How to leave a great comment on any blog post.
Here at Wealthy Affiliate, we are lucky to have a very supportive and very involved community.
We can:
- Ask questions and get answers.
- Share our knowledge and ideas with each other through the blog posts.
- Get to know each other through our profile pages and private messaging.
- Support each other's site through site comments and site review.
Today I want to talk about the last bullet on that list. Site comments and site review.
The Value of a Comment
First, let's think about why comments are important.
Getting comments on your page or post is another way to show Google that you have high-quality content to share with the world. Google looks for many factors when ranking your posts. We don't know their full algorithm, but most people will tell you the following things are important:
- Word count (the higher the better according to many experts)
- Engagement
- Time spent on the page
- Consistent content updates/adds
Comments can help with all these things!
Word Count
Comments on your page increase the word count naturally. But not all comments are created equal. You don't want a bunch of comments that just say, "great post!"
You want longer, well thought out comments that add value to the content of your post.
Engagement
Comments are a great way to show Google that you're a real person, ready to interact with your readers and answer any questions, comments, or concerns they may have.
Make sure you reply to every single comment on your post and do it within 24 hours of the comment being left. Even if you're on vacation, you can manage this once a day, in a few minutes from your mobile device - so don't let them wait!
Time on the Page
Do you ever go to Google Analytics and check out the time people spend on your page? You want readers to stay on your page for at least a couple minutes. And if they are taking the time to read your page and leave a comment, that means they are helping your stats in this area!
Consistent Content/Updates
Of course you want to have consistent new content to psot on your site. But regular updates to existing content can also show Google that you haven't forgotten old posts. This lets Google know that you're not letting your content grow stale and outdated.
New comments on a post serve the same purpose. A new interaction with a reader tells Google that your content is still worth reading.
Site Comments Vs Site Feedback
Now that we know how comments can help your website, let's look at how you can leverage Wealthy Affiliate Site Comments to get the conversation started!
Site Comments, along with Site Feedback, are two ways that you can support the Wealthy Affiliate community and they can support you! But there is a big difference that I see some of us get confused about.
Site Comments are comments left on your blog post, and show up in the bottom of your post for all to see. It should be as if a reader happend upon your blog, and decided to leave you a note. They should always be related to the topic of the blog post.
Site Feedback is meant to be used to see how your post or your overall website are looking. Go here to request or leave feedback about things like appearances, logos, readability, site navigation, etc.
Earning Credits & Money with Comments
In both cases, you get one credit for leaving comments/feedback on another member's request. Once you have two credits from either source (comments or feedback), you can submit your own request.
Sometimes when I request a site comment, people leave a comment that is telling me about spelling errors or the general appearance of the post. If these comments do not include anything about the blog post topic, I will reject them.
This is sometimes a little annoying for me, but it's not a big deal for two reasons:
- If you reject a comment, your request will be put back into the system for a new comment, so it's no loss to me.
- I always appreciate feedback, so I still make note of the comments, or go fix anything they point out as an issue on the page.
Buit it is unfortunate for the person who left the comment, because it lowers their approval rating. The approval rating impacts your ability to become a certified commenter, which allows you to earn money for your comments!
As you can see, I am not a certified commenter, but my approval rating is at 100% because I always leave very purposeful comments.
You may notice that my skip rate is 25%, that's because if I don't think I can add value to their content with my comment, I will skip the page.
These two metrics, approval rating and skip rating, are measured over the course of 30 days. So if you wish to become a certified commentor and earn money this way, you'll need to consistently leave high-quality comments.
How to Leave a Great Comment
If you leave a great comment, you'll be sure to get approved. And, you'll be paying it forward by helping out a fellow affiliate marketer by boosting all those Google metrics we talked about earlier.
Here's how you do it:
Read the request overview.
When requesting a comment or feedback, you can select what kind of comment/feedback you're looking for.
If the requestor wants questions about the topic, make sure to include a relevant question in your comment. Preferrably one that isn't answered in the body of the post.
A good question gives them an opportunity to engage and show Google that they know what they are talking about.
Take time to read the whole post.
Google tracks time spent on the page. Don't cheat your fellows by hopping on their page for 10 seconds and then closing it down to leave a half-assed comment.
Reading the whole post will improve their time on the page metrics and will help you write a more meaningful comment.
Write your comment.
The final step is kind of obvious. But I can't stress enough the importance of paying attention to what the requestor is asking for and giving it to them.
Wealthy Affiliate knows the importance of a quality comment, so they've put some checks in place to make sure we aren't leaving each other those "great post" kinds of comments. Before you can submit your comment, the system checks for length and uniqueness of the comment.
Comment writing Do's:
- Include the name of the author if it's shown in the post.
- Include the keyword—usually this should be pretty obvious from the title.
- Share your experience with the topic or product.
- And finally add your honest opinion or question (based on what the requestor is asking for).
Note that your opinion does not have to agree with the authors opinion and can be negative as long as you put it ina constructive manner. In other words, don't be rude or mean. Instead start a conversation that the author can reply to. They may defend their position or they may be happy for the additional insight into the topic.
Comment writing Dont's:
- Don't comment on spelling/punctation
- That should be left under site feedback or you can send a private message (PM)
- Also note that the spelling may be corect, but just different than what you're used to, i.e. American English vs. Commonwealth English
- Don't comment on image placement or alignment
- I've even gotten comments on how the pictures brighten up the post ... as lovely as that is, it does not add any value to my post, and truly, it's feedback, not a comment.
- Don't be rude or angry/agressive.
- If you don't agree with a post, you can choose to skip it, or you can choose to leave a comment that is constructive and opens a discussion.
- It should never attack the topic or author ... they probably will just reject it anyway if you do that.
- Any other "feedback" topics that I may have left out: colors, font, navigation, length.
- Again, these are not comments, they are feedback.
What's In It For Me (WIIFM)?
If you're interested in earning cash credits as a certified commenter, you'll get more approved comments and get paid for them!
If you just want good comments on your own post ... well, this is really a good karma, pay-it-forward type of thing. Lead by example and all that.
If we, as a community, learn to all leave great comments, then your site will see all the benefits that great comments can bring.
So leave great comments and share this post (or write your own!) with the community so that they all leave great comments too!
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Great reminder