At PageMaster we want you be successful in your online marketing. We create websites and provide you training to see you succeed. This post is part of our series from our Site Training Workbook.
WordPress is set up to send you emails when someone comments. (You can turn this off Settings – Discussions – “Email Me Whenever.”) I find that Gmail considers emails sent from WordPress as spam. It may be the same for your spam filter. You need to whitelist your WordPress email in your filter. We can’t show you how to do this because it’s different with every email client. But if you want to get emails whenever someone comments and you see your site is set up to do that but you don’t see emails…check your spam folder.
Respond to every comment someone makes. The more thoughtful the comment, the more thought you should put into your response. Sometimes I tell them I need to answer with a full blog post. Other times I just thank them for there insight or encouragement.
In time you’ll get some negative comments. You’ll need to decide if you allow these to be posted. Before you respond out of your hurt, consider how you can respond magnanimously. Here’s a tip: controversy is great for blogging. The more someone attacks you and the less you show offense, the more other readers will come to your defense. Consider letting negative comments through.
One last thing about Comments. People tend to leave comments more readily when they see someone has already left a comment. Consider having blogging buddies. A blogging buddy will comment on your blog two times a week and you’ll do the same for them. Even if you don’t officially have blogging buddies you can get more comments on your blog by leaving thoughtful comments on other people’s blogs. I always check out the site of someone who leaves enriching comments on my blog and I’ll usually comment on something they’d said on it and thank them in response to their comment on my blog with my thoughts on theirs.