There are spammers, and then there are paid commenters. I am sure some of you call them spammers, but really, if they are doing their job, they should not even be obvious. A paid commenter of course gets cash for commenting on blogs and other websites, even forums and other social network type systems.
You probably wonder how I know about this? Well, there are places online that people are asking others to either comment on other websites or on their own. For those requests outside, it requires that the person leave the link to the site they are representing in the URL field of the comment form or somewhere within the comment. Those who are asked to comment within one website are there to add valuable comments that are natural and make the site seem like people have been interested.
It might seem a bit strange, but it is nothing different than guest posting, article writing for pay, or getting paid to blog.
They represent their brand honestly and understand that it takes a little extra special attention to attract a customer through commenting. Let us face it. When you go and comment on a website, at least half of the time you are probably going to read other comments. This usually depends if it is your website, or if it is on another website, how interested you are in that topic.
Paid Commenters should adhere to some etiquette when working:
1. Leave genuine comment that is relevant to the article.
2. The temptation to link drop is great, but use that in your URL field in the comment form. Sometimes site owners will delete the comment, or mark the comment as spam if the comment has more than a few links.
3. Keywords might be nice, but usually with some of the available spam plugins out there for blog and CMS platforms, the comment may be marked as spam. Try to write your comment naturally.
4. If a site owner does decide to not approve your comment, it is within their rights to do so. You may question them, but it is not their obligation to reply. It would be best to assume that your comment was considered spam.
The point is to respectfully leave a comment and send a message to the site owner and visitors that may see your comment. Spamming is annoying and for some with a large influence, it could prove to have a negative impact on the company you are representing. Even if you are just freelancing, it will even reflect bad on you too.
What other rules of etiquette do you think paid commenters should take into consideration when commenting?
I never really thought of hiring a paid commenter for my business blogs, or at least to support them. That would be pretty sweet.
My recent post 13 Things That Frustrate Me as a Small Business Owner
I have never hired any myself, but I have done a couple opportunities before doing this blog post so I could get a feel of what was going on. It really opened my eyes as I just naturally leave the same good comments I usually do. Some of the people wanting to hire commenters want you to go under a fake name, which I completely refuse and explain to them how important it is to be genuine. If I am going to comment for someone, I am going to be myself because I am established and they will know my comment is real.
Apart from the etiquette, the comment should also be understandable. Users don't have to be grammar geniuses but at least the author and other commenters should understand the comment.
That is always given and I totally understand that one considering all the ones I have seen…lol
Honestly I do this for my company, it's not my job technically but I help out by doing it on off time. I sincerely try to adhere to posting relevant comments and respecting and appreciating the blog and it's poster. It really drives me nuts to see people abusing the privilege by posting random things or just "nice article" and ruining it for the people like me who are contributing to the conversation while helping my company at the same time. Thanks for allowing the do-follow and I really did enjoy this post and blog.
See, this is all I ask for. You have no idea how many I have deleted, so it is refreshing to see a real comment. I appreciate it a lot. 🙂
You always hit the right spot, Nile. I know that there are people there who has too much to do that they hire someone to do commenting for them. Although these hired commenters could be considered as spammers, they will stop being so if they are given instructions to follow the same etiquette you mentioned above. If they do so, then they would be worth the money they are being paid and wouldn't tick off blog owners and other commenters as well.
My recent post Search Engine Optimisation & Social Media
Paid commenting, if done right can be tedious, but like you said, if done right… will not tick anyone off…lol. I was a bit skeptical for the sites I commented for in the past, but in the end, both the business and the bloggers were great. I even was responded to. Since then, I have been back to those sites commenting as myself and my own site. 🙂 So… it could be a plus for bloggers who do like to read blogs and engage.
With so many spammers on the internet, we usually cannot avoid the fact that they’re commenting on the wrong Idea. I am not against on some hired commenter; I am against on some comment that looks like a spam.
too many things to avoidance its means a commentary means nothing to itself.
For me whether they are paid to comment is irrelevant. As long as they don’t spam, it’s okay with me.
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