Most newbies and even those with experience sometimes make mistakes when commenting on blog posts. I know I have. It’s probably because there are so many unwritten rules associated with blog comment etiquette. Here are seven:
1. Don’t blatantly promote your own blog or website
When you comment, the relevant fields will usually provide an opportunity for you to promote your blog or website, so you don’t need to repeat your details in the main body of the comment. Doing so can make you look ignorant or even greedy. Your comment may also end up in trash or worse—spam.
2. Provide an individual name
Leave your name, even if it’s only your first name, username or blogger name e.g., bluesuedeshoes. Don’t leave your organisation’s name instead of your own. If you don’t have an online presence, you can make one at Gravatar and find a suitable avatar to accompany it at free-avatars.com.
3. Leave true and relevant feelings
Bloggers are looking to make a connection with readers and view comments as an elaboration of their posts, a sharing of experiences for all to benefit. Try to ensure your comments relate to posts and don’t wander off-topic. Your comment should be brief, not like a mini blog post of your own. Unfortunately (and stupidly), an editing function isn’t available for comments, even if you make this mistake through overzealousness, which I have done. Aim to write only as much as others do.
If you don’t agree with a blog post, express your thoughts in a diplomatic way without hurting the blogger’s feelings. At times, it’s best to follow the maxim if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.
Read comments from other people as well as your own. Gradually, you will learn to enrich your words with honesty, warmth and personality.
4. Avoid link bombing
This reminds me of warships dropping depth charges (explosives) to cripple or destroy submarines. Every time you include a link with your comments, it shakes the blog post and disrupts the thread. It can also send your comment to trash or spam. A better way to do it, I now find, is to refer to something without providing a link e.g., I read something similar at Writer’s Digest.
5. Like, but also comment sometimes
If you like a blog post, but can’t think of anything to say, use the *Like feature if one is available. Be aware, however, the more you *Like without providing comments, the more you risk marking yourself as a serial blog crasher—like a wedding crasher, only virtual.
‘If you want readers to
return, engage with them.’
6. Reply to readers
This one is for bloggers. Reply to comments to form a two-way communication channel and show your visitors you appreciate them. Replying also creates an opportunity to build working relationships with like-minded people. Two bloggers who do this with panache are Dianne Gray and Charissa Stastny. They usually always reply promptly and keep topics alive. They are in many ways my role models when it comes to responding to comments.
Some bloggers don’t reply at all or only reply to some (which can appear discriminatory). If you want readers to return, engage with them. Every comment deserves a ‘timely’ response to maintain topic momentum.
7. Delete inappropriate comments and spam
If you have a blog, delete inappropriate comments such as those with no relevance to your posts. Also, use a service like Akismet to deal with spam. This will keep your comment area tidy and ensure your readers only see considered comments.
Justin O’Leary
Related (and loosely related) resources
- What is Gravatar and Why You Should Start Using it Right Away by Editorial Staff at WPBeginner
- The 11 Do’s and Don’ts for Writing and Managing Blog Comments by Ginny Soskey
- Creating a Blog Comment Policy that Works by John Saddington
- A Guide to Australian Etiquette by Ita Buttrose
- June Dally-Watkins Education and Training
What’s the worst boo-boo you’ve made or seen with comments?
Now I’m afraid to comment!
I find that one way to minimise problems is to be selective about which blogs to follow. Obviously I make an exception for this one.
Now see, you always have warmth and personality, Peter, and know exactly how to lighten the mood.
I agree about being selective, I sometimes follow blogs too soon and then regret it … I’m not selective enough.
thanks for the link love!
No worries, John.
I always like to point readers to worthy further reading if possible.
This is great, Justin! I was going to blatantly promote my own blog and add a few links for a joke, but thought better of it
I love all these tios and have a few comments. I like to know people’s names and if they don’t provide a name I usually go to their blog and search for it so I can make my response to their comment more personal. In relation to #6 – I have been in a situation where I have commented on a bloggers post (for several weeks) and noticed the blogger has responded to everyone else other than me. If this happens once, I don’t mind, but when it happened to me several times in a row with a particular blogger I didn’t go back to that blog. It may not have been anything ‘sinister’, but it made me feel left out of the conversation. Another thing (relating back to names) is to make sure you get the bloggers name right. Don’t call “Justin” “Jason” and don’t call “Dianne” “Diane” or “Anne”
Thank you so much for the pingback! 
On a side note – my stats have been telling me I’m getting a lot of traffic from Wiki – “how to write a blog that is funny and entertaining”. I don’t know who added me to that, but I’d really like to thank them for it.
I know exactly what you mean about bloggers who don’t respond. It does make you wonder what you could have said wrong, but at the same time you realise it’s not you, it’s the blogger with the problem. Some would think it rudeness, but perhaps it’s social anxiety disorder or self-sabotage or simply ignorance.
I hope I got your name right (I try so hard). I sometimes think your name sounds like Dorian Gray. Maybe I read you like Oscar Wilde somewhere.
I’d love to be mentioned on wiki! As long as it was positive, of course.
Great tips, Jason (ha ha! Just kidding, Joseph). I agree with Dianne that you don’t want to be discriminatory. I’ve had the same thing happen that she had and after a while, you just stop visiting the blogs that never respond to you. But what about when you go to certain blogs and try to comment and it is so secure that you can’t get it to accept your gravatar or even your website name? If they make it hard to comment, I don’t have time for them. It is annoying to spend 5 minutes trying to comment, but have everything rejected. (I find tons of blogs like that outside of WordPress. Am I doing something wrong that this happens to me so much?) Let me know Justin Joseph Jason Jingelheimer Smith.
Thanks, ChEr.
I know how to play that game. 
I try to remember your last name like this Stas-T-NY. Not stats as in statistics and the NY is for New York to help me remember. Yeah, bloggers who don’t respond make me feel as though they have a clique and I don’t belong.
Ah, yes, the Fort Knox security syndrome, I should have included that rule! I can explain part of it, I think. It’s because some people don’t understand all the techno jumbo of the blogging system they’re using. I had that problem early on. I hope it’s now fixed. Also, I think some people may have had problems with trolls and stalkers, so they put in extra security to ensure they know who is actually commenting. It doesn’t help readers though. If other people are getting through, just send them a message asking for their assistance perhaps. They might not even be aware of it.
Thanks for the ideas. I want to figure it out, because some of those Fort Knox blogs are ones I’d actually enjoy commenting on; I just get sick of wasting time and ending up not leaving a comment because there aren’t enough options to use.
A few more things to try: a different browser, clear all cookies (not the edible ones, unless you’ve got the munchies of course), make sure cookies are enabled, contact the support people of the blogging network thingy, e.g., wordpress, blogger etc. It seems you’re not alone either, if you search on Google, there are other people unable to comment on certain blogs.
Thanks. It’s mainly Blogger, so maybe I’ll research a little to see what’s up with that. And now I’m craving chocolate chip cookies.
Great tips, Justin. I really enjoy blogging the most out of all the social media networks, because it does allow for that interaction you talk about. I don’t feel the same love for Twitter or FB because I find those venues to be abused by self-promoting authors (again, like you talk about).
Replying to comments is hugely important. It can be hard to get to comments quickly (especially if we’re full-time working people with children), but as long as bloggers respond, and respond with feeling, then some conversations can last for days!
I will admit that there were a few blogs that I stopped visiting and commenting on because the blogger would never reply to my comment. I couldn’t understand it. Why on earth make a blog public if you don’t want to welcome visitors?
Anyway, love this post and it’s nice to see that I follow etiquette!
Thanks for your comments.
FB and Twitter remind me of the old style graffiti walls where people would make political or humorous statements. They don’t seem very productive and tend to attract people with low attention spans, but I’m sure some people use social media properly and find it useful.
Time zones around the world also make it difficult to respond quickly, because bloggers can be asleep here in Australia while the rest of world is commenting and vice versa.
Perhaps some bloggers take the word ‘blog’ too literally and are basically opening their personal journals to the masses with no intention of responding to comments. Guess we’ll never know.
Good tips, Justin. Thanks! I’m new to your blog, but as I peruse, I find that you have extremely useful information.
Thank you, Taylor, for your kind words.
It’s an eclectic collection, a bit like a chocolate wheel at a fete.