Aside from starting a blog of your own, one of the most powerful tools for promoting your site and increasing SEO lies in commenting on other blog sites. Leaving comments on other’s blogs is truly one of the simplest, yet most overlooked strategies, offering exceptional opportunity, increased visibility, and, overall, little competition.
Finding Your Niche
Consider that specific blogs are likely to represent a niche community that you would like to—and should be—a part of in order to further your own website, not to mention that blog commenting can push your website up the rankings quickly. When you leave comments on another’s blog site, you are, in essence participating in the online version of networking, and most business owners are fully aware of the importance of networking in their “regular” business. There are many more benefits to blog posting, but you should be aware of some basic “rules” to truly make your comments stand out from the crowd.
Blog Commenting as a Branding Tool
People who are active in their industry benefit greatly by sharing opinions and promoting themselves and their ideas. The results of such sharing and promoting is an ever-increasing network, not to mention continued awareness of the person’s specific niche, resulting in a personal brand of sorts. “Branding” is a buzzword which is more and more tossed about, but essentially means what you stand for, where your experience and expertise lie—basically what exactly it is that you are well-known for. Our increasingly social world desires connections with others who are, well, like them, and branding helps facilitate those connections.
Blog Commenting to Build a Loyal Fan Base
As you know, building a loyal fan base can take time, not to mention commitment. Most of us begin building our fan base when writing for our own blog, which links to our website. Our goal is generally to share our own little corner of the world—our journey, so to speak—with the rest of the world. As you build your fan base, remember that commenting on other people’s blogs, especially those which lie within your own niche, can promote you and your brand in the same manner, slowly building a loyal fan base who follow you wherever your comments may lead. Use the same techniques for blog commenting that you use in your own blog’s development—consistency, creativity and value to the reader. Share your personality, and do your best to give those who read your comments something they can’t find somewhere else—in other words “Great posting,” is not considered a beneficial comment—to anyone!
Blog Commenting to Generate Highly Targeted Traffic
If you follow certain guidelines, you will soon reap the rewards of highly increased—not to mention targeted—traffic to your own website. The first guideline is to write truly great comments which are both insightful and intelligent. Secondly, throw a little controversy in the mix—we humans seem to be drawn like moths to a flame to controversy. Offer different points of view (politely) and you will see the conversation take off. Keep your commenter name consistent so others will begin to recognize your postings, and, hopefully, specifically look for them. It is helpful to add your blog name or tagline to your name when posting comments, such as Ginger Smith, CatLover, but whatever you decide keep it the same. Comment early, and comment often on the same blog posts. Many folks only read the first 15-25 blog comments (or even less) before they move on, so always consider the short attention span of the web reader, and give them a reason to continue reading.
Make Your Blog Comment Stand Out
In order to ensure your blog comments stand out from the herd, do your best to add value to the original article through your comment. Ask a question, disagree with the rest of the community (in a reasonable and intelligent manner), show some emotion, and post often. These things will get you noticed and will ultimately improve your site’s SEO and push you up the page ranks.
