In the past, there has been plenty of high quality blogs that grew with the help of just one marketing channel, which is blog commenting. This strategy was very powerful and it was alone enough to get a new blog established in absolutely no time.
The times have changed and blog commenting might not be as effective, but still it is one of the finest metric that tells you how active a blog is. Other metrics like traffic signals, social shares etc. can be misguiding but since blog commenting takes a lot of hard work and effort, it isn’t easy to fake. So even today, the activity of a blog can be easily analyzed by checking its comments section.
Here, we will discuss several tips, rules and ideas to post better blog comments.
1. Read the post in full: Several times we have seen commentators rushing for posting their comments without reading the full post. Only skimming through a few paragraph isn’t enough to get the idea of the whole post, which is one of the main reason why some comments look weak and repetitive.
Usually an average blog post is over 1k to 3k words which won’t take more than 20+ minutes to read. At max, it can take half an hour, which is still not a lot of time. Taking the time to read the full post will also allow your brain to form a good comment in response.
2. Get Gravatar: Most wordpress blogs are systems that display the Gravatar image as your profile photo which is visible next to your name in the comments section. By default, your image will be a blank one, so you have to claim your email id in Gravatar to set your profile picture. This is a very important step because no one will consider a comment genuine if the commentator does not even have a profile pic next to their comments.
3. Mention the author by name: Every blog has an author. Sometimes there are multiple authors, some posts might be written by guest authors. When posting a comment, it is important to greet the blog author, the details of which are mostly available in the author bio or the blog’s about us section. This is a simple way to connect with the author and make a lasting impression.
4. Post a thoughtful comment: Now that you are ready to write and post your comment it is important to take out some time and pen down a really good comment. Take your time, if required edit it a bit and make sure that your actual comment is thoughtful, insightful, adds value and is overall a good comment.
5. Use your name, Not Keywords: In the name field, we find some people who always try to get some keywords added along with their name, their website’s name or they keep stuffing as many keywords as possible. The name field is for adding your name, not your brand or your website.
6. Don’t be negative: When adding a comment, no matter how much you disagree, never post a negative comment. If you disagree so much that you can’t add a positive comment, then simply skip commenting on that post. There is absolutely no benefit of being negative, just post good, helpful and useful comments.
7. Don’t drop links in the comments: Talking about terrible things that one can do while commenting is dropping links in the comments body. Most blogs allow website field in the comments, some even allow additional links in the form of comluv etc. Use those fields for adding your site; make sure that no links are posted in the comments body.
8. Always comment on the latest post: Sometimes when we find a new blog where we haven’t commented yet, we think of it as a gold mine and start adding as many comments in as many posts we find on the homepage. But it is a negative strategy as the blog owner will get flooded with multiple comments and might consider it as an act of spam. Best to just comment on the latest post and wait for the blog owner to add a new post before you add another comment.
9. Share the post after commenting: Once you have added your comment, take a moment to share the post on the social media. In the comment too, mention that you will share the post on the social media. Certain sites like Twitter sends notification of the tweet if you have included the blog author’s twitter id in the tweet. This way, the author of the blog will be updated about your comment and this will speed up the approving of your comment.
10. Subscribe to posts: It is good to be among the first few commentators and to do that, one need to subscribe to the blog feed so that whenever a new post is added, you get a notification.
As soon as you get a notification, make sure to be the first person to post the comment. There are many benefits of being the first commentator, for example it will give you more exposure. The blog author will notice you if you consistently post the first comment whenever a new post is published.
11. Reply to comments: The comments section of a blog is a community place which is open for discussions. Feel free to keep the conversation going and make a new reply to the reply of the author on your comment. If you find any other comment useful or it can start a conversation, feel free to post a reply to it.
12. Keep a list of active blogs: Now that you are commenting actively, it is important to make sure that your time is utilized more effectively. Make a list of blogs that approves your comment quickly and values your comment. These are the blogs where you have to comment, every time a new post is added. Do note that some blogs don’t approve comments or let them rot in the pending queue, try avoiding such blogs.
Blog commenting might not be today, what it was in the past but even now, it is worth doing. It is the fastest way to build genuine connections with other bloggers which is after all, the start for further collaborations like guest posting and much more.