I’m a big believer in blog commenting for free exposure, driving traffic and generating leads and sales.
For me, blog commenting works nowadays better than ever before… that’s because I kept doing it, and enhanced my strategy from day one. I still improve how I comment on a regular basis. That’s one of the main reasons why I get results, while others are still struggling.
For all the whiners and naysayers out there complaining about blog commenting, I have two words: quit commenting!
A new way to blog comment
With this article I’m about to expose some incredible tips that top blog commentators do that puts the rest of us to shame.
Think of your comment as a mini article in itself.
Take this comment I wrote for example, and here is another one.
The first definitely stands out amongst all the others. It’s meaty. The second is as large as the first, and it ranks at the top.
If you want to get noticed, you cannot sacrifice your comment. Make it lengthy and valuable instead.
You see, I’ve always been impressed with those people who could write comments like that. It never came easy to me and I have marveled many times when others seem to crank out amazing comments so easily. Then, I figured out their secret…
They spend enough time to be able to create comments that help readers better understand the topic discussed or take discussion further. This becomes a wise investment of time. In fact, the readers can see that the person who took the time to write the comment is serious about business and cares about helping people.
Online, before you make a sale or get someone to join your list, you have to build trust, and blog commenting is an incredible trust building tool, just like article writing or guest posting.
There’s an advantage here though: it could take you 10 minutes to write a sizable comment, while for an article or guest post, it might take an hour.
Before I blog comment I ensure I devote at least 15 minutes to reading the article I’m about to comment on. I’ve said READ, not SKIM, as most people would do.
Why is it important to read an article instead of skimming it?
Because that’s how you uncover the gold nuggets… you will stumble upon missing pieces to the puzzle… questions that rise which were not answered within the blog post. That’s where you step in and bring value to the community.
Here’s how I did such with one of my comments.
The title of that post reads: “Should I republish content on my blog?”. It talks about why republishing content without permission from original authors is both immoral and a copyright infringement. Instead, it gives a simple solution: whenever you lack time to write original content on your blog, you could share your personal feedback on somebody else’s content and link to the original article instead of copy-pasting the whole post.
My comment (see link above) takes discussion further and shares what we call the “re-purpose” method. This is where you could turn other people’s articles (with their permission of course) or content into a SlideShare presentation for example, and distribute it onto your site.
I also share a twist on the method. And it reads like this…
Look up YouTube.com on niche related videos… once you get the author’s approval, go ahead and create a PDF transcription of the clip (you could do it yourself or hire a professional). With this method, you can have 100% original content available to share on your site.
With comments like that, you not only help readers do something better, or faster, or whatever. You also attract the attention of the blog author, and this opens up the gates for guest posting opportunities, cross promotions and other potential Joint Ventures. Priceless I’d say, don’t you think?
Blog commenting productivity tip
This is something I’ve tried lately, and haven’t seen anyone else discuss. So it’s like I invented the method. Anyway, it goes like this… Before you blog comment, in fact, even before you start reading the article, ensure you copy-paste it into a blank word document for later reading.
Do this with all the posts or articles you plan to blog comment on.
Most, if not all blog commentators are commenting on the blog. I comment inside a document.
This will enable me (while I read, put me in the right frame of mind) to grasp the ideas shared within the article, make notes, ask questions, and then revamp and tweak my final comment.
It becomes a beast; a true mini article in itself. Something which cannot be neglected, and which brings extra value, inspiration and motivation to anyone reading it…
Here’s another advantage to saving your comments in a document:
For some reasons (e.g. spam filters, etc.) not all your comments will get published, and since you’re saving them – you can have quick access and re-post the ones which didn’t appear within 3 days as I do.
Also, make sure to copy-paste the blog post link below each comment within your word file, otherwise you won’t know where each comment has been posted, and which comment is not live.
Another advantage of blog commenting like this is that you could use samples of these comments as ideas or parts for your next comments or guest posts.
When you’re hit by writers block, you could always go back to your past comments, and find inspiration.
Once again, I’ve seen no others talk about this method. I believe that in the coming years more bloggers and marketers will start commenting using this innovative approach. By then, lengthy, value-driven comments will become the norm.
The question is Why wait, when you can start right now and make a difference today?
I’m looking forward to reading all your comments, even the “one liners” left by those who didn’t take the time to read through today’s post.