Why All Comments are Advertisements
by Kevin on December 14, 2008
I’d like tot take a different approach to the way that people leave comments on blogs and say that they are all advertisements and spam. In some ways, I don’t believe that this is true, but then when you look at the general realm of what we are all pursuing online, it can all be traced back to that dreaded, but necessary topic of advertising.
Assuming that you’ve ever left a comment on another blog (and I assume you have it you are reading this blog about blogging), then you likely realize that you were trying to persuade the reader to comment, follow-up with another post, or invite others to share their comments, or even travel to your site by leaving your link at the bottom as your signature.
- Naturally, we all scope out those sites that are larger rand allow comments with a link field, as they may provide a source of additional traffic from people who may accidentally click on the link or want to see what type of site the person has.
- Spammers have constantly targeted sites following the motto “no matter how small the blog, the same chance (less than 1%) the comment will go through and we’ll see a visitor to our site,” purely following the example that this post was set out to make.
- All bloggers must be somewhat good marketers, so if you publish a comment on a blog and you have extremely different points of view than the author, you will likely express that, leading the author, as well as other people visiting the site, to view some of your other thoughts on your ow blog. If you don’t have a blog, you are still doing it to get people to agree/disagree, cite, and respond to your comment – your name will be promoted in this case.
- Without any links in the comment, you can still persuade people to do something, making comments another form of marketing/persuasion.
Taken from this side, you can easily see why comments are simply short articles that do little more than promote your ideas and express your views of the post. And, there’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, blogging the way we know it wouldn’t exist without comments or advertisements/sponsors. They are facts of life that we have to deal with, and unless you feel that commenting is bad, which it isn’t, then you should resort back to a static site that doesn’t allow commenting.
14 comments
On the other side of that coin, there’s the fact that comments add value to not only the individual post, but the site as a whole. I’m not talking about commenters that add extra information above and beyond the post, although that happens occasionally too. I’m talking about the perception of readers who see posts (and the site as a whole) with many comments and therefore feel more inclined to read and comment themselves. So, while some will click the links to the commenter’s site, there’s not a small number who will read and come back to the site of the original post simply because they know that others found it worth reading and commenting on. It’s a symbiotic relationship.
by ManInTheMoon on December 15, 2008 at 9:17 pm. #
On the other side of that coin, there’s the fact that comments add value to not only the individual post, but the site as a whole. I’m not talking about commenters that add extra information above and beyond the post, although that happens occasionally too. I’m talking about the perception of readers who see posts (and the site as a whole) with many comments and therefore feel more inclined to read and comment themselves. So, while some will click the links to the commenter’s site, there’s not a small number who will read and come back to the site of the original post simply because they know that others found it worth reading and commenting on. It’s a symbiotic relationship.
by ManInTheMoon on December 15, 2008 at 4:17 pm. #
Very interesting post!
In response to point #4, if that’s true, than you can argue that every conversation you ever have with someone is an advertisement. Talking about what movie you last saw, and how great it was? You’re convincing someone to see that movie, so it’s an advertisement. Complaining about your mechanic and how he charged way too much? You’re convincing someone not to go to the same mechanic, so it’s a (negative) advertisement. It’s interesting to think that everything you say can be construed as an advertisement in some way.
But I don’t believe that every conversation, persuasion, or discussion that goes on in comment threads are spam. Advertisement does not equal spam. I like commenting on blogs to discuss a point with the blogger and his/her readers. If I get to leave my link behind, great, icing on the cake.
But then there are the commentators who simply say “Great post!” or “Very useful!” to leave their link behind… that’s something I might consider spam.
by Diana Freedman on December 17, 2008 at 3:22 am. #
Very interesting post!
In response to point #4, if that’s true, than you can argue that every conversation you ever have with someone is an advertisement. Talking about what movie you last saw, and how great it was? You’re convincing someone to see that movie, so it’s an advertisement. Complaining about your mechanic and how he charged way too much? You’re convincing someone not to go to the same mechanic, so it’s a (negative) advertisement. It’s interesting to think that everything you say can be construed as an advertisement in some way.
But I don’t believe that every conversation, persuasion, or discussion that goes on in comment threads are spam. Advertisement does not equal spam. I like commenting on blogs to discuss a point with the blogger and his/her readers. If I get to leave my link behind, great, icing on the cake.
But then there are the commentators who simply say “Great post!” or “Very useful!” to leave their link behind… that’s something I might consider spam.
by Diana Freedman on December 16, 2008 at 10:22 pm. #
You have made some good points. However, those who drop by your site and leave not only their link information during commenting phase but also decide to add their link in the comment area which is spam. The idea of commenting as an advertisement is not far off the mark but I like the idea of just coming by and learning something new on a site I have yet to see.
by Linda on December 17, 2008 at 3:37 am. #
You have made some good points. However, those who drop by your site and leave not only their link information during commenting phase but also decide to add their link in the comment area which is spam. The idea of commenting as an advertisement is not far off the mark but I like the idea of just coming by and learning something new on a site I have yet to see.
by Linda on December 16, 2008 at 10:37 pm. #
@Recent Commenters – Thank you for your further input. I was taking a different approach to the concept of commenting. Before blogs, the only way for people to truly get in contact with someone was through email/chat/forums, which (other than forums) didn’t provide a true “incentive” to contribute in the conversation.
In turn, you could also relate every single thing we do to advertising – each impacts the way we feel about something else, “marketing” the way we react to further events throughout our daily lives.
However, when you take the general scope of leaving comments, it isn’t for advertising (although from the spammer’s perspective it is), but for sharing thoughts and creating relationships/connections with people who share similar interests.
by Kevin on December 17, 2008 at 4:33 am. #
@Recent Commenters – Thank you for your further input. I was taking a different approach to the concept of commenting. Before blogs, the only way for people to truly get in contact with someone was through email/chat/forums, which (other than forums) didn’t provide a true “incentive” to contribute in the conversation.
In turn, you could also relate every single thing we do to advertising – each impacts the way we feel about something else, “marketing” the way we react to further events throughout our daily lives.
However, when you take the general scope of leaving comments, it isn’t for advertising (although from the spammer’s perspective it is), but for sharing thoughts and creating relationships/connections with people who share similar interests.
by Kevin on December 16, 2008 at 11:33 pm. #
I can agree with you. And it’s funny that when I see a blog with a zillion comments in it, I find that more true than those with fewer comments. I guess because I see the first few comments as having something to say, agree or disagree, and then the rest of the comments just seem redundant, so I see it as people just trying to get their links in there.
I get very few comments (it may be a reflection of what I have to say or the way I say it… too boring to comment on), but most of the people who comment are regular bloggers who’ve been commenting at my site for years – and I feel that they are friends and appreciate hearing from them.
When I get comments because people found me in a search for something else, I wonder why they’re commenting – especially when it’s something I wrote about a year ago. I wonder if I’m supposed to be answering them. I wonder if they’re just spamming for their own sites. It’s funny because there are all these tools to gain more awareness of your site, and yet one-time commenters really don’t mean anything to me.
by jafer on December 19, 2008 at 11:58 pm. #
@jafer – Thank you for your comment. This site doesn’t receive many comments, but for the most part, I don’t receive a whole lot of spam comments due to measures that I have put in place. For the most part, I am quite surprised just how few comments larger new sites and sites that receive millions of visitors each month don’t receive more spam comments, or comments, in general. It might be that they lack the personal touch, so spammers/people targeting them for traffic have less desire in people who don’t stay on the site for very long.
On the other hand, I don’t feel that people who routinely comment on your blog are “advertisers,” as they probably don’t get a whole lot out of the site, other than being able to interact/share thoughts with others and possibly getting into the “frequent commenters” list. This is what comments were meant to do, rather than create a spam-infested comments area.
by Kevin on December 20, 2008 at 2:09 am. #
I can agree with you. And it’s funny that when I see a blog with a zillion comments in it, I find that more true than those with fewer comments. I guess because I see the first few comments as having something to say, agree or disagree, and then the rest of the comments just seem redundant, so I see it as people just trying to get their links in there.
I get very few comments (it may be a reflection of what I have to say or the way I say it… too boring to comment on), but most of the people who comment are regular bloggers who’ve been commenting at my site for years – and I feel that they are friends and appreciate hearing from them.
When I get comments because people found me in a search for something else, I wonder why they’re commenting – especially when it’s something I wrote about a year ago. I wonder if I’m supposed to be answering them. I wonder if they’re just spamming for their own sites. It’s funny because there are all these tools to gain more awareness of your site, and yet one-time commenters really don’t mean anything to me.
by jafer on December 19, 2008 at 6:58 pm. #
@jafer – Thank you for your comment. This site doesn’t receive many comments, but for the most part, I don’t receive a whole lot of spam comments due to measures that I have put in place. For the most part, I am quite surprised just how few comments larger new sites and sites that receive millions of visitors each month don’t receive more spam comments, or comments, in general. It might be that they lack the personal touch, so spammers/people targeting them for traffic have less desire in people who don’t stay on the site for very long.
On the other hand, I don’t feel that people who routinely comment on your blog are “advertisers,” as they probably don’t get a whole lot out of the site, other than being able to interact/share thoughts with others and possibly getting into the “frequent commenters” list. This is what comments were meant to do, rather than create a spam-infested comments area.
by Kevin on December 19, 2008 at 9:09 pm. #
I get very little spam, due as well to having spam protection and moderation so I can approve ‘real’ comments. I think I wait though to see whether people come back and comment again – that gives it validity to me, especially if I visit their sites and like what I read. Then I’m interested in them. I’m really not interested in generating traffic for the sake of traffic.
by jafer on December 20, 2008 at 2:17 am. #
I get very little spam, due as well to having spam protection and moderation so I can approve ‘real’ comments. I think I wait though to see whether people come back and comment again – that gives it validity to me, especially if I visit their sites and like what I read. Then I’m interested in them. I’m really not interested in generating traffic for the sake of traffic.
by jafer on December 19, 2008 at 9:17 pm. #