. There is always a graceful way of disagreeing without being sarcastic or demeaning. Think about how you would want YOUR child or someone you love getting the response.
Very good, crushing. Grace, honesty and positivity bolster motivation and the guts to go on and keep on working hard to reach goals.
Thank you
Audrey
Hi Audrey,
First of all, the difference between feedback and commenting. Feedback is helpful critic about the post or website. What do you like about the post / website, what you don't like and suggestions how to improve it.
Comments are meant for discussion on the topic of a post, to bring engagement and extra value to the post.
When I leave a comment on someone's website, I ask questions on the topic, if the person wishes to get questions on the topic. If I have any personal experience with the topic, I may share my personal experience. I may not comment on everything that was on the post, but I comment on at least one specific topic of the post.
It is not that important to thank for a great post or say it was helpful and so on. That is just general commenting that could be written on any post. I rather comment on the actual content of the post. If it was helpful, I say why it was helpful to me.
I don't comment on the website in general or what I think of the website; I only comment on the particular post, because that is the point of site comments.
Yes, feedback can actually help, too. I was just given some feedback the other day and it helped my site look more practical, yet I have to agree with you on commenting----it is about how it did move me or help me.
And at times, I get wordy---lol, because I go into too many issues or topics. I think your approach to choosing a specific topic in the post that helped me will probably be a better way to comment.
This I keep in mind
Thank you Kiran
Audrey
Thanks Audrey for sharing with us this information, about site comment,,,
Sometimes it's hard to comment on site comment, I once comment on site comment, and I was not happy the way author responded on my comment. But I did not take it seriously.
Because I'm to learn, no one is perfect.
And I think everyone is here to learn.
I really feel leaving good comments is a learning experience and takes time to learn as most things in this business, so practicing commenting on blogs in WA is part of your training
Jeff
This is so true. We have to love them and appreciate how brave we or they are for throwing their work out in the public arena for all persons to read, and that is to be commended, but we have no real idea what they are truly looking for, but, after so many comments I now have a very good idea that the majority are looking for your honest opinion or comment on how the written content moves you and grooves you, How did it really make you feel, compelled,bored, excited, very interested, dopey lol.
Audrey Jean
*chuckles heartily*
Jefferey, you made me think of those "How's my Driving" bumper stickers we see here in the US and, that, in turn, makes me wonder if this is a global bumper sticker as well?!
Maybe all the new folks or, any folks we may meet/come across that are struggling with comments, should come with a "How's my Commenting" Bumper sticker on this platform.
I feel like I've seen it all since 2015. Not just on WA sites either, I am, most days, researching 30 plus things a day for work tasks alone.
I'm going to be straight with everyone. As I've mentioned to Audrey Jean earlier on my profile page, commenting woes have been a hot topic since I stepped foot in WA back in 2015.
When Kyle & Carson implemented the commenting platform I thought "YaY, it's going to be nice to make a little bill money for all the time I've spent over the years and currently, commenting. I'm not just talking about on WA sites either. It actually felt like Kyle & Carson were recognizing what it really takes to comment with that volume, frequency, and quality!
What I didn't find from Kyle & Carson was a training program you need to go through before becoming a certified commenter. I've even thought about writing the program myself for people I recruit.
Who am I kidding though... our great and powerful Magistudios man NinJaY is the one who should be orchestrating that video!
I don't know about all of you but, I'm totally willing to take that course and, to pass a test of our peers even!
I wrote quite a few comments (on WA member sites) during the process of writing this comment. This is my process:
1) I skim the website presented to me to see if I can add value to it. If I think I can, I then read the entire article and at least a few comments to get a better feel of the author. I don't leave a website if I know little about the topic, I see that as an opportunity to learn.
Example: I just commented on a Swarovski Optik rifle scope article. I no longer hunt but, I knew I could bring value to the conversation.
2) If I do not feel I can add value, I close the page, I do NoT skip it! I highly doubt this can be considered 'gaming the system' as I'm not going to force myself to comment on a site I don't believe in, whether it be a political site, a religious one, what have you, I have the right to choose! On the other hand, I'm also not going to force myself to write my 20th comment of a WA review in a month if I'm tired or, just not feeling it. See #1 I'm not a lazy commenter..I want to bring them value.
3) I will always be myself, I will never use an anonymous account. If I don't want my name on a website, I don't comment. That's just how I operate.
4) If I need to, I research the topic and/or, refresh my memory of what I already know or, think I know!.
5) It should go without saying that I am respectful, funny (that's my default setting) and, I always seek to support a solid article and, its writer by being engaging.
I'm also respectful enough to contact the site owner if I see something terribly amiss on their site. I don't always have the time to do this, obviously, but one major one i've seen a lot of since last December was sites published by older and newer members without having activated their very FREE SSL certificate (thank you Carson & Kyle!). So, Ima juss gonna leave this here if anyone has forgotten and, needs a refresher. (I think the only update since her video is the lock being black and not green, please correct me if I'm wrong.) SSL: Activation, No Padlock, Mixed Content and Google Search Console 6) I try to make all my comments SEO friendly-er while still maintaining a conversational flow to my written word. Also, see SSL cert. info above. My comment will do you no good while Google has you in the red flag zone!
7) I'm definitely guilty of forgetting to do this a few times but, 1% of the time out of a bazillion comments...I'm not going to beat myself up about it. I check the list of what the website owner wants to be included in my comment! (it's to the right of the website you'll be clicking onto.
8) While I'm trying to focus hard on my own business, I find incredible value with site comments. I'll never stop leaving comments. Some of you may have noticed, I come back after I've commented when it's humanly possible I scan what comments I've done and I head back to read your reply! I try to wear blinders if I see that you've allowed site feedback comments on your site or, any other crap-a-lope comment, because I have hopes that the site comments training video from JaY will come soon or, soon come exactly when we need it most! (if we ask for it, it very well may come.)
In summary, I've watched excellent and total, horrible BS comments roll by my eyes for years and, on different platforms. I've also seen many make excuses for the people writing these BS comments. While it's super kind of you and the occasional mistakes happen, I will reject horrible comments and, in my opinion, you should too! I will never even edit a comment, most especially if it's from someone where English is not their first language.
I saw an excellent example of an approved comment today on someone's site where the comment was hard to understand at first and, they definitely had sent it through the, sometimes hilarious, google translate but, I saw an effort made there and, I believe the author did too!
In all my years here and on different platforms there is nothing cooler than watching someone grow and thrive from perfecting a new language or, skill and, I'm always going to support that!
I decided after the last 'site comment rage' post I commented on that I was going to stop commenting on them any further and, try to find a real solution.
Audrey Jean invited me to discuss this topic and, here I am, trying to find a real solution through a real education in the topic at hand.
You know Carson & Kyle will always listen, what do you think about my possible solution? What do you think about my commenting process or, are you just ready for me to be done talking? *laughs at herself*
If I proposed a first step in making a change to no longer write blogs about 'site-comment frustrations', no longer like or, comment on those blogs, would you be with me? Would you keep a thread like this going instead... where we can all discuss it and find a real solution together with some help from our fearless leader JaY and our founding father's team Kyle & Carson?
See more comments
This is a great post, Audrey. Thank you for inviting me to comment on it. I particularly like that you mentioned "Be nice" in there two different times. (Reminds of that scene with Patrick Swayze in *Roadhouse.")
For me personally, this is an area where I have grown and continue to grow from my experience here at WA. I have throughout my life had a tendency to be a perfectionist and just maybe sometimes a little bit critical. Giving relevant comments and helpful feedback in a nice way is a skill I wish I had learned sooner. But as we all know, you can't go back in time; you can only go forward. I am truly grateful to be with such a great community of people as I go forward from here.
However, we all learn from are past mistakes or what very nice things we did also, and this is a big plus. Sounds like you have that part down well.
Have a great day
Audrey