Etiquette and the Fine Line of Shameless Promotion
This morning’s blog post was prompted by a cartoonist from India who has tried (at least twice) to shamelessly promote his website URL in the comments section of my blog. Both times, no attempt was made to engage with what I had written. Instead, the person submitted a brief paragraph with URL directing readers to visit his website. Worse yet, this cartoonist attempted to conceal his identity by using different email addresses, both of which were trace routed to the same location.
Needless to say, both comments were promptly deleted and I didn’t even bother to check out the person’s URL. It could have been an amazing comic, but thanks to this individual’s blatant attempt to spam my site, I’ll never give it a chance.
Why?
Because this guy thinks posting a self-promotional blurb in the comments section of an established blog is all it takes to promote his work. And he could never be more wrong. In fact, what he did was insure the opposite response.
Imagine going to a networking event for the sole purpose of handing out business cards advertising your product or service. Guess how many of your business cards will go in the trash when you leave? Chances are: all of them.
To promote yourself, one needs to engage with other people first. Take time to learn about their interests, what they like to do, etc. Be a good listener.
With blogs, take a few moments to learn about the writer of the blog. Read the blog posts and engage with the writer by sharing your thoughts in an intelligent, informed manner.
People are more receptive to hearing what you have to say when you take a moment to understand and engage with what they are trying to say.
Don’t be a rude spamhole.
-Krishna
These beautiful and intelligent people wrote
Tell me what you think!
bman (The Underfold)
December 13, 2011 at 11:03 amThat’s not promotion. That’s spamming.
Ken Drab
December 13, 2011 at 11:05 amWell said Krishna – as usual! :-)
Ken Drab
December 13, 2011 at 11:06 amBTW – can I borrow “spamhole”? THAT IS AWESOME!!
Krishna
December 14, 2011 at 8:48 amYes, Ken – you may borrow the term. Spamhole has a great ring to it, doesn’t it?
Barry Buchanan
December 13, 2011 at 2:18 pmI totally agree with you and here is the post on my site to back up your point… Oh wait. :) I have an idea who the offender might be, but I’ll keep that to myself. Comments are in themselves a way to cross promote. commenting on other sites is a great way to get out there for others to be aware of you, but it can be abused rather quickly. Just putting in a link is just a horrible violation.
InkTank
December 13, 2011 at 2:19 pmI had to shut my site down for all the spam. I even turned into some sort of automated spam keyword farm. =(
Had to cut it loose and will need to start over.
Krishna
December 14, 2011 at 8:50 amBummer – the spammers are relentless (sad to say). Akismet does a good job filtering out spam on WordPress installs. Looking forward to your return to comics, Barry!