The Ultimate Guide To Leaving Comments On Blogs

The Ultimate Guide to Commenting on a Blog Post appeared first on ProBlogger.

Photo by Red Mirror on Unsplash

If you've ever read a publication, book or e-book, or listened to a webinar or conference session on how to get readers for your blog, you've no doubt heard his advice:

7 advantages of leaving comments on other people's blogs

1. Create your profile : Leaving comments makes you visible. Leaving good reviews can get people's attention.

2. Show your expertise – Sharing your knowledge or experience can help build your credibility.

3. Meet other bloggers – Leaving comments is usually a great way to get on the radar of other bloggers.

4. Drive traffic to your blog – As a result of your posts, you often get people to visit your blog.

5. Generating Ideas : Chatting with other blog commenters often gives you ideas for your own posts.

6. Stay informed – I find that reading and commenting on other blogs is a good daily technique to help me stay up to date with what's going on in my field and focus my mind on the topics I write about. It's also a great writing exercise!

7. Follow-up Opportunity – Last week, someone left a comment on my photography blog that I found so revealing that I asked them to do a guest post. Come to think of it, one of the most successful ebook authors in DPS first introduced me to himself with a great blog post. You never know where a good review will lead!

A problem with leaving comments on other people's blogs

The problem with leaving comments on other blogs as a method to increase traffic is that while it has many benefits, it can also damage your blog's brand and reputation if you don't do it right. More on this below.

This post will give you some tips on how to leave feedback effectively and what to avoid.

4 types of commenters

Over the past 10 years, I've seen a wide variety of blog commenting methods. I suspect most of us fall somewhere on that spectrum.

1. Spammers

We've all seen them: They leave comments on your posts that are completely irrelevant and full of keyword-rich links to try and rank for those words on Google. Often this is automatically generated spam by the system that gets caught in the spam filter and never works.

There is no real debate about the legality of these comments - they are spam and any blogger in their right mind would flag them as such.

2. Unwanted self-promoters

Further, we see commenters usually make at least an attempt to leave their comments manually, sometimes trying to keep comments slightly off-topic… (sometimes).

However, your comments are clearly about getting links that improve your search rankings or drive some clicks back to your site.

The group uses a variety of storytelling strategies that show what they are really talking about.

First of all, they usually don't leave reviews with personal names, but with names like "Best Dog Cookies" or "Hawaiian Homestays".

They rarely say anything that builds the conversation, instead leaving empty comments with "good contributions". Or sometimes this group does something controversial to get attention (attack or comment on another author) in the hope that people will want to check it out.

They also often leave links in their comments that are not relevant to the post.

In short, this group is impersonal, irrelevant, adds no value, and is used for self-promotion.

Sometimes these comments get through the spam filter, but most bloggers delete them when they see them. It's doubtful that comments are of any real use to commenters because most blogs have nofollow links in the comments, which negate the search ranking benefits, and no sane person will click on your link since it's clearly spam.

3. The commenter who builds his profile by adding value

In my opinion, this is the right commenter.

You have clearly read the post and can contribute something of value. Your comments may not always be long or detailed, but they add something thoughtful and relevant to the conversation.

These groups can share stories, give examples, offer other perspectives, answer questions, or do other things that add value to the blogger and their readers.

These commenters are primarily concerned with providing value while building their profile and credibility in the process. They are pursuing a profitable and profitable exchange where bloggers/readers get value from their comments but can also get traffic and praise from these exchanges.

The best of these commenters, in my experience, tend to use a personal name (and a photo if possible). They tend to leave fewer comments than previous groups, but the feedback is more effective.

Note : For avatars, it's a good idea to register a Gravatar account, as this is commonly used for avatars on many blogs.

4. Value providers do not recover value

On the other end of the spectrum is a rare group of commenters who are only interested in adding value but not promoting themselves for one reason or another.

There's nothing wrong with that, but lately I've found some bloggers who are so scared or afraid of being seen as spammers that they never link to their blog.

I understand some of the "shyness" but my advice to this group is to know that most bloggers won't be bothered if you leave a link on your blog when they review it, or they won't have a box inside. Comment section so you can share the link.

A blogger I met recently said that he never posted a link because he heard that there might be problems with Google.

I know Google looks for unnatural links (so those in the first two categories of spammers should beware), but they don't care about actual comments. In fact, Matt Cutts (from Google) made this video about it.

Effective way to leave comments on other blogs

A few years ago, here at ProBlogger, I suggested 11 tips for highlighting the comments you leave on other blogs.

I think most of my advice is still valid today:

Be the first – Earlier commenters will see your comments more than later commenters. Being the first on every post can be a bit annoying.
Share examples – It is based on blog posts with examples that show what the bloggers are saying.
Add Points – If the blogger misses a point, politely suggest it.
Disagree – You may not want to do this with every comment, but politely disagree and then add constructive reasons to make a good impression.
Write with conviction, passion and personality – these things will stand out and get you noticed with your comments.
Use humor – You can grab the attention of reviewers.
Ask questions . I have long noticed that those who ask good questions often become the center of conversation in the comments.
Format comments – Be careful when doing this. Some comment systems allow you to type comments in bold or italics. But don't overdo it here, it might sound spammy. Commenting systems like Disqus allow you to add images and this can also draw attention to your comments.
Useful links – If you decide to add a link, make sure it is very relevant and valuable
Comment Length – Are all comments on the post long? Be brief, it will get noticed. Are all other comments short? Leave this for a long time, it will become visible again.
List/Partition – Think carefully about how your comments will look. Is it just a big chunk of text? If so, consider breaking it up into shorter paragraphs or even list-like formats.

Bonus tip I've used a few times: If you leave a comment that you think adds great value to a blog post, share the link to that post on your social networks.

This shows the blogger that you not only want to participate, but also want to promote their blog (which makes a big impression). It also has the side effect of giving your followers something useful to read (both your blog posts and comments) and showing that you're subscribed outside of your blog, which can only boost your brand.

You can also go a step further by blogging about the posts you comment on. I've only done this a few times, and only when I thought the blog posts and comment threads were really valuable, but could have a big impact.

Oh yeah, and another tip, regular comments on the same blog can be helpful. A great comment can have an effect, but that effect grows exponentially over time. Just don't be an overbearing and tyrannical blog contributor (see below).

What to avoid when leaving comments on other blogs

Also a few years ago, I wrote a post about how you can damage your brand by commenting on other blogs. In it, I've listed 10 things to avoid (this has caused quite a bit of controversy among some, so opinions vary):

Overusing Signatures – This practice was more common a few years ago, but involves leaving a link to your blog in your comments in addition to the link box where Blogger allows you to link to your blog.
Redundant AutoLink – Only leave relevant links and not on every post you write.
One or Two Word Comments – It's nice to show appreciation and say "nice post," but it's even more helpful for bloggers to tell them why you think this is a great post. Add some values.
Don't read posts before commenting - self explanatory. I also recommend reading the other comments already left!
Flaming and personal attack - not in good condition. If you disagree, be constructive.
Flaming "Anonymous" - If you have something to say, write your name.
Always be the first to comment – I've seen quite a few people do this over the years and end up annoying other bloggers and commenters. It's not polite to always be the one to say something... Conversation is also about giving space to the other person to speak.
Dominate Comment Threads – Similar to #1. #7, listen, let others contribute, and let their comments bounce around a bit.
Keyword Stuffing Names – I know there's some controversy about this, but personally I'd rather know the names of the people I'm talking to than refer to them by their company names.
Do not add value to comments ; in the end, that's the point. When you add value, you get value back. If you don't add value, you can damage your brand.

One last thing to avoid: don't comment just for the sake of commenting.

While there are many benefits to leaving comments, I think most people have a hard time commenting if they do it simply as a "strategy" and not because they really want to engage.

What did I miss? (Your chance to practice)

I would like to have your opinion on this matter.

What feedback practices have you used or seen others use that were effective or distracting?

I hope good comments for this post!

To learn more about commenting, getting readers, and other ways to start blogging, check out the 31 Days to a Better Blog course.

This post was first published on November 20, 2013 and last updated on September 29, 2022