Give and take comment thread
Recently I have been fairly active in this above platform, commenting on minimal three websites, then putting in my own url for feedback. My experience is that it works very well. However, I noticed one thing and that is that on very few occasions I receive a reply to questions asked. I comment on a website, ask a question, but hardly ever receive a reply. Or, I receive a comment and reply back, but also ask something and almost never receive a reply.
I have checked all my settings and am completely confident that I am able to receive all the triggers and miss nothing. My conclusion from the above is that people here take their task rather literally and do what is asked, give and take and that's it.
When I comment on a website I tend to visit one that highly interests me or teaches me something new, making it easier for a good comment or a provoking statement. Here is the thing: I take an interest, comment and might be a prospective customer! It does not matter if I am a fellow WA member.
WA has given us a set of wonderful tools for setting up an internet business. Why would we not use them to the full extent?
Here is the chance to practice your engagement with prospective customers, be it WA or from outside.
I see the comments under my posts as a welcome extension to my posts or even a modification to them. They might lead to adaptations in my article. A customer visiting might read your post and your comments, sees your engagement and gains confidence in your site. And we all know that Google appreciates engagement.
So, here is my recommendation: we add a third point to the existing steps.
1) Comment on at least three websites, then
2) Put in your url for comments
3) Treat every commenter as a prospective customer
I would welcome to hear from you, your thoughts and experiences.
Cheers, Jerry
Recent Comments
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I'm happy that I read your blog because I thought I was alone to think that the potential of comments is not well exploited.
I often ask questions on the comment I put on other peoples web site and never get any reply back... On the other hand, when I ask for a comment I don't get much to reply to: e.g. "great post!"... "keep up the good work"... which I think should be address on WA directly.
Thanks for sharing this Carolyn. I think that more and more people have become aware that comments need to be on the website contents. I am a little worried about getting triggered. Cheers, Jerry
I agree as well. Getting comments on a new site or post is a challenge, and failing to cultivate them to the extent you can is folly. Unfortunately, there are webmasters out there who ignore their customers - just the same as there are retailers who do so.
I think there's a corollary of Darwin's law that relegates those webmasters and retailers to mediocrity.
Having passed judgement, I'd best get back at it. I've yet to achieve mediocrity!
Me too gotta get to morning bed, been working all nite.
Thanks for chiming in.
Best wishes to ya,
~D
I definately agree and shadow your thoughts, WA is only the trial run, a training platform for the bigger platform you are seeking. You will lose customers if you don't fall in line and greet even the smallest of tasks as if they are your biggest customers
Well said. Likewise, see my rant: Feelin' a Little Frustrated ~D
Point three is a very smart idea that I will be implementing. You are right about further comments being a good source for more ways to engage. Thank you Jerry.
Great blog and I agree with you. I also have a question. When I make a comment on someone's site, I don't get a message to let me know that the site owner has replied. I always have to go back to the site to check. That is a pity because sometimes I leave a lot of comments and don't always remember all of them.
Is there a way for me to know when there is a reply?
Hi Emilie, This is exactly why I wrote this post. I was trying to find out if somebody did write a comment, but we don't get the trigger. Are you saying that somebody did answer, but you only found out by going back to your site? Cheers, Jerry
Actually no the other way around. I visited someone's site and left a comment but I didn't get a message to let me know if the admin of that site replied to my comment, so I had to go visit the site again and check
Every time I go back to the sites there is a repy to my comment. This happens in every site I visit and leave a comment. Is the same for everyone?
I think you need to check your settings on your dashboard. Also when you leave a comment, did you leave your e-mail?
You go to your dashboard>settings>discussion. You can see there what is highlighted and not.
Hi Emilie, that's exactly what happened to us as well. It would be good if an automatic message was received back when your message has been replied to.
when you post in the WA forum under the heading ie. "need comments" you will get notification at the top right of the WA page you are on. See the black and white globe? click on that and it will show you a list of threads you currently are a part of. When you click on any one of them you will be taken directly to that comment that was made. You might have to scroll up a bit to see what you are needing to see.
Hope that helped
Thanks Debra, I think I need to conclude that all warning triggers and settings are ok. It is just that people need to step up to the challenge a bit more. Cheers, Jerry
Actually I was talking about whenI leave a comment on other people 's websites. When they reply to my comment , I don't get an email from their website to let me know they have replied. I need to visit their website again to see the answer.
I do not understand why, as you have to leave your e-mail on that site. Are you sure you leave your e-mail there?
This is exactly what's irking me at the moment - it's not the WA alerts in the globe, it's leaving a comment on an actual website page or post and not being informed when they reply. (Yes, I fill in my email address.... )Then as you say having to go back into each individual site (also having to remember which page or post) to see if there has been a reply - many times there has been and they've maybe even asked a question back. Dear lord, I get an email if someone farts, so why can't I get a notification when someone makes a decision to interact with me....??? It's infuriating isn't it...?
Thanks for this reaction, I have just sent a PM to Kyle. I will come back to you as soon as I have a response. Cheers, Jerry
I did not reach Kyle yet, but here is what I think right now.
When each one of us gets a comment, there is a Wordpress trigger on our e-mail. When we respond to a comment, the WP trigger to recipient is not present.
I have sent a host support ticket for this issue to WA. I will keep you informed. Cheers, Jerry
We totally agree with you Jerry.
In addition, we've noticed that particularly with newbies, they don't "like" anything.
They don't realise that by pressing "like" they help other members as well as themselves with that simple gesture.
I'm not sure if there is one, but there should be a directive or recommendation (with an explanation) to newbies to "like" things more.
Geoff and I press "like", if we like something we've read, if we've received an answer from a member - to acknowledge that we've seen their answer, and also if we've read something we like on Any member's email that we come across when reading.
Hi Jerry, I agree with you totally as it's a great opportunity to interact with other members but also gain new followers and even new customers. We need, to treat our website as a business well because that's what it is right?
I try to respond to comments as soon as I know I have one though sometimes I don't see it for a day. But as soon as I see a comment I hit reply.
Yes, we are all on WA but we are all helping each other out in commenting on each others website, so when commenting treat it as if you are the customer shopping and try to ask questions that could benefit the owner of the site, so they can reply back with an answer to help out.
Nathaniell posted training on how to leave good comments How To Leave Good Comments I have noticed that when I leave my latest post URL and ask for comments I always say please make sure to leave your URL so I can easily find your latest post & return the favor.
Though a few too many time has come and past without any comments, unless I comment first. Which is totally fine by me...
I decided to start using more of a commenting buddy system, as we share comments and shares each time we post something new. I am always looking for more commenting buddies, if you are interested let me know. I still use and enjoy give n take, sometimes I guess it works better if you comment first to get the ball rolling. Idk I'm still figuring it all out.
Thanks Jennifer, I had red Nathaniel's guide and as usual it was very helpful. Yes, you are exactly right, we should treat our websites as a business. Thank you for your offer to join a commenting buddy system. As yourselves, I would still continue using the give and take comment thread, because I would like a variety of people to react. Cheers, Jerry
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I have just received advice from host support. They requested us to install another plugin: https://wordpress.org/plugins/comment-email-reply/. You can do this through your dashboard in add new plugins. I already did and will see how this works. I guess we will all have to install this one. Cheers, Jerry
Great, will try this too. I gather that even though people include their email address to comment, they wont necessarily get a notice about my reply on email. I noticed on other websites there are specific tick boxes whether you want to be notified of replies or not. Hope this is the plug in that does that :)
*Mandy
Thank you for leading on this. I'm following suit and will keep you posted.