By Stacie Clifford Kitts, CPA

I was totally amazed a few days ago when I received a spam comment from a reputable organization that describes themselves as premier providers of specialty tax services. Like I mean flabbergasted. I’ve done business with these people. They aren’t stupid. But come on. They don’t know that spam commenting is sleazy and disgusting and just plain wrong?

Needless to say, it really really ticked me off and got me to thinking who the heck is giving out the bad advice.

For those of you who aren’t bloggers maybe you can still understand the premise here. Bloggers put forth effort. You know, a real time investment involving research, examination and compiling of information for their posts. And for the most part, bloggers do it for free. There is the payoff of course, the showcasing of your expertise, the expansion of your web presence, the name recognition yada yada yada.

Then you get some sleaze ball who looks at your blog site (or they hire some slimy low life company that does it for them) and says, gee I’m going to post a spam comment on this blog to get some free advertising off the back of someone else’s hard work.. Come on WHAT TYPE OF A-HOLE thinks that is a good idea.

If you are wondering, what a spam comment looks like. Well – it generally advertises the services of another company. It reads like marketing literature. It links back to someone else’s website, and for the most part has no real reference back to the original blog post. It’s the blog world equivalent of a form letter, cold and impersonal.

Bloggers post content that they often hope will relate back to a reader on a personal level. It showcases not only the writers knowledge, but also their personality and opinions. Think of spammers like this, you are out having cocktails with a friend chatting happily about what knot when some greasy slime bag wedges his way into the conversation and tries to sell you a used car – eewwww get away from me you creep.

The comment section of a blog is meant for readers who are interested in commenting about the post, sometimes a reader thanks you for the information, praises the writer on a job well done, asks a question about the content or maybe the commenter wants to express their own opinion on the subject .

Hello, the comment section of a blog post IS NOT FREE ADVERTISING SPACE FOR YOU OR YOUR BUSINESS. If you want to capitalize on my time investment and my readership, contact me and I will be happy to discuss the fee for advertising on my site.