Do you have a strategy for commenting on blogs? If you’re new to blogging, you may not have one yet. You may simply want comments (any comments). We’ve all been there. If you’ve been blogging for a while, you undoubtedly have a plan. You’ve developed relationships with other bloggers and frequent their blogs. You’ve identified key “influencers” in you r niche and follow them. You know who your target reader is and you know where your referral traffic is coming from. You also have heard enough about Google penalties for “unnatural” links that you’re very aware of what sites you’re linking to (and what sites are linking to you). So, today, let’s take a look at some ways in which commenting could potentially hurt you and a couple of suggestions on how to engage your readers by featuring their comments and sharing them through social media.
Do You Have a Commenting Strategy?
Commenting on blogs has long been seen as a way to engage with your readers and build relationships. It is one of the best ways to build mutually beneficial relationships. I’ve often talked about the 3 strategic stages that most of us go through when it comes to commenting:
- Building Awareness: (This is when we are first getting started and want comments . . . any comments. It can also be a time when we’re prone to accept comments from spammers.)
- Building Your Online Presence: (In this stage, bloggers recognize that targeted traffic is necessary if we hope to convert readers to clients/customers. This is usually the time when we start building recognition and authority by commenting on blogs where our target readers are.)
- Focusing Strategically on Commenting: (Many bloggers still believe in comment “reciprocation” where the logic is that if you leave a comment for me, I’ll leave one for you. This strategy can be very effective when you’re first getting started blogging. However, many bloggers find that strategy can be extremely time consuming and that it make more sense to focus on building awareness on blogs where your target readers are.)
Can Comments on Do-Follow Enabled CommentLuv Websites Hurt you?
For those of us who comment on do-follow enabled CommentLuv blogs, it can also be a way to build backlinks. Now, whenever I talk about backlinks, I feel that I need to mention the inherent risk of backlinks (both to the blogger leaving the comment and the owner of the blog). After all, you’d practically have to be living under a rock to not have heard of all of the sites that were recently penalized by the Google webspam team for having unnatural links.
So, can do-follow backlinks hurt you? Absolutely. That’s why it’s so important to monitor links that are left on our sites and to be leery of what sites we leave links on. We all know that we don’t want to allow spam on our sites but what about links that were left ages ago and no longer point to legitimate blogs? Those can hurt us too.
It’s been over a year since I lost over 50% of my organic search traffic. At the time, I had grown lax about cleaning up old CommentLuv links. (Once you hit over 10k comments, it can be a mind-numbing task to go through each comment manually to verify the link is not broken and doesn’t point to a site that you don’t want to be associated with.) The good news is that although I have yet to recover from that algorithm update, I did manage to avoid being penalized and de-indexed in the latest round of actions this year.
How Do You Clean Up Old CommentLuv Links?
Well, first of all, let me tell you that just because a link is tagged with the no-follow attribute, that is no guarantee that the search engines won’t indeed follow it. So, broken links and links to spammy sites do need to be removed. There are several plugins and tools that attempt to identify broken links (including Andy Bailey’s CommentLuv Link Cleaner). I have found that the most reliable method is to check your site on BrokenLinkCheck.com. What I usually do is:
- Open a browser window with my blog comment screen visible.
- Open a new browser tab and go to BrokenLinkCheck.com.
- Identify the URL of a site that has been identified as broken.
- Go back to the window (in WordPress) and search your comments for that domain.
- I check all comments on that domain to make sure that they aren’t broken (or possibly an issue with the site) For example, you are likely to find domain names that are parked with registrars such as GoDaddy (and most likely riddled with AdSense ads a.k.a “unnatural” links).
- Clean up unwanted links by:
- Remove the “do-follow” tag (if there is one).
- Remove the “luv” link (if they’ve left a CommentLuv link).
- Remove the URL to their website. (This is the URL that is part of the core WordPress commenting system.)
To make the process a little easier, I now install the “Ajax Edit Comments” plugin by Ronald Huereca when I clean up comments. This simple plugin adds the ability to click on a “More Options” button that will easily enable you to “de-link” the URL. (Special thanks to Adrienne Smith for sharing that tip in her post How To Easily Remove Broken Comment Links.)
How Can You Feature and Share Comments?
If you haven’t had a chance to read the article Feature and Share Comments To Build Brand Community by Mike Alton on TheSocialMediaHat.com, I highly recommend it. Mike uses the Disqus commenting system on his blog and that has the ability of featuring a post. (He has a screenshot in his article that illustrates this and it’s really cool!)
For those of us who don’t use Disqus, Mike suggests copying and pasting comments to accomplish the same thing. To illustrate, I just used the “Snipping Tool” in Windows to feature the comment below:
After snipping the comment, I used my photo editor software to add the text “featured” and optimized it for the web. I can see potential use for this when a comment from a previous post is relevant in a new follow-up post. Another idea would be to edit this post (after it’s been commented on) and feature a comment that you could also find below.
Mike also talks about sharing a quote from a reader to social media. Again, while this is a feature of Disqus, it is something that we could easily do manually. (Maybe if there’s enough interest in these two features, we could ask Andy Bailey if he would consider incorporating them into the premium version of CommentLuv.)
Over To You:
What are your thoughts? Do you have a strategy for commenting on blogs? Do you have the CommentLuv plugin installed on your blog? (There’s a free version in the WordPress plugin repository for those of you who want to give it a try but if there’s still time I recommend investing in the premium version.) What are your thoughts on featuring comments and sharing them on social media sites? We’d love to hear from you.
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.
Oh and I remembered another practice (not really a strategy) is I don’t comment on blogs that force to me login or use tie in my Twitter account or something to comment. I don’t use facebook at all, and I have found numerous blogs that don’t let people comment without signing up with facebook and then staying logged in with facebook to comment on their blog.
John recently posted..Motivation and Delivering Solutions When You Work for Yourself
John,
I am not a fan of logging in either – especially with a social media account. Facebook already knows too much about me and I don’t accidentally want to tweet something simply by leaving a comment. I will log into Disqus and Intense Debate though.
Thanks again for weighing in on this.
Sherryl Perry recently posted..Choosing WordPress Themes: Security Risks, Code Bloat and Other Issues
I do not really have a comment strategy. Mainly I read blogs I learn from. I commented on blogs long before (say 10 years ago) I heard of any benefits of doing so.
I do have some adjustments. I do comment a bit more on do follow blogs (but I comment on nofollow too). I do comment more on blogs where there is real engagement but that isn’t so common. I do stop commenting on sites that don’t publish my comments (which I am convinced is nearly always due to spam filters not them deciding my comment isn’t worth publishing).
I do comment a bit more on blogs without a huge number of comments (yours is one of the blogs I comment on with tons of comments). In general, I don’t just because I doubt anyone will read it.
But really the main thing that gets me to comment on blogs is that I learn from them.
I do republish some of my comments related to management. Mainly I do this so I can find them again. But it also was due to sometimes the comments not being published at all. I don’t do this with all of them, but for ones I think it is worth noting. Also people can subscribe to the RSS feed and read them.
John Hunter recently posted..Decreases in MozRank and Page Authority
Hi John,
I’m glad that this is one of the blogs that you comment on! I do my best to reply to each and every comment that is left here and I encourage readers to chat with each other too. 🙂
I’m a firm believer that we can all learn from each other. I receive quite a few emails and comments letting me know how valuable the comment section here is and I’m grateful to everyone who participates.
There have been times where a comment has been so valuable that I’ve edited my post and added it. (I give the individual full credit of course).
Spam filters can sometimes catch valid comments. I have an issue here on my blog where good comments get spammed. It’s an issue that I’m having with the Anti-Backlinker plugin (which is available with the premium version of CommentLuv).
It’s a quirk and Andy Bailey (the author of CommentLuv) went so far as to replicate my database on his server. Since my site is only the second one that he’s seen this problem on, he’s determined that it has to be related to my web host. (I believe he’s right.)
So, until I move my site, it’s something that I have to live with. It’s particularly annoying though because one of the bloggers who gets marked as a spammer is Adrienne Smith. When Adrienne recently guest posted here, it drove me nuts trying to keep up with her replies. Plus, she answers with lightning speed and then her replies would just sit there waiting for me to approve them. UGH! Thankfully, Adrienne is a kind and patient woman. 🙂
Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts with us. I hope you’re having a great weekend!
Sherryl Perry recently posted..Do You Comment for Backlinks on DoFollow Enabled CommentLuv Blogs?
It is a shame all the extra work created by spammers.
It is a bit lame that comentluv doesn’t have some whitelist option. Most of these systems will pay attention to what you approved before and approve those (from that email or to that domain) nearly all the time – which is kind of automatic whitelist. But you should also be able to put in conditions (email or domains…) to automatically not mark those spam. Many systems let you automatically approve those kinds too.
John recently posted..Are the Values of Links Decreasing?
John,
CommentLuv has a whitelist and a blacklist. The Anti-Backlinker plugin has all sorts of options (including: putting future comments immediately in moderation, finding all comments from that user and sending a message while politely refusing the comment).
The problem is with my site. Andy thinks it specifically has to do with the server that my site is hosted on.(He replicated my site on his server and could not duplicate the problem.)
That is totally believable as I have run into strange quirky issues before that have been due to the server. I left GoDaddy years ago because their tech support associate admitted to me that the server my site was on was prone to down-time. (Yet, they refused to move my site.)
What I need to do is stop talking about moving my site and actually move it.
Thanks for letting me know that I gave the impression that CommentLuv was the problem. I’m a huge fan of CL Premium.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend. 🙂
yes it is true….Blog commenting is one of the best method of getting backlinks but very few took it wrong way if you want backlinks then your should also need to add value to others blog which not just make help you in starting conversion…also lead to better traffic and quality backlinks.
Mahesh recently posted..Best Free Proxy Server list / anonymous web proxy server In 2015
Mahesh,
You’re absolutely right about adding value when you comment on blogs. I always think of comments as the “digital footprints” of the person leaving them. They’re definitely a reflection on us.
As for backlinks, we all need to carefully watch both internal and external links. Google’s web spam team is not kidding around anymore.
Just today, I removed the CommentLuv link left in a comment here because it was promoting a coupon. I just can’t risk having links on my blog that point to something that Google would probably deem “unnatural”. I know too many people who have been slapped with manual webspam actions and a few who were de-indexed completely.
Thanks so much for taking the time to join the conversation.
Sherryl Perry recently posted..Do You Comment for Backlinks on DoFollow Enabled CommentLuv Blogs?
Well, after traffic I think comments are the basic thing present on your blog or website and they basically show the real engagement on your website, how you are engaging with your visitors. Comments are really good when for purpose. While, if some of us receive bad comments sometimes it happens, I think we should try to response the commentator more friendly and nicely and try to resolve their issue instead of being arrogant.
Thanks for sharing Serryl! Keep writing well …!
Hi Ammar,
Commenting on blogs is the number one way to build relationships with other bloggers. I honestly don’t know what I would do without the community of bloggers that I’m a part of. There have been times when I’ve need help or advice and I’ve been able to reach out to someone who could either help me or point me to someone who could. There have also been times when I’ve needed input or someone to vent to or just a good laugh. Commenting and supporting each other has been the key.
Thank you Ammar for taking the time to share your thoughts with us and for the nice compliment too,
Sherryl Perry recently posted..Did You Know Google Panda 4.1 Rewards Quality Content? #FridayFinds
hello Sheryl,
I don’t comment as much as I want to. But whenever I do, it is because I feel strongly about what’s written and want to join a discussion. Like the fine one here.
Love CommentLuv – one of the plugins i wholeheartedly endorse. I don’t prefer systems that force users to login or add red tape. I myself find it a deterrent and I am sure my readers will too.
Glad to land here today!
pragati recently posted..87+ Halloween Blog Post Ideas for Niche Bloggers
Hi Pragati,
I’m so glad that you did join the conversation here! I haven’t been making the blogging rounds much lately (due to family issues that are keeping my busy). So, I would have missed your Halloween post. I tweeted it and we’ll see what happens. Usually, I tweet a lot of business related content but it’s Sunday and Halloween is next week.
I love Commentluv! It’s a great way to help other bloggers. I know I appreciate it when I get a chance to leave a link and that’s how I found your post today. 🙂
Sherryl Perry recently posted..Do You Comment for Backlinks on DoFollow Enabled CommentLuv Blogs?
I don’t have a commenting strategy… I just comment. For me, commenting is supposed to be an authentic thing, although I know many people comment to be seen and to get those “hoped for” dofollow links back to their space. Overall I don’t care; the only thing I care about is if I can leave a comment easily, like via the traditional WordPress commenting system, or if someone has me jumping through hoops by wanting me to sign up for a service like Disqus or Livefyre, which I refuse to do, and thus won’t bother.
Other than that… I just hope the post is enough to get me to leave a comment… like I have here. 🙂
Mitch Mitchell recently posted..Independence – Emancipation Day
Hi Mitch,
Thank you for deeming my post worthy of a comment. 🙂 Also, thanks for letting reader s know that you consider signing up on services like Disqus and Livefyre “jumping through hoops”.
I’m not a big fan of having to logon to comment either but I’m still more apt to sign into either Disqus or Livefyre than I am to logon to WordPress.com or logon with Twitter, Facebook or Google+. I should be able to comment without having my comments appear on another site.
I’ve given up many times trying to comment on a blog because I couldn’t verify my credentials. 🙂 Some bloggers just don’t make it easy.
My Strategy in commenting on others blogs :
1- Making a post that 100% related to the content posted by the author
2- Make a useful comment and add my value to it ( share is love)
3- Also make the owner of the blog far from lot of crappy comments like ( thank you , Thanks … etc )
And thank you for these HQ content 🙂
Hi Revecca,
Adding comments that add value are key to building relationships. When you add to a conversation, others will remember it.
I hope you don’t mind but I couldn’t help but notice that you don’t have a Gravatar. That’s a great way for people to recognize you. (It’s free to set one up on Gravatar.com.) Many of the bloggers I know use an anti-spam plugin and set it to automatically block comments from people who don’t have them. So, you could be running into that problem too.
Thanks for joining the conversation here!
Sherryl Perry recently posted..Want To Improve Your Social Media Game? #FridayFinds
I thought about moving to Disqus twice and then held the thought back – I simply don’t want to fix that’s not broken 🙂 But I understand some of the bad side effects of allowing commentluv links! It is usually abused on a large scale by many “so-called commenters.
I switched off the commentluv links and turned them on again for a couple of times 🙂 And then I added no-follow tags. You know, its never easy to think as Google thinks!
As to leaving comments, I only leave a comment if I have something to say. Even if the post is in the topic that I’m interested in, sometimes I don’t feel like leaving a comment. In that case, I simply share the post (if I like it) and then leave 🙂
Jane recently posted..How to write product reviews that are genuinely useful?
Hi Jane,
It’s good to see you back here. Thanks for joining the conversation.
I’ve never considered adding Disqus but I really don’t like the idea of requiring people to logon to any system to comment.
I’ve never completely removed the do-follow tag from my comments but I do not allow them until someone has left ten approved comments. As for Google, you’re right! Who knows what they’re thinking or if they’re going to change their interpretation. I do believe that they like a mix of both no-follow and do-follow links though.
I’m the same way as you about comments. I add value if I can but I won’t leave a comment just for the sake of leaving a comment. I always say that comments are our “digital footprints” and we need to be sure that we’re always leaving a good impression.
I hope you’re having a great week!
My strategy is really simple… only offer comments on sites that I can contribute and idea or useful value for the site owner or readers. For that to happen, the comment has to relate to the content being shared in the article. I never, ever, leave a link and I think good manners are sorely needed on blog comments.
I don’t use CommentLuv on my own blog. Instead, I chose DISQUS. I love the community and have made some great relationships from people who come to the blog through it. It’s been a great community builder for me as people leave comments on the blog through the tool.
To keep comment engagement going on my site, I ask questions when it’s really a great comment and someone can help myself and my audience. Many times, they love to engage more and contribute.
Don Purdum recently posted..If Someone Only Visits One Page on My Website, Is It A Big Deal?
Hi Don,
Great strategy for commenting and one that I adhere to too. Leaving a link on a CommentLuv enabled site is one thing but to insert links into your comment is a social no-no as far as I’m concerned.
A lot of people love Disqus and I don’t mind having to logon to comment but that is a turn-off for some people. I started using CommentLuv as a beta tester (years ago) and have been hooked ever since. While I don’t specifically look for CommentLuv enabled blogs to comment on, I am so connected in that community that I end up commenting on a lot of them. One of the things that I like about those blogs is that it is so easy to click on links and go from one great article to another. To me, that can be a real community builder.
Asking questions is a great way to engage your readers. (I do the same thing myself.) I think you and I have similar commenting strategies. 🙂
I’m so glad I met you here. I just came from you blog and shared an article but I’ll have to go back to leave a comment. I’ve really fallen behind this week thanks to the 4th of July but it’s been fun!
Sherryl Perry recently posted..Google Website Signals SERPs and Title Tags #FridayFinds
Hi Sherrly,
I’m sorry I didn’t see your message sooner…
It does appear we have similar commenting strategies!!! Offer lots of new information or value that may be beneficial tot he blogger and the readers who look through them.
I also like to leave 4-5 paragraphs because I want the blogger to know I really was thinking about what he or she wrote. I’m not just trying to endure the article to leave a pathetic comment and hope they’ll love me back. lol…
I chose DISQUS several years ago, so I’m kinda married to it. I do however really like it. And, you can post as a guest without logging in. However, I do like it when people do have accounts and I can connect with them.
You might be shocked at how many people come to my site through DISQUS. I certainly was. It really is its own self-contained community.
So glad we connected Sherrly!
~ Don
Don Purdum recently posted..How To Change a Spam Message Into One I Want to Read
Hi Don,
“Married to it” . . . that made me smile. I feel the same way about CommentLuv! 🙂
Well, if I ever do decide to switch from CommentLuv to another commenting system, I’ll certainly consider Disqus.
I’m glad we connected here too!
Sherryl Perry recently posted..Want To Improve Your Social Media Game? #FridayFinds
previously I have been submitting my sites and blogs to web directories but I couldint be able to confirm that I have submitted my url because they just say thank you for submitting but who knows, what if they just store my email. I now use commenting as my main backlink strategy, I read very careful the topic that am aware of and leave a valuable comments on them. I then bookmark the page under folder I have named as “awaiting moderation” until it is approved. You are the one I found talking about commenting in a whole post, good work
Mtanzania,
Submitting your sites to directories is not recommended any more. There is no SEO benefit to doing it and it could actually hurt you. A lot of the submissions to those sites are spammy and you could potentially be penalized by Google’s webspam team as having unnatural links.
Commenting on blogs is a better strategy but most bloggers don’t do it for the backlinks. The true value is in building awareness of your blog and (more importantly) building relationships with other bloggers. I find the key is to comment on blogs where your potential customers/clients are.
Thanks for taking the time to add your thoughts here.
Sherryl Perry recently posted..Ready To Take Your Blog to the Next Level? #FridayFinds
I’m still confused about the do-follow feature. Should I comment on blogs with the do-follow feature, or not?
Aras,
Leaving a comment with a backlink to your blog could potentially hurt or help you. (It could also hurt or help the person you’re leaving the comment for too.)
You probably heard about all the blogs that were penalized by Google a few months ago. Google took what they call “webspam actions” against many sites and actually de-indexed a lot of them.
Behind this action was what Google perceives as “unnatural” links. For example, I blog about business tips for bloggers. If I were to leave links to my site on blogs about totally unrelated niches (for example, recipe sites, fashion blogs and sports), that could potentially be deemed as “unnatural” by Google.
The best advice that I can offer is to comment on blogs where you can add value. Ask questions and share experiences. If you do want to comment on sites that are unrelated to your niche, be careful to not overdo it. You always have the option of not leaving a backlink too.
I hope this helped. (Sorry that it took me so long to reply. I’ve been taking some time off over the 4th of July week.)
Sherryl Perry recently posted..How Safe Are Your Backlinks? #FridayFinds
Hey Sherryl,
I remember those days when I started blogging. That was August 2012. I was so excited over anything I got as comment. Gone are those days 😉
While I still get excited over conversation on my blog, it has to be real value from someone who wants to make a point – not from link-hungry readers.
Yes, I do have commentluv premium and still speak in it’s favor. I think it has the flexibility for its users to chose what they think they can control.
Though the broken link resulting effect is what I consider a major point, it is not only limited to the comment section. If one is liberal (like you linking out to a lot of resources), we still stand to face the broken link wahalla
Now, about my commenting strategy, I have blogs I do visit because I have built a relationship with those bloggers. I comment and share their articles on regular basis because of the value in their contents.
I do search and discover new blogs in my niche everyday. Some, I add to my list and others, I may just drop a comment or pass. However, if a blog on my list is idea, I don’t get to it frequently too.
Oh! let me end this comment here! I’ve got a long call 😉
Happy weekend
Enstine Muki recently posted..How CashDonator is helping me make money – My experience!
Hi Enstine,
August 2012? I honestly couldn’t remember when I published my first blog post. So, I checked and it was March 6, 2010. At the time, my husband and I were working together promoting our virtual tour photography business.
My focus back then was not on this site at all. I was running three static HTML websites for our business. One site focused on selling our services, the second on selling specialized photography equipment and the third was designed to promote a solution for photographers who wanted to start their own 360-degree virtual tour business.
To make a long story short, because of that business, I learned to build sites in Joomla and then eventually switched to WordPress. Well, I digress here (Sorry!) bu this is an example of a conversation. 🙂
Thanks for the reminder that broken links can be anywhere and not just in our comments. One of my clients was lamenting over a broken link that she could not locate. It ended up being in her sidebar.
It is about building relationships Enstine. I firmly believe that too. I can’t remember when we actually met but I know the two of us have known each other for a while. It’s always great to see you here, on your blog and other blogs as well.
Happy weekend to you too!
Sherryl Perry recently posted..Time To Tweak Your Strategy for Commenting on Blogs?
Hi Sherryl,
Wow, 50% of your organic traffic. That is why I have a love, hate relationship with Google.
Commenting on blogs is one of my favorite topics. I believe in it and do it regularly about 3 days out the week. I am torn on the do follow and no follow aspect of my comments. I want to reward my readers who leave comments on my blog. When you reach the point of get the do follow, that means you have comments more than a couple times and I appreciate that. The things is as you mentioned, they could point to sites I don’t want associated with me. Decisions, Decisions 🙂
Commenting is time consuming but for me the building awareness aspect is more beneficial to my strategy and for now I will continue and reciprocate as long as it’s a topic I am able to leave a valuable comment on.
Nice one Sherryl! Have a great Friday.
Steven J Wilson recently posted..Infographic: How To Respond To Negative Comments On Social Media and Blog Post
Hi Steve,
It’s always good to see you here. Yes. Losing that much traffic was a real blow. The good thing that came out of it was that it was a huge wake up call and motivation for me to learn more about SEO. It also made me be more proactive about Google’s direction (instead of being reactive which was the situation that I had put myself in). Also, the steps that I implemented since that penalty have helped keep me safe (so far) from Google’s recent unnatural links penalty. So, lesson learned!
That’s wonderful that you still make time to comment. I do my best too but I can’t possibly make the rounds as much as I used to. Part of my problem is that no matter how I try, I usually end up writing longer comments than I could. That doesn’t help with the time issue. 🙂 Like you said though, building awareness can be very beneficial. So, if we’re adding more value but writing longer comments, in the long run, that may be the best individual choice that we can make.
Thanks so much for sharing your insight with us. It’s helpful to hear what strategy other bloggers are implementing. You have a great Friday (and weekend) too!
Sherryl Perry recently posted..How Safe Are Your Backlinks? #FridayFinds
Hello Sherryl,
Wow!!! you did mention a lot on this post; from blog commenting to brokenlinks 🙂
My blog commenting strategies are simple: I do comment on all blog (be it commentluv enabled or not), but before i do make the comment, it much relate to me. I drop comment that the blog owner will be proud of or appreciate 🙂
My blog commenting strategy is write what comes from my heart and make anybody who reads it, feel it.
Thanks for the lovely post, it was indeed wonderful reading it. Do have the perfect week ahead…
Babanature recently posted..10 Essential WordPress Plugins for the Absolute Beginner
Hi Babanature,
I’ve read a lot lately about the value in writing longer posts (1,500+ words). While I’m not necessarily writing that much, I have been experimenting with it. 🙂
Since my blog is CommentLuv do-follow enabled (after 10 approved comments), I thought it would be a good idea to elaborate a little one what that means to people leaving backlinks here (to both them and me).
I know that I can count on you to leave comments of value and I often follow links on comments that you’ve left. One thing that you do is leave links to articles that are relevant to the topic you’re commenting on. (For example, your link here is about WordPress plugins.) That is a smart thing to do but not everyone does it. Hopefully, some readers here will pay you a visit! 🙂
Thanks for dropping by and weighing in on this. I’ll be by your blog soon.
Sherryl Perry recently posted..How Safe Are Your Backlinks? #FridayFinds
Hi Sherryl,
i came here from kingged.
Blog commenting is one of the best ways to drive some referral traffic to our blog. Blog commenting not only helps to get traffic , it also helps us to build some backlinks.
But if you don’t have strategy for commenting then we will not get any benefits from it.
pabitra recently posted..Track Weather Your Sent E-mail is Read by the Recipient or Not in Gmail [How To]
Hi Pabitra,
Thanks for coming over from Kingged. Nowadays, with the risk of being penalized for unnatural links, it’s more important than ever to have a backlinking strategy. As for commenting, when done strategically, there’s definitely the opportunity to build awareness of your blog while driving targeted traffic (that could potentially turn into customers and clients).
Hi Sherryl Perry
You are right now things have changed to a great extent with regard to back links from commenting on other blogs. Not only quality but over-commenting can also put bad impression on your reputation as a blogger.
The top most objective of commenting is now to influence fellow commentators at other blogs to prove your authority and attract them to your blog.
The ultimate objective of commenting is not to get back links but to get traffic and if we drop meaningful comments on other blogs we can get huge traffic with this activity.
I do agree with you broken link checker is good plug in to purge the links of comments at your blog.
Thanks a lot for sharing this wonderful post that has great info for taking full advantage of commenting option.
Mi Muba recently posted..10 mistakes you should commit to become a successful blogger
Hi Mi,
I hadn’t heard about over-commenting before. How does that work? It sounds like the sign of someone who runs around leaving short comments that don’t add value.
I agree with you about using commenting as a way to build authority and not to necessarily build backlinks but it certainly can be a nice way to get some additional traffic. I get quite a bit of traffic from links that I leave on CommentLuv enabled blogs. I make sure that we blog to the same niche of readers and it works well.
As for the broken link checker plugin, while many readers here love it, I still prefer to run my site through BrokenLinkCheck.com. I think it’s more reliable.
Thanks for weighing in on this. It’s great to hear from you.
Sherryl Perry recently posted..How Safe Are Your Backlinks? #FridayFinds
These are always a time that you need to tweak your strategy.
Blog commenting surefire points was shared here.
CommentLuv is one of the best commenting plugins/tools like Disqus, I love them both. The free version of it is helpful for those who are interested or intrigued about your views here. Pretty sure they will love if done correctly.
Thanks for the share, Sherry.
Well done!
I found this post shared on Kingged.com, the Internet marketing social site, and I “kingged” it and left this comment.
metz recently posted..Boost your Blog IQ by Repurposing Content
Hi Metz,
The free version of CommentLuv is a great way to test it and see if it’s a good fit for your blog. It lacks the controls of the premium version but it will fit the needs of some bloggers for sure.
It’s nice to meet you here. Thanks for coming over from Kingged and joining in the conversation.
Sherryl Perry recently posted..How Many Social Networking Sites Should You Join?
Blog commenting has been one of the effective, easy ways to drive more traffic to your blog, to get exposure and to promote your brand, business or product as well. In short, blog commenting is beneficial or bloggers.
However and again, you will not get the benefits that blog commenting might give you if not done correctly. So, you should suppose to have commenting startegies.
The tips you’ve shared above, along with your brilliant ideas are all valuable and helpful. I’ve indeed learned a lot and what’s my favorite lesson is the steps on how to feature and share comments. It’s cool, I must say.
Thanks for the shared knowledge! 🙂
Best,
Ann07
By the way, I found this post shared on Kingged.com
Hi Ann,
Thanks for your feedback. I appreciate knowing that you found my post valuable. I have to get back over to Kingged soon!
Sherryl Perry recently posted..Will Documenting Something Now Save You Time Later?
Hi Sherryl,
These are great pointers you have here! Thanks for sharing these, I will keep these in mind. More power to you and your blog!
Sarah recently posted..How to Get a Bartending Job
Hi Sarah,
You’re very welcome. Thanks for taking the time to join the conversation. I took a quick peek at your blog and you have a nice clean look to it. More power to you and your blog too! 🙂
Sherryl Perry recently posted..2 Steps to Stalking the Popular Kids and Getting More Traffic
Hi,
At this moment of time, I need not worry about this, but in the long run this piece of information will help me out.
Monitoring the links is the most important task, as it is a death sentence to get a penalty from Google.
Cleaning comments just got easier with such tools and plug ins. It will come handy when I need one. Thanks for a thoughtful article.
Anyway, I found this on kingged.
Hi Rohan,
Thanks for letting me know that you found my post helpful and that you found me on Kingged. I appreciate your input.
I wish I had kept up with monitoring my links before I ran into trouble! After you’ve been blogging for a long time, those comments build up and going through thousands of them can be a daunting task.
Good luck blogging and I hope you have a great week.
Sherryl Perry recently posted..Tips for Bloggers | Before You Press that Publish Button
I use Disqus only,was thinking of commentluv giving a try.But now it seems Disqus is enough.Checking those broken links is good practice.liked the tips.
Bikramjit Singh recently posted..Deal4Loans introduces EMI Calculator
Hi Bikramjit,
Thanks for letting us know that you’re happy with Disqus. It’s definitely one of the most popular commenting systems. Personally, I don’t like requiring someone to have to log on to be able to leave a comment. If I want to leave a comment on a blog and it requires a logon, there are times that I change my mind and just leave. Of course, if it’s someone who I recognize and already have a relationship with, I’ll log on but if I’m a first time visitor, I may or may not comment.
The thing that I’m seeing more often now is having to log on to share someone’s post. That I don’t understand at all.
Sherryl Perry recently posted..Is Triberr a Part of Your Social Media Strategy?
Hi Sherryl,
Sorry for being so late in the party.
I am visiting here after a long time and like always find the post worthy to read.
Most of bloggers are using CommentLuv in their commenting system and as you have read Lisa has faced Google penalty due to broken links. So it’s necessary to check them at a regular interval of time.
Backlinks can hurt us if they tend to some unnatural stuff. You have brought a great point to think about.
thanks for reminding to check my broken links.
Have a great day.:)
~Ravi
Ravi Chahar recently posted..How To Do SEO Data Transfer When You Change Your Theme?
Hi Ravi,
There’s no such thing as being late to the party here. What’s important is that you came! 🙂 Sometimes, I’m guilty of being behind on comments and I know I don’t reply nearly as quickly as some bloggers.
There are even times when a comment totally slips by me and I discover it months later. I always sincerely apologize in my reply and I wonder if the person even remembers their comment. Surprisingly, I often get follow-up replies and the conversation continues.
Backlinks are trickier now with all the attention Google is giving them. I’ve read about people who have been penalized for leaving links on forums. (It’s sort of “guilt by association”.) I don’t comment on many forums but I also often use an email account that’s not associated with my blog. It’s sort of going incognito. 🙂
Good luck cleaning up those links and I hope you have a great week!
Sherryl Perry recently posted..How Safe Are Your Backlinks? #FridayFinds
Great post Sherryl!
You shared some extremely helpful tips and I’ve definitely got to be more mindful on updating my broken link status. Because enduring the wrath of Google is the last thing I need.
I like your thoughts under building awareness. In the beginning you’re absolutely right, one will accept practically link! Not realizing nor fully appreciating the potential harm it doing so may cause!
Thanks for sharing and thanks for mention on twitter recently!
It was and is greatly appreciated!
Mark recently posted..How To Market Your Business Using An Effective Marketing Strategy!Part Six
Hi Sherryl
In fact there are lots of methods to get success with your blog, you can measure your readership bounce rates, time on site, or conversions to your mailing list.
But, of course, one of my best one has always been commenting.
If someone comments on a post I wrote, I assure that he is really engaged and interested in learning more. But, actually convincing people to leave comments is hard. Stats show that anywhere from 1 in 100 to 1 in 1,000 people will leave anything behind when they visit a site.
Thanks again
Have a nice day!
Omar,
You are so right about there being lots of methods to running a successful blog and conversions is definitely high up there! Everyone needs to look at the total picture and set goals for themself. For example, no one wants to have a high bounce rate but if your goal is to drive high numbers of traffic (possibly with the intent of selling advertising or selling your blog), a high bounce rate would be more acceptable than if you were building a client based business.
I totally agree with you about engaging your readers in your comment section. Fostering a conversational environment can help. One of the simplest things that I do now (but didn’t when I first started blogging) is to end all of my posts with a couple of questions. Lots of times, readers really would like to leave a comment. Having a question to answer can be a great kick-starter.
Thanks for dropping by and sharing your thoughts with us. You have a nice day too!
Sherryl Perry recently posted..Tracking Changes to Your Website Blog and Social Media Strategy
Hi Sherryl,
I just found this post link at Adrienne Smith’s notification today at G+ pages and I found this post a very useful one for those who are actively involved and posting comments in other fellow author’s posts. The 3 stragic stages you mentioned in this post is really noteworthy ones:
I am sure at this place at Kingged my fellow writers/comment authors need to check out these strategies mentioned in this post.
Of course the main thing here is to Build and awareness about our presence and activities to the fellow readers,bloggers, and visitors, that will surely help us to put a strong foundation in this ares.And again focusing strategically on commeting is another important thing many ignore in this sphere. Yes, we need to reciprocate our visitors especially the one who post a comment on our posts. Though its a bit tedious task to follow but, if follow that will surely again put a strong base in our activities
Thanks for the other links in this post especially the one on how to feature and share our comments? Mike Alton’s Feature and Share Comments To Build Brand Community is yet another connected post and a must read. 🙂
Thanks Sherryl for this informative piece 🙂 🙂 🙂
I am so glad that I submitted this post here at Kingged.com
Keep writing
Keep informed
Best Regards
~ Phil
PS: Hey Sherryl Let me repeat: I posted this at Kingged.com the Internet Marketing Social Website and posted this comment too. 🙂
Philip Varghese Ariel recently posted..Let Us Save Our Environment For Our Benefit
Hi Philip,
Thanks for letting me know that you found my post on Adrienne’s G+ page. (I always find that info valuable). Thanks for sharing it on Kingged too! It’s nice to see new bloggers here contributing to the conversation.
All business strategies need to be assessed and tweaked as we go along. I was a firm believer in comment reciprocation until I reached the point where I simply no longer had the time to reciprocate every comment. Instead, I try to foster discussions in the comments that I do leave and here on my blog. Then, there’s interacting on social media sites. That takes time too!
I’ll try to get by Kingged again soon! I hope you have a great weekend. 🙂
Sherryl Perry recently posted..2 Steps to Stalking the Popular Kids and Getting More Traffic
Hey Sherryl,
Thanks for sharing! I can’t agree more with the checking for broken links.
When I run SEMrush recently, the number of links problem is off the chart! Over 260 and I have yet to find time to clean them.
Appreciate the nudge and have a blessed Friday!
Reginald recently posted..ReginaldChan.net Is One Year Old!
Hi Reginald,
Broken links is something that we cannot ignore. I prefer to not run a plugin to perform this plugin but John Soares recommended the Broken Link Checker plugin by Janis Elsts (in his comment below). I have used it in the past and it is may be worth checking out. What’s important is to clean up those links before you get on Google’s radar screen.
Thanks for dropping by and weighing in on this. You have a blessed Friday too.
I’m practically new to blogging and haven’t really considered a comment strategy. I have commentluv, but mostly because I have found so many great blog articles from the “recently posted” links.
I don’t comment on just any blog and I don’t comment just to leave a link. I don’t want bloggers to think I’m just spamming their sites.
Aldo Rancier recently posted..Spent: Looking For Change (Documentary)
Hi Aldo,
It sounds like you’re on the right track to having a solid commenting strategy. Commenting used to be much easier before Google’s webspam team started penalizing bloggers for what they perceive to be “unnatural” links. So, that’s something you have to keep in the back of your mind (both for incoming and outgoing links).
It’s nice to meet you here and thanks for weighing in on this!
Sherryl Perry recently posted..How Safe Are Your Backlinks? #FridayFinds
Hey Sherryl,
Good old commenting, something that I hope will never die and these larger pro-blogging sites don’t convince everyone that it’s a thing of the past.
With the way things are continuously changing with Google we do need to have more of a commenting plan. When I started I did reciprocate and I still do my best to try but as time permits, I’m not always successful with keeping up with that these days. As you also know I’m more cautious as time goes by with the links I accept mainly due to not wanting to get slapped by Google either.
Now I can appreciate everyone wanting to reach out to others, read their content and share their thoughts. I actually think it’s a shame that Google can penalize some sites for this so I believe we just shouldn’t leave our links if we’re not that sure about the site itself. Still comment because it is about the relationships right! The same goes for accepting them. If the comment is a good one yet I don’t exactly approve of the site they are linking to I’ll just remove the links. They can keep coming back if they want but their links will continue to be removed until they change things.
We have to keep looking out for ourselves yet still be able to build up a following. It needs to be one though that is mutually beneficial. 😉 Oh and thanks for the mention, I love that plugin. I cleaned up some links last night and it just made my time so much easier.
Glad to see Di stop by too.. She’s a smart woman for checking out your content.
Thanks Sherryl and you have a great rest of your week.
~Adrienne
Adrienne recently posted..You Lose Traffic And Credibility When You Ignore These Easy Steps
Hi Adrienne,
I’m with you when it comes to commenting. To me, these online conversations play a critical part of building relationships. Without comments, we may as well be in a vacuum. Just think of how isolated some of us would be!
I’m more cautious too. I just thought long and hard about accepting a comment on a post because the blogger left a short two sentence generic comment. Usually, I would just spam and delete it but I try to give people a chance (just in case they’re a newbie and don’t realize that generic comments are usually perceived as spam).
Sure enough, this person seem legit. The URL that she left led to the bare bones of a WordPress site. (She hasn’t posted any articles yet.) I approved her comment and hopefully she’ll be back and become a loyal reader. 🙂 As you always say, it’s about building relationships.
You’re welcome for the mention. I like to give credit where credit is due. Plus, it’s always good to share a relevant post that’s written by another blogger.
I’m glad Di stopped by too! It’s nice to see that we’re getting traffic from each other’s sites.
Take care and you have a great week too Adrienne!
I am doing blog commenting for both backlinks and increasing traffic on my website and blogs. These days most of the bloggers are using Disqus comment system. I have a good Disqus profile and some people are following me. I am getting traffic but there is no improvement in backlinks from blogs which are using Disqus.
Does Disqus blog comment system help to generate backlinks?
Hi Kristina,
Comments left in Disqus are indexed by the search engines and I know a lot of bloggers love that system but I haven’t read about anyone getting backlinks from it. When bloggers talk about backlinks from comments, they’re usually referring to the CommentLuv commenting system. (The other option would be if the blog owner allowed you to enter URLs in your comment. Most bloggers don’t allow that.)
I use CommentLuv. When you left your comment, you had the option of leaving a backlink to one of your posts. (That would be a backlink.) I have CommentLuv configured so that those links are no-follow (until you’ve left 10 approved comments here). After 10 approved comments, the do-follow tag will be set on your comment.
Whether or not these links are do-follow or no-follow, other readers can click on them and go to your blog. So, there is the potential of driving traffic to your blog from those backlinks. I know several readers here who get traffic from backlinks they they have left on my site. On the other hand, I get traffic from backlinks that I’ve left on their CommentLuv enabled sites.
This can be a win-win for both of us. Even though you may have Disqus installed on your blog, you can still comment on other blogs that have CommentLuv installed.
Thanks for joining the conversation. It’s nice to meet you here.
Sherryl Perry recently posted..Do You Comment for Backlinks on DoFollow Enabled CommentLuv Blogs?
Thanks Sherryl for your great reply.
Sherryl, I use the Broken Link Checker plugin by Janis Elsts. It automatically searches for broken links and sends me an email every three days or so.
Regarding DoFollow comments, my blog was briefly DoFollow for its first few months. I stopped when I realized that many people were dropping very weak comments just to get a backlink.
Unfortunately, I’ve been included on many of those DoFollow blog lists, so I still get some similar comments.
John Soares recently posted..Four Reasons Why Freelance Writers Should Specialize
Hi John,
I used to use the Broken Link Checker plugin but I was running into issues on my blog where people couldn’t leave comments. Once I deactivated that plugin, people were able to comment again. I know it’s something weird that was going on with my site but not having to run another plugin is nice. Many bloggers are happy with that plugin though. So, I’m glad you mentioned it! It’s definitely an option.
I would not run CommentLuv on my site if I didn’t have the the premium version. There’s no way that I would allow all links to be do-follow. As it is, I went through a period of time where the amount of spam I was getting here was unmanageable.
It’s great to see you here! I’ll check out your post and share.
Plugins can be frustrating. I’ve had no problems with Broken Link Checker interfering with my site, but it likely depends on many factors that are site specific.
I’ve set CommentLuv links to always be NoFollow.
John Soares recently posted..Be A More Productive Writer by Deciding What NOT to Do
Hi Sherryl,
I have come across your blog through the very generous Adrienne Smith.
Love your tips thankyou!
I’m very new at blogging still developing my precense online and still to install comment luv
Some of your content makes sense to me and parts don’t due to my infancy in my new leArning curve .
I look forward to getting to you know you Sherryl
Thankyou and have a great day
Di
Di recently posted..Taking time to think
Hi Di,
It’s nice to meet you here. Thanks for letting me know that you came across my blog on Adrienne’s site. I think her blog is great and I often shared her articles in my posts. (I’ve also been a guest blogger for her and this is the same topic that I blogged on.)
If there’s ever any parts of my posts that don’t make sense, please feel free to ask. You’re definitely not the only reader here who is new to blogging. So, the question that you have is probably the same one that others have too. One of the things that I strive for is to write for readers of varying levels of expertise (and with different skill sets). I always say that “we can all learn from each other”. So, feel free to chime in, ask questions and share your experiences with us.
Take care and you have a great day too!
Sherryl Perry recently posted..2 Steps to Stalking the Popular Kids and Getting More Traffic
Good read Sherryl! I changed my strategy recently, comment-wise, going for a volume approach. I prefer doing the in-depth writing on my real estate, and sharing thoughts in a more brief fashion on other blogs. Thanks!
Ryan Biddulph recently posted..How I Make Money Online: Part 8
Hi Ryan,
I’ve noticed a lot more comments from you lately. I hadn’t realized that was a new strategy that you were trying. I’d love to know if it works for you.
I can attest that your new strategy is building top-of-mind-awareness! (As a matter of fact, I’ve noticed that your content is being shared a lot more lately and I think I’ve been sharing for you more too.)
Thanks for the comment and I appreciate the fact that my blog is one that you’ve been testing your strategy on. 🙂
Sherryl Perry recently posted..Commenting On Blogs â What Strategy Works for You?
Hi Sherryl, I like your idea of Featured Comment and creating it for yourself if you have CommentLuv. There are times when a commenter makes a really good point or suggests a helpful app and I want readers to see it. Brilliant! (Okay, credit to Mike too for the idea.)
I lost a huge chunk of my Google search traffic last year, but this year it’s beginning to creep back up. Yea! It really is discouraging to lose so much traffic so I hope the increase continues for us.
I’m probably still in Phase 1 of my commenting strategy. Although I write about personal technology, my target audience is everyday people (though techies enjoy my blog too). I read tech blogs but I don’t comment there because there are too many trolls. For example, today I read a tech blog from a major site that had its information incorrect. If it were a fellow blogger, I would have commented gently about the error. But no way would I point that out on a major tech site, only to get flamed.
I still comment on blogs outside my niche because I want to thank the author for enlightening me, as you did here with the awesome Featured Comment idea. So thank you, Sherryl!
Carolyn Nicander Mohr recently posted..6 Easy Tools To Beautify Your Quotes!
Hi Carolyn,
I found Mike Alton’s post inspiring. I also like his suggestion to quote a reader (along with a link to the post) when we share on social media sites. That’s very clever. Since I don’t use Disqus, I was unaware of both of those suggestions. I should capture a screenshot of an example from my Twitter stream and add an example of that to illustrate it here. (Problem is, I haven’t tweeted a quote yet! 🙂 )
You lost significant traffic too? I don’t remember that. Mine is slowly creeping up too but it’s nowhere near where it was. I’ve read that the numbers for some blogs had been artificially inflated and to look at the drop as more of an “adjustment” but it’s a hard pill to swallow none the less.
You bring up a great point about reading tech blogs but not commenting because of trolls. That’s great advice!
I just replied to Jeannette and mentioned that I too comment on blogs outside my niche. I’m more conscious of how many backlinks I leave (in fear of Google perceiving them as “unnatural”) but I won’t hesitate leaving a backlink if I think that the post will add value. After all, like most bloggers, I appreciate organic search traffic but it will never be as valuable as the relationships that we build.
Thanks so much for dropping by and adding to the conversation. I’ve been MIA for the last two weeks because my husband has been on vacation and I took it off. I promise to be by your blog soon!
Sherryl —
At your suggestion, I now require 10 comments before I enable do-follow for back links. My strategy isn’t hard and fast about who I allow to comment and where I leave comments. My first rule, though, is the commenter’s blog/website needs to be well written. I’ve received comments from bloggers who belong to LinkedIn and Google+ but I can’t use some of them because they’re not well written or they are too short.
Second, I do try to leave comments on sites that are in my space, which is social media and writing. That’s a very wide net, I know, but my third rule is that if I like a blog, even if it’s not in my space, I’ll leave a comment. I like to support good bloggers and I don’t think Google will penalize me if the site is really good.
I’ve developed important relationships through commenting so I will continue to do so but it is time consuming, as you point out, so my thinking on this may change over time.
Jeannette Paladino recently posted..Donât Steal Quotes from Social Networks, Says 2014 AP Stylebook
Hi Jeannette,
I read several comments and posts about requiring 10 comments for do-follow. Finally, it was a post/comment thread on Adrienne Smith’s blog that convinced me it was a good strategy. I was reluctant at first but it’s really cut down on comments from people who clearly were here only for a backlink.
Your comment that you “can’t use some of them” is interesting. That’s something that I struggle with a bit. There are several readers here who leave comments that aren’t well written. I attribute that to English being their second language. What I usually do is check their site and their Twitter feed. If they’re well intentioned, I approve them. For the most part, those bloggers tend to engage a lot and a handful have become great supporters.
I’m with you on leaving comments on blogs that aren’t necessarily in our space. Like you, I’ve developed relationships through blogging over the years. Before Google started penalizing us for what they perceive to be “unnatural” links, I’d comment and leave do-follow backlinks without a second thought. Now, I’ll still comment on those blogs but I leave fewer backlinks. (I can think of a couple of blogs where I have left hundreds, possibly over a thousand of backlinks, and they’re not related to business or blogging at all.
Bottom-line, I think we need to be true to ourselves. If I’m leaving a comment and I think that I’ve written an article that can add value to the conversation, I won’t hesitate leaving a backlink regardless of what niche it’s in.
As always, thanks so much for weighing in on this (and for being the first to kick-start the conversation)!
Sherryl — When I received a legitimate comment with typos or grammatical errors I will fix them before posting. I think it benefits the commenter and I prefer not to have poorly written comments on my site.
Jeannette Paladino recently posted..Problem Solving With the âFive Whysâ
Thanks for clarifying that Jeannette. Occasionally, I’ll correct a typo but I don’t correct grammatical errors in comments. I wonder how many other bloggers. make corrections to their comments.