If all that Penguin talk has made you believe that blog commenting died in April, and you’ve rushed to bury it right next to directories, article marketing and forum posting, you were dead wrong (pun intended) since blog commenting is very much alive and, more importantly, has the power of adding more life in your blogs.
The links, ok, they’re not as powerful as they used to be, but they have some power, and it shouldn’t be neglected especially because:
1. They are easy to get
–automated blog commenting is dead and buried and will never come back to life again, but real comments on blog posts that interest you (you do have some other blogs in your niche that you follow and enjoy, right?) are as easy to get as typing in a few meaningful sentences and a URL. In terms of efficiency, this beats the “great content creation”every time (it does build less valuable links from SEO point of view, but hey, link profile diversity? Number of links? Exactly.)
2. They do pass some link juice
– providing you comment on authority blogs relevant to yours
3. They help you get your name out
– bloggers will notice someone whose comments are constructive, interesting and relevant, which can easily lead to establishing long term relationships, which will be valuable for your other promotional efforts, like guest posts or joint ventures. People reading the blog you’re commenting on will also notice you if your comments show that you are knowledgeable and willing to help, which can lead to increased traffic to your own blog and might even get you more subscribers.
Now that we have established that it works and that it’s worth it, let’s take a look at some ground rules for how to do it. You probably know at least some of them, but now it’s about time to actually start implementing it:
– Use your real name (or a pen name). If your parents hated you and named you something like Used Cars For Sale, then a pen name is obligatory. Also, add your picture to Gravatar. You are a human being who is commenting on another human being’s thoughts, so act like one.
– Provide a meaningful and helpful comment that will show that you have actually read and understood the post you’re commenting on. Feel free to add your point of view (politely!), or a fact that either supports or contradicts what’s been said in the post.
– If there is a “notify me of follow-up comments” checkbox in the comments section, check it if you’ve left a comment on a big blog that you’re participating regularly in. Your comment may have provoked some reactions, and it would be great if you came back and provide more answers – your chances of getting noticed will improve dramatically if you’re there when needed.
– Don’t use redirected or affiliate URLs in the “website” field. No blogger likes to see those in their comment section. As for the URLs in the comment field, only link to what is relevant to prove your point – and to sites other than yours.
The point is: don’t dismiss something that you can use simply because someone (or even a lot of people) is saying that it doesn’t work. Use your own, or this logic: if blog commenting altogether loses its value entirely, then blogging will lose its value too, because community engagement is at its core. A blog can’t exist without the audience, and although some blogs have commenting system that isn’t based on readers who leave their URLs, it is much more enticing for the readers to share their comments if they can brag about their own blog at the same time.
Jeff Gross is a part of an elite SEO team and has contributed to hundreds of blogs and news sites. Having such experience, he knows how useful blog comments can be, so he implements carefully that tactic too when working at his SEO company called nPromote.