Blog readers, do not comment! Reply to others’ comments!
As a web user and blog reader, one is used to the fact that a comment can be left on the post that a given author (blog administrator or guest poster) has written. Most of the time, one comments on the main topic waiting for the author to respond. It usually ends up like this:
- author writes and posts,
- commenter reacts and comments the post,
- author reacts to the commenter’s comment,
- [optional]commenter reacts to author’s comment,
- [optional]repeat steps 3 and 4 indefinitely.
What might strike us, is that in the normal configuration, no 3rd or 4th or Xth party is included. Question is, does it have to be like that?
Debate.
The idea of commenting is to create a debate, confront views or improve or complement the original post. Most of the time, only the authors reply to the comments comments posted. Now let’s be honnest, many people ignore other people’s comments. This usually makes comments stale as 3 persons out of 4 will say the same thing.
Why not debate? People seem to be afraid to respond to other people’s comments. It usually looks like people are only interacting with the author and not with the other people around. It ends up being one person yelling alone in a crowd. Just for the intellectual side of it, one can get in and debate a subject with other users.
Drive trafic.
Read all the MMO and “how-to-blog” blogs you can find. All of them will tell you to comment around the clock and the world as comments are gateways for traffic to come from other websites. Not a bad idea but does it really have an impact when your comment is lost in a stream of comments? If there is a “no other comment reading” profile, how will your comment attract attention.
On interacting with another or other commenters, these will certainly be interested in your blog or site. Some qualified traffic for you there. Each interaction with a commenter will be a gateway for the commenter to have a look at your own site or blog.
Along with that, you can visually attract attention especially if the site where you are commenting has threaded comments. The “scrolling reader” will be more inclined in trying to find out what the debate is about when s/he notices the amount of interactive comments being threaded. Now you can attract attention and effectively drive traffic!
Backlinks.
So, you are commenting for the sole reason of creating backlinks. For sure, your “Great Post! Thanks for the inspiration!” comment is not that interesting and you can drop it only once. If you’re interacting with the author, you’ll be dropping one or some more backlinks on the page. Now, why not go for the big job and throw in more backlinks, especially if the post is in your field and your scope?
If the post is destined to hit high PRs, why not maximise the link juice towards your site? One should be careful not to fall into the comment spam trap or turn into a troll. Honest, to the point and on topic comments might prevent this.
And you?
How do you comment on blogs? What drives your commenting? Do you usually reply to other people’s comments? Would you change the way you comment?
Category: Blogging
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Twitter: hupseymedia
says:
It is a funny coincidence, I was planning to do a post on the same topic as this nets time. A post comparing comments to forum threads. I have seen a lot of commentors ignoring comments before them, and just leave a comment on how much they love the post. I think commenting should be more like forum threads, were people stay on topic, and dont ignore other comments..
Bjorn@Wordpress theme magazine » Thanks for your comment. Interaction and discussion is what can fire up blog commenting. It seems to me today that this is what lacks on blogs nowadays. As from now on, I’m getting into the habit of replying to other people’s comments on other blogs.
Twitter: hupseymedia
says:
By the way, Your tweet button text could have been improved so tweets and tweets could look better. The official tweet button shows the headline as text instead of the http://bla+bla that comes up now.. Just a friendly tip
Bjorn@Wordpress theme magazine » Could you please tell me which button you’re talking about Bjorn? I’ve set up a basic plugin, but I might need some help in improving or replacing it.
Cheers
As I saw that you find all your comments on google,I am very careful about my comments.
Chris » I’m sorry but I don’t really get the point of your comment. Anyway, thanks for stopping by and commenting.
What I meant that all your comments are seen on Google. Whatever I comment, one can find, if typing my name into google. Most people are not aware of that.
Chris » Thanks for clearing things up. I however doubt that leaving one’s name in a comment is a negative move. Anyways, most people use pseudos and, in the case of web professionals, keywords as a name. The latters do this to be sure that they get caught by Google in any case.
My second comment is in regard to my fist, where I said that when you comment, you have to know that the comment is getting indexed in search engine. Well that is why it is called a backlink. Some people write comments that they wouldn’t, would they be aware of that.
No matter if I write Chris, Christa or my full name Christa-Maria Herog, Google KNOWS its me.
Are you already in Google+? My breath stopped, when I saw how much Google knows about me!
Chris » This goes in the “personal branding” category. If one needs to manage one’s presence online, they sure have to see to it that their name is not associated to any negative comments.
Yes, I am already on Google+, been on it for some time now but haven’t made full use of it yet.
Twitter: hupseymedia
says:
It was the button in the row under the post. But it looks like its only hootsuite that makes the bad text.. I will tweet using the browser instead.
Bjorn@Wordpress theme magazine » Ok then. I really thought that I got rick ‘n’ rolled on this one
. Thanks
Does it have any difference if we put keyword in-spite of the name in the name space….cause in the end it is all about back links…isn’t it??
india » It does make a difference. The fact of using keywords enhances the power of the back link. This is called anchor text optimisation. If you use “vouchers” or “india vouchers” in your backlink, the search engine bot knows that it is likely to meet a page discussing these subjects. This helps the bot in determining the site’s presence on some keywords in SERPs.
I do not think that commenting can increase traffic to commentators’ website. Any how, your post may visible in search engine against long phrases.
I really like your option to answer the other comments rather than commenting at the post content.
Ross@PR News Wire » Many people comment just for the sake of doing it or driving traffic, which is NOT the prime objective of commenting. Answering to comments would work in building networks and establishing one as a specialist in one’s field.
Ross, I think the point is that good comments that are part of a debate DO increase traffic. Those debating or following the debate will often want to know more about those taking part.
My pet hate is the ‘Great post, thanks!’ type spam post.
malcolm@mjcpkwebdesign recently wrote: Are you losing page rank and visitors when you change the names of your pages?
I also feel the same that a comment is just like a forum comment to stay on topic. you will never get the click on your keyword if your comment is short or just like Good job. Thank you etc
It’s nice, I use to increase my backlinks by doing dofollow blog comments,sometime the comment will not be approved. In future will try to reply to the others comment.