Guide to Blog Commenting

Commenting on widely read blogs within your area of expertise is a great way to drive traffic to your website, and increase your expert status – but only if your comments add value to the conversation. Below are steps you can follow to successfully implement a blog commenting initiative as part of your content marketing plan.

Step 1: Find Related Blogs

Do some research to find blogs that are in your field of expertise. It will be hard to write valuable comments if you aren’t familiar with the discussion topic. Find blogs about topics related to your business on which you’re comfortable talking about your expertise and giving advice.

Also, make sure you choose blogs that attract your potential clients (not your industry peers). Check out the blog’s “About” page to see whom it’s written for. Read several of the posts and you’ll have a much better idea of who is reading the blog.

Step 2: Read It Regularly

Get an RSS reader so you can subscribe to the blogs you want to follow. There are lots of free readers available such as Google Reader, NewsGator, Bloglines, MyYahoo, MyMSN, etc. Choose a reader and then subscribe to the blogs you want to read so you can read new posts all in one place. This is a major timesaver. *A note about “do-follow” blogs – Make sure the blog you’re commenting on is a “do-follow” blog, meaning you can link your comment back to your blog or website. (see image below) Otherwise, there is no way to direct people back to your website or blog without putting it in the comment, which is kind of frowned upon.

Step 3: Make Comments With Purpose

Comments like, “great post, lol!” or “this was stupid” will not do anything for your blog street cred. Instead, include comments about situations in which you’ve used the blog topic successfully for your clients, or use anecdotes to make supporting points. Be useful (not boring) and think about what you can bring to the conversation.

*BEWARE OF DISAGREEMENTS* It is probably not worth getting into a commenting war with someone, especially when you don’t know what kind of power within the blogging community they may have. You can certainly disagree with a post, but try not to be personal and keep it constructive and positive – the way you would want someone to disagree or correct you.

Step 4: Have Fun And Make Some Friends

With a little diligence, you’ll make connections and begin driving traffic to your website, just for putting in a little time and good advice. Please contact me if you have any additional questions regarding commenting on other people’s blogs.