Why Should I Bother Commenting on Other Blogs?

Blog comments are the core of what makes blogging different from other media. Newspapers and magazines are static media. They can be valuable and they have their place but once the author or journalist has written his piece that is the end of it. There is usually no more conversation about the article, unless you happen to read a response to it in the letters section days or weeks later.

Blogging is different. An author can write a blog post and it can be the beginning of a conversation. There was a perfect example of this today on Chris Brogan’s blog. Chris wrote a great post giving marketing advice to an upscale barber shop in Columbia. The post itself was excellent but what struck me were the comments. As of this writing there were 39 comments to this post written earlier today, most of them adding to the great ideas that Chris made. Taken as a whole the comments actually provide far more marketing ideas than the post itself. There-in lies the power of the blog comment.

What Blog Commenting Can Do for You

So you may be asking this: I can see that blog comments are great to read, but why should I bother adding my voice to the mix? There are several things that commenting on other blogs can provide you:

1. More traffic – some blogs have a huge readership and if you place an insightful comment on those blogs you will get traffic from people clicking on your link. Don’t expect to be inundated but some traffic will come to you, particularly if you comment just after a post has been published.
2. Reputation building – if blog readers start seeing your name in the comments section you can become known in the blogosphere.  It is a kind of online networking that can build your personal brand which will inevitably lead to enhancement of your business brand. You can also grab the attention of the blogger which could have some huge traffic benefits if he links to your blog in a future post.
3. An incoming link – while most blogs are no-follow which means their link will not improve your page rank, every incoming link to your blog does have some SEO value.

Some Tips for Creating a Commenting Strategy

1. Choose a niche – don’t just comment on a random collection of blogs. Choose blogs that are relevant to your niche. Comment on blogs in your industry where you can provide the most insightful comments. I also like to throw in a couple of the higher profile blogs as well to try and generate some traffic.
2. Link to your blog – every comments section has a place where you can include your URL. This should always be your blog URL. In effect you are passively promoting your blog every time you leave a comment.
3. Have something to say – don’t bother saying “great post” or “I agree”. Make sure you add to the conversation.
4. Allocate time every week – you no doubt have a list of blogs on your reading list. You should be spending some time not only reading these blogs but also commenting. I would start at just one or two comments a week and over time you can build on that.
5. Use your name – There is some debate over whether you should use your company name or personal name when leaving comments. It is always best to be careful here because you don’t want to appear spammy, so I mostly use my personal name.
6. Don’t outsource – there are many “blog commenting services” out there. These will put supposedly relevant content on a blog. But this is a way to get bad name for yourself quickly. The last thing you want is to be labeled a spammer.

Blog commenting is not just a useful practice, it can have some real benefits for your business. It can help enhance your reputation as an expert in your field and you get the bonus of some extra traffic to your blog.

Photo courtesy of premasagar

Tagged as: commenting, promotion