Recently, on the “Bloggers Helping Bloggers” group on LinkedIn, a member started the discussion “Do You Reciprocate Comments? Why Not?” It turned out to be one of the most active discussions that we have had and it certainly elicited a lot of comments. I was impressed by how passionate some bloggers are about reciprocating every comment. From a strategic point of view, is there value to commenting on a blog simply because the blogger left a comment for you?
Commenting On Blogs – the 3 Stages We Go Through
When I stepped back and thought about how my strategy for commenting has progressed since I first started blogging, I realized that I can identify three different “stages” in what I believe is a cycle of sorts:
Stage #1: Building Awareness
As a new blogger, I was struggling to draw attention to my blog. It can almost be painful waiting for those first few comments. I remember desperately wanting comments – any comments. Even spam looked a little more reasonable back then. If someone left a comment for me, I made sure that I went to their blog and left a comment for them.
My objectives in my early stages of blogging were to:
- Drive traffic to my website. My target reader then was everyone. (I was using the “throw the spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks” approach.)
- Get other people to spread the word by talking about my posts and sharing them on social media websites.
My initial tactics:
- Install the CommentLuv WordPress plugin to entice new readers to my blog by rewarding them with “do-follow” links when they left a comment on my blog.
- Reply to all comments to foster discussions and create an environment that encourages sharing.
Stage #2: Building Your Online Presence
In stage two, through Google Analytics, it became clear to me that the best use of my time was to concentrate on commenting on blogs mainly in my niche. That’s where my potential readers are.
As I started gaining traffic, my objectives changed to:
- Drive targeted traffic to my blog. I had been getting website visitors who were looking for a “do-follow” link to their blog rather than visitors who were truly interested in my content.
- Build top of mind awareness in my niche.
My tactics evolved to:
- Comment on blogs that my target clients read. (If their readers found my comments valuable, they visited my blog and many became regular readers. This tactic works exceptionally well when I leave comments on CommentLuv sites that link to one of my posts that relates directly to the content of the post that I’m commenting on.)
- Build relationships with bloggers who are already established in my niche by commenting on their blogs and sharing their articles on multiple social media sites. (Check out my Stalking the Popular Kids post for more on this strategy.)
Stage # 3: Focusing on Strategies that Work
When I first started driving traffic to my blog, I spent a lot of time commenting on other blogs but when I looked at my analytics, I was getting very little traffic from most of those blogs. While commenting on blogs helps my community building efforts, it’s time for me to look into other alternatives such as guest blogging to increase my exposure even more. (Check out Danny Iny’s interview on Kristin Hines’ blog to see why this strategy may help drive more traffic than commenting.)
Objectives based on results:
- Spend my time on strategies that work for me.
- Track what I’m doing and be open to new ideas.
Tactics based on strategy:
- Pay attention to where my current clients have found me and spend more of my time there.
- Pay attention to current trends and changes while being open to establishing a presence on social media sites such as Google+ while at the same time not staying with the status quo simply because it’s comfortable.
What is the best use of your time? If you’re a food blogger and someone leaves a comment for you with a link to their blog about archery, does it make sense to hop over there, read their post and leave a comment? What do you think? Do you reciprocate all comments? Do you see yourself in any of the “stages” that I believe my blog has gone through? As always, your thoughts and ideas are welcome.
About Sherryl PerryWelcome! If you're looking for help building an Internet presence that fits your needs and works for you, you're in the right place. I blog common sense articles about WordPress, social media and SEO. My goal is to help small business owners and entrepreneurs understand their core business. Together, we can develop and implement business strategies that make sense to you.
Sherryl,
This is a great article! I like how transparent you are with how you grew your blog. The strategies you share seem to be very effective and the best part is that you had a different strategy for each phase of your website.
I used to leave tons of blog comments for one of my sites so that I could network and grow my audience with my comments as well, but most of them didn’t touch commentluv to help influence more interaction.
I currently don’t use commentluv but I am definitely considering it so that I can get some more influential people in my niche to reach out for some dofollow link love.
How effective have you found commentluv with attracting big bloggers vs not having commentluv?
Jason
This is all very valuable information. I’m also a believer in reciprocity when it comes to comments on my blog. But more importantly, I have build really great friendships with my readers. Great Post!
Wendy recently posted..Why NOW Is The Time To Become A Professional Blogger
Hi Wendy,
That’s great that reciprocity works for you. I certainly benefited from it when I first started blogging. Some of my best online friends are other bloggers who I met in the “sharing” discussions on the LinkedIn “Bloggers Helping Bloggers” group. (That may be something that you would like to check out.
My only caution these days is to be cautious of accepting and leaving links on sites that Google’s webspam team could potentially deem as being “unnatural”. For example, I blog about SEO, social media and blogging. So, an unnatural linking pattern would be if I were to have a lot of backlinks to my site from a recipe site, fashion, gaming etc. Even though I have friends with blogs in those niches, if I comment, I don’t want to leave (many) backlinks.
Thanks for taking the time to let me know that you enjoyed this post.
Sherryl Perry recently posted..How Can you Improve Your Website Blog? #FridayFinds
Hello Sherryl, You made some excellent points in your article and it is great information to be available on the net. Especially for any new bloggers who are looking to get traffic this information will give them a starting point in their journey.
Great article!
Walter
Walter recently posted..Enter For a Chance To Win a Kindle Fire HD 7″ Tablet
Thanks for letting me know that you found my article helpful Walter. I think all of us who have been blogging for a while still remember those first days when we’d blog and no one would come.There is hope for all of us. 🙂
Sherryl Perry recently posted..Friday Finds – Facebook Hashtags, Google and CommentLuv do-follow Links
I usually suggest my visitors they ought to learn the humanities to create quality comments on other blog, since this is very good way to yell, and help others together with your suggestions.
Building backlinks is simply one other way while leaving comments however I always get it done with another intention. And because of this, my comments stick out in the crowd and individuals like to visit my blog.
Thanks for this awesome article.
Kulwant recently posted..BCIS 20: Interview With Creative Logos Designer, Ifham Khan
Kulwant,
With Google’s focus now on social signals and recognizing “authority” sites, it makes a lot of sense to take commenting seriously. I look at every comment that I leave as a reflection on myself. By adding value to the comments that we leave, there’s always the possibility that someone will be interested in what else we have to say and they could end up visiting our sites.
BTW – The link that I’m sharing with my reply is about pinging. (You may find it of interest.) One of the tips that I shared (originally an idea I gleaned from Ana Hoffman) is to ping a site after you leave a comment that includes a backlink. (The idea is to alert the search engines that there’s new info there.)
Sherryl Perry recently posted..How to Ping Your Website Blog and When Not To
Very brilliant reply Sherryl.
Yeah, these days Google is checking to much things to award quality blogs and filter out low quality blogs. Social signals and profile authority might be two of the factors. And social signals are playing vital role in boosting our article higher in SERP, as I have seen this practically.
I am checking your pinging sites article now.
Thanks again.
Kulwant recently posted..5 Blogging Traps Which You Must Avoid
Thanks for letting me know that you found my post helpful. It certainly stimulated a healthy discussion in the comments!
Sherryl Perry recently posted..How to Use Facebook Fan Gate to Get New Likes
Diane, I have a Chrome extension that shows what links are no-follow, and I notice that everyone is highlighted. Do you have a setting checked that is making everything no-follow?I once made my entire blog a \”do-follow\” blog, and it was a big hit. I\’m going to make it that way again. I love the interaction that it brings. Todd
Hi Todd,
I don’t know what Diane uses to create do-follow links. I wouldn’t want everything to be do-follow on my blog but I do like the way the CommentLuv Premium plugin works. The free version of CL turns all the links (of comments that are approved) into do-follow. With the premium version, I have the option of approving a comment, leaving the link and removing the do-follow tag on individual comments. I find this extremely helpful because sometimes people leave legitimate comments but they link to a site that I don’t want to be associated with.
Sherryl Perry recently posted..Less Obvious Landing Page Conversion Killers
Hi Kabenlah,
I too have built many online relationships with other bloggers through commenting and sharing each others content. Thanks for visiting my blog and taking the time to join the conversation.
Sherryl Perry recently posted..Is Your Email Address Part of Your Brand?
Great post, thank you.
How do you fight spambots? Do you have a lot of automatic comments to moderate?
Hi Natalie,
Thanks for letting me know that you liked my post. I use CommentLuv Premium for my commenting system. It has G.A.S.P. (Growmap Anti-Spam Plugin) built into it. It’s very effective on preventing spam. G.A.S.P. is available separately as a stand-alone plugin and it’s free. I recommend installing it if you’re looking for an anti-spam WordPress plugin.
Sherryl Perry recently posted..Are You Using Google AdWords for Pay Per Click Advertising?
Hi Sherryl! What works for me is to set a time to do blog hopping and blog commenting several times a week. This gives me the opportunity to really know what is trending in my niche and reach out to other bloggers who talk about the same topic. I even share their posts in my social media accounts if I really find their content really interesting and useful to my followers.
James recently posted..Small Business Web Marketing Updates
Hi James,
Thanks for sharing your strategy with us. That’s definitely an effective tactic and one that I followed for over a year. During that time, I joined a Triberr tribe and started my own but I went back to blog hopping and being active in a LinkedIn group. As Triberr grew (and I established my online presence), I started receiving invitations from tribes that are well established and targeted to the niches that I concentrate on. So, now I seem to have entered a new phase where I’m finding fresh content from those tribes. (The majority of them were new to me.) I haven’t verified this strategy with my analytics yet though. So, the verdict is still out as to how effective this is. We’ll see.
Sherryl Perry recently posted..Tracking Changes to Your Website Blog and Social Media Strategy
Hi srerryl blogging now has become a huge part in an even bigger number of people’s lives and in my opinion is so etching that should be embraced. Leaving comments on people’s blogs helps build a community spirit that unfortunately has become a part of society that is falling apart. So maybe blogging in a sense will help bring that back.
Great post lee
Hi Lee,
I always tell people that commenting on blogs and replying to every comment left here is part of my community building efforts. There’s so much noise online and so many choices that one way we can differentiate ourselves is by making it personal. Most of us recognize that we usually prefer to do business with people who we like and trust. Online is no different to me in that aspect.
Thanks for weighing in on this. It’s good to hear someone else talk about community spirit. 🙂
Sherryl Perry recently posted..Utilizing Social Media to Build Brand Awareness and Authority
Hello,
Commenting on blog is very important work to create backlinks for any website. This post specifies the importance of commenting on blogs with the strategies that works for blog commenting.
Thank you for sharing this great post.
Hi Naga,
I recognize that a lot of people value commenting on blogs for the backlinks and I am grateful for traffic that I receive from other blogs. To be honest, in most cases, the traffic that I receive from backlinks is the result of building a relationship with the blogger. I believe that commenting on random blogs in the hope of achieving link juice through backlinks can be a futile attempt. However, when done strategically and as part of a strategy to build awareness, it can be very effective.
Thanks for taking the time to join the conversation.
Sherryl Perry recently posted..4 Tips You Should Know When You Start Blogging
As a blog owner, I feel that it is very important to reply to every comment left on a blog post that you have written. Even if the commenter says something like “Thanks for the tips,” you should reply with a “Thanks for stopping by” just to keep them engaged and wanting to come back.
I agree with you Ian. It’s all part of building relationships. I have to admit though, if all someone has left for me as a comment is “Thanks for the tips” . . . unless I recognize them as someone I know, there’s a very good chance that would end up as spam. Now that I’m thinking about it, I have one of the G.A.S.P. settings in CommentLuv Premium configured to automatically send comments with fewer than 8 words to the spam folder.
Sherryl Perry recently posted..Need More Eyes on Your Website? Comment on Blogs.
Goodness, you send me over here and there’s 174 comments before mine; I hope it doesn’t get lost. lol
When I started commenting on blogs, my intention was to find ways of driving traffic to my blog. What I discovered pretty quickly is that there was a lot to see that I was interested in, niche or not. I also found that my comments were better if I liked the topic than if I didn’t. In many ways, those comments were better on blogs outside of my business topic at the time because, well, in my field of expertise there were a lot of horrible, boring writers; that’s just the truth.
So I commented where I liked, and I still do that. I find I feel better for it, the comments are better, and people will track me back to wherever I’ve indicated I’m from (multiple blogs, so I tend to change up here and there depending on topic) and share their thoughts. And sometimes, since it’s not something they thought about, they might take a gander at what I have to offer and every once in awhile someone buys something; nothing wrong with that. 🙂
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You’re welcome Emilia. Thanks for taking the time to join the conversation.
I for one totally agree that it can be difficult to keep up with comments. I strive to always reply to every comment left here but I long ago realized that I simply could not reciprocate all of them. I definitely do comment on other blogs. Most of them are blogs that have terrific content that I’m eager to share.
As for changing your strategies, it’s really important to make informed decisions. I keep a spreadsheet to help track changes so that I have a fairly good idea of what caused what. (I linked to a post about this if you’re interested in how I do this.)
Sherryl Perry recently posted..Tracking Changes to Your Website Blog and Social Media Strategy
These days, blog comments will do what it supposed to do. Unlike in previous months or years that commenting is done for seo purposes hence a lot of spam comments has been received by blog moderators but today due to google penguin updates, blog commenting is no longer the primary method in seo so spam comments has been minimized and only useful comments now is made to every blog posts.
I just came back to reread this post. It’s funny how your perspective changes as you grow with your blog and the activities you do along the way. I am still in the middle of growing my traffic and understand the value of awareness of my brand/blog. I also am now in the midst of determining where and how best to use my time. I just thought I would give you an update… 🙂
Thanks for the update Susan. As a fellow member of the “Bloggers Helping Bloggers” group, it’s great that you came back to the discussion here. Figuring out what the best use of our time is can be a challenge. I’m constantly evaluating my online strategies. I realize that I sometimes may risk offending someone by not reciprocating all comments but I believe most people who I’m connected to understand and I’m sure they would understand if you decided to adjust your strategy as well.
BTW – I have definitely noticed the growth of your blog and I am getting hooked on it. 🙂
Sherryl Perry recently posted..The 2012 Reader’s Choice Award for Best Marketing Strategy Blog
Hi Sherryl, You just made my day. Sometimes when we’re in the trenches we don’t always take the time to look up. You have helped and continue to help me to look up. I know I’ve said it before but, again, thank you for being there and for all that you do. 🙂
I always make it my priority to leave relevant comments that others will eventually learn from. I’m glad that you have such an interactive community of readers and commenters. Thanks.
Hi Don,
Leaving relevant comments really helps to build awareness. Any time we can add value, it can be a win-win for both us and the other blogger. I believe asking thought provoking questions is valuable too.
Thanks for letting me know that you appreciate the community here. I’m very pleased with it. From day one, I’ve maintained that we can all learn from each other and that’s proven every day here. 🙂
Sherryl Perry recently posted..How to Grow Your Google+ Followers
Hi Sherryl,
Your first paragraph made me smile. I felt exactly as you did when I wrote article after article and no comments.
Unfortunately it is a catch 22. When you are starting no one knows about you so it is very frustrating. And when someone lands on your blog and sees no activity they may think the blog is not valuable.
You had a very good idea starting a group. After 2 years of struggling I came across a challenge course. One of the benefits was a private Facebook group. I can’t tell you enough how how just that one aspect of the challenge course positively affected me.
I began to receive comments on my blog, I became more interactive, motivated and I finally believe that I truly am going to reach my goal of being successful online.
Thanks for this great post, off to add commentluv to my blog.
Dita
Hi Dita,
Thanks so much for sharing your experiences with us. Private social groups can be invaluable. I started a very small “secret” group on Facebook. Lots of times, we’re very quiet. Our only agenda is to support each other. Sometimes we’ll share a valuable piece of information (usually not something that’s being overly publicized) and sometimes we ask for help. No one is selling anything to each other and we openly share our skills and knowledge with each other. Insider groups like these can help in so many ways – sometimes as a resource for helping to keep our sanity. 🙂
Sherryl Perry recently posted..Utilizing Social Media to Build Brand Awareness and Authority
Blog commenting is a great way to reciprocate our appreciation and I completely agree with all the strategies you utilized to be better and well-recognized. I commend you for replying to each and every comment that is left here, this truly signifies that you value your readers in general. Thanks and I will most definitely refer to the stages you enumerated here.
Thanks for the kind words Kristine. Building an online community has always been a priority to me. I’m of the mindset that we can all learn from each other and I truly value the time and effort that many readers expend to add value in their comments. It’s good to have you here!
Sherryl Perry recently posted..Thanks to SEO a Newspaper Reporter in Pennsylvania Found my Blog
Glad I read this post it showed me I am doing somethings correctly. I like the idea about guest blogging and Diane’s tip regarding leaving the link to a particular post. Going to check out some of your other links. Txs
Hi Lydia,
Welcome to the conversation! Diane had some great tips in her comment (as did many others here 🙂 ). When you leave a comment on a bloglike mine (that has CommentLuv enabled), it’s easy to leave a link to a post on your blog. (They’re do-follow links too. So they have the potential of helping out with the search engines.)
Like Diane, I always try to choose a post that I think would be valuable. If I’m leaving a link in a reply here, I try to choose a post that my readers may find helpful. If I’m leaving a comment on another blogger’s post, I leave a link that either relates to the topic that they have written on or that I think would add value to their readers.
I’m glad you enjoyed my post and I hope you find other articles here that will interest you.
Sherryl Perry recently posted..Do you Brand Yourself, Your Company, or Your Product on Social Media Sites?
Very interesting post! I should open a blog in English very soon, here in Italy still nobody usese commentluv
Hi Ivan,
I wish I could knew Italian! I checked out your blog and couldn’t read a word. 🙂 Let us know when you launch the English version. (Oh…. I could have translated it!)
Sherryl Perry recently posted..Is Your Email Address Part of Your Brand?
Surely I will inform you when I open the English version of the site and the blog! Thanks for your interest!
Thanks for sharing such an informative content. I truly agree with you that following a single strategy never works, instead what we require is a gamut of such strategies. Reciprocating to the comments, also makes you closer to the reader.
That’s a great comment about making you closer to the reader Aayna. Building (and being part of) a blogging community is very important to me. Thanks for taking the time to let me know you enjoyed my post.
Sherryl Perry recently posted..Is Your Email Address Part of Your Brand?
Hey Sherryl
This is a great post. The thing I like about your blog is that you take time to reply to every comment that has been made here and that is really a kind gesture. Its great you shared your own experience and strategy here. It may be of great help to many.
Hi Richa,
Thanks for letting me know that you appreciate my replying to comments. I am truly grateful that so many people take the time to contribute here. My replying to every comment is my way of letting everyone know that I value their ideas, thoughts and opinions. I’ve been told many times that people find a lot of value in the comments that are left here. Often, I learn new things from the comments too.
Sherryl Perry recently posted..Is Your Email Address Part of Your Brand?
I have been blogging for quite sometime. But I am still unable to follow a particular strategy in blogging.I understand that giving quality comments and sticking to the topic is necessary. Could you provide me with a few more tips?
Hi Sharon,
The first thing that I recommend is to hop over to Gravatar.com and register for a globally recognized avatar. (It’s free.) Register the email address that you use for comments, upload a head shot photo and associate it with your blog. Being “seen” with your photo can go a long way to making personal connections.
My second suggestion would be to consider adding CommentLuv to your blog if you’re not already using it. (The free version is fine to get started.) Then start commenting on CommentLuv blogs (like this one) and leave a link to your site. Most of us let you leave your Twitter ID too.
My final suggestion is to seek out other bloggers who are already reaching your target reader and start sharing their content. Provided it’s good content, it will bring value to your followers while making that blogger notice you. If you’re interested in reading how I implemented that strategy myself, check out: http://keepupwiththeweb.com/2-steps-to-stalking-the-popular-kids-and-getting-more-traffic/. Good luck! 🙂
You have mentioned some great points for blogging. One should not stick to one strategy. Keep trying a number of them initially and stick to something that works the best for you. In the dynamic online environment, one has to keep thinking of new ways and ideas. Comments are a great way to learn what others have to say as well as its a great way to learn new things. Nothing comes easy in today’s world, so working hard and keeping your readers interest can work good.I am a great fan of guest blogging due to the unending advantages it offers.
Hi Joy,
I have read so much about the benefits of guest blogging. Instead of having it on my “to-do” list, I should make it a goal. (Maybe once I catch up a bit. 🙂 )
Sherryl Perry recently posted..Does Twitter Drive Traffic to Your Website Blog?
Hi Sherry . Thanks for such a thoughtful share . The commentluv strategy works seamlessly . Moreover guest blogging also helps to increase readership and foster business by improving the page rankings. Blog commenting also needs to be used effectively and one should know where to comment else the whole comment traffic strategy can collapse . Wonderful share .
Thank you so much for letting me know that you found my article helpful Purnima. Everyone has to find what works for them. I’m still trying to find time to guest post. I spend so much time replying to comments that I haven’t made time for much guest blogging. I have been writing some articles for the Business Knowledge Share group on LinkedIn but that’s due in a large part to having deadlines set for me. 🙂
Sherryl Perry recently posted..4 Basic Steps to Better Blogging, Better Branding and More Business
Hi Sherryl,
It seems to me your commentluv strategy worked, I actually found you in Google when I ‘googled’ “commentluv social blogs” or something.
Anyway, my take on guest blogging : definitely one of the best ways to increase traffic. In fact, in the SEO world today, since the recent updates in Google algorithms, guest blogging is arguably the best way to increase rankings in the SERPs (granted with a backlink in place). Other SEO strategies have been shown not working like it used to before the updates (like article submission, blog commenting, social bookmarking). So, yeah, if you get found in the SERPs, this definitely means more traffic.
Hi Rex,
Thanks for letting me know how you found me. I appreciate that. I still have not made the time to guest blog but I know I should. I’m barely finding the time to write for my own blog! Of course, I spend a lot of time replying to comments and in spite of how much I try to write short posts, I don’t. As for SEO, the people that find me through search keeps rising. So, I must be doing something right. Although, I honestly don’t spend a lot of time thinking about it. There are a few keywords that I try to rank high for and I tend to use those in my title and heading tags. That’s about it for me.
Sherryl Perry recently posted..SEO Should Be A Habit Not A Headache
You’re actually doing the right thing. SEO today is now mainly about creating great and useful content. In my opinion, the focus is now on natural SEO and linkbuilding rather than the oldschool (black hat) SEO that I mentioned in my previous post.
I think guest blogging is a nice way to increase traffic on your blog.make a strategy before doing a comment on other’s blog post.these three steps strategy will be much effective,build a awareness is much important,you should aware guest blogger that i am reading your post will be easy to communicate with others.
Hi John, Thanks for taking the time to add your thoughts to the conversation.
Sherryl Perry recently posted..What’s The Best Way to Build a Website? – (Part 2 of 3)
Thanks for the great post! For me I’m still trying to figure out the best strategies that work as you outline in stage #3. I enjoy reading different blogs and think it is an excellent strategy to get fresh ideas and look for different ways to build your marketing efforts. Dedicating time on a weekly basis reading some of the better blogs has helped me build my marketing efforts and improve traffic.
Hi Tom,
Good luck with your commenting strategy. I hope you’re open to a suggestion. I can’t help but notice but you don’t have a profile pic associated with your email address. It’s free and easy to set one up at Gravatar.com. That way, when you do leave comments, we’ll see your smiling face and get to know you as a person. As people start to recognize you, they’ll engage with you more.
BTW – I wouldn’t normally read an article about car insurance but you hooked me with the title. You have a nice writing style! I left a comment for you. (I’m going to send you a personal email with another suggestion.) Thanks for dropping by and taking the time to comment.
Sherryl Perry recently posted..What is Your Twitter Strategy for Following Someone?
Hi Rachel,
I think when we all start blogging, we’re open to trying anything. Then, as we start getting traffic, we can refine our focus and develop strategies. Thanks for your feedback. I appreciate it.
Sherryl Perry recently posted..Do you Brand Yourself, Your Company, or Your Product on Social Media Sites?
Sherryl, I would say this was one of the most helpful blog posts I have come across this week. Although I think the Bloggers helping Bloggers comments strategy is a nice gesture. One has to really think if its effective strategy. I love all your suggestions and appreciate you sharing. I went ahead and subscribed to your blog as I feel your articles provide value.
Hi Angel,
(Sorry for the delay in replying to your comment.) I appreciate knowing that you found my post valuable. The Bloggers Helping Bloggers group (on LinkedIn) has really grown. I don’t think it’s feasible to try to interact with everyone who posts there. To me, the value is in helping those that you can and interacting with people who you you want to connect with.
The reason that I’ve structured that group so that links to our posts have to be in a separate discussion is that the true value is in forming relationships and helping each other. Since many of the bloggers who join are trying to drive traffic to their blogs, it’s important to provide a place to share links byt I don’t believe that it should be the main focus of the group. Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts with us.
Sherryl Perry recently posted..Does Twitter Drive Traffic to Your Website Blog?
Even though I don’t use Commentluv on my website, but it does help with commenting on other sites – just to prove that you’re not spam. Also great for finding Blogs to comment on.
Thanks for sharing the post and views. I enjoyed reading the comments from the other people as well. It made for a informative – worth while read.
Anton, I know quite a few bloggers who reach the point where they stop using CommentLuv because of the amount of spam that it does encourage. I’ve noticed recently that I’m spending more of my time trying to determine if a comment is spam. What I’ve noticed a lot of lately are comments that are really good but eerily familiar. I take the time to search for parts of the comment and sure enough, an entire comment has been scraped and reposted by a spammer. I really hope that I don’t reach the point where I remove CLP but if it reaches the point where spam becomes a real issue, I may.
Sherryl Perry recently posted..3 Steps to Develop a Branding Strategy for Social Media
Great Post! Thanks for sharing. I agree with mostly everything you stated, especially about finding your target audience/niche and trying to then draw quality traffic from those sources. At the beginning those tactics of returning a comment for comment are still a great practice to have in place. If you can manage it , I would recommend you try to uphold that practice as much as possible.
Hi,
I would really like to be able to follow the links and visit each blog that is left in the comment section here but honestly, it’s not feasible for me any longer. On an average day, I spend a minimum of one to two hours simply replying to comments that are left for me. (That applies to my days “off” too.) I could try to write shorter replies but one of my goals is to foster discussions in the comment section here. To me, shorter replies would be less valuable.
If I do select a link to follow and comment on, I make every effort to leave a comment that contributes to the discussion there. Additionally, I actively participate on at least two LinkedIn groups. So, it’s a choice of what is the best use of my time. I agree with you that if it’s feasible, it’s great and it does help to strengthen online relationships. Thanks for taking the time to weigh in on this.
Sherryl Perry recently posted..Do you Brand Yourself, Your Company, or Your Product on Social Media Sites?
Hi Sherryl,
I totally agree with you, our time is very valuable and we must make the best out of it! I wish there was more than 24 hours in a day , that would certainly help! ha
At first my blogs had simple comments enabled (nofollow, nolink etc). Then I installed commentluv / keywordluv. At first my blogs had little to none comments each day that passed. Then after the installation… Boom! Comment hunting is a thing of the past for me.
I encourage my readers to leave their comment? I have readers and commenters.
Thank you!
It’s good to hear that Jim. This reminds me that one of the things that helped me was to submit my blog to the “DoFollow Blog Directory” at http://dofollow.info/. That directory ranked 7th for me for driving referral traffic last month. Anyone who has a CommentLuv enabled blog should submit it to this directory.
Sherryl Perry recently posted..Do you Brand Yourself, Your Company, or Your Product on Social Media Sites?
Many people talk about traffic to their blog, which is a beneficial side effect to commenting,but many do not realize that when you put in the URL of your blog, sometimes it is better to point that URL to a post that you have done rather than to the home page. The logistics to this tactic is that you will recieve traffic to a post that you have done as well as your blog and if that post has a commonality with the post that you are commenting on, it creates a mutual connection.
Interlinking pages within your own blog is a great strategy. Google loves interlinking and it adds value to your readers to point them to a related article on your blog. Meghan Wolff recently wrote a guest post for me and it’s on 8 white hat SEO tips. One of them is to do exactly what you mentioned here. (I’ve linked to it below in case someone wants to read what Meghan had to say.)
Sherryl Perry recently posted..Top 8 White Hat SEO Tips for E-Commerce Websites
Rewarding commentators with a do-follow backlink is the greatest incentive one can give. Nevertheless, this strategy has its disadvantages, as it may attract many spammers. On the other hand, I really like when the blog owner tries to build a close relationship with his readers, share his experience and giver free tips.
Hi Jack,
Do-follow backlinks definitely attracts spammers and it can be time consuming trying to determine what I should and should not allow. One of the biggest advantages to upgrading to CommentLuv Premium is that it’s easier to manage individual links. It’s possible to accept the comment, remove the link completely or leave the link and remove the do-follow tag. Of course, it still takes time to follow the link manually to determine whether or not I want to be associated with the site. Sometimes making that determination is what takes the most time!
Sherryl Perry recently posted..Do you Brand Yourself, Your Company, or Your Product on Social Media Sites?
To be honest, I’m not the guy who will visit the site of the other dude that leaves a comment on my blog just to reciprocate the comment. Most times it could be very uninteresting as most of the commentors run blogs with niches that are sometime boring, and I can’t think of an intelligent comment to drop.
I find blog commenting to be less productive in general than guest posting – that is where the bumper benefit is! By the way, I’m in stage 2 🙂
Hi Ugo,
Reciprocating comments in hopes that you’ll connect with someone is a strategy that has it’s merits when you’re first getting started. It does help to build awareness (provided that you have set up your Gravatar and your Twitter account) but as we start getting strategic, we quickly realize that it can be a waste of time. As for guest posting, that’s where I drop the ball. I have to get more proactive about that. Good for you for already incorporating this strategy.
It’s nice to meet you her. Thanks for the feedback.
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I’ve been commenting for a time now and building my presence is one of the most difficult part for me. Great strategies here!!!
Thanks for letting me know that you found my article helpful. It takes time to build an online presence. It looks like you’re well on your way to me.
Sherryl Perry recently posted..Top 8 White Hat SEO Tips for E-Commerce Websites
Before commenting, you need to know exactly where to comment. If your blog’s about dog training and you comment on Web Designers Ledger, you should know the amount of traffic will be little and the SEO gain may be zero. The most important thing in blog commenting is the blog you comment on. If you get that wrong, then your whole comment traffic strategy collapses.
Let’s find the blogs you want to comment on. This is really easy. What’s your niche? For example, if I was trying to find blogs for Darren at ProBlogger to comment on, I’d Google “blogging blogs.” He’s in the blogging niche and we’re looking for blogs. Combine that to get “blogging blogs.”
Jack, I believe there is value in commenting on blogs outside of our niche. It’s a great way to foster relationships and there can be value in exchanging comments. There is so much to learn online and sharing information and exchanging ideas is a great way to acquire knowledge.
Sherryl Perry recently posted..Top 8 White Hat SEO Tips for E-Commerce Websites
Excellent advice. Patience is paramount, for sure. I have only one comment on my blog so far, but I know it’ll grow. Right now, I’m concentrating on adding the content i want to add, and checking out other blogs for ideas and insight. Love reading what others’ experiences have been, too.
Hi E.J.,
It can take a while to build awareness that your blog is out there. It’s important to start taking steps to get noticed asap. For starters, I’d recommend going to Gravatar.com and creating a free globally recognized avatar. (Then, when you comment, we’ll start to “recognize” you by your profile pic.) If you’re not already on Twitter, I suggest creating a presence there. Then, when you leave comments on CommentLuv sites (like mine), after you enter your Twitter username once, we’ll see it whenever you comment. (Along with your profile pic, we’ll start to recognize your Twitter username too.)
Thanks so much for joining our conversation. There are some really great bloggers here. It’s great that you’ve joined us.
Sherryl Perry recently posted..4 Simple Steps to Building Your Brand Online
Hey Sherryl,
Awesome post. You summed up everything you had in your experience. I appreciate you sharing it. One thing I am working on right now is consistently following the techniques that works best for me – that drives the most targeted traffic (I don’t get much traffic either, I guess I should also work on gaining more traffic).
Anyways, thanks for your valuable insights!
Jeevan Jacob John
Hi Jeevan,
Thanks for letting me know that you liked my article and thanks for joining the conversation. This has been a great discussion and it looks like it may go on for a while. 🙂
Following the techniques and strategies that work for you is a wise strategy. Just because something works for me (or another blogger), it doesn’t mean it will work for you. Conversely, what’s working for you may not work well for me. Targeted traffic is definitely better for most of us. (I say most because if you’re looking to court advertisers, you do need numbers.)
Sherryl Perry recently posted..Tracking Changes to Your Website Blog and Social Media Strategy
A very well thought out post about comment strategies and you are so right in saying that in the beginning it really does feel like spaghetti being thrown at a wall ( love the analogy)
For me, my strategy is to be as credible as I can be, so posting a comment is done with thought as well as knowing my topic. The fact is I do not know everything, so…lol posting to a blog that has no meaning to me makes little sence.
some of the strategies that I use and have used well are:
1. Creating google alerts on those keyword/longtails so that I can find out what others are doing within “my” niche and I will take the time to post on their blogs or social pages. This helps create “me” as someone to talk to about like minded interests, sometimes agreeing or even disagreeing (politely) with what a person is saying. The added value to doing this is I can learn something new in the industry and I can make more contacts, which is good in creating traffic back to “me”
2. I don’t treat comments as a comment, but rather a way of talking to the author or even another person who had made a “comment” on that blog post. By changing my mind set, I have come to realize that I am (within myself) creating a way of visiting a person and talking to them about something we have in common is the best way to develop a rapport which will create a presence that says you are a “real” person.
3.Many people talk about traffic to their blog, which is a beneficial side effect to commenting,but many do not realize that when you put in the URL of your blog, sometimes it is better to point that URL to a post that you have done rather than to the home page. The logistics to this tactic is that you will recieve traffic to a post that you have done as well as your blog and if that post has a commonality with the post that you are commenting on, it creates a mutual connection.
Thanks for letting me do my normal ( or so it seems) long winded talking.
Hi Diane,
I don’t find you long winded at all. I think it’s wonderful that you’ve taken the time to share your thoughts with us. You and I may be very similar. I too like to engage with bloggers. To me, writing is a conversation, we’re just not in the same room together. 🙂
In addition to your insight, you’ve offered two tips that readers can start implementing right away. Creating Google alerts on long tail keywords is a great idea. (A similar tip would be to search on #hashtags in Twitter.) Your other tip to not send people directly to your home page all of the time is a good one too. Recently, I posted an article on LinkedIn called “How To Convert Tweets Into Sales For Your Business”, ( http://linkd.in/KmdIT9 ), and my examples include companies like Dell who create special landing pages for their Twitter promotions.
Thanks for joining the conversation. I’m following you on Twitter and I’m off to check out your site.
want to know something funny? When I made that comment I forgot to follow my own advice…just like forgetting formatting stuff….good grief! One last tip… a link can be a post or even a guest blog that you did…it should always be about the quality…the traffic will follow you with work, strategy and time.
I have a feeling we can learn a lot from each other and share to others…now that is called COOL!
I wondered why you didn’t leave a link to your blog. (I found you anyways! 🙂
shucks, I am shuffling my feet here and thank you for leaving a valuable thought on that particular post…