How to comment on a blog - a beginners guide

For people who may not know how to comment on a blog, I hope this will help you. I read - and comment on - a number of blogs every day and I've compiled some instructions (with picture examples) below that may help you, I hope.

I've also included a brief (and probably inaccurate) description of the blogs to hopefully introduce you to some you may not be familiar with.

1. There are a number of different types of blog. Two of the more popular are Wordpress, Blogspot or Blogger (like this one) and they have different ways of accepting comments. I'll hopefully show you this below.
   
   
2. Writing a comment on a blog is no more difficult than sending an email. Honestly. It's three basic steps:
   
   
   • Fill out your comment
   • Leave your name
   • Press Submit. That's it!
     
   
   
3. You don't have to enter your email address on some blogs. This one is an example. Have a look here to see how that's done.
   
   
4. The easiest thing to do is just look for the word "comment" and click on it. For example, on this blog, you'll see

If you click on the circled link you can add your comment.

The background to this is a post on commenting on blogs, one of the interesting things that came up over on The Faux Sty forum about Darren reaching 100 posts was the comment:

Congratulations Val on your 100th post, I must admit I have popped in a read a good number of your blogs but I have no idea how to post a response over there, so I'll tell you now how good you are at describing the stuff your at - I must admit I find it insightful to read your blogging. Keep up the good work.

I wonder if that's one of the reason that people don't post comments? That even though you might like what someone writes, you're not sure how to reply?

So maybe this guide will help. Let's start with what to look for:

Over on Damien Mulley's blog (Damien writes about Irish internet related news, topics as well as a host of other stuff and is generally regarded as top blogger) you'll see



And over on Alexia's Blog (she blogs about technology and other interesting ideas) you'll see



but, you can also click on the heading and then you'll see the comment form below the post (which is what an article on a blog is called). This tends to be the same for most blogs.



For example, you can see over on Grannymar's blog (cooking, jokes, adventures and toyboys) you can click on the heading or the comments link



The lovely Annelicious (a terribly interesting girl altogether) has a big Add Comment link on hers



When you click on this you'll see a load of stuff (like below). Don't worry about it. This is just for people who know something called HTML and it's still fine to post your response if you don't.



The lovely girls over at Beaut.ie (who blog about beauty products no less) have the below



While Anthony (he blogs about interesting stuff he finds) has this



and just-come-out-as-metrosexual Darren has this



The Dear Lover Blog (very strange letters from boyfriend to girlfriend) has this



Beginning to see the similarity? All you have to do is click! :)

The lovely Maz, a shockingly stylish Limerick blogger (and ex Home and Away addict) has the below:



When you click there you'll see a form like the below. 2 small things:

1. Enter your name and your email address. Your email address will be kept private - no other blog readers can contact you through it, so don't worry - I'll explain why that's there below.
   
   
2. If you don't have a website/blog/URL don't worry! You don't HAVE to fill it in:

A handy thing to see if the blogger (blog writer) has responded to you is to check the box (if there is one) that says "email me follow up comments", like Grannymar has below:



You should know though that if it's a popular post you'll get a number of emails. Don't worry, as I said, your email address is private and only used for this purpose.

The lovely Deborah, over at Humble Housewife, (she blogs about cooking and related tasty stuff) has the below:



Now, when you click there a pop-up window opens - just fill this in as per usual



There are many different blog designs and the comment links are different but keep an eye out for it:

Grandad (a lovable but grumpy ould fella) has his down the bottom



As does the very quirky and up to date Jazzbiscuit



And Shane at Presenttense over at Ireland.com (the Irish Times website)



And award winning political and equality blogger (and Michael Lynn fan) Maman Poulet



and Twenty Major



and Sinéad Cochrane



and so on - see, it's not that complicated!

Rick O' Shea, of 2FM fame has his at the top (just to be different :P)



and an easy to complete form when you click on comments



Sometimes your comments may not appear immediately, like over at Sabrina Dent's beautifully designed blog



and that's because bloggers like to get to know you, so to make sure you're not a machine (or worse, pretending to be someone you're not) they keep a comment in moderation. This is normal practise - your hard work hasn't disappeared!



There are some blogs made in Blogspot/Blogger (like this one) which is owned by Google. Rosie over at Spanish Exposition (the exploits of a twentysomething year old) has a very popular (and great to read) blog:



When you click on her comments link, you'll see this screen, where you have two options. If you have a Google account (Gmail or Googlemail) you can post a comment using that (and don't worry, your password is hidden and secure)



or you can choose the second option - which doesn't ask for an email address - which looks like



Again if you don't have a "URL" (which means a website address) you don't have to enter one.

The lovely Chanberry over at Fictional Sheep and Andrew of Chancing My Arm and Lyndar the Merciless are similar and you can leave a comment in the same way.



Unarocks (music journalist, world traveller and loves-to-have-fun girl) has something extra on her blog:



Again, this is nothing to worry about, it's just making sure you're human!

Finally, (thankfully you say!) CEO of Blacknight Michele Neylon (who blogs about everything from spam to DVDs) has a slightly different form on his



And if you don't know what that means, don't worry about it!

Finally, just on comments - as I said in this post, bloggers write to be read and love getting comments, so if you have an opinion, a thought or just like what you read, feel free to share.

Please try to remember just as you're one person in front of a monitor, so is the blogger and so they prefer constructive criticism, lively debate and gifts of fine wines than abuse. Well, okay, the fine wine thing is just me.

I hope this helped. If it did, please let me know and share your new found expertise with your friends. Happy commenting!


(Fellow bloggers, I hope it's okay I used (and slightly edited in cases) your work. Feel free to take the images if you think they'd help on your blog. Not everyone's an expert.)

Update for bloggers: Iarhflaith has released free Add Comment buttons for your blog - check them out!

Luxury Brand Engagement

Mulley has blogged recently about community management and how brands should monitor their audience.

Today on NetImperative I read the ‘Luxury Brand Engagement Model’ developed for luxury brand owners on how to contextually and relevantly reach niche consumer audiences.

It's based on six key stages of consumer luxury goods purchasing behaviour. However, I'd go so far as to suggest that most of these should be a guide for all brands, brand managers, community managers, site editors, website managers or anyone in whose interest (or job spec) it is to actively connect and engage with consumers online.

1. Awareness

• Be there, to stimulate word-of-mouth and keep consumers ahead of the game
  
  
• Underline exclusivity through sympathetic targeting and exclusive content
  
  
• Reinforce brand values by pushing offline creative to the next level online

2. Admiration

• Set the gold standard for digital advertising; captivate don’t irritate
  
  
• Offer rational and emotional engagement – entertain consumers online
  
  
• Encourage sharing and talkability – provide interactive elements to pass on

3. Exploration

• Convey brand heritage, authenticity and quality to reinforce brand mythology
  
  
• Replicate in-store experience to extend excitement online

4. Consideration

• Enhance luxury experience through digital media; make the intangible, tangible
  
  
• Flatter the luxury consumer, provide expert advice and peer-to-peer consultation

5. Purchase

• Deliver a superior online purchasing experience
  
  
• Direct visitors to retail stores to complete the experience and purchase cycle

6. Ownership

• Welcome digital consumers to ‘the club’; enhance sense of belonging

I find it difficult to think of any Irish websites doing this well. Innocent Drinks stand out as leaders in the field but in terms of keeping me interested, I don't know of many at all. Anyone got any examples?

Don't be scared - Boo.com is back, and it might just be good

Why the new Boo a dó may be exactly what web 2.0 should be...

Way back in the hey day of the Celtic Tiger Irish Internet boom, websites and web companies were springing up like shamrocks.

I was lucky enough to start work in 2000 with a "revolutionary website, a one stop shop for all your internet needs, a site and product for everyone that would change the internet in Ireland forever".

There was a huge launch, a huge budget, a huge buzz about it. I remember offices in Citywest with 98 people in different teams, all working on this project. It failed.

Certain people may disagree, but how many people are sending their emails through their TV now?

There's no denying it was a great idea, and a lot of talented people worked on it but ultimately the execution failed. Personally, I had a great passion about it but couldn't do much about the ultimate cause... what was to become the disintegration of the Irish Internet Industry.

Very few .coms/.ie's that began then are still operating. Certainly it's only those with good business models who ran their business well, with the support of good staff have prospered.

However I digress. One of the first international .com bombs was the demise of Boo.com, an online fashion retailer (a one stop shop for everything you need...). I remember hearing about it at the time. The founders had called it 'a totally new concept in online shopping'. Its failure certainly ruffled a few feathers.

Being the geek I am, I was recently given the book Boo Hoo, A Dot Com Story and this documented boo's downfall. Fascinating read. Basically as the Wikipedia article, the recent posts in blogs and the book says, it was a good idea badly executed. Terribly badly. $135million in 18 months badly.

And now, apparently, it's coming back and the domain is registered to an Irish user.

And you know what? It looks like it could have something good...

I've never been one for online fashion buying - even if I could earn PiggyPoints from Curly for buying them from ASOS.com, so it may not affect me too much, but what they've done on their (coming soon) homepage is create a slider which could very well be how this internet 2.0 should be.

Basically it's a slider that changes what I see based on where I feel the slider should be. So if the slider represents me and the content is what changes... well that's interesting. Not necessarily new, but interesting.

"Say what you like, love what you find."

One of the big problems I personally have with most websites is that they don't really care about ME. Gerry McGovern writes about seeing your reader, not a user, and most web 2.0 companies who are successful are trying to personalise their sites to the nth degree. That's why this new boo (boo 2.0?) may be on to something.

Think Bebo, Flickr, Moo Cards, Last.fm, Google's personalised Homepage (and the cooler Netvibes) - all offering a more personal browsing experience. It's what I want on my screen.

Seth Godin has posted about a more personal integrated experience as part of Web4. The new boo could be offering that. If I can truly say (or choose) what I like and so I'll love what I find, I'm sold already.

At the moment I'm far more Overture than Overdrive (with one notable exception) and so the idea that my browsing experience will be based not on what the website thinks I am, but who I really am appeals to me.

Personalisation is huge. Look at the amount of Bebo accounts with photos, movies, backgrounds, out there. Similiarly photos on Flickr, videos on You Tube. People will take the time to get what they want.

Amazon kinda does it well - it suggests books/DVDs that other people have chosen - but I may not be interested. The books that are on special offer though grab my attention.

I'm not sure what this new Boo will be. Fashion? Food? Music?

Their landing page gives no firm clue, but if they offer me the chance to get what I want based on who I'm telling them I am, rather than putting me into one of their categories or suggesting it, well that'll be cool.

And so I add my voice to the others who wait (blog) with bated breath to see what this new boo will be. No matter how huge the budget, how fashionable the clothes, how cool the technology or how nice the site, they have to remember there's a person on the other end of the screen trying to find what they want quickly and easily. Make me love what I find.