Would you…
1) Delete it?
2) Post a negative reply?
3) Deny?
I would do neither of those mentioned above! Frankly speaking, I believe if you can write something that provokes thoughts and gathers both positive and negative comments, you’re near nirvana. As your blog grows and your readership increases, the chances of receiving negative comments increase as well. But do you think its a bad thing? NO! It is just a dead solid evidence that proves that your blog is growing! This is provided that you’re writing good quality content and not posting vulgar stuff and still expect positive comments.
Nobody wants to piss their readers off directly and nobody can please everybody. Thats what blogging is about… You share your view and others share theirs.
Negative Comments Brings Discussions
It would be kind of pointless if everyone leaves a comment saying “Hey thanks!” or “Great Post…” If you have received such comments before, you would notice that it usually remains that way, no reply and nothing. However, a negative comment would provoke thoughts and is able to bring up a discussion among your readers. This is what you want because it boosts the interactivity on your blog! Comments count will definitely shoot up high and you can seize this chance to identify who is your true blue fan and who is not. =P
Reverse Psychology
You may have noticed some people leaving comments like “Useless content… I am not coming back anymore!” Trust me, they won’t leave your circle of readership just like that. They will probably come back tomorrow and the day after tomorrow and every day to come to see how “badly” you are doing and probably try to get another chance to flame you again. So… No worries about this!
How To Handle A Negative Comment
Firstly, I would thank the reader for his reminder and try my best to answer his disagreements. The last thing that you want to do is to blow your top at your reader. It gives other readers a bad impression and you lose your professionalism. Try not to delete any negative comments and play around with words while replying. Remember, your tone and language is really important here…
Now guys, its your turn to share with me your secret methods to handling negative comments on your blog! Simply by leaving your opinions below…
P.S: By the way, if you think it makes some good sense, do me a favour by digging this article with my Digg button on top. It is easy!
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Ben,
I couldn’t disagree more. Valuable tips there Ben. Negative comments usually can lead to an intelligent discussion on the subject being commented upon. For me,the more negative comments, the better because it will give you the opportunity to expound more on the subject thereby showing to your readers the kind of forte that you have-being an expert on your niche.
SAMMY-D3Marketers
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Yeah.. You got it right there my friend.
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I agree. Lively debate can’t ever be sparked unless there are at least two distinct takes on an issue. Negative comment shouldn’t be allowed to get out of hand or personal though, as that can get nasty.
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Great post. I got a kind of negative comment yesterday and as you said it has become a health discussion on the same post as a discussion forum.
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Its absolutely true..
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Ben, Great advice. How you handle negative comments can really increase your reputation with your other visitors if you do it professionally.
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Hey Alan,
Yes.. Thats where you show your professionalism..
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Negative comments in the form of honest disagreement is fine, even encouraged as it provokes further intelligent conversation.
Negative comments left by an obvious “comment troll”, meant to merely be, nasty, offensive, etc,; get handled in one of two ways…
1. Outright deletion is it is too far over the limit.
2. Keenly doen passive aggressiveness, wherein you come out the shining prince keeping things under control, and he/she just looks like a turd.
#2 takes some skill, so be cautious.
Actually, there is a 3rd…..this is where your truly loyal readership jumps the troll like a pack of monkey’s before you even get there. LOL
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Haha Dennis.. I like the monkey one
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I like the monkey analogy myself! If the community is well established enough trolls will definitely catch it from the regular contributors / commentators!
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Of course, you still need to keep regulars under a bit of control too…they may think they’re helping, but you don’t want them to get TOO Monkey-ish on anyone. LOL
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Ooo this is fun.. I see a conversation going on here! keep it up guys.. I thought this can be seen at johnchow.com only.. haha
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Hi Ben,
I dugg your post as it has some great ideas for handling negative comments. I don’t get a lot of comments from my 2 blogs but when i receive anything negative i just delete them, i don’t spend to much time with comments full stop
Jason
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Why jason? Whats your reason for leaving out comments?
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Thanks Ben,
great post, sometimes criticism can be hard to take if you are egotistical or just plain not used it.
When we write it is like a good movie, you are onto a winner if you can evoke emotion from your readers.
Lets face it they might actually be right and are just trying to help us get better ……..not! (sorry Borat in me)hehe
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Hey Paul. Glad to see your around! Yah its takes more than what you think to accept criticism and turn it positive..
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I think you have to monitor your blog to see what the negative comments are about before deciding what to do. If negative comments stay on topic, then it’s all fine. But I deleted an entire post last year that I’d written three years ago because the comments were not only negative, but had lost their focus on the particular topic, so it was distracting.
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Hey mitch! Nice to see you back here.
It must have been a hard decision for you to delete an entire man.
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It was and wasn’t at the same time, Ben. It was my business blog, and the focus had changed from what I could allow it to be. If it were my IJS Blog, I’d have left it there.
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i agree that the tone and language are very important.thanks
arshad’s last blog post..Top ways to earn money online through net
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As the author of a blog, our content will never be able to satisfy people of all needs. Thus, it is common to have negative comments on a post. Everyone has their own views on a particular subject and it is best that we respect their opinions by giving them reasons on why we are writing that in the article. Great article as always Ben.
Wei Liang
Wei Liang | Earn Money Online’s last blog post..Lesson 25: Affiliate Marketing (Part 2)
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