Blog Commenting

Okay, so I’ve been at the whole blogging thing for more than a year now, almost as long as I’ve been learning website promotion. You’d think commenting on related blogs would have been my first priority. It was certainly one of the first things that I learned could make or break a blog. I guess I didn’t consider it important until now since it’s only recently that Project Paradox started making money. Whatever the reason, though, if you want a successful blog, commenting is key.

That’s because blogging is a social activity. Blogging utilities are created with commenting functions for the sole purpose of letting others interact with you through your blog. Those little comment forms might not look very important, but they are perhaps the second most important part of your blog after the content. Through them, your posts can turn from mere words into lively discussions, providing even more value to your readers by keeping them engaged.

But commenting is about more than just your blog. Nearly every blog has this capability. It’s also important to go out and comment on other blogs, as well. You’ll be providing useful feedback to them and, more than likely, receiving a valuable link back to your own blog. If you keep this up, you’ll foster ongoing friendships and large-scale link popularity, both of which will help to promote your website.

Here are three ways to make commenting work for your website.

1. Allow commenting on your blog. If you’ve got this feature disabled, make it enabled as soon as possible. Your readers have things to say about your blog, so you should give them the opportunity. It’s easy to get spammed this way, though, so be sure to enable moderation to weed out the junk.
2. Seek out related blogs and post your comments. It’d be rude to receive comments without giving any. Go searching for some other blogs relevant to your subject and give them a well-thought-out comment. Don’t leave a useless comment just to get a link, though. After all, nobody likes spam. Such a comment will more than likely be deleted, all the while doing nothing to endear you to the author (who could always be a potential reader).
3. Follow up on comments. Comments can, and often do, lead to discussion. Respond to those left on your blog and check back in on those you’ve left on other blogs. If someone responds to your comment, be sure to reciprocate. Fostering relationships in this way will create loyal readers and excellent linking opportunities.

This entry was posted on Friday, September 1st, 2006 at 6:08 am and is filed under Website Promotion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.