The Art of Blog Commenting
Posted on January 4th, 2008 by Julia
Blog commenting is becoming more and more popular nowadays. It’s the best way to tell your opinion about the blog post you read, add something that was not covered in the post, and discuss the post with other readers. In addition, by sharing your thoughts, you get backlinks and traffic to your website because you provide your name and URL. However, blog commenting is not only used for getting traffic but also for various other reasons. So, let me show you top 5 reasons why you should comment on blogs:
- Backlinks. As I wrote above, you must provide the URL to your site when you’re submitting a comment. The URL is linked to your name when the comment is approved. So, blog commenting is a great way of getting inbound links to your website and we all know how important backlinks for search engines are.
- Traffic to your website. You can get quality traffic if you leave a good comment. Other people can read your comment too and if they like it, they can follow your URL to find out more.
- Popularity. Blog commenting is also a great way to make your name recognizable by many other bloggers across the word. You get popularity and your website gets it too. Again, if your comment is valuable, the chances of getting popular among other bloggers are more.
- More comments on your blog. If you take time to write valuable comments on other blogs, then you will receive valuable comments in your own blog (if you have one). Believe it or not, number of comments you make on other blogs is directly proportional to the number of comments you get in your blog.
- Improve relationship with the blog owner. By commenting on other blogs, you can improve relationship with the blog author. Once you get yourself known to the author, you can send an email to them saying a HI or appreciating their new post.
Remember that blog commenting is really worth if you make valuable comments. It is better to post 10 valuable comments than 30 nonsense ones.
How do you write your comments? You’ll want to follow these rules to have your comment approved:
- Be polite towards the post author and readers. Always share your opinion in a polite way. It doesn’t mean at all that you cannot disagree with the author. There is nothing wrong with disagreeing. But you should write your comment with the best intentions. If you aren’t able to be positive, then just don’t comment. Remember that the author should always be considered the winner of any debate unless they are blatantly wrong.
- Use a language that everyone could easily understand. Write the comment as if you were speaking to the post author but don’t be too familiar. By writing comments in a normal "human" language, you show yourself as a reputable blogger.
- Check the spelling of your comment. Before you click Submit, don’t be lazy to proof read your comment for grammatical errors. Do not submit comments filled with spelling errors and bad grammar.
- Include relevant links only. Do not put links into the comment unless they are relevant to the post you’re commenting on.
- Show your stance on the post. Always make a comment that you found the article good, interesting, loved it, or some other nice phrase.
…and finally the most important rule
- Only comment if you can contribute to the discussion. Just don’t say "Good post". Be sure to write something useful in the comment section, so it doesn’t look like 100% spam. Post a comment only if you have something of value to add to the discussion and not just to get links. A thought provoking comment or at least a meaningful comment will get you more traffic than the two word comments.
Also, do share your thoughts by posting a comment below…
P.S. With this Free DoFollow Blog Search Software you can find dofollow blogs in your niche which are worth commenting and submit comments on them with just a few mouse clicks.
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Tags: blog comments, dofollow blogs, find dofollow blogs, Internet Marketing, Link Building, New Link Building Methods, Search Engine Marketing, seo backlinks, Web Marketing
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Filed under: Link Building Tutorials, New Link Building Methods
This is a good, common sense article. Very helpful to one who is just entering the blog community. I wonder though, and I am being very much the newbie here so please bear with me….when you speak of entering your URL, are you talking about a website or a blog site? Does it matter? It will certainly help educate me.
Hi Julia,
Once again great post. You seem to have a good understanding of blogging and how someone can get the most from it. I agree commenting on blogs can help you in many ways. It’s all about getting traffic. Commenting on blogs is a good traffic generation strategy, depending on the traffic the blog gets, you may find a good one that gets you a lot of traffic.
I have been learning more and more each day about blogging and the relationships between commenting on blogs and the traffic to my site. At first I use the quick hit method, where I would just do a quick scan of the post and leave shoe short relevant comment. But now I am beginning to look at it differently, and if I am going to leave a comment at all I want to take a little time and make it worthwhile. Because people actually do read these, so you might aw well get the most value for your time.
It’s all a learning process.
To Your Success!
Steve Renner
Hi Julia,
I have started to use the free version of your software and have found some blogs to comment on. I particularly appreciate the fact that the software datestamps each blog I have commented on.
And that’s right, I already had some comments back on my own websites.
As a blog owner myself, I’ll quite happily let people put a link in the name, ie ‘Auto loans’ etc, I’d prefer it if they use their name as well ie ‘John – Auto loan ‘ it’s a bit more personal.
If they post rubbish like great post then I’ll delete it, but if they write something useful then its adds more content and improves the site, and should be rewarded with a backlink.
That’s my opinion anyway.
Appreciate the writeup Julia. This is my 1st time coming across this blog. I had a look at some of the most recent posts and there seems to be quite a few juicy bits i can bite on like “Top 5 Reasons to Start Guest Blogging” so I’ll be sure to hang around quite a bit.
Cheers!
Great Stuff, Julia, Each and every point is good enough.
Still the 5th one, improve relationship with blog owner, i liked very much, this will not let the blog owner feel that one is doing spam, still i do have good relationship with every blog owner with one or another name.
And i really like to make strong relationship with you, hence it is my habit to read each and every post and doing comment on it.
Cya around…
Your points of view regarding blog commenting are a guide to all of us who are active in Blogosphere. Some of these rules that I’ve founded here, I’ve already applied on my comments on other blogs where I’ve posted, so I guess I’m on the right way of what is told here. So I’m agree with all what you said, because lot of these happened me already. Maybe is because I have experienced microblogging sites, which bring more activity in commenting and keep connection with other bloggers. Thanks for sharing with us your wisdom.
One of the things that I picked right off the bat to increase comments is to actually invite the readers thoughts on the post. I find that if I don’t invite them to comment, most don’t. On the other hand when I do invite their thoughts the comments flow.
Do you have any other tips to get our readers to start commenting, apart of course from obviously providing good, thought provoking content at the blog?
Good article. I used the fast blog finder today and posted to a couple page rank 3-4 blogs. I thought my posts were useful and interesting. However, in the name field I put my keyword rather than my name. I fear — even though I contributed to the discussion — my keywords will get my post dropped in the spam folder. I should find out in a couple days what happened.
@ Charles
Yes sometimes this does happen but you will find more often than not your links will get approved and you will get good google rankings. FBF has been amazing for me!
Alexs last blog post.. Pay Per Click Search Engine Marketing
Very useful article for someone like me, who is just getting in to blog commenting as a way to drive traffic and popularity to my blog. I’ve already noticed some traffic from a few comments I’ve left, especially from sites that are using CommentLuv. I am considering using it on my website to attract more comments. WHat would be the downside of using it? I use Akismet so I’ve got a spam filter in place. What would be the hit on my website if I used doFollow instead of noFollow for my comment URLs?
An interesting article Julia, thank you. I particularly like the observation made by John Currie (above). I had been wondering how to engender more comments on my blog – and, of course, John’s insight makes the answer obvious.
I particularly found the last point your made the most important one,What do you think Guys?
Leaving a meaningful comment is most Important to a post,”Checking the Grammar” point is also a really Important one slotted in there.
usually people make mistakes spelling wise or even worst sometimes use sms type languages to save their time,this really hurts the post negatively and one should really constrain from doing so,This really makes the article and the post submitted To It a whole lot easier to understand and a lot more valuable.
Thanks for the nice post Julia. I did not know the benefits of the blog post. But now I understand its importance. I am using the trial version of your software.It is really useful. I have the same question as Linda Kick has “when you speak of entering your URL, are you talking about a website or a blog site?”. I hope you will answer my question. And one more request, as I am beginner in the web marketing industry, I need some suggestion form you experienced people. So can you please suggest me some good tips to enhance my marketing skills?
Thanks,
Malcolm
Just starting out in the blogging community. Really got started to improve my writing skills. Also just retired and can’t find alot of imformation on that topic. I am trying to make my contribution since alot of baby boomers will be retiring in the next ten years. It can be a real challenge – retiring.
I really think your information is good. Glad to see some help from real humans. I have run into alot of what I think is hooey.
I would really like to find out what the next trend is? Any ideas on that?
I will take the time to go through your site as I see alot of information that I can use.
Keep up the good work and heartfelt thanks.
Ann Smith
Nice post! And I must say I really like your comment box at the bottom. You really do understand that people like to use their keyword in the post and you give them an option of doing just that, without it looking strange.
By the way, I have just downloaded the free version of Fast Blog Finder and must say that it is exactly what I’ve been looking for. It’s a great software and I’m buying the full version as well. Great job guys! Keep them coming!
Hi Julia,
I think blog commenting can definitely be a good way to get both direct traffic, and relevant backlinks. Your very last point is the most important though. If I’m out reading blogs, I actually don’t leave nearly as many comments as I probably could. If I don’t have something useful to say, I generally take a pass.
I have heard about your fastblogfinder program from some friends of mine. Unfortunately, I’m on a Mac, and haven’t installed parallels yet. I don’t don’t suppose there’s any way to put such a program on Adobe Air?
Thanks,
Todd
This is my first time coming to your blog and I think it has been very helpful for me too. I have just started blog commenting and find that when I get a comment back on my site. It is very rewarding as some blog owners will just skip over comments and not return the favour by visting my own site. Thank you for the great post. I hope to learn more about commenting and getting more traffic
Blog commenting is definitely an effective way to get relevant backlinks. And in a way it is a measure of a blog’s popularity. The users don’t really have any idea of how popular a blog is until they see how many comments are posted within it. When there are many comments, it is relatively safe to assume that the blog is trustworthy and worthwhile. Thanks for these tips!
Blog commenting also expands a person’s horizon, it’s like meeting new people each time. I find it beneficial and entertaining as well.
You just made a very informative post. Thanks.
Chris
I also find that if you build up a relationship with the blogger that helps, for example e-mail them directly and tell them that you like a selection of their blogs and provide them with some constructive criticism.
LOL I love that you broke down how to leave the perfect comment ot the tee! What else would I expect from the geniuses behind fast blog finder? Well anyway the really cool thing is comments are 100% free and they get the job done!
Hi Julia, I have been reading some of your posts and must say that this one is particularly useful for newbies as well as for veteran commenters. Blog commenting etiquette is very important as our social etiquette in the offline world. I wish i could write thought provoking comments all the time. I think the key is writing something related and not just post for the sake of posting.
The art of blogging should be called the manners of blogging or something along those lines. There’s an etiquette from what I gathered from the post regarding your suggestions, tips, and what not to do. I came away rather impressed and forewarned in a good way. Because of the proliferation of blogs and spam, I think your post has long-lasting merit. The internet is here to stay.
Writers can still craft their essays, commentary or stories in an informal and relax manner (and as you put it “normal” language) but nothing substitutes for good grammar and punctuation, as you indicated. Nothing diminished the credibility of a serious blogger than a response filled with grammatical errors and incoherency due to a failure to proofread. Thank you for your article.
There is an art to commenting, interesting post. I’m fairly new to internet marketing but have been getting quite alot of spam in my comments. I think Keyword Luv (which I’ve just heard about now) is a great idea becuase you get a comment with a name and the commenter gets a relevant keyword. I agree spelling etc is important (hope mine’s ok!)
Hi Julia, just saw your comment to my blog and traced you back here.
You’re right with what you said in your post even though in my opinion, back links for PR should be the last priority instead of first (I’m not sure if you numbered them 1 to 5 in order of importance). With all these bloggers putting up the rel nofollow attribute, building back links for the sake of getting “vote” or “PR leak” should be considered as a bonus instead of the main benefit that the commenter should pursue. Points 2-5: popularity, traffic, business relations, etc are far more important and it also forces everyone to leave comments that make sense instead of spamming.