Oh the joy of blogging. You’re connecting with people, they’re learning, benefitting from your knowledge and experience and you’re having a grand time and then BAM! Someone leaves you a less than pleasant message.
Who knows, maybe they wholeheartedly disagree with you. Maybe they’re in a bad mood and you’re an easy target. Whatever the reason – you’re left with a negative comment on your blog. What to do?
Chances are you’re dealing with two competing thoughts or reactions. The first is that you’re wondering if you should delete the comment – you’re considering the business aspect of it.
The second is your personal gut reaction. Some people react just fine to negative comments, however, others take it personally and it affects how they feel and behave.
So the first thing to do is to pull your emotions out of it. You’re in control here – and this comment, whatever it is, isn’t going to change you or your business. If you need time to clear your head and make a decision about how to respond then walk away and come back to it when you’re ready.
You essentially have three options:
- Delete the negative comment
- Ignore it
- Respond
Deleting it, unless it’s offensive to your readers, is generally not the best idea. Negative comments can work quite well to stir the pot and cause controversy and discussion and that’s what you want on your blog – discussion. So ultimately you can use a negative comment to your advantage.
Ignoring it is often a good option. Let your other readers comment on it and you can take the high road.
Respond. Here’s where you want to tread lightly. If the commenter makes a valid point, you may want to acknowledge it. Even if it means you’re admitting you made a mistake. You can also take the opportunity to further prove a point you were making in your blog post. Be careful to remain professional.
Negative blog comments will happen if you’re building a blog with a loyal following. Make the most of them – it’s an opportunity!
Jeanne I’m forwarding this blog to a local newspaper columnist as an example of how HE should behave when people criticize his column. Because frankly I think he broke one of your “rules” so to speak with his responses to critcal comments. Now if they were smart enough to have that whole thing online I’d call his column his blog and he’d understand. Not sure he’ll get the transition from print to a blog and back but we can hope. This is perfect for him.
Thank you and Thank you for the #blog30 challenge…now to write my blog posts for yesterday and today… LOL
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Thanks for these tips, Jeanette. When we are in business and especially in business online we open ourselves to criticism, and should be expected because we’ll never be able to please everyone, but a lot of it can be constructive and I appreciate your advice to see it as an opportunity, and always remain professional.
Yvonne
Thanks for these tips, Jeanette. When we are in business and especially in business online we open ourselves to criticism, and should be expected because we’ll never be able to please everyone, but a lot of it can be constructive and I appreciate your advice to see it as an opportunity, and always remain professional.
Yvonne