As soon as you put a blog online and open it up to comments, you face the risk of receiving negative comments on there. The only way to guarantee none of these is to not allow comments - or not have a blog!

Obviously, you can also get negative comments about you and/or your business in emails, by phone and via other online means, but dealing with those is very different to dealing with blog comments.

The first step is to control comments getting onto your blog. The best way to do this is make sure comments are moderated - that means that people can enter comments but they will only go live when you approve them. Not only does this control what goes live, it also means that you can reply as soon as the comment is live so the comment needs never be read by itself online.

So, you go to moderate a new comment and you don’t like it. What do you do?

Well, why don’t you like it? I see 3 main categories of comments you may not like a comment - rude and inappropriate, highly critical or disagreeing with you.

Your choices:

delete it- it is then gone form your blog forever and no one else needs ever know about it. This is the best choice for spam and highly inappropriate comments. Be careful of deleting comments that you just don’t like personally as the person involved may complain about your censorship*

modify it and approve it -you have the ability to edit any comments so that they are less unpleasant to you. An example of when this may be useful is when someone posts some constructive feedback but uses inappropriate language to do so - you could delete the swear words and approve the main message. However, note that some people will be offended and/or vocal if you change what they wrote -  you may want to contact them personally and explain why you are making such changes and give them the option of an edited version being approved or all of it deleted.

approve it and do nothing -it is then live for all to see but you don’t respond to it in anyway.  To me, this is burying your head in the sand - the comment is there for anyone to read so it would be better to reply and possibly turn it into something of value. Readers may also perceive it as you ignoring problems or criticisms, so the blog will be too one-sided and not worth returning to.

approve it and respond- allow the comment to go live and add your response as a new comment. Then you are giving your readers your reaction and are showing that you listen to your readers, which is important if you want your blog to be a community and readers to keep coming back.

Approve it, respond to it and act on it -while it isn;t always appropriate to act on a comment, read it carefully and consider things from the commenter’s point of view. Are they justified in saying your orders are always late or your emails too technical? Can you improve your business or blog by listening to those comments and making a change? If you do that, and add a comment once the change has been made, your business will be strengthened and your credibility increased. You may just turn that commentor into a supporter.

Remember to consider why you don’t like the comment and the potential impact the comment will have on your readers and your blog before you decide how to treat any negative comments.

* censorship - it is your blog so you do have the right to choose what is/isn’t included on it. However, if you say you want an interactive blog and a community, then too much censoring may seem contradictory and may raise more complaints.

I received an email today which discussed how he treated a particular negative comment on his blog.

The comment he received was apparently very critical, rude and insulting - effectively calling him dishonest and claiming he owed the commentor something.

Obviously, the blog owner could have deleted the message and been done with it or left it and replied to it. However, he decided to leave it and not comment on it straight away. A few more negative comments were added to the discussion - other people agreeing with the first commentor. But then, some of the blog owner’s loyal supporters jumped in - they defended the blog owner and strongly criticised the people making negative comments.

The blog owner had expected this and he took is as a chance for an active discussion, a controversy that increased traffic to his blog and some independant highlighting of his good points.

It was effective in that he had a discussion and it would have helped his blog and site rankings. Personally, I’m not sure I would have followed suit.

For one thing, some very negative comments were on his blog and they were first - some people may never read long enough to reach the positive comments. As a potential client, I wouldn’t be impressed by a blog discussion like that for two reasons - 1. why didn’t the blog owner make any response to his complainers and 2. I was probably reading the blog to learn something not hear about the person behind the blog.

I also didn’t like the fact that he was happy to have his supporters attack and flame his detractors. I prefer to not have any defamatory or hurtful comments in my professional dealings (blog, discussions, in person, whatever) so I would not allow a situation to build if I expected that outcome. It just doesn’t some across as professional to me.

I will write about how to deal with negative comments separately, but what do you think - is leaving a negative comment like that on your blog to spark a discussion a good thing or not?

Writing a business blog may have the purpose of promoting your products or services, and that’s fine.

But making a blatant sales pitch in every post isn’t going to win you any friends, or many sales.

I have seen more than one blog which ends every post with something like “Did you like this tip? Why not buy my book/enrol in my course to learn more? Here are 3 features of my wonderful book/course” BORING!

Sales pitch after sales pitch means people will either stop coming to your blog or (if your tips are good) stop them reading the end of each post.

Much more effective is to build a relationship, give some great content and have links to your products/services in the static parts of your blog. If a product or service some up naturally in the course of posting, by all means mention it and add a link - just don’t make a habit of it if you want your blog to be well regarded and seen as credible.

So what ending should you use? In short, use a natural ending to the topic or use a friendly good-bye message. That’s it!

Happy writing!

I found a post  about developing your skills at blogging which I thought worth mentioning. It is also relevant on the whole for newsletter writing.

It doesn’t mention ‘be yourself’ directly, but I think that is the only major point I would add to the list.

In summary, Chris Garrett gives 10 points that lead to successful blogging:

1. blog by example
2. blog with passion
3. be organised (well, I can’t always get 10 out of 10!)
4. delegate
5. take ownership & responsibility
6. communicate effectively (hopefully, that’s where my tips come in handy!)
7. be brave & honest
8. listen
9. know your readers
10. be a reader

I found number 7 interesting - I am always honest in my blog but don’t feel I am particularly brave as communications isn’t usually very controversial But then I read Chris’ comments about this to find him saying pretty much the same thing and suggesting there is bravery in choosing and presenting topics.

Which of the above points do you find most challenging in your blog writing?

I would write about the advantages of blogs, but I found this great post by Kenton Newby so I thought I’d link to that instead Kenton wrote ‘Why every business owner should have a blog’ If you are running a business and don’t have a blog, this is a post worth reading and thinking about.

If you do decide to start a blog, you may find the audio and notes from the blogging for beginners talk I did last week useful, as well as my posts on blogging.

Not many people actually ask me outright, but you can almost see the thought cross their mind - “why would I pay someone to write stuff for me? I know how to write a sentence.”

One very important reason some people choose to hire a writer is simply to save time. It is a task to be outsourced so you can spend more time doing what you’re best at. This is especially true for people who struggle over every word and find writing very time consuming.

Another reason is distance - a professional writer is not so close to your business so will have a clearer perspective of what needs to be said. When you are close to the business, it is easy to get caught in details that aren’t necessary in a marketing document for instance. And when it comes to something like an about us page on a website, many people find it hard to write about themselves anyway.

A professional writer (or editor) may just review what you have done - finding those little errors you can’t easily find in your own work. It is handy if you work alone and don’t have anyone else who can proof read for you.

Of course, a major reason for using a professional writer is to get words that work well, are easy to read and are grammatically correct. For some people this is easy to achieve, others have to work hard at it and some people just can’t get it no matter what they do. Even if you can write fairly well, if you aren’t experienced at writing in a certain way it may be worth getting a professional to do it for you. You can always use their work as a model for future projects.

I think of it this way - I can hold a pencil or paint brush and make marks on a page but I would pay someone else to actually paint something to hang on my walls. We all have our talents and I’d prefer to outsource to experts than try to find time to do everything myself. Which of course leaves me with more time for writing…

Along with some other Business Mums, I accepted a challenge of doing one post every day this week - and I did it I wrote some of them in a group and just predated them to publish one day at a time, but it wasn’t always easy to think of topics to write about on demand.

However, I met the challenge, so maybe this is a challenge you could set for your blog, too.

Some of the other blogs in the challenge were:

http://preciouswater.com.au/blog/
www.mydayoff.com.au
www.melissakhalinsky.com/blog
http://marakye.blogspot.com/
http://smallbusinessdiva.wordpress.com
http://buffmineralcosmetics.blogspot.com/
http://home.exetel.com.au/huysing/wordpress/
http://kidsmusiccompany.wordpress.com

I have just discovered blog carnivals. Essentially, someone hosts a ‘carnival’ and includes links to various blog entries that are relevant to the carnival topic.

There are apparently hundreds of carnivals happening so you’ll probably find one you like, or at least one on a topic you like!

It seems like a great way to find new blogs on interesting topics, and just to learn about a particular topic. Most carnival hosts review the blogs first so the blogs listed in a carnival should be relevant, good and spam-free.

So far, my blog is included in two carnivals:

The She Blogs carnival

Mothers in business carnival

What carnivals have you read and enjoyed?

A few days ago I shared part of an email I received - the person was trying to convince me (and others as it was a mass email) to participate in her forums. Her email was unlikely to work, so I thought I’d share some ideas on how to convince someone to participate in something they are reluctant about.

1. Consider why they are reluctant - maybe it is lack of time or they think it is too expensive, or maybe it is just too hard or intimidating. Once you have the reason, or most likely reasons, answer those reasons.

For example, if people aren’t buying your product because they don’t think it has value for money, don’t tell them they are wrong but explain the value - “This product is fully reusable and made from sturdy materials that will last for years” or “This price includes delivery, a 12 month warranty and a spare battery pack.”

2. Point out the advantages for them, not you.

For example, “Did you know posting on forums can help your search engine results?” or “If you have questions, ask them on the forum - we have experts who may be able to help you” or “When you leave this event, you will know how to save hours every month”

3. Show respect and give the person space to say no without loosing face. No one likes being forced into anything or being nagged, and no one appreciates being made to feel stupid or cheap for not participating in something. So invite and then give them room to decide for themselves.

Writing in a blog can be intimidating - and knowing how to set up a blog can be even worse for those not technically minded.

So I’m pleased to say there will be a Business Mums Network blogging for beginners intensive workshop in Melbourne in a few week’s time (17 November to be precise!) Lucie Battaini of MulitmediART will talk about choosing a blog and getting one up and running then I will talk about blog content - different styles, how to select content, etc.

Then we’ll brainstorm some blog topics for every participant, one by one. So those people will get to go home with the knowledge of how to start a blog that suits them AND have ideas to actually blog about. They’ll be experts in no time after this workshop and it’s under $100, too.

Hmm, speaking, providing notes - guess I’d better get writing!

Word Constructions ~ for all your business writing needs