When you’re writing blog posts, you obviously aren’t writing in search for negative comments. At least most people aren’t. But on occasion you will get them. The bigger you get, the more you’ll see. But negative comments don’t have to be negative.
Negative comments can actually be great for you blog.
Remember: You can’t please all of the people all the time.
Here’s how to handle all of those negative comments:
Negative Comments Encourage Discussion
How exciting would your comments be if all anyone ever said was, “Great post!” You’d get tired of reading them. Your readers wouldn’t ever read them, and it would be really hard to build your community were it not for negative comments.
For those of you who have ever gotten any negative comments, you’ll notice that many of your readers will get into fights with each other either defending you or defending the negative commentator. Then they’ll tell their friends about it on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook. And before you know it, you have hundreds of visitors coming to your blog just to read the war going on in the comments.
Remember: bad publicity is still publicity.
People Never Really Leave Your Blog
Many times a negative commentator will bash you and tell you he’s never coming back to your blog, only to show up the very next day to bash your next post. It’s actually very funny, but it also shows you how little you really need to worry about negative comments.
How To Handle A Negative Comment
Whenever you get a negative comment, don’t attack the person in return. Simply thank them for their comment and address it.
Some negative comments can be turned by simply addressing the commentators concern the best you can.
If you can’t fix a negative comment nicely, then let your readers handle it in other ways. Don’t ever participate in fights with negative commentators on your blog. It goes a long way to building creditability and respect when you treat others with respect whether they are negative or not.
The next time you read a negative comment on one of your blog posts, take it with a grain of salt and be happy that you’re getting them. It means you’re growing, and the more you grow the more successful you’ll become.
Have you every had negative comments on your blog? How did you handle them? Will you handle them differently after this article?
Past Articles in the “Building A More Successful Blog In 30 Days” series
- Set Goals To Build A Successful Blog
- The Anatomy Of An About Me Page
- Not All Goals Are Created Equal
- Guest Blogging Your Way To Success
- Participate In Forums For A More Successful Blog
- 7 Blogging Mistakes You Should Avoid
- Build Your Traffic By Commenting On Blogs
- How To Write Better Blog Posts
- The 5 Habits Of Highly Successful Bloggers
Get a Gravatar
Loading ...
My name is Steven Sanders and I'm a Professional Blogger, Izea Insider, Web Designer, Social Media Enthusiast, Dad, Husband, and Friend.
Negative comments, IMO, are absolutely great for any site!!!
I’ve had lots of fights on my site…particularly since I blog on issues that could be thorny and controversial – I mean, religious issues.
In fact, I love the fights.
Sometimes, I’ve publicized the fights on Twitter and SU just to get others involved. I believe that if you are an open minded person and you are willing to learn from others, negative and contradictory views should be treasured at your site.
To apply the things you recommend here – which BTW is the attitude of great bloggers – one must not be emotionally involved with one’s views.
An open mind is one of the greatest qualities any blogger can and should cultivate.
OK, I’ll plan to drop by here with some negative comments for you from time to time since I strongly believe the Yaro/Chow/Rowse/Shoemoney method of blogging is deeply flawed.
The way I handle negative comments kind of depends on the situation. In most cases, I’ll delete personal attack and name calling comments with no substance, either against me or another commentator. Occasionally, I’ll edit them for content if the argument is sound but the demeanor isn’t. I’ll also edit if the comment contains inappropriate keywords (think a popular medical product that begins with the letter ‘V’) or excessive cursing. If the disagreement is an honest one, I’ll leave it up.
Yes. Commenting on other blog is the best way to building backlinks and get traffic. I will try comment here!
Frank Carr has an awesome point – some negative comments really aren’t that great and DO need to be edited.
I’m obviously not very “big” yet because I don’t get a lot of negative feedback. Mostly it’s all pretty supportive.
Originally, Matt (Editor) and I agreed that any negative comment we received we would delete. At first, it sounded like the logical thing to do, but then I realized that I could drive so much more traffic to the site if I created a HATE MAIL page and post what people send us in private and respond with my answer beneath that. Matt and I quickly agreed this was the way to go and since then we haven’t received any negative feedback worth creating a hate mail page over. : (
The best way to handle negative comments is to NEVER censor or block people. Either leave it alone or respond with your defense. You never want to make the situation worse.
I guess your opinion on handling negative comments depends on what you consider negative. Disagreeing of course isn’t necessarily negative and I certainly welcome both sides of a conversation.
I don’t agree that negative comments build community. Negative comments probably brings in a certain type of visitor that doesn’t usually visit but not the loyal reader, spikes of traffic but not anything significant.
Bloggers who attack or ban negative commenters usualy get called out on it sooner or later and people stop respecting them. Sure there’s a fine line between trolls and people who just want to leave a constructive opinion. You should ban the former and seriously answer the latter – maybe their comments will make your site grow.