Hi, Everyone…
Today I am going to dive into a subject that perhaps some online marketers have not thought much about. It has the potential to help your business in a number of ways, so is important. That subject is, of course as you may have guessed from the title of this post, are comments.
It is a misunderstood tool that a lot of marketers do not leverage in their favor, and in not doing so, they are missing out. This post will help explain why I feel this way and offers some suggestions as to how you can easily start tapping into the power that comments offer…
Let’s get started…
Introduction
Table of Contents
All online marketing professionals who have full knowledge of their chosen niche know how important business blogging can be. Business blogging can help you establish your business, can drive more traffic to your website, and improve link building efforts for SEO.
Writing and spending the time and effort to create useful and valuable content for your blog is important as well as is the promoting of your blog and getting your name out there in the blogging community in your niche. To be able to do this, bloggers can use a blog commenting strategy that will complement all their other efforts.
Blog commenting is an effective strategy when used correctly. Some critics say that it is ineffective as commenting can get abused and looks spammy, so many people are not using comments anymore as their strategy. However, as I said, it is an effective strategy when done correctly.
In other words, we advocate for a white-hat method of commenting on other people’s blogs as a way to build links. While it is the best practice that blog links are “no follow”, commenting is still a great tactic for naturally stimulating the link building process. Not only that, but commenting helps build your brand, increases your credibility, helps with social media, and can even enhance your SEO campaign.
Let’s talk about why having a comments section on your own blog can benefit your marketing efforts too and how you may be able to tap into the many ways that are available to get more comments on your websites and blogs, no matter if you are selling products on an e-commerce platform or hosting a blog on a particular niche…
This commenting power works two ways: On your own blog posts and websites, it can give you opportunities to add context to your posts, and when you provide comments on other blog posts, it can add to your name recognition and to your authority (plus get you more traffic to your own website).
INCREASE VISIBILITY
The people that are related to your niche industry are actually browsing blogs looking for products or services that you might able to provide. These people might have not seen your blog yet so increasing your name’s visibility for them is important. You never know who could be browsing the blog comments.
Make sure to use a person’s name in your comment on other blogs, to help improve your visibility as well as your credibility. If you use your company name, some people will think that you’re only after the link but in actuality, you want to increase your visibility and exposure, so it’s best to use a name, instead.
If you allow comments in your own website and posts (which you should), you can expand on the content that is in your post in your replies, plus you may get questions from commenters that you can then answer and provide yet more insight for the readers. This will also help the rankings that you will get from the search engines because you can use the keywords you are focusing on again too.
ESTABLISH CREDIBILITY AND AUTHORITY
When it comes to blogging comments, whether you are posting on another website, or replying to a comment on your own website, it’s important to add to the conversation. Read the post thoroughly and add a well put and thoughtful comment that will encourage more comments from others. If it seems like you “know your stuff”, it’s a great way to market yourself or your brand or company.
When you see a blog post with a good number of comments, it usually indicates a certain authority. But authority is not only about publishing a great blog post and getting lots of comments from your readers. You can build it furthermore by replying to comments and interacting with your readers.
This builds your reputation and authority within the niche, as more and more members get to know of your and of your positions on subjects. As a commenter, your content can come up in searches if people are looking for you in particular (I have tried this and many of my comments show up across related websites).
DIRECT INTERACTION WITH YOUR AUDIENCE CAN FORM RELATIONSHIPS
Blog commenting can also help in forming relationships. Interacting and forming relationships with audiences are important because when people don’t have access to a human aspect, they find it easier to dismiss a blog as just a brand or a faceless entity that doesn’t care.
When you consistently make blog comments, the relationships you form will be done over time, too. The more consistent you are, the more likely you are to build them. Over time, a friendly relationship may grow and lead to new business opportunities or even guest blog posting opportunities. The blog comments section gives you the unique opportunity to do a little PR by appearing reachable and human.
Also, having a comments section where you interact with people show that your blog is not a one-way street, where you only do the talking and you blast your content out to them and you’re not willing to hear from your readers. This is particularly important if you’re trying to build your blog traffic.
The power that comments offer helps you start to get additional links with others that may be well-known within the niche community that you may very well be able to parlay into something more substantial, such as a guest post, perhaps work on a project together, or even some kind of a live event.
BUILD LINKS
A lot of blog sites allow you to include a website link with your blog comment. So, commenting on blogs can help build links over time. Remember that natural links are built up over time as a result of the increased exposure and understand that you’re not doing it for direct inbound links. These are no-follow links generally, but nonetheless, they can have an effect on your authority.
This is a natural process so it is not dinged by Google nor is it a bad thing, as over time these kinds of links will tend to come about naturally. Getting some well-known people in the niche to stop by and comment can provide a backlink that offers huge value, plus just having the name within your website (as a commenter) may help too with authority and credibility you gain.
TRAFFIC
Commenting on blogs can give you direct traffic to your blog. Make intelligent and well-put comments on high profile blogs, people will click over to your site if they like what you are saying. This holds true for any comment that you make anywhere, by the way.
Your words once posted will be there likely forever, so think carefully as you frame up any comments that you make and back up your comments with facts, figures, and maybe even quotes. The more professional you come across the better it is with comments.
Pay attention to the little things too like syntax, grammar, spelling, and even how you use phrases and words. Try to write so people will be able to clearly understand your intent. This will give your thoughts credence with people that are reading them, and build your reputation.
It does not have to take a lot of time, just following this practice always means it will come naturally for you, whether creating blog posts, emails, or comments. The more you practice the better you will get. Try some of the many tools that are out there that will review your writing as you write. I use Grammarly and it works great.
Some Other Ideas...
Use DISQUS
Use Disqus for commenting. A lot of blogs are using Disqus these days for commenting. You will still get traffic for it even though this doesn’t have a direct link to your blog. Plus, your credibility will increase when you build up your Disqus portfolio over time.
The advantage of being a regular
Your comments section is where the regulars gather. Over time, they will get to know each other and your blog. They can help your blog from just a regular blog into a conversation that happens every time you post new content.
Makes conversations easier to follow
Comments section makes the conversation for readers easier for your blog content to follow along and make sense of how the conversation goes rather than using social media as your primary platform for conversation on your content. Social media platform may bring some interaction but most likely, it will be for a short time because conversation on social media can fade away as the news feed changes.
Build a community on your own platform
Your presence on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter is not yours. The social platforms may come and go but your blog will remain forever or as long as you want it. If you build conversations on social networks, think what is going to happen once they’re gone? All your great content and conversations will all be gone too.
Social proof of your blog
Social proof is when we see a crowd, we know that there is something going on there, we hope it is something good! So if you see a blog post with many comments, you’ll most likely to join because you are curious to know what people are talking about. This is why you want to make sure that you have some means for community participation.
Comments sections on your blog fulfill that role and encourage your readers to give their opinions because comments help encourage more comments. Most themes these days (and always I think) have had the ability to allow comments on each blog post. Take advantage of that power!
You can get new and fresh ideas for your content
As mentioned above, comment sections are a great place to get fresh ideas for your blog post or review. Since the comments section is where you can find different people battling ideas around so it is good to read them to generate new ideas. There are as many ways to solve a problem as there are people, and hearing about some of them adds depth to your posts.
As mentioned, it can lead to so much more as well, so if you are not using comments, or replying to comments (as I also see sometimes with the so-called gurus of various niches out there and their blog posts) you are missing out on a huge opportunity…
Conclusion
Blog commenting also requires time, effort and dedication. Make some time to do it at least weekly and maybe spend an hour or two when you are commenting on the same industry that you are in. Do some research on relevant blogs, it might take time at first doing research but you can create a spreadsheet and list down the quality blogs to visit on an ongoing basis.
This means you can start taking the time to not only reply to comments on others’ websites and blog posts, but you can also take the time to start commenting on other relevant blog posts where you can contribute to the subject at hand. This can be done regularly to build up your reputation.
The commenting power that is there for all of us costs nothing but time, a bit of thinking, and of course, having a command of the written and spoken language, to be able to make salient and cogent comments on others’ blogs. It can be done by all of us, and the communities in the niches will be the better for it!
Hope this post helps get you all commenting away, if you have any questions, just add them below, I do reply to comments, as I truly do as I say in this post. Not just for the reasons I mention above, which are all benefitting me, but because it also will help you, the reader, too. That is what this blog site is all about.
The Future…
We want to work in a SMART manner always! If you are wondering what I am talking about, have a look around the blog and see just what that acronym means to us here and how we incorporate it into everything we do and the growing set of products that we are offering fellow marketers.
These include things like training on content creation, blogging, organization, etc. plus tools such as our SMART IM Lead Magnet Kits, SMART IM Checklists, Deal Sales Pages, and even SMART Chatbots Services that we offer to online marketers who may be operating an offline, online, or as we are doing a combination on and offline business.
Check out the links to see what I am talking about, we have more advice and helpful tools for your business and we want to help! Let’s get started working together! Shameless plug, I know, but that is what we are into, helping business owners with their business, it’s why we are here!
Cheers!
Dave : )
I agree that commenting on other blogs within your niche is an excellent way to out your blog out there, however some blogs frown at inclusion of links in their comment section. I for one, spend a good number of time commenting on blogs related to my niche, but I rarely insert my blog link because, it seems unethical.
HI, Louis…
You bring up a great point. What I think you are referring to is what I would call spamming. These days most websites have filters that will hold up publication of comments that have external links. I know I have that on my websites.
The backlink I am referring to is the website link that you post when you leave a comment. That does not necessarily get seen by the people that see that comment. Nonetheless, I have received some pretty good backlinks over the years, all white hat links too that happen naturally.
It is good that you mention this aspect of commenting, as there may be some that think it is okay to add in a bunch of links to a product, a service, or an affiliate offer, and it most certainly is not. There is a certain amount of emotional intelligence required with any kind of marketing.
You have to know how to maneuver through the many land mines that are out there to have success. Spamming is just not something we do nor is there a need for it today. The way to get traffic, leads, and sales is to offer value and a better user engagement I think.
Cheers!
Dave : )
Hello Dave, this is an interesting article that can help in get traffic to ones blog.creating a niche of blog and allowing a comment section can brings interaction between your blog visitors,it can as well become a place to get new fresh ideas from the conversation. Giving reply to every comment is very essential and it will helps visitor to visit back the blog.
This has really changed my thinking about getting traffic on blog. It could also help in SEO ranking. Thanks for the insight
Hi Adam…
Glad that you gained some insight and ideas from the post, I really wanted to get something like this up, because I see fewer people really commenting much (or reading much for that matter). It can be a good way to improve your writing skills too.
There are so many positive outcomes from adding comments to your workday, and the more I think about all of them, it makes me wonder why more people do not use them properly or at all in some cases. They would rather go out and buy some expensive but useless product that promises instant traffic and sales.
I guess it may come down to the fact that people today have been indoctrinated into instant gratification as opposed to the delay of gratification concept that I grew up with. In the old days, parents used to say “Anything worth having is worth waiting for and working for.”
These days it is “If it takes over 30 seconds, I do not have time.” or “Is there a video I can watch?” or “You mean I have to work for this?” but this is the reality we as marketers face. Knowing this is how a large segment of people think, we have to create solutions around this.
For old school marketers like myself, the old tricks and tips still work. They may not be as flashy, and they may require some critical thinking and some basic communication skills, but even the new methods require some of these, and the old methods will help as you design marketing methods for today.
Anyway, have a great day and thanks for popping through and adding your feedback! It is appreciated and valuable!
Cheers!
Dave : )
Thanks for writing this article on using comments to your advantage.i have read many importance of comment on a website,i have not finished creating my first content I want to post on site and I have know the importance of comment, I will like to get as many comments as possible in other to increase google search rate and also build a community on the platform. Thanks for this article, I find every part of it help for
Good Day, Ajibola…
Yes indeed, the comments is yet one more piece of the puzzle that is online marketing. There are so many tools and means of improving overall engagement and traffic out there it can be overwhelming. Many cost money, but this method only costs time and effort.
The key is to determine what is the right amount of time to dedicate out of your day so commenting does not cut into all the other tasks that have to be done. Over time, each person will see what works for them. if they see that their time for other work is being encroached on too much, they can cut the commenting a bit.
Most definitely adding the comment weapon to your arsenal of tools is a good thing though, no matter how much time you decide is right for the task. I have enjoyed this over the years, and it actually is not like work at all for me. I do wish I had more time for it!
Cheers!
Dave : )
This a great insight into using comments as an advantage to gain more traffic to my own blog. I see commenting on other blogs as a way to also show support for other blogs and by so doing, get into goodwill and repute with those bloggers because,when they see another blogger taking out time to read their own blog and leaving a comment,it will feel like they care about you. Especially for those who understand the effects of comments on their blog,this might even make them also visit your own blog and sometimes also direct traffic to your own blog and this could be a win win situation for the blog you commented on and your own blog too. Thanks for sharing this insight. It has given me ideas that I would love to explore.
Hi, Vapz!
Thanks for adding your thoughts on this subject of commenting on website posts, and you are so right how it can help both you and the person that you are writing a comment on with their post. They appreciate them if you take the time to do the comment right.
A point that I did not add in the post was the new ideas that you as the person making the comment can get when you take some time to have a look at others’ post. I know that I have learned a bunch by adding to my knowledge base as I read other posts.
There are public sites too that can help in some small manner, I am thinking like Quora, Yahoo, etc. These also do not give you d-follow links back to your website, but they get your name out there, and you have the chance to provide solutions in some cases…
All kinds of ways to leverage the power of comments, and it does not take long to get into a routine where it does not have to take up a major portion of your workday, rather it becomes another daily task that you get to and get done in a limited amount of time.
Cheers!
Dave : )
Churning out posts that will bring engaging comments in one’s blog or page is often seen as the modi operandi of a healthy and interactive blog or page. This go a long way in determining how a business built on such platform will look like in the long run because a customer is the commenter. Also leaving comments that make room for more engagements is also necessary not only for blog owners but for customers too for a better online relationship which profits everyone in the long run
Cheers.
Hi, Sammy…
Yes, you are right on point with your observations. The comment tool is a sure way to get more engagement, and it can help keep people on your website longer. This is good for SEO purposes, but also it is good for having more opportunity to grab a new subscriber or make a sale.
Lots of reasons to add the commenting tool to your stable of tools that you can tap into as an online marketer, and when you add this to all the other tools you have, it can be easier to become a force in whatever niche that you may be pursuing.
Appreciate you adding in your thoughts, there are indeed a lot of reasons to tap into comments and the power they have in increasing your overall effectiveness as an online marketer!
Cheers!
Dave : )
Thjs article is appreciated and I must say that I agree with you on using comment to your advantage. I have had the opportunity to visit some blogs where you can only read without seeing the comment box to say or share your opinion. I guess the poster doesn’t know the advantage of allowing comments on their post. I agree with you that comments increases visibility and credibility and interaction. You know it’s interesting when a poster gives a reply to a comment made a reader, it build sense of trust in the content of the site and the owner. There is a blog that I must visit on daily basis because the owner leave room for interaction and opinions on post. This article is really informative and will really help blog owners. Thanks for sharing this article.
Greetings, Olalekan…
You caught me during my commenting time as did some other commenters for this post, so I am answering almost immediately! That does not happen all the time, but I do try to get back as soon as possible with anyone that comments on my posts.
This is because I dedicate a certain portion of my workday to addressing comments. That includes providing comments and replying to comments that are posted in reply to the articles and such that I publish on my websites. There are times when I have so many to work that it can take a day or two to get caught up.
The gist of this is that I make time for comments because I know that they can help your business. You get questions and feedback, you can get new ideas, and best of all, you start to get a feel for the niche. I mean that you gain insight into the problems, the potential solutions, etc.
As you may have surmised by now, I am a big fan of comments on websites. Of course, they have to be done in a manner that is not spammy and reflects that you have taken the time to add a well-thought-out response or question, or it can do the opposite!
Cheers!
Dave : )