Many people starting a company blog are concerned about comments. Three things usually come up, and are easy to address. What a relief!

1. Spam: You will be inundated by spam comments

In an effort to get traffic back to their own sites, unscrupulous people and the automated robots who work for them post comments to blogs 24/7. First and foremost, have your web developer install a tool that will block spam comments. Next, consider whether you want to moderate all comments that are posted so nothing winds up on your site that will reflect badly on your business.

If you choose to moderate your comments, decide who in your company can commit to a quick response time. You want people who leave legitimate comments to feel they are being heard and valued. You can also use an outsourced blog management service for this and other tasks.

Comment notifications can be sent by email, and WordPress even has apps for iOS (Apple) and Android that allow you to quickly moderate comments from wherever you are.

Not all unwanted comments are necessarily spam. If you feel a comment is too generic or just an empty compliment (both signs of someone just looking for a link), you can remove it from your site. You never have to approve or display comments just so there are comments on your blog. Think quality rather than quantity. This leads nicely into the next comment concern.

2. Volume: There will be too many comments to keep up with, or none at all

It takes time and effort to build a community of blog readers. Depending on how carefully you’ve planned your blog, how much you’re promoting it through social media and email, and the size of your network, there may not be very many visitors at the start.

Also, your visitors may simply not want to post public comments, no matter how much they’ve enjoyed your material. This is nothing to worry about. After all, do you want a lot of comments or a lot of calls from prospective customers?

Some people will send feedback in other ways, such as by email, social media comments, or sharing your post with their own social networks.

It’s not likely you’ll need to worry about a high volume of comments, at least for awhile. If you do find you’re spending too much time responding to or moderating comments, consider outsourcing the task.

Whatever you do, make sure that irrelevant or spam comments are removed promptly, and that genuine comments get a thoughtful response. “Thanks for your comment,” is a good start, and then try to build on something specific they said.

3. Critics: People will criticize you and your company

We know intellectually that it’s impossible to be adored by everyone on the planet, yet we can still be absolutely tormented by negative feedback. Even a thoughtful and sincere remark can be threatening if it disagrees with our own statements.

Critical comments can feel like a personal attack for whoever wrote a particular post, but they can also be worrisome to the marketing manager and/or business owner. Will this “bad press” have a negative impact on your company’s credibility?

Sometimes an inflammatory comment needs to be ignored or deleted, but often it can be an opportunity to reiterate your point of view while still showing the commenter – and the rest of the world – that you care about other people’s opinions.

Tip: Whether they say it on your own blog, on a review site, or their own site, if people are unhappy with your company they will make their feelings known. Use an online monitoring tool such as Talkwalker to stay on top of your company’s online reputation.

As WordPress and blogging expert Lorelle VanFossen says, “It’s your blog. You choose what is on it.” She also says that you have a responsibility for what appears on your blog, and that if you care about your readers, you’ll clear away the comment clutter.

Spam comments should be removed immediately (or never posted), but so should any comments you feel detract from the conversation you are trying to have with your community. Ultimately, the most important thing is to keep posting well-written and relevant blog posts that will get people talking!

One of the reasons companies abandon their business blogs is that the people tasked with producing blog posts run out of time, ideas, enthusiasm or all three. These are often over-burdened marketing directors, salespeople, business owners or executives with a full plate of existing tasks. They want and need blogging to be a team effort, but how do you turn other people into bloggers?

Let’s look first at why people visit your business blog. Generally, they want to see:

• The voice and personality behind your business
• Tips they can use to improve their business and life
• Whether your company’s people are experts at what they do
• How active your business is, and what’s going on there

The best people to share this information are the ones working at your company, whether they work directly with customers or behind the scenes. Unfortunately, many of those people don’t consider themselves writers and so they probably won’t come forward when you ask for blog contributors.

Here are five steps for pulling blog post ideas out of the non-writers in your company:

1. Create a framework. Start with what would be most interesting and helpful to the ideal customer who will be reading the blog, then incorporate your blogging plan, your company’s branding, and a topic/category that’s coming up in your editorial calendar. Hint: Here are eight blog topic ideas for businesses.
2. Outline the article. With your framework in place, draft an outline of the article – the main point you might like to make (be open for the person to introduce new ideas – that’s why you’re approaching them), some possible sub-points, and some related posts you might refer to (from your own blog or elsewhere).
3. Write 5-10 questions that will fill in your outline. You may not use them all, but this way if one falls flat you can stay moving. Introverts, especially, will appreciate if you send the questions before the meeting so they can start gathering their thoughts. Include some general questions that will fire up the person’s passion for their topic.
4. Interview the person and ask your questions. As they wind down with each response, always ask, “What else?” before moving on to the next question. Don’t be concerned if the conversation strays from your outline, just get down all the details. One interview may lead to multiple blog posts or other pieces of content. Use a digital recorder if you’re worried about writing or typing fast enough.
5. Share a draft. Once you’ve drafted the blog post, ask the person to review it. They may want to clarify something or tweak the language so it’s more in their voice. They may also have new ideas to add after reflecting on the conversation later (this is especially common for introverts).

You can present the person’s contribution in several different ways:

• Quote the person as an expert source, as you see in newspaper and magazine articles
• Format the article as a list of questions and answers
• Write the whole article in the voice of the guest blogger

Keep things as authentic as possible by presenting the person’s words verbatim where possible (here’s where recording the conversation will really help). Of course you’ll also want to maintain the language and professionalism you’ve established in your company-wide communications policy and blogging plan.

Your company is full of potential bloggers, but they need your help. Use these five steps to turn people’s brilliant ideas into valuable blog posts that demonstrate your company’s expertise.