It really rubs me the wrong way when I see celebs being rude to their fans. Like, do they not realize who got them where they are in the first place? As a performer, I think it’s really important to give any fan the time of day even if it is midnight and I’ve just done both a matinee and an evening performance and this makeup is really drying out and making my skin hurt and I’m afraid that my left boob is going to pop out of this dress at any moment. This person made the effort to come and see me.
My attitude about this definitely spills over into my blogging. I not only love that people are reading my work but comments totally make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I may not respond to them on the blog but I do send e-mails and go visit commenters’ blogs and comment back. It really bothers me, though, when I see a blogger being rude to her readers. As I said in my post about keeping your blog roll healthy, I took one blog off mine because of how the author treated her readers.
Do you show your readers that R-E-S-P-E-C-T?
Mocking people’s comments on your blog is never cool. Ever. Actually, it is permissible if some spams you with dildo advertisements in your comments but under no other circumstances.
It’s understandable that you don’t want people attacking you for everything you post, but things like commenting rules are just condescending. Also, making fun of comments in another post is a sure way to lose readers and get you blog put on other bloggers mental hate list. Come to think of it, a published hate list is also a way to be put on other bloggers mental hate list as well.
“But I blog for myself… if you don’t like it, don’t read it.”
Um, no, you don’t. If you are soliciting readers in any way you do not blog for yourself.
Here are three reasons why you should be kind to your readers.
If you are making money from your blog, your readers are your customers. This doesn’t mean that you need to indulge their every whim but you need to respect them as any money-making establishment does. I’m not talking about government run money-making establishments (these should never be your model for anything in life that you hope will succeed). Think Nordstrom here. They have a-freaking-mazing customer service, great products, wide selection, and stylish decor. It’s a great model for a blog.
This rule goes doubly if you have anything on your site that you are asking people to spend money on. These things range from Amazon affiliate programs to Open Sky shops and even donations for races. Nordstrom always offers money back if they don’t deliver on their promises and even if you don’t like the product. I’m not saying that you need to mail a person that fraction of a cent you received for their page view if they don’t like your site, but I am saying that if you are making money off your readers, you should give them what they pay for.
Most likely more than half of your readers are also bloggers. If you are rude to your readers or just generally don’t respect them, word will get around. You will lose readers. Maybe you have enough that you don’t care or maybe you think that you are so awesome that people will read your blog one way or another. Sorry, but your oatmeal just isn’t that hot. While this really is a self-serving point, it’s still worthy of mention. Think of it as creating customer loyalty, blogging karma, or just “When you’re good to Mama, Mama’s good to you.”
Remember that the blogosphere is all intertwined and others will hear about your shady behavior.
This really should have been the first reason but I like to save the most important for last. Common decency and manners dictates that you should treat everyone with respect and kindness. A million page hits does not make you better than everyone or anyone. Telling your readers that they’re just agreeing with you to kiss your ass is really stupid. Don’t be an Avril Lavigne.
If you feel like you haven’t always treated your readers with respect, here are some things you can do now to fix it.
Apologize to you readers. A real apology is always appreciated and often accepted. You have to really mean it though.
Bow out of the Blogosphere. Maybe it’s time. If you don’t like your readers, why are you still here? If the answer is because blogging is your job… just go. No job lasts forever.
Reassess your blogging priorities. Do you actually want to blog just for yourself so that you don’t have to deal with commenters and readers? Then make your blog private. But if you blog for other people, then practice good customer service.
Have you ever stopped reading a blog because of how they treated their readers?
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
I have stopped reading blogs because of the way they treat their readers. And there is one in particular that I have always enjoyed and respected but she recently left a really sour taste in my mouth with her blog behavior. I haven’t stopped reading completely but I do feel like I’m on the way out. I am always appalled when bloggers lash out at their readers and treat them as if they don’t count. Especially when the blogger is making a ton of cash on those readers (whom some have no idea how much the blogger is actually making because they always talk about how broke they are). But I digress.
Great post.
I dont think I have come across this yet but I have stopped reading blogs because they are redundant and I dont think they are being honest.
I think that’s hilarious what you said “bloggers get around.” It’s true! – in the way that we know it that is. lol.
I haven’t seen bloggers be rude to commenters yet. But I have seen bloggers that were just really negative in their posts. I didn’t like how they wrote or “spoke” so I stopped following.
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I cannot understand this. Not only is it rude and generally offense, it makes the blogger look like a ridiculous 10 year old girl shouting “I know you are but what am I?” Seriously, grow up!
I mean, I don’t need sugar-coated-unicorned-rainbow love shown for your readers every 5 seconds either (it seems fake). As long as you show them respect and keep providing great content, your readers will know you care.
I don’t have a blog, but I have been a reader of health blogs for years, and this drives me CRAZY. Seeing a blogger complain about anyone in a rude manner – either other bloggers in a veiled manner, commenters or people in real life – makes me feel so uneasy and disgusted with the blog. They know that they will get 50 comments from crazy groupies defending them, and it just seems like thats what they want. I CRINGE when I read bloggers who write things like “and then this anon person wrote that i looked too skinny/eat too much/am obnoxious…lets all TRASH this person and make me feel good!” Or when they resort to twitter to insult people and talk about how offended they are and how they want to give up blogging.Well, do it then!
Thank you for this! I went into my google reader and removed about 3 blogs after reading this. This post validated how I’ve been feeling for awhile now.
Ah… I thought I was the only person who had a mental hate list about blogs! None of the people on my hate list are my readers though, so that gets me -1 bitch points? No? I’ve been turned off by the way bloggers respond to comments, but most of the time the rudeness seems deeply rooted in self esteem issues, so if it is a one time thing I usually give them a break. I think when bloggers storm off into the blogosphere because they are upset at one reader, it can alienate a lot more. I got my first kind of negative comment the other day, and all I could think was…”Uh, is this person drunk?” Sometimes, it is better to just slowly step away from the keyboard.
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