Commenting 101: Emails and Commenting (How To)

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Welcome back to my Commenting 101 blogging series! If you'd like to start from the beginning, please click here.

Today's topic focuses on another important aspect of communication within the blogosphere: Commenting and Emails


We've already discussed one of the ways to grow a network of readers and blogging friends: make it easy for them to communicate with you!

1. Have all of your comments emailed to you.

• Why? 

It's always nice to have a back-up (especially in instances like last week, when Blogger deleted my Giveaway post. I had all of the existing comments saved in my email box).

It's also a good reminder to visit the blogs of people whose profiles/names keep popping up in your Comments section. You won't have to keep clicking on your blog to see if new comments have arrived. They'll be in your inbox!

Most of all, it makes it very very easy for you to reply to questions or thank someone for stopping by your blog, the way we talked about in Session #6.

• How do I set Blogger up to email me my comments?

Log into your Blogger Dashboard and click on the "Settings" tab. Then click on the subheading "Comments"

Next, you'll scroll to the very bottom of the page, where you'll see a box marked "Comment Notification Email."

You'll want to enter the email address you'll use to read and reply to comments. Then hit "Save Settings."

From now on, Blogger will email all of your blog's comments to you. This means you'll see all the spam messages come to your inbox too, but Blogger will filter them into their Spam file so you can delete them later. They should not appear on your blog. (Note: Deleting them in your email inbox does not delete them from your Spam File. For instructions on how to do that, read Session #8)

I use my personal email address because I know I'll check it most often, but you may want to set up your own separate account with your blog address. Then your readers will know it's you when they see "CuteCraftyBlog@gmail.com" responding to their comments.

• Remember that if your blog is small and you're looking to grow your readership, a personal visit and a comment on the blogs of your readers is always best. But when your blog has grown so much that you can't make it around to visit 30 commenters each day, sending a nice "thank you" or responding to questions via email is so helpful!

2. Please (!!) add your email address to your Blogger profile:

• I'll be frank. When you have a bunch of comments in your inbox and know you only have the time to personally respond to a few, the "noreply-comment@blogger.com" comments are the first to get set aside.

• What is a "noreply-comment@blogger.com"?

When you don't have an email address associated with your Blogger account, it shows up like those pictured above.

• What's the big deal with "noreply" comments? 

Bloggers who don't add their email addresses to their accounts make it difficult for other bloggers to interact with them. 

If I want to respond to a comment that came through a "noreply" address, I have to open the email again, click on the blogger's name, access their profile, find their blog, go to their blog, scroll through, and leave a comment there. That's an awful lot of steps for bloggers who receive too many comments to reply to individually each day. You can see why these would be the first to be read and set aside.

It's even more difficult when a blogger doesn't have their blog linked to their profile or they have their profile set to private. I can't contact you if you don't meet me halfway!

• You're more likely to get a response from bloggers if you have an email account associated with your Blogger account.

• How do I add my email address to my Blogger Profile?

Log in to your Blogger Dashboard and click on "Edit Profile" on the left side of the screen:

Once you're on the editing page, be sure to check the boxes that say "Share my Profile" and "Show Email Address" and enter your email address in the space provided. Save the changes at the bottom of the page before exiting.

By following a few simple steps, you will make yourself more credible in the blogging community, and you'll be able to further engage your readers and the bloggers whose sites you regularly comment on.

I'll be back next week with a wrap up of the series and some links to other resources. Then I'll have a whole new series to start for you!

{Have you added your email to your Blogger profile yet?}

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