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Like the principles of entrepreneurship… what worked in the 1800s for Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford, James J. Hill and the Rockefeller are still the fundamentals principles of today’s entrepreneur.
Blog commenting may also be seen as an old school way of promoting a blog, especially in today’s world where most of the conversation has moved beyond regular blog onto the social media sites – Twitter, Google Plus and Facebook. But it effectiveness has a blog marketing tool is as relevant as ever to the success of a blog popularity as it was in the 2000s.
That’s why I wanted to share with you some of what I have learned and discover over the years about using blog commenting to drive effective targeted traffic to your blog.
More than ever, effective regular blog commenting is a very good strategy to build relationship with other bloggers, expand your knowledge, drive traffic, seek guest post opportunity, building links, attain expert status etc.
So without wasting much of your precious time, let’s go along together while I deliver my 16 blog commenting best practices.
#1. Don’t comments for links (SEO benefits)
I see many bloggers making this very mistakes of thinking blog commenting is all about building links for SEO purpose. You’re dead wrong if you’re still thinking this way.
First, take away such mindset and frame your mind in the right direction of what blog commenting is all about. The quicker you understand and agree to this simple but complex rule, the better you’ll make the most out of your commenting efforts.
Blog commenting is an easy way to fall into Google’s link building scheme penalty if you’re mainly doing it for SEO purposes. If your primary aim is to run a marathon of leaving xxx numbers of comments a day on blog posts, then you will probably fall under the hammer.
When a huge number of links pointing towards your site are from blog commenting other than editorial votes then you’re automatically inviting one of the animals (Panda, Hummingbird, and Penguin) in the Google zoo to come dine with you.
Do your blog commenting naturally and don’t make it a mandatory task to leave certain amount of comment every xxx days, weeks or month.
Blog commenting shouldn’t be part of your SEO strategy!
#2. Don’t comment “only” on ComLuv enabled blogs
Like you, I was completely wrong when I made that decision of only leaving comments on comluv enable blogs. I know many bloggers get frown when after reading, scroll down to the comment section only to see that comluv is not there as the commenting system.
The harsh truth is, if you’re looking for other blog readers to convert into your own blog loyal readers…..you won’t find them on comluv enable blogs. My finding shows that most traffic that comes from comluv enables blogs are one time visitors that are looking for link juice.
They are not genuine blog readers; these people are only on the look for blogs to promote their latest blog post and are not really interested in your blog topics.
If you’re aiming to convert other blog readers, then make it an exercise to always leave comments on other commenting systems as well, there you will find genuine blog readers. These type of readers are not there for links but to read and associate with the author.
#3. Be early
Being first or at least among the first five to drop comments on post matters a lot. This help other blog readers that visit later to see what others have said about the post and if yours happens to be an awesome thought, they might as well check you out.
I have had a couple of success with this strategy on problogger.net – but be careful how you utilize this strategy; don’t abuse it by making it as often as possible to always be the first one to comment – especially on a particular blog.
It could easily become annoying on the part of the blog author and other blog readers, also may result into making some horrible nasty comment or irrelevant statements. Don’t be in a rush to read and leave comments, take your time to read and understand what the post is all about.
#4. Be consistent
Nothing in online marketing that help most to be successful at what you’re doing than to be consistent.
Just like your blog posts need to be regularly updated, to get the best out of your blog commenting effort you must be consistent with it and make it an art to always do it regularly and natural.
#5. Read first, comment later
Recently, my very good friend Enstine publish a post on his blog that not until you read to the end of it, the headline will certainly makes you jump into making a quick comments.
Many who left comment on the post didn’t read to the last sentence therefore, they left irrelevant comment on the post. This proves they’re out there to get link back to their latest post.
Don’t follow this route; not saying a word is far better than hundreds of Jargon.
If you don’t have time to read the post, you can as well share it on twitter for at least the author will notice that on the social networking platform and may reward you for sharing his post.
#6. Relevancy matters
It doesn’t matter how popular or engaged the blog you’re commenting on is, if it not targeted to your blog niche the traffic may not be as useful as you had anticipated. Don’t just aim at popular blogs like Huffingtonpost, Marshables,Techcrunch etc.
All these blogs might not get you blog readers, their blog topics is diverse and they at least might get you blog tourist. Focus on commenting on blogs that write on similar topics as yours and with good signs of engagements on their blogs post.
#7. Look out for engagement
Like I said above, focus on commenting on blogs that has a good and healthy community around their content. This will ensure your valuable comments will be seen by many other blog readers.
It’s like the search engines competition, lots of users like to use and prefer Google over all other search engines out there. So why not optimize your content for Google and take advantage of its universal acceptance?
Same goes for blog commenting, leave comment on blogs that have large community of blog readers. For instance, I would prefer commenting on quicksprout over CNN or HuffngtonPost despite their massive Alexa traffic rank and popularity.
#8. Reply to comment
While you’re doing most of your commenting strategies outside your blog, don’t forget to keep it going too on your blog post.
A good way to show your readers you appreciate and value their visit is to always respond to comment left on your blog post.
You’re building relationship and keeping the sense of community in their heart by replying to their comments and this will ensure their return visit which will continue to boost your traffic level.
#9. Look out for opportunity
Sometimes, and many of it…..you will come across other blog readers who left questions on the blog that has not being answered either by the blog owner or other commenters. Use this opportunity to show how good you’re in your topic and build up your portfolio as an expert.
This is an advantage of gaining the trust, building authority and credibility in your field. All these qualities you’ll need in increasing the amount of quality targeted traffic that drive your way and build brand awareness.
#10. Build Relationship
Building long lasting relationship should be one of the main priority you’re commenting on posts; in this business, no one survive alone and you will certainly needs the help of other professional bloggers to build a successful profitable blog.
By building quality targeted relationship, you’re opening the door to many opportunities that will accelerate the progress of your blog like “Guest Posting” and “referencing”.
Bloggers links mostly to bloggers they know and those in their circles.
#11. Be different
If everyone that comments on the post are leaving such a lengthy comments, try crafting out a short but well meaningful comment.
And if reverse is the case, try a captivating lengthy comment. Whichever way it goes….it makes your comment stands out.
12. Prove you’re Human
One of the very things you’ll need to master in online marketing is identity. Always be ready to attach your true self to whatever you’re doing online.
In the beginning of your internet business career, you may feel tempted to hide your face because of the fear of rejection or amateur. But don’t worry, be yourself and prove that you’re human and there is a very handsome guy behind your comment.
Use a picture of yourself as your avatar that follows you everywhere you go online. Avoid using images of animals, cartoons or any other pictures of celebrities.
Here is a link that you can use to set up your very own online avatar in case you don’t already have one.
#13 Read other Comments
I know this is a bit difficult and maybe time consuming, but it helps a lot to find opportunity among other commenters.
If you’re not reading through other people’s comments, how do you know when someone has asked a question that hasn’t begin answered yet?
The first time I had a conversation with Kingsley of kingged.com was through the comment left by one other reader on Enstine Muki’s blog. I was about leaving a comment when I glance through other comments and there was a particular comment that caught my attention.
I responded to the comment and instantly it sparks up an intensive conversation between us. From that time, we have come to know each other better and even now shared valuable helping hands together.
#14. Ask Questions
Asking questions or wanting to know more about the topic makes you stand out among other commenters. Also, this get you notice instantly and bring you into spotlight.
Those who are interested in answering your question might as well be interested in building up relationship with you. This is really good for building up portfolio of people like minded and bloggers alike.
And most especially, if you feel you don’t understand what the author is saying instead of leaving one liner comments like “nice post”, “great tips”, – ask question.
#15. Use Your Real Name
If you ever run a blog, you will know how frustrating this one could be when you see things like, “John SEO Traffic”, “Five star hotel In Canada”, etc as the name of comment authors.
No matter how relevant or remarkable your comments may appear to the blog owner, it will surely ended up mark as spam or possibly in the trash folder.
#16. No Anchor text in comment
Except that you’re very sure of your relationship with the blog owner and the anchor text in question is for educational purpose only; no other reason for including a link to other sites in your comment.
You will be perceive as spammer and this could lead to Akismet and other spam fighters tools to always mark your comments as spam.
These 16 blog commenting best practices will help you mostly get the best out of your effective regular blog commenting efforts if you take them seriously, and some of the points listed on this list needs to be work on long enough to see the required results you want – targeted website traffic that engage with your content, relationship building, networking etc.
There are many more commenting best practice that are not included in the list, I urge you to help share your positive experience with us in the comment box below.
Shamsudeen is a passionate blogger, internet marketer and the author of several E books including “How to Build a Successful Blogging Career In Nigeria”. CyberNaira is the blog where he writes about his day to day experience as a professional blogger.
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