A Time-Efficient Strategy for Getting the MOST Our of Each Blog Comment

Blog commenting has become a very popular strategy for getting more traffic and link juice to your blog.  In fact, I used effective blog commenting to dramatically boost my Alexa Ranking and blog performance in just 30 days.

But for Part Time Networkers and others trying to build their business with limited time, you must have a clear strategy for getting the most out of your blog comments.   Otherwise, you can waste a lot of valuable time with little to show for it.

Today, I want to share with you the exact blog commenting strategy I use on a  daily basis.

Just to be clear, I am talking about how and where to place comments on other blogs.  In a future post, I’ll explain how to get more people to comment on your own blog.

My Blog Commenting Strategy:  Finding the Right Blogs

Hunting around the Internet for interesting posts on which to comment is an inefficient use of your time, and you can’t afford that!  So the first step in effective blog commenting is tofind the best blogs to place your comments.

I already discussed this at length in a previous post, so I won’t elaborate too much here except to say that you should find 5-10 blogs in your niche that have regular and recent posts, lots of comments and a Google Page Rank of at least 2.

You need to limit the number of blogs for commenting to use your time most effectively, and to get yourself noticed by repeatedly commenting on the same blogs.

This is the time to do your homework before placing your first comment!

Once you’ve chosen the blogs on which you want to comment, head on over to their blogs once more and begin the process of building a relationship.

1. Subscribe to their blogs either by email or RSS feed.
2. Send a friend request on Facebook, and like their Facebook Fan Page if they have one (they should).  I’ll explain why later.
3. Follow them on other social networks like Twitter and Linkedin.  Use the social media buttons on their blog to connect.
4. Connect in other ways possible, such as Google Friend Connect and Networked Blogs, if available on their blog
5. Even try this — send the blogger a message on their blog and let them know how much you like what they write and that they’ll be seeing your comments regularly!  What a great way to get noticed.

For more, read:   Effective Blog Commenting for Part Time Networkers: How To Find the Best Blogs to Place Comments.

My Blog Commenting Strategy:  How To Write Your Comments

There are no hard and fast rules on writing good comments, but I’ll share with you the guidelines I use for writing great comments:

• only comment on posts when you have something to contribute. Avoid leaving meaningless comments like “Nice post.”  You’ll be looked at as a spammer just looking for link juice.  Many bloggers (including me) won’t even approve such comments.
• when commenting, make it obvious that you actually read the post (tip:  read the post!).  In other words, reference something in the blog post as part of your comment.
• use the blogger’s name in your comments a couple of times.  This may help you get noticed by the blogger (not tested, just my feeling).
• do NOT talk excessively about your own blog posts.  Only mention one of your posts if it adds to the discussion and is relevant to your comment.
• always be polite and courteous, even if you don’t agree with some points contained in the blog post.
• proof read your comment and be sure it makes sense.   You’d be surprised how many blog comments I see  that don’t make sense.  You don’t need perfect grammar or spelling (although its nice), but your comment needs to make sense.

FInally, just before you hit the Submit Button, check to see if the blogger has activated a plugin that will allow you to subscribe to follow up comments.  If so, you’ll see a box you can check right below the Submit button, asking you to Subscribe.  Always take advantage of this opportunity.

It will allow you to continue the conversation and discussion.

My Blog Commenting Strategy:  Blog Commenting Followup

Once you’ve made your comment and hit the submit button, your work is still not done.  A few more steps will help build a relationship with the blogger.

Step 1:  Share the post with on Facebook.  This is a great way to show the blogger that you’re supporting him/her.

TIP:  If your Facebook Friend request has been accepted, use the @Name feature when sharing the post.  The blogger will then see that you have shared his post on Facebook.  This is a great relationship builder, and it’s why I told you earlier to befriend bloggers on Facebook.

Step 2:  Now go back and share the post with your other social networks of choice.  Personally, I retweet each post on Twitter and share on Digg and Stumbleupon.  Sharing in this way give the posts (containing YOUR comments) more exposure and extends their reach to more eyeballs.

Step 3:  Ping your comment using Ping-o-Matic or Pingler.com,  When you submit your comment, notice the URL changes to the name of the post + comment with a comment ID at the end.  Copy and paste this comment URL into one of the automatic ping services to get maximum exposure for your comments.

Thanks to Ana Hoffman at Traffic Generation Cafe for this tip!

All of this takes only a few minutes and goes a long way towards building relationships with fellow bloggers.

It’s a very efficient use of your time.

Blog Commenting Strategy Takeaways

First, it’s vitally important that you choose a group of blogs on which to comment. These should be in your niche, active and get a good amount of traffic.

Second, take care on how you write your comment and be sure you are adding to the conversation.

Third, be sure to share the post on social media sites and ping your comment to gain maximum exposure.

Finally, subscribe to the comment thread (when available) and be sure to continue the conversation with the blogger once they’ve replied to your comment.

There you have it… my Effective Blog Commenting Strategy for busy marketers.  If you decide to use blog commenting as a strategy to bring traffic back to your blog, you can use my strategy as a guideline.

However, as with anything else, you’ll want to take what makes sense to you and use it to form your own blog commenting strategy.