A lot of experts suggest commenting on blogs as a way to build SEO and as a way to network. This can be very effective but you need to go about it the right way otherwise your comments will never see the light of day and you won’t make any online friends through your efforts.
This article will share three do’s and three don’ts of Blog Commenting and tell you a bit about why it’s useful to spend a bit of time in the blogosphere commenting on other blogs.
Blog Spam Is Out Of Control!
A lot of bloggers install spam filters like Askimet to block spam from their blogs so if you don’t write your comments the right way, they’ll just get caught by the Askimet filter and your time will have been wasted. Incidentally, if you have a WordPress blog it’s free to activate this plug-in. You’ll find it in your dashboard (under Plug-Ins) and it stops the vast majority of spam.
The thing is, because backlinks are so valuable, a lot of people try to attach their links to other blogs so that it’ll elevate their own site’s status. People don’t want spam on their blogs. It takes away from their blog’s status and turns off their readers.
If your comments don’t get posted on a blog after a few tries, consider moving on. The author may not like your commenting style or may have your IP blocked so save your time for blogs that want commenters and for blog authors who are receptive to your style of commenting.
Here are some tips for getting your blog comments published so that Blog Commenting can work in your favour for search engine optimisation and for attracting visitors to your website.
Blog Commenting Do’s
1. Comment on relevant blogs. Link back to your blog from relevant blogs. Not only will you get more chances of getting that blog’s visitors over to visit your blog but you’ll improve SEO with your links because of being linked from relevant blogs.
2. Comment on blogs with ‘Comment Luv’ often. Comment Luv is a blog plug-in that people use which lets commenters list their last post on the linked blog. This puts your link out there without your having to resort to creating a link in your comment.
3. Write helpful /interesting/charming comments. The best way to get published on a blog is to write something useful to that actual blog. This is also the best way to get noticed by the blog’s other visitors so that they’ll click through to your blog.
Blog Commenting Dont’s
1. Don’t blatantly try to lure readers away from that blog. That’s not going to make the blog publisher want to keep your comment around.
2. Don’t criticize or insult anyone. Like your Mom probably told you, if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t bother saying anything at all.
3. Don’t post needless or useless blog comments. If your comment is useful that’s going to give readers and the blog author every reason to be happy about your comment and if the blog owner is happy, your comment can stay. If your post comment is useful, the blog owner will probably comment on your blog to return the favour and their readers might click over to your blog or link as well.
Once you find some blogs that are relevant, friendly and receptive, you should consider subscribing and adding them to your RSS Reader so you can periodically comment. You should also consider checking out their blogroll as there’s a good chance that if you’ve found their blog useful and relevant to your niche, there will likely be some similar blogs in their blogroll.
You might even consider blogrolling particular blogs you visit regularly as that can make the blog author very receptive to your comments and may result in their returning the favour.
Friendships and great networking opportunities could be found in the blogging world, so make visiting blogs and Blog Commenting a part of your weekly self-promotion efforts.
Have a most outstanding day.
Sean RasmussenAussie Internet Marketing
www.SeanSEO.com © 2008 - 2010
{ 27 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Sean,
Another helpful post. There have been a few who have tried to post a comment on my site that has been quite blatantly a spam but thankfully not too many.
One thing I have learn’ t recently is I have to set aside more time to comment on other peoples websites.
There will always be a certain amount of spam Rita, thankfully we have tools like Akismet to identify most of them
. Looks like you are making some time now to comment on other people’s sites. Good work and happy commenting.
Thanks Sean on the tips on how to find relevant blogs to comment on. I have been a bit hit and miss
Very good advice here Sean,
Making a comment on a blog post it’s best to say something nice, informative or interesting, or it’s best to say nothing at all if you want to criticize.
Hello Sean,
Good to see Blog Comments do’s and Blog Comments don’t hints. I am a big believer in “treat others the way you would like to be treated” so I am carefully with my comments. I do have my passions that if I am not careful I can get a bit hot and bothered by it!!! But I would never be rude to the writer of the blog because they do have feelings
Good to read how to leave comments that will add value to the blog, and add value to the community.
Cheers
Lisa
Glad you enjoyed the article Lisa. Have fun with your comments and replies
Hi Sean,
If someone has CommentLuv enabled on their blog; is it okay to use it each time? I don’t want the blog owner to feel like I’m using them.
I would say yes Jazz, go for it. They have commentluv installed as they are happy to provide a link back to your latest post.
thanks. been needing help with this for awhile now
Handy tips here Sean for blog commenting I will certainly be allocating some time each week in my new time management plan. It’s also good to know that it is acceptable to use comment luv each time we comment as well. Thanks for that question Jazz
Hey Sean,
I appreciate you writing this entry as I thought I should check it out and make sure I wasn’t making any faux pas. As far as I can tell, I’m not. I’d also like to think that the points you highlight (both the pros and the cons) would come under just common politeness, or is that just my rural upbringing shining through?
It reminds me of when I had just finished my HSC (yeah, showing my age! *grin*) and started working for one of our ‘fine’ banks. About 6 months into my time there, every staff member throughout Australia had to attend a three day training seminar called the C.A.R.E. Programme (which stood for C)ustomers A)re R)eally E)verything). After the three days were up, I had to laugh to myself, thinking, “Do they REALLY need to train people to smile and be friendly?” Again, it was very basic and primary modes of behaviour that society expects (so I thought) that everyone would follow.
Cheers,
Pete
Hi Sean
You never cease to amaze me with the amount of information there is to learn about IM.
I have really enjoyed reading this one as blogging is what we all need to learn how to do properly.
I have also just learn’ t what commentluv is (thought it was a spelling mistake actually) and like Helen commented above, a very necessary requirement for a dynamic marketing plan which I will be needing to draw up.
I like the way you broke the information up into 3 steps for Do’s and three for Dont’s. I always remember facts better that way.
Thankyou,
Blessings
Elly
Glad to be of help Elly
G’day Sean,
More wonderful useful information. When all is said and done, a major part of commenting is using the correct etiquette which you are teaching. Thankyou for showing us HOW !
I really like the way you’ve formatted this post with the 6 items numbered as 3 Do’s and 3 Don’t’s . Really good for faster sink-in-ability [ Is that a real word ? ]
Cheers
Harry
sink-in-ability… if it wasn’t a real word before, it is now Harry
G’day Sean,
OOPS !! Meant to say this in my previous comment !
I’d like to say how effective the ASKIMET plug-in is at keeping spam at bay. In over a year I have only had ONE spam get past it and onto my blog. Quite amazing when I look at the number of blocked spams there are.
Gmail has a similar record of eliminating spam too. Not One in over 2 years.
Once again, Sean, thankyou for this excellent etiquette lesson.
Cheers
Harry
Your right Harry. Askimet is fantastic. My site is not exactly one with a lot of traffic but in the time it has been up, Askimet has managed to stop around 2500 spam comments. Imagine having to sift through them by hand.
I never realised the significance in blog commenting but it really makes sense. I don’t think I would be comfortable leaving links back to my site in a blog comment but I love the sites which use commentluv.
Hi Jackie,
I’m not comfortable doing this either. I still feel a little uncomfortable using CommentLuv every time but I’m getting over it. We install it on our blogs because we want people to use it.
Did you know you can search the CommentLuv site for blogs related to your niche? It’s a great help in finding blogs that use CommentLuv.
Hi Sean,
Thanks for the heads up on commenting! I have been getting some very good commenting experience within your competition & will have to look into trying out the ‘comment luv’ plugin.
Thanks for the blog commenting do’s and don’ts tips. I’ll definitely keep them in mind and use them in the future. I’ll test the comment luv plugin on my blog to see if it increases interaction. with readers.
Hi Sean
I get tons of comments all are spam what can you do to stop it. I have Askimet and it works ok but some are still finding there way through.
It’s a shame the people sending the spam can’t read.
Thanks for the tips
David
Some commenters are very persistent aren’t they David
. If you are getting a lot of spam from the same IP, you can block them through settings>>discussion in Wordpress.
Thanks Sean, for the tip I almost became one of the spammers at the start lot’s of software
Good to hear you changed direction David, if spammers have a win at all, it’s usually only for a very short time
Thanks for the do’s and don’t, i have so much to learn about blogging.The information about blogroll is good information, i was not paying much attention to it in the past.
Hollis
Hi Sean,
First is I want to thank you for the heads up on blog commenting. Many people particularly spammers don’t realize how annoying it is to filter out comments. All they think about are SEO and more links. Anyways, just like the other commenters, I really like the way you categorized the DO’s and DON’Ts. Blog comments should be useful(though I doubt mine is) and if possible interactive. I also appreciate the fact that you take time to reply to some of the comments here, makes you real cool!