Commenting is an interesting
blogging activity. Some bloggers comment on other blogs for direct
traffic. Others do it for SEO but the winners are those who comment for
networking.
When you network with the right people
in your niche, you end up getting traffic and SEO benefits from these
connections. That’s why I can boldly declare that those who comment for
networking are on the winning side.
Most bloggers who understood this have taken their blogs from ghost towns to noisy streets.
How?
They have mainly focused on blog
commenting as a tool to connect with other bloggers. I want us to see
how to use this activity (blog commenting) to literally take your blog
to a whole new level. Let’s see how this will help you stand tall and
attract attention from around the industry.
Now let me say this – the new meaning of blogging is building a community.
Gone are those early days when blogging was a simple way to express
ones self. This activity has grown into a full business strategy and of
course a full business in itself.
As you know, no business can succeed
without a market. Therefore, if blogging is a business, then you must
build a market around it.
This market is your readers who come from different channels – Search engine, social media, referral sources, etc.
Connecting with other bloggers help you
big time to get more readers from these channels. Your connections (or
your friends) will;
- Link to your posts from their blogs! This gives you natural backlinks for SEO and direct traffic.
- They will share your posts on their social media for more traffic from social media.
- The will mention you to their friends and talk about your blog during offline events.
- They will signup to your list.
- The will become your loyal readers who connect to your blog daily.
- They will invite you to feature on their blogs or guest post for them and that alone is a lot of exposure.
- Etc
You see how connecting with other
bloggers can lead to your growth? This means the more bloggers you are
connected with, the bigger your marketplace.
So how do you use blog commenting to network with other bloggers?
Most bloggers who comment for the sake
of SEO or direct traffic often dash into the error of dropping links
here and there. That quickly drives their comments to trash. However, if
you focus on connecting with bloggers (and not their blogs), you’ll
care more about the value in your comments.
This value is what draws the attention
of both the blog owners and their readers to you. So the simple way to
network with other bloggers is to add value to your comments.
Here are some points to help you fuel your comments with tremendous value that makes it difficult to ignore.
1 Use the gravatar service by WordPress!
This free service
helps you attache your picture to every comment you make. The reason
for this is that bloggers are interested in connecting with people whose
faces they can see.
If you don’t attache a picture to your
comment through gravatar, a default (and sometimes ugly image) is used
to represent you. The impression this makes is that you are not a
serious person.
2 Read the blog post thoroughly before dropping a comment!
I know most people don’t really read
through posts word after word. But note that the only way to get the
real meaning of a post is to carefully read through it. By doing
this, you are able to get an accurate knowledge and be able to drop a
valuable comment.
3 Speak directly to the post author
Don’t just comment like you are speaking
to the crowd. The first thing you must do here is to make sure you get
the name of the post author.
There is a trap here…
The fact that you are reading this post
on Zac’s blog doesn’t mean he wrote it. The author is Enstine Muki so it
will be wrong to address your comment to Zac alone.
I have read some comments with practically wrong openings like ‘Hi Admin…’ Each time I see this, I trash the comment without a second thought.
Here are some examples of comments that directly call the attention of the post author;
4 – Use your real names not keywords
One of the things I hate is when comment
authors use keywords instead of their real names. This goes straight to
tell me this one is backlink-hungry
If you want bloggers to pick positive
notice of you, avoid using your keyword in the name field of the comment
box. This strategy might have worked in the past. But right now, it
doesn’t.
5 – Pick one or two points in the post and comment on
A great comment is when you prove to the
post author that you read and understood the content. It’s not the
length of the comments.
Some commentators think it’s making a long comment that creates the greatness. That’s wrong.
A great comment is that which brings out
some facts from the post and elaborates on them. Give your opinions,
criticize, add more to it, bring forth more arguments, etc.
These are the ingredients that makes
your comments attractive and worth paying attention to. I have not in
any way say that long comments are bad. They only become poor when they
have no value. Don’t just add words in order to have a long comment.
6 – Come back to answer replies
This is what converts comments into
exciting conversations. Each time the blog owner replies to your
comment, come back to it and add more to the conversion.
Don’t just drop a comment and leave
thinking you caught the fish. Make it a discussion and by so doing, you
draw the attention of other bloggers to your blog.
7 – Reply to other comments
If you are dropping comments on a blog
post that has other comment authors, grab that opportunity and introduce
yourself. Make meaningful replies and create conversations. This is an
awesome way to create more connections in the blogoshere.
8 – Link out to the post you commented
Remember we are discussing how to use blog commenting to connect with other bloggers. This is a solid point that nails it.
After creating a conversation with a
blogger on his blog post, link to that post from your own blog. Then
send a mail to the post author.
This will always generate positive
results that lead to more friends. However, make sure you don’t just
link out for the sake of linking. Just link to relevant content.
NB: I recommend you checkout this post where I show you how to use blog commenting to build editorial backlinks.
Zac also has another post here I highly recommend you read. This post is about Matt Cutts’ Tips for Successful Blog Commenting so it will be exciting to check it out.
Bottom line …
Creating connections in blogging may require time. You must put in place a strategy and work fervently on that strategy.
Don’t be in a rush else you’ll be
running into silly avoidable mistakes. Follow these simple steps and I’m
sure you’ll grow your blog to a very big point.
Let me here your thoughts about this post. Drop your comment below and kindly share on social media.
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