How To Comment on Blogs
I get hundreds of comments per week on our posts.Many people are anxious to tap into our high traffic blog but their comments are deleted because they are not what blog masters are looking for in a post.
Let me give you a few tips and pointers ... this is a very short list.
1.) Keep in mind that the comment you make about a post should be written about the post. You should write why you like the post, or how it has helped you etc. Your comment should be "real". It could shed light for someone else from a different point of view.
2.) Your comments should add to the value of the post for every person who reads the post and comments after you. The more relevant the comment the more "eyes" you will have on you. Comments made on a high traffic blog can do wonders for your own branding.
3.) If you are going to suggest we include a .com to add to our resources - please be sure that .com has a decent Alexa Ranking or a High PR or it will be deleted.
4.) Never be a jerk! Don't curse, or personally attack a person. If you don't agree with a post - just state your case in a calm and factual manner.
The bottom line is that a high traffic blog can bring a lot of attention to the person making comments. Don't take that opportunity for granted - don't spam the blogger.
Make commenting a joyful experience for all and you will come out the winner each time with highly targeted traffic and personal recognition.
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13 Responsesto “How To Comment on Blogs”
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“3.) If you are going to suggest we include a .com to add to our resources – please be sure that .com has a decent Alexa Ranking or a High PR or it will be deleted.”
I disagree here. Sounds like you are a bit too concerned with trivialities like page rank and Alexa ratings.
Are you saying that if Google or Alexa doesn’t rank one highly, then that one has nothing pertinent as a resource? What of the (possible) genius who is just beginning? By this rule, that one is unworthy of attention?
Seems to me as a blog publisher, I have the responsibility of filtering those kinds of things myself. The 1st place I would start is checking out the proposed resource. If it has value to my readers, I’m gonna pass it through.
Regardless of the PR or 3rd party ranking. Yes, I’ll want to know those things, but they in no way will affect my decision to include a resource.
And why would you just summarily delete the request because of low PR? Just add a ‘nofollow’ to the link and it won’t hurt your (expletive literally deleted) page rank.
I’ve been following your stuff on twitter and am really surprised to see something like that here.
I must have misunderstood.
Hi Jon, I do think you have misunderstood. The very first comments on the list are that you should add something relevant to the post. Recently we had many people posting comments with a “add my site” as a resource. They did not contribute to the post in any other way. When I did review the suggested resource – I found that some of them were started 5 minutes ago and had NO traffic at all. Looks to me like just someone trying to scalp traffic from this blog.
I most certainly will always review resources regardless of traffic rank or PR – but I will also give much more weight to those who actually contribute valuable information to this blog.
I knew it!
Which is to say, I knew that I misunderstood… so I am right when I understand that if a resource is deemed valuable to your readers then that will passed through to them even if it has low PR or rankings (or was created recently).
I think I hear you saying that it’s the value to the readers here that counts more than anything else, and I agree with you.
Regarding the guys who show up just to get a link, I’d like to give them some advice if you don’t mind:
Folks, you can probably get a comment posted just about anywhere on the web, if you’re adding something to the conversation there. Look up there – I was (pleasingly) disagreeable, but always respectful and hopefully was adding, if nothing else, clarification on the post’s content.
If I’d placed a link to my site in there, I’ll bet you it would have stayed. So why didn’t I? Because that link is already there in my name. Adding it again is just redundant.
But to get that link there, you’ve got to add something to the conversation. Even something the author might not agree with. As long as you show respect, there’s never anything wrong with joining in.
Don’t believe anyone who tells you this(comment spamming) is how you build a blog. If you really want to build a blog that has regular traffic and loyal readers, kind of like the one you see here, then get good at providing something of value.
Provide it on your blog first, then take a stroll on the web and see what everybody else is doing. If you CAN leave a decent comment, then do! And don’t think a link brings folks to your blog. Remember, the link is in your name.
What brings folks to read your blog is them finding out you aren’t an asinine, shallow take-what-you-can-get… well you get the picture. You aren’t stupid.
After all, you’re here aren’t you?
Thank You Jon for the great followup advice.
Gina
I tend to get into making a point occasionally, and may ramble a little when commenting on a blog, but I believe you should think about the other readers too.
I know when I’m reading comments and there’s one that’s longer than the blog post, I usually skip it.
Just a thought Jon.
B)>
Jon, It’s ok ….. I am sure your comments (long as they may be) were well received in my blog community.
Gina
There are 2 things I ALWAYS make sure I do when I’m thinking about posting a comment on a blog.
1. I use the SeoQuake toolbar from http://www.seoquake.com to make sure the blog has been indexed by Google. If the blog is too new to have been indexed, I have no way of knowing IF it will pass the muster to get indexed. If the PR bar is gray and NO pages are indexed, this tells me the blog owner did something to get deindexed and posting a comment on the blog will hurt me because Google will see me linking to my site from what it considers a bad neighborhood.
2. I test the link I’ll be using so I can copy/paste it in to avoid any typos. If I’m going to take the time to comment, I want to make sure my link is in place and the anchor text is my name and a keyword phrase.
Jerry McCoy
I too disagree that if a comment is longer than the original post, then skip it. I think Jon raised some very relevant observations. I have a blog where I had forgotten to put on Anti spam and I had over 4000 comments before I knew it. None of them had anything to do with the topic, but were just spam. I agree with Gina too, that the comment should add something to the original writing. Gina\’s tips are very useful, even though they are common sense things that most show know, they are not implemented by most people.
Funny thing really, people read this blog then ignored it in their replies. Anyway these are great tips, blogging and replies should be just that, not selfless promotion and pulling the blog in alternate directions.
The internet was built on the exchange of ideas through rational discussion and it would be great to promote this as this blog does.
Gina, I am just arriving here from Twitter and checking out your blog. I am a “newbie” so all of the help your giving here is a godsend to me. Thanks for it. I will be back.
Great post, Gina, and great followup comments.
Thanks in particular to Jerry for the SEOQuake info – I not only never thought to look into the link’s status, but had no idea such a product to check it existed, and I’m delighted to find out about it. This new awareness and this product sound like they will be very helpful in deciding whether or not to allow certain comments that come in on my blogs, and to avoid the issues inherent in trying to go to the sites to see what they are.
This in turn highlights the fact that there’s also a strategy necessary to *running* a blog and deciding which comments to post or not, and that your policies in this regard on your own blog may well affect who continues to follow you and post.
Wendy Hoechstetter
As a regular guest blogger and commenter on others blogs, this is an interesting point. Not sure i actually agree with all that is written above. This is a marketing blog but the key point seems to be missing: Is your comment worth making or is it purely “marketing.”
I might seem a luddite in marketing terms but i’m not too worried on the readership of the blog, the google ranking, the link etc. Might be because i’m not interested or have a service/product that fits the mass marketing model.
I’m more concerned in what the reader might be interested in or an alternative view to what has been said. This is the most important to me.If you have just one reader that likes my thinking, they could become my follower and in turn my customer. Alternatively, they may not be able to buy from me but can spread my message to others who can.
If I’m thinking of reaching them when I’m writing,tweeting,commenting i get success. If I’m only interested in the “gold medal” blogs, and writing this way, i have less wins. Comment from the heart, where you can add rather than bland market and target the niche rather than the mass. People buy people, personal branding comes from this.
Would love to hear your comments. I’m on twitter @BillBoorman
Hi Bill, The post “how to comment on blogs” really went way past what I thought would have invoked comments. I leave the comments made by others because it is the most commented on post that I have so far.
The entire post was created for the simple reason that most people do not know how to comment on a blog. They will comment for the purpose of being self serving, never give the audience a second thought, never think about what solution they could be providing to the readers, and most never think past the post.
Readers come and go, if they like what you write because it has value to them – they stay and that IS what matters to me.
Gina