Blogging Etiquette

/ Joan Hall

Hey, SE Readers. Joan with you today. Most independent, and even some traditionally published writers, are also bloggers. A blog is a great way to connect with readers and build your audience.

In a past Story Empire post, I wrote about making your blog user-friendly by choosing a well-known platform such as WordPress, not making it difficult for readers to leave comments, etc. Today, I want to take things a step further and talk about blogging etiquette.

Image courtesy of Pixabay

There are no rules set in stone, but following these few tips are not only easy, doing them will make readers want to return. It’s a win-win for the author.

Always answer comments. If someone takes their valuable time to read your blog and leave a comment, reply to them. You don’t have to write lengthy paragraphs. Sometimes a simple, “Thank you for visiting today,” will suffice as long as you don’t get in the habit of doing that every time with every comment. If a reader asks a question, be sure to respond.

When a blogger/author consistently doesn’t take time to respond to comments, that tells me they don’t care. Granted, there are always exceptions. Life happens and sometimes even with the best of intentions, there may be times when we’re unable to respond.

If you schedule a post and know in advance you’re going to be away, close comments. I’m not familiar with other blogging platforms, but WordPress makes it easy. Visitors can still read, like, and share on social media.

Whenever possible, use the commenter’s name when responding. I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t always do this, but people like it when you call them by name. Doing so is a great way to build relationships and it shows others you care about them as an individual.

When someone hosts you on their blog it’s doubly important to answer comments. It’s not only rude to the host, but also to those who visit and comment. Remember, the host is doing you a favor, not the other way round.

Don’t hijack conversations. When visiting someone else’s blog, it’s perfectly fine to respond to another commenter. But don’t take advantage of the situation by overtaking the thread to make it all about you.

Don’t argue with others. No two people are going to see eye to eye on everything, but a blog is not a place to argue. It’s okay to agree to disagree, but it’s not necessary to have the last word on everything.

Don’t leave comments that say, “Please follow my blog.” That’s a huge turn-off for me and for many bloggers. That isn’t the way to make friends and influence people. There are much better ways to build relationships.

Along that line, I recently had a situation on my personal blog with someone who was obviously a marketer. (Like a bad penny, marketers seem to show up everywhere.) This person “hijacked” one of my posts, wrote a paragraph about who they were and what they were selling and promoting, then proceeded to reply to every person who had left a comment with one word. “Hi.” Needless to say, I marked every one of this person’s comments as spam.

If someone reblogs one of your posts, make a point to thank them. It’s just common courtesy.

Try to return visits. We’re all busy and most of us don’t have time to visit dozens of blogs each day. But make it a point to at least check out the blog of someone who visits yours.

These are just a few common courtesy tips. I find most people in the blogging community to be friendly and outgoing. Fortunately, I haven’t encountered many of these issues.

What are some tips you would add? Please share.

167 thoughts on “Blogging Etiquette”

  1. Pingback: Wrapping Up 2022 | Story Empire

  2. Joan, I’ve been off-and-on, off-and-on blogging with WordPress for about a decade, but this is the best list of blogging etiquette info I’ve seen. Everyone has their own personal outlook and view of what blogging means to them, but sometimes folks don’t think about what blogging means to those who take the time to acknowledge our efforts. Well done!

    Liked by 2 people

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  13. I once accidentally turned off all notifications for my blog. I felt so rude when I realized that people had commented and I never responded! Lesson learned- always double check your settings if you think no one is commenting.

    Liked by 3 people

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  14. Pingback: Blogging Etiquette | jobbet.com

  17. Thanks for the nice post. How would you start to attract readers to your blog? I am new at blogging and has not been successful in attracting readers to my blog. Not sure if it is the content or the topic, or no one can even see my posts. Thanks.

    Liked by 2 people

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  24. Excellent post. I used to do Guest Posts on my blog, I would host authors and do interviews or they could write a post. I would always make a mention of when the post was going live and to please check back to read/answer comments. So few would, even if I reached out and said “there are comments and questions on your post, please could you check them out and reply” and still people wouldn’t. It doesn’t make for a good impression.

    I admit I can be late replying to comments sometimes due to circumstances, but when I reply I also apologise for my tardiness and thank them for reading and commenting. It’s just good manners.

    Liked by 2 people

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    • Good point about when a person is late to respond. Life happens but an apology is just common courtesy.

      I don’t understand why people don’t bother to respond to guest posts. Not a good way to be invited back.

      Liked by 1 person

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      • Exactly, I black listed several people for their lack of interest in people’s questions about their post/interview. That and the ones who completely disregarded my guidelines and would make their whole post one giant book advertisement.

        Liked by 2 people

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  29. Thank you Joan for sharing these insights! I think it is also important to answer in the most appropriate language of the blog. E.g. Dutch is my mother tongue and English my second language. Though my own blog is in English, I can answer Dutch blogs in Dutch which I should do instead of in English. So if you know the language of the host, answer in that language I presume.

    Loves from Sophie

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