How to Deal with Criticisms on Your Website (and in REAL LIFE)?
Whether you like it or not, there will definitely be people criticizing your website, posts, etc...
One common criticism against reviews done by Wealthy Affiliate members is this:
"Another Wealthy Affiliate Scammer calling all other programs scams to earn WA commission..."
Sounds familiar?
In fact, I've just received a couple of these recently on my website. Let me show you what the critics are saying:
Criticism #1
Criticism #2
The Most Common Misunderstanding
There's a common misunderstanding about Wealthy Affiliate and that is WA members are all trying to bash other products/programs so that we can "lure" people into joining WA.
We all know that is untrue. I believe majority of the members here are completely honest when writing their reviews.
However, if you're that 0.1% who don't. I would urge you to stop doing that and be unbiased in your reviews. Because that's the way for you to run a successful website in the long run.
Okay, back to the main topic.
2 Types of Reaction
There are 2 main types of reaction when we see this kind of invalid criticism:
1. Quickly delete it because it's untrue
2. Got angry and fire back at the critic (Get into a conflict or an argument)
None of these is good. You can delete the comment and pretend nothing had happened but that's not going to bring you very far.
Or if you start an argument with the critic, you may get into an even bigger trouble.
For example, the critic decides to sue you...
What's the Correct Way to Deal with this kind of Situation?
The reason there are people criticizing Wealthy Affiliate is because they don't fully understand WA, right?
After you've spent time diving into this WA community, we all know that this is by far the best platform for anyone to achieve success online and create awesome passive income streams.
So, the reason they are criticizing is because of the lack of understanding!
There's no point to get mad at these critics. It won't help them better understand WA.
What you should do is to take this opportunity to educate them and invite them to join WA and try it out for FREE.
Also, if they are defending for another product, you can simply ask them questions like:
- Could you share with me some of your progress with XXX product?
- How much money are you making per month with XXX product?
Just ask them this kind of questions. If their answer is that they are making let say $1K, $5K or $10K per month, then good for them. They have the right to defend that particular product.
However, majority of the critics do not have such results. So when you ask them such questions, they'll usually ignore your reply and stop criticizing you anymore.
Let me just quickly show you how I responded to these criticisms:
My reply to criticism #1
My reply to criticism #2
My comment plugin has automatically notified these two people via Email that I've replied to their comments.
However, guess what?! They just ignore it and didn't get back to me even when I'm asking them questions...
Benefits of Managing Criticisms Properly
Don't go and delete such comments because they are good opportunities for you to demonstrate your professionalism and your authenticity.
What do you think when other readers see these criticisms and your reply?
I'm sure they will trust you more because you're completely honest and you know what you're talking about.
In the long run, it's definitely helpful for your business.
This doesn't apply to just criticisms against WA members. You should apply this technique to any kinds of criticism you receive, regardless online or offline.
So, from today onward, start practicing how to handle all the criticisms against you properly.
Most importantly, DO NOT let any criticism affect your emotion because you are in control of your own emotion. There are a lot of things in the world around us that are constantly trying to manipulate our emotions. BUT remember we are in full control of our own happiness.
Never get emotional towards criticisms!
Do you agree with my point here?
Let me know in the comments below what's your opinion on this.
If possible, share with us some of the experience you had regarding criticisms. I'm sure we can always learn something new from every single experience we had, be it positive or negative :)
Recent Comments
48
That is the difference between new affiliate marketer and a veteran one. The veteran knows all the cards that need to be played to get the conversion as fast as he can. It is like generating money at will.
On the other side, the new online marketer is still learning his cards. So frustration is normal from his part.
Hey, Jerry, you didn’t do anything wrong and actually turn the criticism around to your favor. You can’t control what people think nor should you try. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion.
If you can be a professional without getting ugly with your comment answer then the chances of you being the winner are very good. Thank you for sharing.
Ken
That's brilliant! With those responses from you, and them not even answering back, you come out on top. The natural question is, well, why didn't they answer?? And hey, this guy seems friendly and not pushy at all, so maybe I'll check out WA. :)
Hi Jerry, thanks for sharing that was a great post. It made me think about how I would deal with that situation and the reply I might give.
Thanks
Jerry, thanks for sharing, there are some nice points in there for people to contemplate.
From my own cheap seats in the theatre, my perspective is still one of fascinated observer and researcher. The interactions you’ve described, and the value system and subcultures attached, are interesting to me for a whole host of other reasons than my own blogging happiness. Thank you!
The basics of human online interaction are replicated in many online tribes. And we can certainly apply lessons learnt to all manner of enterprise.
Your replies are very well thought out, and to be honest far better than I would have ever done. So you have given me some reason to be a bit more "relaxed" before I reply to one of these types of comments. Also I now need to think about my replies a bit more, not just those which are negative.
To date I have not come across anything like this.
I believe it is a good idea to post and reply to negative comments unless they are personal attacks. The response is really for other readers of the review and not the original negative comment.
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I welcome all constructive criticism. The negative ones I will respond to in a very diplomatic and assertive way without getting flustered. It's not worth getting angry, it just gets your blood pressure up.
That's right! Very cute picture, HAHA :)