Increase Sales Through Your Website Comments!

bywendyjane

13.6K followers

9 years ago

Website comments... the importance of these can't be stressed enough. WA even developed the website comments platform to help people get more engagement on their sites (and it's totally awesome, by the way!)

But what makes comments so valuable? They may lead to more content and better rankings, but did you know the benefits extend far beyond that?

Website comments can increase sales!

It’s true! Obviously you can take advantage and use your replies to nudge traffic to your sales funnel, but there is something that goes even beyond that and I believe to be even more powerful...

I’m talking about creating TRUST between you and your audience.

That is extremely important! Affiliate marketing is dirty business, full of people promoting bad products just trying to make a quick buck. This is really true no matter what niche you go into, but probably a bit more so for niches relating to weight loss and make money online.

In any case, people aren’t used to website owners taking the time out of their day to actually respond to comments they receive, let alone being a person with genuine empathy for their audience.

I have gotten many emails from people who found my bootcamp website telling me the reason they wanted to join from me is because the way I responded to comments within my review. People are seriously impressed with the way I handle my comments section, how honest and open I am with everyone, and especially how I handle negativity.

Here are a few snippits from emails I've recieved, but I get messages like this on a regular basis!

"I must admit, Wendy, it was not your review that convinced me to sign up for Wealthy Affiliate, but rather the extensive replies you left each and every person within the comments section, as well as your extremely professional manner in which you handled negativity. I'm very impressed."

"Hi, I have been reading and researching about WA in the past three or so months and and after reading some of your replies to comments on your site, I feel you are more legitimate than other online marketers out there"

"Hi Wendy! I just read through a significant number of your replies on your website. It's great that you are so open and honest about it all!"

"Your review is really comprehensive and seems pretty honest and informative. You appear like a nice, straightforward and to the point person with a good portion of empathy. Those are highly appreciated qualities in an "online world" full of unethical entrepreneurs."

"Hi Wendy! I must say you have a brilliant blog and I appreciate your honesty and integrity in dealing with questions associated with your promotion of WA."

It's extremely powerful what engaging with your audience can do!

My strategy for handling website comments - 4 tips!

• If someone has constructive criticism, or genuinely disagrees with you, feel free to debate them. Just make sure you do this in a respectful way. Remember you are typing so you can always hit the delete button if you take your response too far. (Don’t feel the need to insult, call them names or shout profanities).

• Don’t feel the need to approve a comment just because someone left it. I think this is a huge question people often have once they start getting real organic comments. You’re going to get all sorts of hurtful and negative comments, and if it doesn’t add value, don’t approve it. (I’m not saying not to approve any negative comment, just the ones that are obviously meant to cause drama and nothing else - you don’t want to start a nasty comment war. It is very unappealing to your visitors and will detract from the value of your post).

• Take the time to reply to each and every person who has left a serious comment, thoroughly answer all their questions and offer to help in any way possible. Even drop your email address within your reply so they feel they can always contact you on a more personal level. If they continue to reply to you within the comments, make sure you don’t ignore them!

• Lastly, don’t set your comments to auto approve themselves. I know it seems much easier this way, but directly monitoring your comments will help keep out the spam that slips through your spam detector as well as nasty trolls. Have you ever been browsing the internet and found a website that had unmonitored spam and gross comments? It is extremely unprofessional and you don’t want that on your site!

It can take time to accumulate a lot of comments, but if you consistently do this, your audience will notice. They will feel way more comfortable contacting you and in turn, they will trust you. They want to know you’re a real person who cares and not just someone creating a page to earn some money. There are thousands of unmonitored and unmaintained blogs out, so be active, attentive and caring and you will put yourself a step above 90% of the competition.

At the end of the day, engagement leads to trust, and trust leads to higher conversions. Not because you “tricked” them in some way, but because they appreciate what you have done for them and want to help you as well!