Are your Site Comments getting disapproved? How to fix it.

byVitaliyG

55.7K followers

Updated 2 years ago

I've made several posts over the past few years regarding Site Comments and how often I personally disapprove MOST of the ones I get for my sites because they simply do not meet the standards I have (and I consider myself pretty flexible all things considered).

The whole point of THIS post is to help you understand how to write QUALITY comments and RAISE your approval rates. I want to have a point where I approve 90% of the comments (if not more) I get, and this is meant to give out some tough love. So let's start with this:

Usually the comments I disapprove fall into these categories:

1) The person commenting has bad grammar and/or there's no contextual sense being made.

I get there's language barriers for some members and sometimes I'll try to correct as much as I can to make things work if I see the person is making an effort, but what actually gets me is people who clearly speak english who lack elementary writing skills and write as though they are texting me (i's, lols, and remedial level spelling that just tells me they aren't serious). Their comments are riddled with spelling errors, lazy writing and content that is just so low quality that I can't even fix it to make it work.

I'm no English professor, and I'm sure I've made several errors in this post, but basic spelling and grammar skills count for a lot these days, especially if you intend to write good content on your own site to make it rank better (and you need to know how to do this).

2) The comment is extremely broad, has low value and seems like they are just trying to get easy credits.

Example: Wow what a nice article. I love how well you described said subject and I really love what you did with the site! It's really given me a lot to think about.

This is so broad that you can basically apply it to any niche topic out there and if this is what you're writing, be more specific, FAR MORE specific.

These types of comments are lazy and in my opinion written by people who are just trying to get the credits. Don't be that type of person and put some thought into your comments!

3) The comment shows the person has no clue about the topic I am writing about and I may as well replace it with the sound of clown noises.

Example: Nice article. I honestly have no clue about so and so topic nor have I ever tried it, but I love how you described everything here so well and wish you the best!

There's ways to write quality comments on topics and products you don't know about folks, but this isn't one of those ways.

4) My all time favorite (sarcasm): The ones where people mistake site comments for site feedback and give me a bullet point list of mistakes I made and how I need to fix my site according to their view of it.

These vary based on individuals but I've gotten some really nasty comments from people who in my opinion just like to project negativity and/or think they know more about this than is actually real (be careful with these types of comments and ask for second opinions in WA if you're skeptical). They're rare but any site feedback comments I get which are like this, I facepalm because I have to automatically disapprove it.

5) The ones where people comment multiple times and say the same thing:

There's nothing wrong with commenting multiple times on someone's site, especially if your comments are gold, but for the love of everything that is good, be a bit original with each comment. I have had to erase certain sections of comments because they were just clear repeats of the previous one/s I had gotten.

Please don't try to game the system folks!

6) There's other examples, but feel free to leave them below...

Ok, negative examples are out of the way! Time to focus on the positive...

What I want to do is give you my approach to giving out comments in a way that brings out value, thought process and has the person on the other end LOVING every word you write so you develop a good reputation!

For anyone wondering, I have a 100% approval rate and understand the many forms of high quality content that exist out there so this is a reflection of that. And just as well, I won't take it personally if in the future I have a comment of mine disapproved (neither should you, just move onto the next one and don't get caught up with that perfection trap).

Furthemore I want to say that what I'm sharing here is NOT A RULE, but a basic guideline to follow. You should take the examples I'm giving you here and make your own interpretations of them that reflect how you feel and write. That's the ultimate goal.

So let's start with this:

First: Whenever I look for sites to comment on, I will try to find one where I actually know SOMETHING about the topic. I will NOT comment on sites where the topic is as close to me as Pluto as I honestly can't think of anything that's worth it to the site owner.

Second: Once I do find a site where the topic is something I can comment on/relate to, I'll scan the page, see the most important points and offer up a comment in a few sentences to share what I think.

The comment I'll write will usually be one of the following things:

Relational comments: Comments where I can share a similar experience.

Agreeable comments: I agree with the topic and back up the content with similar experiences.

Disagreeable (but respectful) comments: I'll disagree but explain why (debate and controversy is good content).

Directly related comments: I know exactly what the person is talking about and comment on my experiences (similar to agreeable and relational comments).

Indirectly related comments: Usually comments where I don't know about the specific topic/product BUT I can relate to it because I've had experiences with a similar product/topic in the past (this makes the comment RELEVANT).

Story related comments: You share a story that is relevant to the topic of the article you're commenting on.

Question comments: These are comments where something is missing in the article and you ask a followup question to it (this keeps interest and relevancy going).

Example: Someone requests a comment for a hiking shoe they wrote a review on.

Context: I've never tried this specific shoe, but I have tried others like it.

Relational comment example:

"Nice review dude! I've heard of this particular hiking shoe before but I never knew that it had so and so in it. The ones I've tried have never had that feature so I'm seriously considering buying this now. Would you recommend this over other hiking shoes out there?"

Agreeable comment example:

"I agree with you that this type of hiking shoe would do well on the trails. I've had similar experiences with other shoes from the same brand and I've always been happy with the quality they offer. I've used at least one pair on 100's of miles so far and I'm still loving it!"

Disagreeable (but respectful) comment example:

"I've gotta be honest, I love what you wrote here but I don't agree with your recommendation. The reason why is because I've tried a similar brand with the same specs and in that case, I was very disappointed because the laces kept getting untied. Have they fixed it in this one?"

Directly related comment (if I actually tried this shoe):

"I am so glad you covered this hiking shoe. I bought the same brand a few months ago and I honestly thought I was the only person who loved going on the trails with them. Now at least I can better describe why I love them so much, thanks for this!"

Indirectly related comments:

"I had no idea this hiking shoe existed. I own a pair from the same brand and I honestly love them. Given what you wrote here, it seems like it would be an upgrade from my existing pair. What do you think about the so and so model (the one I currently have) in comparison to this one?"

Story related comments:

"I do a lot of hiking and I know someone who also hikes in these exact same shoes. I remember this person and I were hiking awhile back and the shoes I used weren't as good as the ones my hiking buddy took. As the trail wore on, it began raining and that didn't improve the situation for me as I started slipping a lot more. Yet my buddy was still walking as though the trail was was still dry without slipping once, and never even tired of it. I now realize I probably need to get a pair of these".

Question comments:

"Nice review but I'd love to know two things:

1) How well would these shoes perform if I wanted to trail run in them? Or are they not suited for that?

2) How many miles do these hiking shoes last on average? I typically hike on semi difficult trails that involve scrambling and strenuous hiking (100 miles a month). Would these hiking shoes suffice for that?

Thanks!"

There you go, clear cut examples of what decent comments CAN look like:

Again, this is not a rule, but a suggestion and guideline, especially if you are someone who has had multiple comments of theirs disapproved before and want to know how to fix it.

And now with that said, I'm off to disapprove more comments (which will hopefully die down after this post!).

Cheers,

Disgruntled Vitaliy :)