Leaving Quality Feedback on Someone Else's Site has to be done with Sincerity!
Hi there,
Today I have received a feedback through the feedback request site here at WA which was very odd to say the least.
I know that my niche I am writing about isn't appealing or of any interest to any men, but nevertheless I have gotten some great feedbacks by men in the past, making an effort looking beyond the subject itself and leaving still good and honest feedbacks and I always do appreciate this very much.
The feedback today was odd or even lazy in my opinion. The person (male) had commented on my static page which is the page about the articles and reviews I have written. When the visitor clicks on any title will be redirect to the page with the content, enhanced by media etc.
The feedback was only about the critique in having NO CONTENT or any MEDIA at all, which of course isn't true if the person would have taken a closer look and at least had clicked on one of the titles on the static page to se what is this all about.
I have pointed this out in my reply and also referred to the top of my site where the menu is. If the person had also clicked on it, it would have brought them to pages with lots of content etc.
I do know it is sometimes hard leaving some good and quality feedback when you don't have any clue about the specific niche, But I do take my time and read through some posts/articles and try to get a feeling/understanding of the different subjects I do come along.
I try to be as much objective as I can, also being honest that I don't know much about the content but may have learned something here and there.
My conclusion
If you don't want to make the effort and leave a real and honest feedback than don't leave any at all, period. Especially when it can be traced of not even have seriously tried in the first place.
To all newcomers
When leaving feedbacks on someone else's site, try to be honest and make a bit of an effort too. People who are posting their sites for feedbacks deserve to be taken seriously and not to be bashed. You never know how it will backfire some day.
Have a great day
Love
Recent Comments
28
Personally I think feedback (AKA: critiques) should all be done either through PM or through comments on WA, whether they're good or bad. Comments on the other hand should be relevant to the subject of the post that you are commenting on.
I agree. That's why I usually send a PM first so that they know I'm not being vindictive or nasty in any way.
Robert
Hi Sylvia, I hope when I finish getting my site built out, you will leave me feedback! I know I can learn from someone like you.
I understand, good constructive criticism works as well as saying what is good about your site. It's important to be objective too,
I'm not keen on some on the sites promoting Internet marketing programmes and products, too cold and straight, with little colour. However, from an objective viewpoint I can see the benefit in this.
Hopefully your next feedback will be a little more constructive. :)
Very well said Sylvia! I don't look at websites whether they maybe for a woman or man. I look at content and how the content is framed. Also, the value of the content and the audience the content might be directed at.
I have women in my life that I send web links to if I think the web link will be of value to them. I don't know about people at times that they do not have the capacity to look outside the box in finding value in what someone does!
Anyway, I agree with your blog and find great value in your discourse here!!
Robert
Hi Sylvia, First of all, I'm a guy and I have critiqued several websites (one per day) on the Feedback Site that were created by women like yourself. Many of the sites really were not of great interest, content wise, to me. But, I can checkout the mechanics of the site.
I make sure folks know that I am critiquing the site from a potential customers perspective. Is it easy to navigate, is the niche one that will probably draw a lot of traffic, or does the theme present the subject in a positive way? I also check each menu bar element to see if I land on the correct page. Does each sidebar widget work correctly? How about embedded links and banner ads? Do they all work correctly?
Then I checkout each page, from Private Policy to the main subject pages. In many cases, I don't know anything about the niche, but I can tell if the content is appropriate. That doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out. Also, I'm not an English teacher, so I leave the grammar assessment up to others.
I try to give Constructive Criticism. Many times that criticism doesn't make the site designer happy at first, but later they thank me for pointing out issues that need attention.
I'm not writing this response to tell people how great I am. What I am hope is that others will use my comments as a guideline for critiquing websites. I really feel the Feedback Site is a great feature of WA and should be used more often.
I feel bad for you because you had such a negative experience with the Feedback Site. I hope you and others continue to use the site as it provides a great mechanism for critiquing websites and is also a fantastic learning tool for rookies like me.
Larry, please don't feel bad for me I can take it. With this blog post I just wanted to raise the awareness that we need to focus on the task a bit more seriously when leaving a feedback on someone's site.
I have got lots of constructive critics in the past and as you have outlined in your comment, this is also a bit of my way too to leave a feedback.
It certainly sometimes does takes me up to 15 minutes to be on a site, I am not sure if others will take the same amount of time, but than again it isn't up to me to judge.
I guess leaving a feedback isn't still not seen as important as it should be. I might be wrong but I do feel there should be a special training for that. I honestly believe that some people are overwhelmed or just plain scared to leave a feedback, because they really don't know what to do.
Sylvia
I agree Sylvia, there should be some training on using the Feedback Site. I have really gotten a lot of great ideas from checking out sites built by other WA folks. I don't think the average member realizes how much you can learn by reviewing websites. Also, I think most people don't feel qualified to critique someone else's site. What they don't realize is that we are all experts at being a potential customer. We have been buying things since we were kids.
Good luck Sylvia
Amanda, that's why you take one of the courses offered here at WA this is where you will learn what to look out for.
When I started here I had no clue about anything but it sure got much better ever since. :)
I hear ya....sometimes the comments can do more harm than good. Especially when they are sloppily written and don't encourage other visitors! :)
Couldn't agree more. Publishing some perfunctory comment with no substance to it is just lazy, and, as my Mom used to say, "If you don't have anything good or constructive to say, keep your mouth shut," lol.
I think that we need here real critics and private messaging works well. To leave on website bad review does not help the author. Just something polite can work nicely. We are here to aquire knowledge and help each other, not to show whole world that we are in stage of learning.
Hi Nemira
As long as its the truth and not just saying something to be 'Nice'. Nice doesn't cut it in Internet marketing but I do see your point in leaving a nice comment if you don't want to offend.
have agreat day/evening.
Robert
Hi Sylvia. I better not view your site then. I can be very critical and I've found WA members don't want that. They want you to say things like - your rock, great site, fantastic content, way to go blah blah and more blah. Needless to say its very rare for me to be asked again lol
I view a site with a proof readers eye Sylvia and pick out all the little mistakes rather than give my view on the content because as you say yourself the person viewing the site could have next to no knowledge of the subject. This being said I will freely admit to this and just give my opinion on the 'Site' rather than the content.
I usually send them a PM and then go back and leave a comment, usually short and sweet but not critical because I've already done that in the PM but, I hope constructively.
You have a nice day.
Robert
Robert, that's what I do too. I do point out what can be improved or done better in my opinion, but than again, I am not the one who has chosen the niche and being to critical of something I am not familiar with isn't advisable in my opinion.
Leaving constructive criticism is always better than just criticizing because someone loves doing it.
Criticizing a content is difficult if you have no knowledge at all to do so.
Layout of a site, how does it appeal to me as the visitor, use of media etc. is more of a neutral way to everyone to leave a feedback.
And it also doesn't hurt to leave one or two sentences of a more uplifting comment, no one as far I have seen was that bad with its website.
The question though still stands, how can we criticize something we don't know nothing about?
To do so we need to have an equal partner who as the same niche or at least a similar one. who understands the content.
I am certainly not looking for sugar coding feedbacks and I do realize it right away when someone didn't take its time to give me a real feedback.
My reply usually is something like Thanks for your time etc.
Sylvia
Sylvia I said I criticise the 'Site' not the content. This means the way the site is set out or the spelling and grammer mistakes I see. One of my previous jobs was as a proof reader and its just a habit I have never lost. I also don't like to see bad composition.
No need to thank me. You asked and for a comment on your Blog and I did my best to reply.
You have an excellent day.
Robert
Robert, my response to your first comment was a general one. I got carried away. I know what you were saying and the "Thank you for your time" was not for you, although I am really thankful for everyone's comment, but rather how I will reply to shallow goody two shoes feedback which no real content.
I always appreciate when I get a feedback on grammar and other errors, or being pointed into a direction I might have overlooked.
Besides. the person in question has responded to my reply and apologized and even left a couple pointers after taking another look at my site I haven't seen before.
So, everything is fine
All the best to you
Sylvia
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I agree about using the private message service. I also do feedback on posts too but only per the actual post. Fortunately I am smart enough to review someone's website and see what is there before doing this. It avoids the foolishness you have posted about.