Commenting on Blogs: Increase Your Visibility and Credibility

Commenting on blogs is probably not at the top of your To Do List — but maybe it should be. It’s certainly one strategy to build good solid traffic, as well as subscribers, to your blog.
Darren Rowse at http://Problogger.net recently wrote a post about Caroline Middlebrook who did a great job of increasing her traffic through the use of blog comments.
I know it’s fun to write our own content, but let’s not forget about going out there to share our ideas, while at the same time promoting good relationships among readers and bloggers.
With the New Year soon to arrive, this might be a good time to think about writing a resolution to make 10 solid comments on other blogs each week. That would be 520 comments by the end of next year. There’s no doubt in my mind that this will increase traffic to your blog. How much? I don’t know, but I know it will make a difference.
Let’s keep in mind that our comments should:

  • Provide value by offering substantive material
  • Further the conversation
  • Be inviting and friendly so as to promote community and the sharing of ideas, and
  • Be relevant to the topic being discussed

And let’s not forget about some of the benefits of leaving comments on blogs:

  • Opportunity to use your creativity or problem-solving skills on a regular basis
  • Increase your knowledge by learning new things by reading not only the original post, but also the other comments prior to posting your own
  • Increase your visibility by leaving a link to your website in the comment form
  • Increase your credibility by writing valuable content
  • Increase your traffic when others read your content and want to find out more about you

If you have any success stories to share as a result of leaving comments on blogs, we would love to hear about them.
Tara


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19 responses to “Commenting on Blogs: Increase Your Visibility and Credibility”

  1. Doc Think Avatar

    I feel compelled to leave a comment. Now that is 519 more to go this year!

  2. Lisa Braithwaite Avatar

    I’ve gotten one client and many blog/newsletter subscribers from leaving comments on other blogs.
    It’s kind of my modern version of chatting around the water cooler, especially since I work from home!

  3. Tara Kachaturoff Avatar

    Lisa,
    Thank you for sharing what you’ve experienced as a result of commenting on blogs. Outstanding!

  4. Shane Kane Avatar

    Posting on blogs has been a very powerful form of marketing for me. It allows me to put my name in front of people who I otherwise might never reach. Plus it’s free, which is always nice.

  5. Tara Kachaturoff Avatar

    Shane:
    Thanks for sharing about your experience. Keep up the great work. Blog commenting is a wonderful way to start developing relationships with others. It all starts with a conversation. You never know what opportunities it might lead to.

  6. Glenda Watson Hyatt Avatar

    Great post, Tara – something I do plan to implement. My plan is to comment on five ‘new’ blogs per week to expand my network and on five ‘old’ blogs per week to strengthen those connections. I’m just stumped on how to track where I’ve commented. Or, am I making it unnecessarilly complicated?

  7. Tara Kachaturoff Avatar

    Glenda:
    You have an excellent plan in place. Once you create a system, you can create a habit. And this habit can reap great benefits to you and your blog.
    If you want to track your postings, you might consider just making a quick grid in Microsoft Excel – 11 columns wide. Down the left hand column you can input the date that begins that week. Then in the next 10 columns, write in or type in the name of the blog where you commented. Or you can use an abbreviated name. In this format, you can make use of the sorting function in Excel so you can see the number of times you’ve posted to a particular blog.
    If anyone uses a system to track their blog postings, please share. We’d love to hear from you.

  8. Glenda Watson Hyatt Avatar

    Thanks Tara, that sounds simple enough. The simpler the more likely I’ll keep up with it. Rather than the blog name, I may copy n paste the blog url.
    Also, I’m now seeing the benefit of the “Notify me of further comments via e-mail” feature – to make follow-up on specific posts easier.

  9. Rouge: Temas de negocios y tecnología para mujeres Avatar

    Comentar en un blog o site incrementa su visibilidad y credibilidad…

    Comentar al pie de un post o nota es una estrategia que la ayudará a construir una sólida base de tráfico y suscriptores hacia su propio blog.

  10. David Reber Avatar

    I don’t have a new comment on the post but a comment on the comments… Cool ideas!

  11. scott anderson Avatar

    Great post. I definitely agree. I try to dedicate 30-minutes per day to posting comments on other favorite blogs. Good stuff.

  12. Tara Kachaturoff Avatar

    Scott:
    That’s an outstanding commitment you’ve made around blog commenting.
    Part of the fun is selecting the blogs you want to comment on because this is where you’re making an intentional start to begin developing some really important relationships, not only with the blog owner, but with their other readers as well.
    Connecting with others — it’s what makes our beautiful world go ’round. Thanks Scott for sharing your thoughts with us.
    Tara Kachaturoff

  13. Glenda Watson Hyatt Avatar

    Thanks Tara,
    I’ve created the spreadsheet for tracking blog comments and it is available to all at http://www.doitmyselfblog.com/2007/tracking-your-contribution-to-the-blogosphere/. Ideas for tweaking it are welcomed.

  14. mehmet poyraz Avatar

    thank you for your help my friend

  15. Paola Avatar
    Paola

    Tara great point. I take it a step further. Once I posted a comment on 6 different blogs, 5 days later I see in GoogleAnalytics how may visits the 6 blogs gave me. That way I see which one to spend most time on.

  16. esanjor Avatar

    Many thanks for the great information guys.

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