Blogger 101: Comment Reply...

Hello Everyone! I just wanted to share something really cool with you today. I've shared this neat little tip with some of my BBF (best blogging friends) before but I've had so many questions lately of "How do you do that?"  So, since you are my BBF too, I thought I would just TELL IT TO THE WORLD, that is if you're interested of course! ;)

Question is:

When I leave a comment on your blog, how do you reply back to me in an email?

example:  Dear friend leaves me a sweet comment asking me a question. I get an email notification of the comment. I click on that email notification, read it, click reply and answer her question. But! If Dear friend doesn't have her email listed with Blogger, then I am replying to a "no-reply blogger" and she will never get my answer...Then I would never know that she didn't receive it...She thinks I'm ignoring her...And we don't want that to happen do we? NEVER!

Instead, I want to receive the email notification, click reply, answer her question and hope to start a lasting friendship...that's what blogging is about right? RIGHT!

So let's make sure we are all set up and we aren't missing any replies okay? It's very simple. With a few clicks of the mouse here and there, I can have you on the road to meeting and greeting more friends out there on a more personal basis instead of leaving personal comments where "everyone" can see them.

**Note: this should not and will NOT take the place of comments as we all love to receive comments!!! This tip is only for that "extra" step to maybe say "thank you for visiting" or ask questions about a particular post, etc.

Let's try this out as I will explain it in simple "baby steps" to make sure we are on the same page. If you are interested, you can lower my blog, open your blog and work on yours at the same while I attempt to walk to you through it. Ready?

First things first, we need to make sure that your email address is properly inserted in several Blogger fields...

Sign in on your blog (top right hand corner) if you are not signed in already.

Click on My Account (top right hand corner)

Right in the middle of your screen you will see the column Personal Settings. Verify that your email address is in the Email Address Field. If it is there, we will move on. If it is not there, click Edit and type it in.  Save changes.

On the same page to the left of the screen, you will see My Products. Under that, you will see Blogger - Settings. Click on Settings. You are now in the Edit User Profile. Scroll down until you get to the Identity section. You will see Email Address. If your email address is not listed in that square, type it in. If it is, great as we are almost through! Save changes.

From this page, click on Dashboard (upper right hand corner)

Under Manage Blogs, you will see Edit Posts - Settings - Layout - Monetize. Click on Settings.

On the Settings page, you will see tabs that read Basic, Publishing, Formatting, Comments, etc. Click on Comments.

Scroll to the bottom of the page and you will see Comment Notification Email.  If your email is in there, you are set up. If it is not, add your email address there. Save changes.

We are done :)

Now, when someone leaves you a comment on your blog, you will get an email notification. Directly from that email, you can reply to that person through email and answer any questions or go into detail about any topic discussed without feeling the need to hop over to her blog, comment, and leave information that is really too personal for "everyone" to read or leave a comment that is "off topic" of the most recent post.

I love to use this feature when someone leaves me a sweet comment and I want to go and thank them for doing so. Or when I want to add a little something personal that I don't feel comfortable about "everyone else" reading it. To me, it just lets that person know you went the extra mile in contacting them personally.

The only thing to remember is now that you are set up...not everyone is set up so remember: when you get the email, and click on Reply, always right click on the sender's name. When you do, you will either see a valid email address or you will see "no-reply blogger". When you see the latter, don't even bother clicking Send because they will not get it. This is what I'm trying to avoid by sharing this great tip with you so you can share it with others and we will ALL have a "no-reply blogger" free world! {sigh and smile}

Hope this helps as this information has helped many already and we are able to keep in touch so easily. If you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them. My email address is at the top on the left. Oh by the way, that's awesome to have handy on your blog page too!!!! :)

Do you know how hard it is for me not to post a pretty photo in this post? Oh it is really hard. I don't think I can click Publish without doing so. I can't. So here's one for you for following my tutorial. You can right click and save it if you'd like! :)

So the question I'm asking YOU now is...

Are you a "no-reply blogger" free blogger??? ;)  Believe me, I'll find out if you're not...I'm off to do some right clicking! ;)

oh! and if you changed all of the above information and you want to "test it out", just leave me a comment on this post asking me to visit you. I'll then go to your blog, leave you a comment and from there you will get an email notification of my comment. From your email, you can reply back to me to verify that it works. Trust me, you'll love it!  ;)

Have a wonderful weekend!!!!