Every blogger loves comments on his/her posts. And there must have been times, when you are faced with having to decide which comments to keep and which to delete.
Blog Comments: What to Keep, What to Delete
There are some comments which add value to the whole discussion and raise the quality of your blog post. Many others are spam, which go straight to trash.
In between these two, there are some comments which make it tough for bloggers to decide whether to retain or remove them. To make it easier, let’s first categorize comments:
Trash the Spam — If a commenter posts a message on your post with links that are not related to your blog post or your website in general, simply press control + alt + shift. Best is to use an anti-spam software and forget about them. If you have a blog on WordPress, install an effective anti-spam tools such as Aksimet, growmap anti-spambot plugin. Then there are some absurd comments that don’t make any sense at all. What the commenter wants to convey is not clear. Words are strung together to form sentences but they don’t make any sense. Best is to delete them.
Short reply for long comments — Occasionally you receive really long comments stretching up to 300 words or more. More often than not, these comments come from readers who get so emotional reading your post that they present an essay or a thesis of their own on the topic discussed. Or such comments come from new bloggers who have no idea that comments have to be kept short. However long comments don’t mean that they are not valuable. You can suggest them to post their comment as a response blog on their blog site. This would help you too to get an inbound link. And don’t forget to thank them for taking out time write a detailed response to you.
How to deal with self promoters — Many people post a comment just to promote their own blog. Generally they post a back link in their name or a link to their website. You need to figure out if the comment adds value in any way and whether the link doesn’t direct to an unwanted website. If the comment and back link is of any value, you can give a general response such as, “Thank you for dropping by, I will surely check out your blog.” You can also leave a comment on their blog with a link to your site. It is great for your web marketing and search engine ranking. After all, Google and other search engines like good inbound links coming from reliable websites. — A little controversy is good — You may feel tempted to delete comments that disagree with you. But remember a little disagreements and controversy can work wonders for your blog. You just need to be tactful while giving reply. There is no point in fighting or indulging in arguments rather have a healthy discussion. But delete any comments that personally attack you. In the end, it is entirely up to you to decide what comments to approve and what not. The bottom-line is that the comments should add value to the blog.
