Commenting? You Can Do Better Than That!
Right now, I manage six blogs all of which are updated at least once weekly. Two represent paid blogging opportunities while the other four are owned by me and are updated as I please.
Growing Traffic, Great Links!
The traffic numbers across my small, but tight blog network has been growing steadily as I incorporate the very best optimization tactics and seed each blog with helpful and relevant articles. Recently, I discovered that one of my articles not only went viral, but appears to have become the de facto reference for that particular topic (top SERPs for several keywords and phrases). Another article on that same blog regularly brings in 200+ unique visitors per day as it was linked to by a major corporation.
All that traffic means one thing: spammers love my blogs!
But, that means that I use Akismet and other tools to block unrelated and spammy comments, which also means that my spam folders fill up pretty quickly on a weekly basis.
Spammers I can handle as their comments never see the light of day. But other commenters can be annoying especially if they post unrelated or silly responses. Yes, all six blogs are “do follow” which means they are a magnet for lazy comment people, those type of bloggers who want the juicy backlink but aren’t willing to work for it.
Making The Best Use Of Commenting
I actually believe that some commenters really want to leave a decent response but they don’t necessarily know how. Believe me, I understand the importance of backlinks and trackbacks, but I also know that I will never let my blog network disintegrate thanks to an onslaught of Xanax, viagra and porn tags.
If you really want to benefit from leaving comments, then I suggest you employ the following tactics wherever you leave comments:
Stay On Message — The first thing I notice are those comments totally unrelated to the article. Off topic comments are immediately deleted. But, I’ll also delete comments that repeat, often verbatim, something I said in my article. Golly, if you can’t come up with something original to say then why should I show you the linky love? Bye!
Use A Real Name — In the “name” area of the comment section, I don’t want to see your business name, a sexually suggestive name or anything other than your real name. Please don’t tell me that your name is Payday Loans even if your comment is a really good one. Recently, I had someone leave a very good comment with that silly name, but instead of deleting it I edited their comment and changed their name to Bill. Get it? Bill?
URL — Please don’t leave a URL within the body of your comment unless it is directly related to the topic at hand. Instead, for whatever URL you want to feature put that link on the designated line to receive link juice. As long as it doesn’t link to a porn, hate or some goofball site it will get approved (yes, I often return the favor by visiting your site).
Do The Math — On one blog I’ve gotten so many spammy comments, that I decided to add the “Do the Math” plugin to try to gauge who is spamming that site. Guess what — if you get the answer wrong, your comment vanishes. So do the math correctly before leaving your helpful, relevant and erudite comment.
My Two Favorite Social Media Sites
Just to let you know I do appreciate most of the people I come across online. That is why I’m active on StumbleUpon and Twitter, sites where I’ll frequently leave a comment, a tweet or pass along helpful information to others.
Related Reading — StumbleUpon: A Whole Lot Of Fun!
Tags: Blogger, blogging, comment, commenting, comments, StumbleUpon, Twitter, URL, Writing
General | Matthew C. Keegan, 2 Apr 09
By Mikey Bee, April 2, 2009 @ 7:09 am
I was going to say “Nice blog, Admin” but decided against it..
What you’ve recounted is exactly what I’m going through on Twenty Steps. I’ve also noticed an increase in manual spam from the same IP address but using different user name/URL/email combos.
With the first lot I either delete the comment, change the user name (as per Bill) or delete the URL. If the comment seems remotely on topic they can have the URL or they can have the anchor text. Not both.
With the new wave – the same IP address – I’ve now taken to blocking them via my .htaccess file. Simple and effective.
I’ve added a “Please use your real name” section to the comments box and a link to the comment policy which might dissuade the drive by spammers but for the hardcore a blanket ban from the site does the job
By Matthew C. Keegan, April 2, 2009 @ 7:12 am
Mikey Bee — love the new name, there must be a story with that — I like the steps that you have taken, especially from the .htaccess file. Looks like I’ll have to employ some additional means because one particular blog is getting sixty plus spam comments each day.
I’m not going to spend too much time fixing people’s comments though. There isn’t enough time in the day for that. I like the “please use your real name” request as that should help people to realize what you’re looking for.
There almost always seems to be one or two people from the same I.P. address too. Through WordPress, I can make sure that this account is banned, but I know the professional spammers (is that a career choice?) will often mix them up too.
By Mihaela Lica, April 2, 2009 @ 7:14 am
ha ha! I go trhough the same nightmare with eWritings, Matt. I delete and delete. Did you every see the message I have in the comments box? Well, many choose to ignore it. Some leave very nice comments, but they sign “travel blog” instead of using a real name. No mercy! Not anymore. Delete.
By Matthew C. Keegan, April 2, 2009 @ 7:18 am
Mihaela — I knew that I saw such a note somewhere…that was you! Yes, I’m not going to show a whole lot of mercy to people who just won’t take the time to leave a relevant comment. I’ll share the linky love but not on my terms, not there terms.
By Jack, April 2, 2009 @ 7:20 am
This is quite topical for me. I’m getting hundreds of manual spam comments in a month (and all those horrible robot ones too) that are very low value. Means I’ve had to gear up my blacklisting and spam filtering quite a bit.
And yes, I also get others who comment with “cheap flights” as their name. I’d prefer if people use the same name they’d use with their friends… Like you, I go in and edit when people do that.
By Matthew C. Keegan, April 2, 2009 @ 8:26 am
Jack, I’d like to meet this Cheap Flights person and give him a piece of my mind! I think he must be related to Home Foreclosures, Free Viagra and a host of other spam meisters.
I’ve tried to blacklist some of the I.P. addresses and select words, but that only works for awhile. Spammers must be doing this full time, because I’m soon confronting more garbage than I care to deal with. Pretty tiresome, but it has to be done!
By Jack, April 2, 2009 @ 9:35 am
My blacklist is of words and domains, plus anything that has 3 or more URLs get flagged.
Anything with a BB code gets flagged too.
Anything with .cn .ru also get flagged. I’ve never had a genuine comment from those TLDs. Could probably get more aggressive, but not needed to yet.
Jacks last blog post..The PERFECT travel accessory
By Matthew C. Keegan, April 2, 2009 @ 10:03 am
I need to update my country codes too. I doubt that I ever get anything of value from Russia which is a shame. But, if your country has a reputation for spamming the internet, then you’ll suffer the consequences.
By LarryJackson, April 2, 2009 @ 7:10 pm
Well, in one way it’s comforting to know I am not the only one who suffers from the spam comments from etc, etc, etc.
I think you are dead on when you say comments need to be relevant. When I do leave comments, I do my best to say something other than “great article”. Those two words do not foster much of a discussion at all and when someone visits my blog and leaves such a comment, it doesn’t move me to visit their own blog in return.
By the way, Matt, this really is a great article, no pun intended.
LarryJacksons last blog post..Barack Obama–Cheerleader-in-chief
By Matthew C. Keegan, April 3, 2009 @ 4:48 am
Thank you, Larry. Yes, the “great article” comment is supposed to flatter the blogger into hitting the approval button. That doesn’t work!
I just had a comment from someone overseas who I thought was trying to be helpful, but all they were doing was apologizing. Gee, that was nice but they still went way off message.
By Shelly, April 3, 2009 @ 2:00 pm
I’m a little intimidated now…What the heck, I’m jumping in.
Great tips on commenting. I hope a LOT of people read it!
The comments that bug me the most are the ones where they read part of the post and then decide to comment. I had done a post about my child’s great behavior at school (vs his not-so-stellar behavior at home) and a guy actually said “you should leave him there, he’s obviously happier.” He’s 5, moron.
Or what about the “love your blog, come visit mine.” That’s a favorite too.
By Matthew C. Keegan, April 3, 2009 @ 4:50 pm
Relax, Shelly…your comment is right on target!
I understand how it goes — you work hard on a great article and someone comes along, leaves a thoughtless comment (or not well thought out) and moves on. Then again, maybe that witless guy actually believes that it is okay to leave a five year old by himself!
One of the commenters to this very same article seemed to be making an effort to leave something related to what I wrote, but kept apologizing without making a point. I had to delete that comment too.
Yes, those ‘blog baiters’ are a hoot too. Oh, sure, I’ll come by and spam up your blog just as you have done with mine. No, thanks!
By GregR, April 3, 2009 @ 9:30 pm
I agree whole heartedly. I have a lot of drive by commenters and spammers on my blogs. Some people are so obvious I take pleasure in removing them, some are just a pain.
I also use WP Spam free plugin.
Cheers
By Matthew C. Keegan, April 4, 2009 @ 4:52 am
Greg, I will try that spam free plugin. I have Akismet and one other plugin that’ll toss everything into my spam folder, but it would be great to have these types of comments never see the light of day.
Some people never learn — percocet may be a fine drug, I don’t know that for sure, but it doesn’t need to be advertised on my blogs!
By Amey, April 5, 2009 @ 9:23 am
Hi, Great blog. Will definitely comeback for more. Spam is bothering me too. I already have askimet but even though it reduces the amount of spam it can never eliminate it totally!
Ameys last blog post..How can we help reduce global warming?
By Matthew C. Keegan, April 5, 2009 @ 12:00 pm
Amey, thank you for your comment. Akismet does well in stopping spam, but then the spam filter fills up pretty quickly. I find myself emptying it out daily, sometimes tossing 50-60 comments at a time. Even your comment ended up as spam, but I managed to rescue it before it was too late!
By Jimmy, April 5, 2009 @ 1:07 pm
I agree with all those tips you posted there especially with using your real name or a real name when posting a comment, I really hate comments using a keyword, and also I dislike posts with one or two words like: “Thanks” or “great”
By Matthew C. Keegan, April 5, 2009 @ 2:37 pm
Jimmy, using a key word as a name is ridiculous. I see this a lot, which amazes me as it is a clear indication that the person wants to have their comment deleted. By using their right name and the URL of their choice, they’ll get their comment approved as long as it pertains to the subject at hand.