Are You Faking It?

Do manufactured comments really increase readership and community involvement? The reason I ask is because there is a list going around of tips on how to make your blog successful. I’ve seen it several times in the last couple of weeks and I’m not sure where it originated from or who wrote it, but it has shown up in several of the newsletters I receive and on several blogs (none of my favorites – they all have original content). Most commonly the list has six items on it, but every once in awhile I see a slightly reworked version with five or seven. The basic six are:

1.Use WordPress
2. Disable Comments Until you get Traffic
3. Rewrite old posts and submit them to article directories
4. Make some Videos
5. Ask to trade links with related blogs
6. Add Fake Comments

I completely agree with number one and numbers three through five. However, the two items about comments really bother me.

Maybe fake comments will help to make your blog more successful in a shorter amount of time, but they really are cheating. The sixth item usually actually says something to that affect, then adds “well, too bad for you because it works.” Jeez. I understand the theory but how inorganic can you get?

I know how hard it is to get people to read your blog. I know it’s difficult to get a good discussion going in the comments for a post. But I find it extremely unethical to start adding fake comments just to get other people to comment. If your post isn’t good enough for people to take notice and comment on it, then write better posts. Engage your readers and they will respond. If you have to trick people into involving themselves with your blog, then perhaps you shouldn’t be writing a blog at all. Maybe you should try short stories or novels.

Maybe I’m being too harsh here. It’s probably something I should test out. I mean, this is a blog about making money for free, right? And it certainly doesn’t cost anything to add fake comments to my posts. But I’m just not sure I could bring myself to do it. This blog is so new and I get so excited when people comment. I honestly think that if I started comment-baiting (I think there are two levels to that term…) I would lose that excitement. So, as much as I dream of writing the great American novel, I don’t think I’ll be starting it anytime soon. And certainly not in the comments section.