Imagine that you are doing a presentation. You worked really hard on it and things seem to be going well. The audience is engaged and asking questions. However, at the end of the presentation, everyone walks out without saying so much as a 'Thank you' or 'Well done' and you are left wondering where you went wrong. All across the internet, bloggers struggle with this very thing on their websites. They put out pages upon pages of useful information but hardly receive any feedback from their readers. When I first began blogging, I ran into the very same thing. I could see people visiting but I wasn't getting any comments.
Comments are a very important part of the equation when it comes to blogging. I enjoy receiving them but I also enjoy leaving them on the sites of my fellow bloggers. To me, comments are a way of thanking the author of the post for taking the time to share useful information about the topic at hand. In addition to that, commenting on blogs is a great way to increase web site traffic. When you leave a thoughtful comment on someone's blog, several positive things happen. First, you make the blog owner very happy. Second, they will be curious about you and will generally visit to your site and leave a comment on your posts. Readers of their blogs will be curious about you and visit your site as well. If they like what you have written, then you will have gained new readers. In addition to increasing your website traffic and expanding your readership, blog comments can be a great source of back links to your site.
Back links are links from other websites that point to your blog. In addition to being a source of silent advertisement for you, search engines view links as a thumbs up vote for your website. When used correctly, back links can help you increase your page rank in the search engines. This is important because the closer your site gets to the first two pages of results for the keywords related to your site, the more traffic you will receive from the search engines.
The best way to increase your page rank is to increase the number of links point back to your site. There are a lot of ways to do this and leaving backlinks on blogs is one of them. Lastly, leaving comments on other people's blogs will help you build your brand and raise your profile in the industry. When your name continuously pops up on websites frequented by your target audience, you will begin to attract them to you. This is much better than spending energy chasing after them. Tips for Commenting
* Read the article and comment appropriately. It's strange but true that some people do not read the article and just leave generic comments. This doesn't impress anyone and may lead to your comment being flagged as spam.
* Respect the rules of the blog. Some bloggers, especially A-listers, will have a comment policy in place. Take the time to read it and respect their rules. Remember, you are a guest in their house. Don't put your feet on the table!
* Avoid arguments and flame wars. People get very passionate about some topics. However, don't let a spirited debate turn into a knockdown, drag out fight. Not only will you probably get kicked off the site, you'll damage your reputation in the process.
* It's good manners to follow up on responses to your comments. If the blog has an option to be notified when comments are left on the blog, then select it. If it doesn't then you may need to bookmark the post and return to it to see if anyone has responded to your comments.
* Sign up for a Gravatar so that your avatar will show up whenever you leave a comment. Note: This only works on WordPress blogs you comment on. Also, don't forget to leave your link. People can't visit you if they can't find you.
* If you need help finding blogs to comment on, use blog directories, like BlogCatalog or Blogarama, to find sites in your areas of interest. Moderating Your Own Comments As you raise your visibility in the blogosphere, you will begin to attract comments from other people. Here are a few tips for moderating your own comments to maintain a blog that is welcoming to everyone. * Consider posting a blog commenting policy that details what is and is not acceptable behavior in your comment section.
* Always respond to comments and thank people for leaving them. Try to engage them in conversation about the topic. Use their comment as a platform for building a relationship with the person.
* When you notice that a conversation between two people is getting out of hand, step in and mediate things. Flame wars attract the wrong kind of attention, prohibit other people from joining the conversation, and damage your reputation. It is best to nip it in the bud. * Beware of trolls. Trolls are people who comment on blogs for the sole purpose of causing trouble. Usually, they will launch into a personal attack against you or other people who are commenting, or they will attempt to derail the conversation altogether. It can be difficult to separate a troll from a passionate reader so here is an article about trolls that should help.
* Clear out the spam. Spam are comments that are usually left by robots; although there are some services that pay people to leave spam in order to get past Captcha software. Most spam is easily recognizable. Instead of a name, they will use a keyword. The comment will be completely off topic from the article or they will leave very generic comments that don't say anything. Most will also try to leave links to their websites in the body of the article. https://www.seoclerk.com/scrapebox-blasts/267080/Provide-Panda-4-0-safe-20-Profile-links-50xPR5-High-PR-and-Quality-Seo In recent months, spammers have tried to make their spam look more natural. They will use fake names. The comment itself will be overly complimentary. It will look like a real person left it. What I usually do when I'm not sure if the comment is real or fake is look at the other comments in the queue. If there are other comments that look exactly like theirs, except with different names or links, then I mark it a spam and delete it. I felt it necessary to write about the comments because my blog was receiving a lot of traffic due to a new branding system that I had switched over to. My traffic has greatly increased and I was suddenly receiving over 5 comments a day and was trying to figure out what was real or spam. At first I was flattered, but then I took a closer look at some of their links and realized that some of them were spam. I figured if I was having this problem, others might be too. Use blog commenting as a way to engage people in your industry and build relationships with other bloggers. The relationships you create will be the key to your success as a home based business owner.
