How to Deal With Negative and Hateful Blog Comments and Emails

Blog comments contribute largely to your blogging success. It's important to create a buzz on your blog, encourage your readers to comment so you can interact with them.

If you have no activity or your blog, then you'll have very little traffic or none for that matter.

Now, as your blog starts to grow, you'll start receiving negative comments as well. That's ok. You cannot expect everyone to agree with you all the time.

We All Have Different Views

You have to realise that sometimes people will not agree with your content or ideas and that should not put you off at all. Imagine if we all agreed on each and everything under the sun...

Life would be boring, wouldn't it?

Let people express their own views and respond to them with respect and professionalism. Never flame your commenters even if they do you.

Thing is, a debate on your blog generates a lot of traffic and encourages discussion. It's always interesting to see different sides on one topic. So, different views are great for your blog.

Now, there's a difference between a commenter disagreeing with your views and being very disrespectful, trying to tear you down.

How to Deal With Hateful and Disrespectful Comments

A few days ago, I received the most disrespectful and hateful comment on my blog ever. You can see it here:

• How You Can *Steal* My Blog Traffic

As you can see, the commenter was plain disrespectful and rude, without presenting any valid points. He was out to tear me down.

So, how did I handle it?

I'm going to share with you exactly what I did so you'll know what to do IF it happens to you too.

Why I Approved a Disrespectful and Hateful Comment on my Blog

You're probably wondering why didn't I just delete it and pretend that I never saw it, just like one of my friends suggested.

Yes, I could have done that - easily. But here's why I chose not to:

1. 1 disrespectful and hateful comment out of 13,302 meaningful comments on my blog would NOT break me! It means NOTHING.

2. The same comment was left in one of the Linkedin groups and also appeared on his Facebook wall. I have no idea where else! So, deleting it on my blog would be pointless.

3. All top leaders say that when you start receiving negative and hateful comments, you have made it! If you’re doing everything right, then you have nothing to worry about.

4. Hateful comments do nothing to you but negatively affect the commenter as they're showing the world the kind of person they truly are.

5. As my blog continues to grow from strengths to strengths, I'm likely to receive more of these comments, so I need to learn how to deal with them the right and professional way.

6. I have thousands of visitors who come to my blog EVERY DAY, no exceptions. And, I keep getting positive comments all day long, even on my old blog posts. What does this say about this commenter?

7. I'm successful even in the commenter's eyes and he can't stand it! He just proved that I'm growing as a blogger and entrepreneur. I'm doing something right.

8. The blog traffic stats and rankings that I shared with my readers are a true reflection of my blog's performance. I have nothing to hide.

How I Responded to a Disrespectful and Hateful Comment

One of the key responsibilities of a blogger is to respond to your readers’ comments. This encourages ongoing interaction and even more comments.

However, with this particular comment I did want to engage with him and entertain his false accusations. If he presented valid points, then that would have been a different story. I'd respond to them.

I visited his two months old blog and I was absolutely shocked by what I saw, for someone who claims to know it all, with "25 years marketing experience".

So, I didn't respond to his accusations. How can I engage with someone who doesn't know what he's talking about? He should lead by example, right?

I thanked him for his comment and mentioned that there were no inaccuracies or deficiencies to respond to and advised him to focus on his own blog and business as I'm doing perfectly fine. You can see my responses here:

• How You Can *Steal* My Blog Traffic

What About Rude Emails?

It's not only about negative blog comments. Some people on your list can start sending you nasty emails, accusing you of all sorts of things, to tear you down.

It's not nice when people say horrible things to or about you, when you're doing everything right and running your business with integrity.

So, what should you do when you receive nasty emails?

I still remember when this happened to me for the first time, a couple of years ago. I was upset and shattered. When I told my mentor, he said: "Don't respond! Never engage losers!... You're a brilliant marketer, don't take it personally". And that made me feel better.

There are 3 things you should do when your subscriber is rude, swearing at you and so on:

1. Get them off your list a) Go to your Aweber account. Then click on the "Subscibers" tab and choose "Unsubscribe".

b) Enter their email address in the box.

c) Unsubscribe them from your list and block them by checking the appropriate boxes.

Or

If they just replied to the email that you sent them, scroll down to the bottom of the email, then you'll find the 'unsubscribe' link. Make use of it and get them off your list. They are clearly not interested in what you have to offer and they don't respect you at all.

2. Do NOT respond. Don't argue or fight with people.

3. Delete the email - you don't want negativity around you.

Key Takeaway

Not everyone is going to agree with the views that you express on your blog. If everyone agrees, then you should be worried.

And, as your blog or business continues to grow, you'll start receiving disrespectful and hateful blog comments or emails. Do NOT let them get to you. It's a sign that you're doing very well and some people can't stand it!

On the contrary, this should inspire you to keep doing what you're doing. As long as you're doing everything right and are acting with integrity, you have NOTHING to worry about. I mean absolutely NOTHING.

Your Turn:

• Do you get negative blog comments and email?
• How do you deal with them?

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