Dean Says:
January 24th, 2008 at 9:13 pm

Michelle:

I have been reading your blog for a while and I have posted a few times as well. In fact I read your blog where you talked about this issue and I was going to comment but did not. I have to say I totally agree with you, you had every right to delete there post, I would have done it myself.

This same thing happend to me except it was not on my blog is was on dealburnr.com, I posted some some products I was selling and a competitor went in and posted links to his site saying he sells the same thing, but cheaper. Well I deleted his post and even emailed him telling him is was a cheesy thing to do.

I just think this is your blog and you post good info about your business, it’s your place and a great place to get feedback from your customers and readers. For a competitor to come in and post a link back to their site is just cheap.

You are right, did they actually think you would leave it there.

Love your blog, keep up the good work.

Stop by my blog sometime and tell me what you think.

Dean
www.asktheidentityguy.com

Raajt Bhadani Says:
February 5th, 2008 at 4:46 am

am surprised when you say this because I know most bloggers like me have the option where we approve of posts before they appear on the site otherwise it will lead to a lot of spam…
even companies or bloggers who have many posts a day - have somebody to look into the comments to approve them to be shown online
Do you use wordpress for blogging?

John howard Says:
February 5th, 2008 at 5:26 am

In my opinion, you are missing the whole point of blogging. A blog is meant to be an open, two way conversation. It’s like a town hall meeting. People dont get turned away from town hall meetings because their views might be unsettling.

What you are doing is the equivalent of editorializing. It’s like when newspapers “selectively” publish letters to the editor.

Now granted, it might be stereotyping to assume that your clientele might not be hip to this whole Internet thing, nor care that you are deleting blog posts. But you might be surprised.

Just today a 73 year old man asked me about blogs and whether or not they were permanent records of conversations because he couldn’t find something he had seen before. I immediately thought of you and replied “well, they are supposed to be but some people don’t necessarily use them as intended.”

So, I think your customers WILL notice and wonder what you are hiding. If you offer the best product at the best price, what are you worried about? If you don’t, why would you have a blog that would give your clearly superior competitors an opportunity to steal your customers?

In any case, you are not alone. Many businesses want to reap the benefits of the Web, without really understanding what has made it popular in the first place. But the acceleration of the rise of the prosumer is already creating a backlash against this mentality. It’s your reputation that’s on the line, so my advice is to study the concept of radical transparency and work it into your business plan.

Liz Says:
February 5th, 2008 at 5:51 am

“What I did was the equivalent of locking my door.” I have to agree with you. If you were a brick and mortar store…would you allow your competitor to hold up a sign in your store directing folks to their shop? I think not…no business owner would…well, at least those who wanted to remain in business. I believe your competitor deserves the Shame On You Ecommerce Award.

I have been sitting on the fence about whether I should add a blog to my site or not. I’m still sitting on the fence.

Wishing you continued success!

Peace,
Liz

Eric Says:
February 5th, 2008 at 6:06 am

Absolutely. I just set up a blog for our ecommerce site and haven’t even posted to it yet (tips? What sort of stuff goes there? We sell educational toys)..but anyway, I would IMMEDIATELY delete a post from a competitor. Anyone who accuses you of “unfair” censorship doesn’t sound like a small business owner to me. Edit ruthlessly!

Andrew Jensen Says:
February 5th, 2008 at 6:19 am

Michelle, I always enjoy reading your articles. I’m glad Practical Ecommerce has chosen to feature a “real” business blog like your! I would definitely do the same thing that you did–had it been one of my clients’ blogs. As you said, the whole purpose of your blog is to boost your site’s rankings and draw in more traffic. Competitor comments, ethically speaking, can most definitely be purged. It’s your blog–you’re paying for the hosting & investing the time into it. You do what you want. If others see an “ethical problem” with it, so be it. While leaving honest and sometimes critical customer feedback lends to the integrity of the blog, purging competitor spam is fully justified.

Lars Says:
February 5th, 2008 at 6:30 am

I don’t understand what you even mean.

Do you mean that a competitor is leaving COMMENTS on your blog posts that link back to the competitor’s site?

How can a competitor “post” on YOUR blog if you don’t give them a login and password and access?

Of course you have the right to delete any comments by direct competitors that are just designed to take advantage of the work that you have done by writing the blog in the first place.

You wouldn’t allow a competitor in the real world to come to your store and put posters on your walls and windows advertising their competing store.

So it is just as reasonable that you wouldn’t allow a competitor to put things on your blog or your web site.

I wish you would explain though if someone is just leaving comments, or if someone actually has access to your blog and is posting things.

Kay Says:
February 5th, 2008 at 6:50 am

Michelle - I would have done the same thing. She is trying to steal your customers, and it makes no sense to sit back and allow her to do so.

JCC Says:
February 5th, 2008 at 7:45 am

Michelle,

I agree with you 100%. You have every right to edit those posts and remove entries that are inappropriate.

I think sometimes we forget that a website is truly ours! And by that, I mean a virtual “space” that we exist in (nd own) on the web. If someone came into our home office or brick and mortar store, and began to lead our customers out by the hand, we would ask them to leave.

The “virtual” nature of a web business doesn’t mean someone should enter the space and act rudely, or in an underhanded way.

JCC Says:
February 5th, 2008 at 7:46 am

A typo that should have read…

a virtual “space” that we exist in (and own) on the web.

Rafe VanDenBerg, Principal Consultant Says:
February 5th, 2008 at 9:13 am

Michelle — I’m with you. You aren’t running a news site or academic forum. You’re running a business and must act accordingly to protect your interests.

Erik Schubach Says:
February 5th, 2008 at 9:30 am

Michelle,

Censorship of an opinion that opposes yours would be an egregious mistake and would undermine visitor’s confidence in your other postings if they were to find out.

However, you have the every right right in the world to edit and/or delete any spam or objectionable materials you do not believe belong on your site. After all it is your website.

It is obvious that your competitor intended on gaining parasitic traffic from the back link they posted. That in itself qualifies the post as spam.

I believe you did the right thing in this instance.

I would inform the offending competitor that you feel it was a dirty trick, but if they would like to post their honest opinions without the back link, you would be more than happy to display their comments in the blog responses. This way they cannot cast a bad light on your censorship to potential customers.

Erik

Giant Says:
February 5th, 2008 at 10:27 am

That’s why we have locks on doors. I’ll censor anyone for any reason if I feel justified. I trust my own judgement, as you do.

Sandra Says:
February 5th, 2008 at 10:42 am

I totally agree with you, I approve all comments before they post. I do not censor comments unless they are profain,spam or a blatant attempt at stealing business. I also do not allow track backs which has eliminated a lot of those problems.I have business associates that think visiting other business blogs that sell similar items or services are a free form of marketing so they visit as many as they can. A personal blog may be a form of open conversation, a business blog is an open forum for your clients and/or customers not someone who wants to take your business.

Darlene Norris Says:
February 5th, 2008 at 2:42 pm

Michelle,

I can’t believe ANYONE would object to your removing your competitor’s post. After all, it’s YOUR blog, and this is a BUSINESS.

If someone wants to leave a real comment on an article on my blog, that’s great. I welcome real comments that are discussing the article, and I wish I got more of them. But I ruthlessly remove any comment which is just trying to steal my traffic, which includes, “Oh yeah, great post, by the way, visit my site to buy natural male enhancement!” Removing this kind of garbage is NOT censorship.

Some people have a problem with anyone trying to earn a living online. I suspect they’re the ones doing most of the complaining. Jack Humphrey at The Friday Traffic Report did a post on this at http://www.jackhumphrey.com/fridaytrafficreport/index.php?s=hippy+bloggers

Darlene

David Says:
February 5th, 2008 at 5:51 pm

Most blogs use the “no-follow” tag on comments. Of course, only the most important search engine puts any relevance on this label.

So people clicking on the link or the entering the URL of your competitor would be direct, and not because of search results or backlinks counted.

If you’re worried about what other search engines think, then I think you have a big enough website or business that that should be negligible to even affect you.

You could edit the comment and just take out the link if that’s possible (or retype the comment as a new one.)

John Howard Says:
February 14th, 2008 at 3:51 am

A few readers here have touched on this, but just to clarify why there might be some confusion…
Sure, it’s your business, you can censor as you please. You think it’s cool to have a blog, so you set one up on- yes, Blogger.com But wait a minute- doesn’t one have to be a member of blogger.com to post on your blog? Generally, yes, unless you allow anonymous postings. Why? Because Blogger is a community. That means it is more than just your store. It’s not as if your shoppers can’t search for other blogs about hats. In fact they can do it right from your blog itself using that Blogger nav bar at the top of your page. By the way, since you are so concerned about visitors leaving your site for your competitors, you should dump that nav bar- it’s in the Blogger settings.

My point is, until you understand that blogs aren’t supposed to be walled gardens, you shouldn’t be using one. Why not just run your own private discussion forum software? Why have your customers sign up with the Blogger.com COMMUNITY?

Shannon Says:
February 14th, 2008 at 9:34 am

It entirely depends on the post. If it’s a competitor who is truly engaging in the conversation, then I think the post should stay right where it is. Blogs are about exchange of thoughts and ideas, and one of the ways we learn about our industry is to watch our competition. If we didn’t want that information out there, why would any of us post blogs? I’d like to think my product stands up to comparison with the competition, and if it doesn’t then I want to know about it.

However, if it’s someone who is just posting meaningless drivel to skim traffic such as Darlene describes, by all means hose it. They aren’t participating in the conversation. There’s no dialogue to respect.

Kathryn Martyn, M.NLP Says:
February 19th, 2008 at 11:28 pm

My policy regarding comments is to publish them if they contain an actual comment on the post in question, whether I agree with the content or not. If the comment in question is nothing more than a plug for some other site, then the post is rejected. That’s why you’re allowed to “publish or reject.”

At least your competitor seems to think your site worthy of their regular attention