How many blog posts do you read each week? Quite a few?
How many do you leave a comment on? I bet it’s only a small fraction of the posts you read.
Did you realise that commenting on blogs will actually improve the number of readers for your own blog? In fact, I think you’re a fool if you want to grow your blog and you don’t have a blog commenting strategy.
Most blogs have an open comment section where you can leave your thoughts. It’s a chance to engage with the blog author and interact with other people interested in the same topic. Sometimes, the discussions in the comments end up being more interesting than the blog itself!
When you leave a comment on a blog post you are essentially showcasing yourself. It’s a fantastic way to share your knowledge and experience, engage with new audiences and get them interested in your opinion. If they like what they read, they’ll follow you back to your own blog. Et voila! New readers.
How to leave a great blog comment
If you really enjoy a blog post, it’s lovely to let the author know but just saying “Great post” is a bit of a waste. Actually, it’s a big waste. If you want to stand out then you need to put some thought into your comment.
Tips for leaving an attention-grabbing blog comment:
- Tell the author how you’ve applied their advice and what results you experienced.
- Point out anything that really surprised you or that you learned from the blog post.
- Add some information that wasn’t included or offers a new angle on the topic.
It requires some thought but the results will be worth it. You’ll build your profile, you’ll network with people with similar interests and you’ll increase the traffic to your own blog. Each time you leave a comment, you’re also getting a valuable backlink to your website or blog.
A blog commenting strategy is easy
- Identify blogs that share similar audiences with your own blog – or that you know your target audience reads.
- Set aside some time to read their posts, and leave a well thought out comment at least once a week.
For just an hour or two per week, you will get a much greater payoff. Readers (and blog authors) will begin to notice you and you will see the results back on your own blog.
Do you have a blog commenting strategy? Or do you simply jump in when you have something to say?
Belinda
25 Responses
So I’m leaving a comment here 🙂 LOL!
No really, Belinda. I used to be an avid – no, rabid! – commenter, particularly on fun blogs. I also always have something to ask, something to share and other somethings that I just want in spaces such as this. Recently, though, busy-busy-busy. While I find blog commenting a good strategy, it’s more like my “sit down and enjoy coffee with a friend” thing. I’ve had a few great friendships forged just because of blog commenting, really. And yeah, I hope to have found a new one in you 🙂
Keep up the great work!
Thanks for such a great comment runzanne! It *is* often hard to make the time to regularly comment. I know I don’t do it as much as I should. But if it’s on your radar – it’s a great start.
Hey! Glad to hear from you! And I see you’re getting more “friends” in here so it’s really a great start! Keep ’em coming, Bee…
I totally agree re the value of commenting on blogs but it’s one of the things slips that slips off my radar when I get busy. Your post is a timely reminder to start commenting again… starting here 🙂
Thanks Mel. I know exactly what you mean. This post was a reminder to myself to comment more!
Awesome post thanks Belinda. I haven’t ever thought of that angle before. Hiw does it help though relating back to my site / back links if as the above people have done it’s just you as a person nit yor webadress or Facebook page being the commentator ? Does that make sense ?
Hi Shelley. It’s a fair question. The key to getting traffic to your blog/site/page as a result of a blog commenting strategy is ensuring you leave a URL along with your name. You could also leave your name and your business name i.e. Belinda Weaver | Copywrite Matters
When you leave blog comments consistently you’re enticing people to your own blog or page to learn more about you.
PS Thanks for commenting here!
Hi Belinda,
My first blog post comment in god knows how long. 🙂
I have to say that it can be a bit scary to leave a comment to a blog post I enjoyed reading. Why? Well, first I get very conscious of my English (due to it not being my mother tongue) and also I don’t feel that I can be as witty and well worded as so many others. I guess practice makes perfect, right?!
I did enjoy reading this blog though and hopefully it will give me the push I need to jump over my shadow. 🙂
Thanks for taking the leap Birgit! I know what you mean about getting comment-shy.
I often enjoy a post and think about commenting but can’t really think of anything that really adds to the discussion. I also get a bit intimidated when there are already hundreds of comments.
But it’s a worthwhile strategy if you want to actively generate traffic for your own blog. The first step is to make some time to really consider your comment. If you do it often enough, people will notice and come over and check you out.
Here I am, encouraged by you, trying to post something – in the so aspired “down to earth” style, as @AlyssaInk:disqus – about your motto.
I agree, entirely: “only the right words work”. In fact, various demonstrations of the same mathematical theorem, for example, coordinate the necessary and sufficient arguments in different ways. These constructions are consistent and worthy accepted; but, there is a feature that is fully appreciated: elegance. Only the elegant ones, i.e., the most simple constructions become remarkable.
So, “only the right words work”, and remain remarkable!
Do you agree?
I can’t help but wonder how many people read this great advice, and then left your site without leaving a blog comment!! 🙂
Lots! Looking at the traffic, quite a lot, and I understand the scenario.
You think, I found that useful I’ll write a comment…. Hmm I want it to be a good comment. I need to think about it but I don’t really have time now. Ill come back later….. Or is that just me?
Ouch… yes I think you hit the nail on the head! (In hindsight I guess that’s what I’ve done with all the great blog posts I’ve read and not commented on! 🙂
Thanks for the advice, Belinda. There’s new etiquette and strategy, interwoven, around one’s online activities that dinosaur me is just beginning to learn. For me the most refreshing thing about a genuinely useful or inspiring blogpost is the generosity with which it is given. On the other hand, I find the majority of blogs to be like conversations in life, even the better ones: words left hanging in the air which may have their moment, but do not have enduring or intrinsic merit. I have always loved classic literature, which personal history will not allow me to forget that insightful and beautiful and time-withstanding texts are a labour of days and months and years, not composed and published in hours or minutes.
Thanks for sharing great strategy..
Your post serves a great reminder that we should not neglect blog commenting..
Thanks Anita, some of your points are good and blog commenting contributes much in bringing in the traffic or readers for my blog but not all post accepts comments with the author’s link with it. That is why, blog commenting requires patience and perseverance. Even though I have read the whole post and commented or asked questions about the post. But as I have said, my comments were not approved due to the links I had placed in.
Hope you can give light to my problem on how to get my comments approved.
all the best,
Alice Cornelios from Good Blogs
Hi Anita, As you’re able to link to your website when you add your details – as a commenters – it is generally consider spammy to them include a link in the comment. Unless that link relates to the comment your leaving.
Many bloggers either automatically mark comments with links as spam. Others will allow a certain number before considering the comment spam.
My biggest tip – remove the Good Blogs link from your comments. And leave awesome comments 🙂
My problem with commenting on blogs is best summarised by Jane Austen: I am often “unwilling to speak, unless [I] expect to say something that will amaze the whole room, and be handed down to posterity with all the eclat of a proverb”. But you have called me to repentance, and I shall endeavour to do better! Nice bit of “evergreen” advice, thank you 🙂
I know what you mean Emily. One of the approaches I sometimes use is to let the blog author know my biggest takeaway or lesson. Or a line that particularly stood out.
It’s a way of saying “great post” without being too boring 😉
I think a comment is a reflection of you quite a bit, but it also depends on what you have to say.
Each time I read a comment from someone I know well enough I already basically know how long it’s going to be (or how short), and I could recognize the tone of it without seeing the face.
I think that a comment should be as long as it needs to be for the commenter. I know some people who are NEVER going to leave an type of lengthy comments. Either they are lazy or they don’t have the time. Probably a bit of both.
Now, I have had that problem at times myself too. I’m rushing and I don’t have the time to say much, but if I don’t have the time to say something good enough, I rather come back later and comment at a better time.
But at the end of the day, a comment is like a post. Too short and you can’t say much with it, too long… and the owner of the blog might think it’s too much to read.
As for me, just like I have a minimum word count I’d accept for a post, I don’t have a maximum word word count. So I’d rather see a very long than a very short comment.
Regards
Ashley Jones
This is such a comprehensive post on how to comment on blogs for newbies. I am going to share this with my Merry band of picture book authors. This is not, by a long shot, my first time commenting on a blog, but it is my first time commenting on yours. 🙂 Thank you for such great information.
Welcome and well done!
Nice Post It’s Really Helpful For Me Blog commenting Is Very Good Way For Generating Backlinks I Know If You doing To much Blog Commenting Its a Spam For According Google. To Much Is Always Bad In Seo. Thanks for share.