September 5th, 2008
An EXCELLENT Comment is Worth MORE Than a Post
An integral part of the blogosphere is the comments. I honestly cannot imagine a blog without comments. It is what develops the original article, publicizes the commentators to the blogosphere, and bonds the bloggers even more. However, more recently, with so many contests related to comment making and so many plugins promoting commenting, I’ve noticed a drop in what I would consider quality comments.
As a still unknown blogger in the blogosphere, I have tried immensely to make thoughtful comments. Consequently, on a few occasions, I even got a personal email from the person running the blogger, thanking me for an excellent contribution. These are the moments when I really felt that my one comment was and always could be better than a post or a tutorial on my blogs.
So, how do you make quality comments that will dazzle the blogger and make other commentators look like they are spamming? 
Develop the Original Post
These days, I see a lot of “Thanks for the information!” and “Wow, a great post!” type of comments flying around. Those comments are warming and motivating for the blogger, but wouldn’t a blogger absolutely love it if one of the commentators stood up and wrote a lengthy comment further developing the original post? If it was me, first, I’d be amazed at the commentator’s knowledge, and second, wish that this commentator made more comments to my posts.
Most of the bloggers encourage comments by leaving their blog posts slightly open. I’ve personally posted about how these incomplete posts (of course, not to the point that you look like you don’t know what you’re talking about) stimulate the commentators from posting. Bloggers want and like commentators who thank them, but they also like those who develop their posts. It’s not at all an offense for pointing out and developing an incomplete corner of the post. Bloggers love it!
Follow-up Your Comments
While comments are awesome, it is important to follow-up on comments too. One of my pet peeves is those who vanish after they make a certain claim or say that they are going to do something. A follow-up to such actions are necessary. With commenting, it is similar. You want to follow-up on the comments that are posted on your blog AND the comments to your comments that you posted on another blog.
This shows that you are both dedicated and professional with what you are doing. Even if you don’t have anything much to say to follow-up, in such a situation, you don’t need a beautiful, dazzling comment. A simple “I see your point” or a “Thanks for your input” ensures that professionalism that you want to maintain in the blogosphere.
Sound Encouraging and Euphemize
I’ve seen a few hater comments flying around recently and in my opinion, they really don’t do much. If you don’t have anything nice or worth saying, why say it? You might ask, “But Static, what if it is really bad!”
Euphemism. Indirectly point out what is wrong, but say it in a more mild way or an encouraging way. If you have been blogging for a while, you probably know that most bloggers will accept constructive criticism. Blogging is all about saying your opinion, so a constructive criticism is always healthy. I personally love it when my readers point out a mistake I made or have a different opinion than me. It just makes me a little bit better. Make sure that your comments sound nice and even if its real meaning may not be all that good, say it in a way that would help the blogger.
Conclusion
There are just three tips that can really make your comments look and sound better. However, there are really more. For example, learning to put a certain emotion into your comments is another way of bettering the overall quality of your comments. My personal view is that you should treat comments as another branch of your blog. As a blogger, you want to sound smart and professional. You may look like that on your blog, but if you make really bad and spammy comments on others’ blogs, you may be hurting your blog.
Do you have any tips regarding making good comments? Did you learn a tip or two from this post? I’d really love to hear your feedback! Feel free to make a comment with your thought on this!
I have one tip to share with all commentators out there: Read the post before commenting!
I have come across a lot of comments already and to me, it seems like a couple of people just read the title and post a comment that’s related to the title. Actually, it would be obvious to the author if someone does that because there are times when the title isn’t too literal!
There’s my tip, I hope people would find it useful.
Great post Static, I’ve subscribed to your blog. BTW, your design rocks! I love the fonts and the design is just… stunning.
Lucass last blog post..Are Typo Domains Worth It?
@Lucas: Thanks for the comment buddy, and a great tip too! I’ve been a subscriber of your blog for quite a while now.
The design is in fact a free design. 
I’m in the market to buy a custom theme, so if you know any designers, I’d appreciate it if you could send me an email or something. Thanks!
impressive title man.. i agree with you… if you comment only for the sake of linkback then its better no to comment..because a stupid comment may worsen your image and none would be interested to visit your blog… but a genuine comment helps you to make friends, get traffic for your blog and insists the author to reply and visit your blog… always reply to the comments asap… and visit the commentators blog and comment there… it will help you to build network and a loyal reader also…
wolverines last blog post..Wolverine hacks will have a new look soon!!
Obviously, comments that are worth noting gives more exposure to you.. I mean comments represent you and your blog so if you’re up with something lame then maybe people can think your blog is lame too…
Melvins last blog post..Every Kid Who Has A Blog Is Busy Right Now!
@wolverine: Thanks for the comment buddy. Definitely a bad comment makes your blog look bad too. Chances are that if you comment is impressive, they’ll click on your name to check out your blog. That’s what I do atleast. Anyways, thanks for the comment at BloggersWalk. Please feel free to subscribe to the blog as I will be updating this blog more often. Thanks!
@Melvin: Exactly! I’ve noticed that when I write some relatively long comments, I have a few people clicking through to my site.
Thanks for commenting Melvin!
That was a really useful post. In fact I dugg it.
Your blog is bad news though - I’ve just spent over half an hour reading it and following links….
and I hardly ever do that!
BTW, you say in one of your posts (I think it’s this one - I’ve read so many I’ve got in a muddle) about coming back after leaving a comment, to follow up with replies but I can’t find the tickbox when I post a comment, of the wp plugin that lets us ’subscribe to comments’ - I’m pretty sure that is the name of the plugin.
Another BTW is: I have subscribed to your rss feed. When I opened it, it is showing all your post. I think that when it does this it stops people clicking through to your website to read the post, because they can read it all in the rss.
You can set it to just show the title and first few lines by going to either ‘reading’ or ‘writing’ - don’t remember which of the 2 it is - and there is a checkbox near the bottom of the page which refers to just showing a snippet.
Thanks for your blog - even though it is a time-killer. By your writing style I’m thinking that you might be a uk-er. Are you?
@miranda: Well, if you need any time to kill, you know where to come.
I’ve actually been looking for that comment subscribing plugin. I always use it when I visit other blogs, but I never got around to finding it. 
Actually I did now, thanks to your guidance, so tanks! I’m also thinking of installing the threaded comments plugin, but I heard WordPress 2.7 might be coming out with that, so I’m kind of waiting for that too to enhance the commenting experience here. 
Regarding the full RSS feed, I was pondering on whether to make it full or a summary. I decided to go with the full feed because although I do like visitors and my pretty stat bars rising every month, I don’t want my visitors to have to go through the hassle of clicking the feed, waiting for the page to load, and then getting the chance to read the rest of the post. I guess a little gratitude on my behalf for them subscribing.
By the way, I’m not a UK-er. In fact, I’m Korean.
Also, thanks for dropping by. I really appreciate your thoughtful comments!
Static, thanks for the valid points in your answer, gives me food for thought!
If you are Korean your english is amazing…
All the best to you!
I forgot something…
Thanks to you I went and found Comment Luv and installed it; but it is not working as I can see by my comments here. Any ideas why that might be?
(I hope it is ok to write these sort of comments, which are in fact like forum questions - please put me right if not)
Thanks for your compliments miranda. I’m sorry for not getting back to you earlier as it was a Thanksgiving in Korea the last three days.
Regarding your question about CommentLuv, I think it may be a problem with your blog’s address. It may be just me, but your site (http://www.theenginerevolution.com/hotpress/) does not load for me. Some of the proxies I used to check from proxy.org also fails. By the way, you don’t need to install CommentLuv for your RSS feed to be displayed over here in the comments section.
Are you using WordPress? Also, did your RSS feed (through CommentLuv) show up on other blogs that use the CommentLuv plugin?
Thanks for coming by again miranda.