Stop Spamming My Blog

By debngSpam

I’m all about the link love. I don’t mind adding relevant links to my blogroll and I like to offer a week ending link love post on most of my blogs. That’s why it really annoys me when visitors comment just to spam. I’m not talking about the bots, I’m talking about regular visitors to my blog. Most commenters are smart. They can figure out there’s a space on most comment forms for which to leave links. Some don’t get it or don’t care.

I’m pretty easy. I don’t mind if something on your blog will add to the discussion on my blog. In which case you can state your point of view in the comments and afterwards invite people to check the link. When your only comment is a link to your blog, it’s not going to make it past the moderation filter.

Recently one of my regulars left this comment on more than one occasion:
“This site is entirely too serious. You need to come to (blog name here) for a good laugh.” How is that contributing to the conversation? Another one of my regulars only comments unless she can plug one of her own blog posts or articles. “You have a point Deb, but as I wrote the other day in my article entitled…” To me this is akin to my going to someone’s party and telling the guests, “This party sucks. Come to my house for a better time.” It’s rude.

Anyone who knows me knows I got to this point because of shameless self promotion. I never spammed a blog or forum with links though. I might drop a link now and then on a forum if it’s relevant to a conversation or I’m invited to do so, but otherwise, no spam. It would never occur to me to visit another blog and only leave a link to my blog, either.

If you want people to visit your blog, there are several ways to get their attention:

• Leave an intelligent, relevant comment on another blog and drop your link only in the designated space.
• Participate in forums in your niche and leave a link in the signature line.
• Offer to guest post for another blog.
• Write good, useful content and others will take notice.

Right now, my comments are set up so a new visitor’s first comment or any comments with a link in the body are sent to the moderation filter. I’m amazed by how many of the same people try and spam my blog over and over again rather than creating a buzz with a good comment.

If you know me, you know I don’t mind giving out the link love. Just don’t spam my blog.

20 thoughts on “Stop Spamming My Blog”

  10. I not only get just a url, but also people saying hi to their friends. It’s really annoying to have to go in and delete them all the time.

  11. Recently I wrote a post closely related to a post on a blog I read and comment on regularly and although mine was relevant and I have a strong relationship with the blogger, I didn’t list it there. Instead, I PM’d her just to let her know existed. Since then, it’s become the most visited / most stumbled post on my personal blog, increasing my traffic exponentially.

    I just can’t imagine leaving a “This party sucks” message. I don’t understand the mentality and I’m pretty sure it doesn’t get the results that real participation and real relationship building does.

  12. I am a newbie blogger, so it’s rare that I actually jump into a blogging discussion to offer my two cents worth, but isn’t thoughtful value based commenting one of the pillars of blogging success? Everything I’ve read about blogging seems to say it’s better to leave a few well thought out useful comments and posts on a couple of blogs and forums, than spam 20 blogs with the same link.

    I don’t click on links to posts in your comments Deb. I figure if they’re saying the exact same thing anyway, I am better off staying right here, and continuing the discussion.

    [edited by moderator: no self-serving links other than twitter/tumblr]

  14. With so many commenters adding little value to posts, there’s a lot opportunity for commenters willing to take a some time and effort to write quality comments.

    I know I remember anyone who writes a comment that seeks to interact with my post instead of just looking for a backlink. These are the commenters I look to network with.

  15. When spammers hit my blogs with worthless blurbs they get deleted, so no link lovin’ for them.

    I don’t get a too many spammers that don’t get caught automatically and deleted but the ones that do get through are few but still annoying. In my mind if one is going to leave a comment that is worthless they should be expecting to get their comment deleted which makes them all look, well just plain stupid.

    Blogging just seem to attract them so we have to deal with them, we just don’t have to like it.

  17. I’ll admit, as a new company blogger myself it’s awfuly tempting to just “get the link out there.” I think this temptation is mostly born out of lazyness. It’s much harder to *think* and *respond* than it is to |COPY||PASTE||SUBMIT|.

  18. I agree. I get lots of that too deb! Some of them are from companies pimping their products – those i delete and I email them and offer to do a review if they’d like or they can buy advertising on the site

    I delete any comment that doesn’t add to the conversation or isn’t on-topic. FOr the most part, my readers leave great comments.

  19. Hi, since I removed the rel=nofollow I am getting more spam and more “smart” commercial comments. They write a simple comment, kind of on target and on subject, but the link they post points to a 100% commercial site.

    I think it is a bit sad, I removed the tag in good spirit to thank the commenters, then the greedy people misuse the trust.

    I am about to write a disclaimer in the comment form, which inform users that I might approve their post but remove the link. Is that wrong of me?

  20. Since I don’t get a lot of regular visitors, it’s generally easy for me to identify the spammers. Also, none of them, so far, have tried to promote their site on my blog.

    Pure spamming is flat out unethical. Commenting to promote one’s own blog is on the margin between ethical and unethical. If there’s not any value added by the comment, it’s spam and, therefore, unethical, as I view it.

    Great article!

    Mike Goad
    Exit78

Comments are closed.