Is Commenting on Blogs a
Smart Traffic Strategy?

first!

Sometimes (not often) it is possible to be “First and Fabulous?”. What you have to remember is the people this is going to work best for are A) those with something to offer and B) small current audiences.

You might not be impressed with a hundred new visitors, but there are tons of blogs out there who get fewer than that on a daily basis, so there is an obvious payoff there.

Plus, sometimes getting in early is fun

Now would I use it as my main method? Of course not, but there are other benefits. Networking and relationships, you mentioned. Then there is “name awareness” for the community.

Writing a comment gets you writing – getting your wheels turning, and sometimes a long comment can be copied and pasted over to your own blog to become a great post.

So just commenting is good, commenting early is good, and sometimes there are additional benefits.

I think all bloggers should comment. It’s just a good thing to do.

I think you’re very right. Commenting on blogs isn’t worthless; I’ve found a lot of fun, new blogs by reading the comments sections on the blogs I already read. If somebody is consistently making good, funny, and/or insightful comments, I’ll probably start checking out their blog as well. The comments that bring down the comments section are the short, brainless ones, like: “Ooh, great post, LOL,” “U sound stupid,” or, even worse, “First!”

Really, how are you supposed to have a conversation with that?

@Chris, that’s a great point, that writing comments gets our writing gears going.

Some blogs have great comment communities, almost like mini forums. I’ve definitely created some great relationships with commenters in that context, and gone on to read their blogs, comment there, and send a little business back and forth as appropriate.

haha.. That’s predictable Brian.

I’m not always trying to be a first commenter but that’s how I work.

Whenever I see there is a new post in my feed reader, I will always try to go and read that post first not to be the first commenter but merely to see if that post warrant a retweet.

If I think I should leave a comment than I will

Good post… this warrant an RT

What Chris said is appropriate about writing a comment – “getting your wheels turning”. As a blogger, I’ll get good ideas for an article by writing comments on another blog.

While some people will write comments just to get clicks, I have the opposite problem. I have a hard time writing a comment unless I truly feel that it adds some value to the conversation… like now for instance.

But I’m reminded by the times I’ve written a “meaningless” comment (in my opinion) and learn later that what I said made a huge difference in someone’s life. You never know, I guess.

It really comes down to connecting and offering up whatever you’ve got available, however profound or not. To paraphrase Freud, “Sometimes a comment is just a comment.”

16th

I comment frequently among a certain community of bloggers. It feels like an extension of conversations we are having in other places, too.

I also comment because, well, even crusty old bloggers need love, too :-*

I never considered my placement with comments as much as my content. Honestly, I would feel awkward leaving the standard “Great Article!” comment on millions of blogs every day. If I don’t have something constructive or useful to comment, best not comment at all.

Asking questions that invite further discussion of the post topic is a great way to comment.

With a blog like CopyBlogger, your comment will end up being one of hundreds very quickly. When I scroll through CB’s comments, I usually stop on the longest ones. This indicates to me the commenter took their time to write something potentially useful. Chris Garrett’s comment was the first one that caught my eye on this post today.

19th! Sweet – totally not trying to get some traffic by leaving a lame comment.

In all seriousness, this was a helpful article because I’ve wondered about the effectiveness of commenting on other sites. Thanks for the write up.

The shocking truth isn’t really that shocking. Your statement on relationships being the secret reminds me of the things that first got me interested in blogging and more specifically video blogging. I enjoyed “meeting” people and having genuine conversations with humans from all over the world.
It was great learning about them, their families and the things that they were interested in. It was even cool to see their interest in my day to day life. Success wasn’t measured in dollars as a personal blogger. And comments weren’t and still aren’t made just to improve my standings among search engines or fellow bloggers. Comments were relevant responses to content and genuine reactions to shared information. Comments show gratitude, encouragement, ask questions, seek clarification and more.
In some ways this remains truth for me as I look to grow my blog, website and social networks for my business. Success isn’t just about numbers or a very detailed measure of ROI. Success is still connecting with people, providing value, serving them in some way, producing something that others can be interested in and something I too am proud of.
On the other side, our business lives are important. numbers, SEO and ROI are important to us. I can understand how some might want to use methods like this to improve their standings, get some extra hits, and maybe generate some more income.
But I’m in agreement with you. Commenting first for the sake of commenting first and being noticed by others isn’t a recommended method. We need to be genuine. Real relationships and good, true, and genuine content are what social media is about and what make it successful.

I’d say typing one’s website name(if you have one) in the name field of blog comments is more important than placement, yet I notice repeatedly people failing to do so.

Leave a memorable comment, but also make sure to include your name AND website name. Study the comments to this post and you’ll see some taking advantage of this and some not.

I loved those first couple of comments. They made me smile. Thanks for that.

I’d echo the content/relationships angle. Even more so than going for the social media traffic (which may or may not just be passing fad traffic), if you leave a quality comment, you’re creating quality content as well.

It’s the quality content seekers that you really want as visitors to your site. They’ll stick around and hopefully even buy. If they see the quality content, it won’t matter as much when they noticed the conversation.

@Chris,

Never thought of it that way. I was concentrating on the “meaningful comment” aspect of this post and thought if you leave a meaningful comment, that wouldn’t matter. But, I see your point.

I am never the first to comment, because I like to see what others have to say that I might agree or disagree with. Often other readers will have a different viewpoint on the topic and I can learn something new.

I agree that it comes back to the quality of the content. Whether it is a comment or an actual blog post, the content that will help to build your blog is the content that you take the time and effort to create so that it is meaningful and valuable to your target audience.

As with most things, hard work pays off. If your goal is to build and sustain traffic overtime, there aren’t any “quick fixes” that will help you to achieve that.

Brian,

Point taken, but I was coming at this discussion from an average Joe perspective, not some type of SEO-pimp-looking-for-cheap-mentions angle. Kind of like me meeting someone in person and saying, “Hi, I’m Shane. I’m from Maryland.” that type of mention. Just a little bit more detail that gives me a hint as to what this person is about.

Time zones have a role to play, too. Sometimes people arrive first in a comment box because of where they live and when the feed goes out. To be in the first 70 commenters at Zen Habits, for example, I’d have to stay up all night. (I’m in the UK.)

I comment for connection and a sense of community. If the blogger never interacts with the people who leave comments, I don’t comment there.

I also regularly build posts around comments as a way to thank my commenters or to send visitors to blogs I like.

Thanks for the great reminders! Have caught myself skimming an article just to leave a “poignant” comment… thinking to myself… Am I “really” understanding what the writer is trying to get across?

You reminded me to not miss the entire point of a post just to get a comment in I think will attract readers.

Solution for me, is to really decide on what blogs in my niche I think are really adding value to the topics I’m covering on my blog. And spend more time adding value to the community there.

I am in it for the long hall and really enjoy writing and helping others, I need to remind myself of that when I get in a hurry to just leave a comment… hmmm am I doing that now?

Hi Brian, great post. It reminds me of a family member that likes to post multiple videos and blog posts a day about anything from social media to how to make a soda and Mentos bottle rocket. He does this to gain popularity on the web, but personally I think it makes him look like a person with no credibility.

Ha ha, I haven’t a hope of being first. I totally agree that I’m not going to be tempted to read someone’s blog if I’m not impressed with their comments. And I’ll also agree that I’m not going read every single comment on a blog if the list gets too big.

The solution, it seems to me, is always to post quality comments, that come from a place of wishing to share knowledge or expertise.

I believe that people read my blog because I’m real person who has struggled against some real issues to live her dream, and I share my journey openly.

Seems to me that if I comment on blogs to comment on blogs and get traffic, I would be doing something that feels uncomfortably false.

If I’m commenting on blogs that say something that matters to me, because it matters to me, I’m being real, honest and authentic.

PS – I think I’ll read the last comments on everyone’s blog from now on ;D

Jared raised a great point about adding value. I think at the end of the day, it’s about adding value to the conversation.

You are right on (and that’s not sucking up). Commenting on other people’s blogs can’t build traffic enough to make it worth it alone. The true value to commenting on another blog is to choose one in your niche and establish a relationship with other readers or the blog owner for added tweeting, linking, etc. If all I did was comment to get 3/30/300 clicks and hope some of them are targeted and will stay, I’d waste a lot of time. My business would be much better served writing quality articles for my readers, writing content for e-Books, writing guest posts, etc.

Ask yourself if hiring a V.A. would be worth adding a generic comment simply to be the first to comment and you probably would not think it’s worth your money. So, why is it worth your time? My time is precious.

Haha, after reading this post, it almost makes me hesitant to post a comment for fear that it isn’t a good one! However, I will still try
I agree with you that comments must be written and placed carefully. I’m actually in process of writing a case study on this very topic. It should be up within a day or two. Additionally though, people need to proof read their comments. Comments with typos or spelling errors reflect a rushed or careless attitude–so be careful!

I don’t hesitate to comment on blogs that somehow get me thinking. If it’s something I can help expand on, like Damon said, then that adds even more popularity to the original post while helping generate some interest in my blog as well — a win-win.

Of course, getting people to click your website link from your comment is only half the battle! Making sure your posts are as good as your comments is what keeps people coming back.

Nice post, now visit my blog and subscribe.

Ok, I admit that was not funny. You didn’t mention it but a lot of people leave comments on blogs for links as well.

Blogs that are do follow or have top commentator or comment luv plug-ins are all targets of these types of comments.

I know this because I have used this strategy myself for certain reasons. I do try to leave meaningful comments though.

I made my personal blog do-follow in hope that it would attract more conversation but so far it has only attracted link seekers.

Sometimes you feel like you have something to say, sometimes you feel like just saying “nice post” (and really meaning you just wanted to say “I liked this article”), but then you second guess yourself thinking that if you just comment that, someone might think you’re trying to suck comment traffic with your comment. Then your “nice post” -comment is suddenly this long and in the end you did have something to say, even that is was more and less meaningless. p.s. “I liked this post”

my laugh is because the two “first” that dissapear!

I read the article, as always, excellent advices for copywriters!

On my blog I sometimes feel like the only people that are commenting are other bloggers in order to build backlinks. It’s fairly obvious when this is the case. The comments they make are thinly veiled backlink builders and, in my mind, only tend to discourage other real subscribers who would make meaningful comments if there wasn’t so much comment clutter that borders on spam.

Some time ago I realized that I could draw a clear line between the two camps my own comments fell into. It was not about the *con*tent, but the *in*tent.

If it’s about them, I comment. If I’m commenting because, deep inside, I know it’s really about me and I’m just yelling “look at me look at me” then I don’t.

This means that sometimes, I leave the comment “dead bang on target!” because I feel it’s about you. And sometimes, I write a lengthy tome, realize it’s just me talking about my favorite subject again (me) and trash it.

(Side note: if you don’t like comments someone has left on your blog, delete them. Cut them out with scissors, shred them, burn the shreddings and then bury the ashes in the yard. They don’t own your blog, you do. If *you* say it’s spam, it’s spam. Kill it. An owner who keeps his property clean will gain respect from those who’ve evicted bums.)

As always, your finger is on the pulse.
Sadly, it is has often been glaringly obvious that “readers” have left commentary in a race to service their own agendas and it is hard not to feel a little violated by this.
Obviously, being this far down the list of pertinent comments will leave me well off that list of offenders for today!
Dare I say “great post!”

@Ari — good point. A sound comment policy enables fair editorial moderation. I see no problem with not publishing comments that don’t meet the blog’s standards.

Cutting down on the classic/crappy “Great post!” and linkbait comments is a grass-roots way to start cleaning up the crap on web.

@Brian — another glitch in your comment script: when you go to “previous comments” there’s no link to get to “next comments.” All you see is the 1st page of 50 comments, but no way to continue reading the rest of them.

One way that’s worked for me is to become regular commenters on blogs in my niches, horror writing and politics.

They often reciprocate and it’s a way of building a genuine relationship.

Here’s my assessment of the subject:

Commenting is wise. Indeed, it can drive traffic to your site. But… the time used to comment should be kept to a minimum as you’re not going to get all that bang for the buck, though the traffic you do get is very high quality.

So what do I do?

Actually, for the sake of traffic, there is only one blog I strive to comment on every post. Because you get significant amounts of traffic and I believe a few invaluable conversions too.

But beyond that one blog (trade secret , I really only regularly comment on a few I’m in good relationships with who comment on mine. I also enjoy their blogs by the way.

So yeah… Commenting is a really bad strategy. Hey I got an idea: Instead of spending hours commenting, why not invest those same hours into a killer guest post to be published on a major blog?

The above would be time well spent. And the returns far greater.

With the volume of columns/blogs that come across my computer each day, the ones that resonate with a ‘tuning-fork truth’ are the ones I am most apt to comment on … such as yours, this being the first since I recently discovered CopyBlogger.

98% of the time it is to thank the writer for their insights or POVs on a topic of interest, since they are willing to share their knowledge and sources to educate me and the rest of their readers. The other 2% is my two cents worth

So, Brian, please accept this humble note of appreciation. As a writer, I look forward to learning more each day, and you are one of a select few that I now read on a regular basis.

I’ve never had performance anxiety before commenting a blog post before. Thanks for that.

The second comment achieve its purpose – I think I become a long term reader to its content.

The person behind can use the strategy of being the first to comment since the topic of its blog is what every human likes to read about regardless of what they are interested at the moment.

I actually only read six blogs and the comments to the posts. I feel it is very beneficial to comment on blogs. It really helps get a new blog started.

Exchanging blog comments is how I met the wacky and fabulous Naomi Dunford, with whom I’ve gone on to do business and have near-illegal amounts of fun. I 100% agree that the most important thing comments do for you is to open the potential of a relationship with the blogger.

did I expect something like this, when I saw the video on youtube (via ur tweet ) ? not really

I had tried this method, but I stopped it very soon after that. It won’t work, I mean, it gives you clicks, but no quality traffic

There are some blogs that I read and comment on regularly. Sometimes I will land there and see there are no comments. I will come back later to leave mine just so that I am not first all the time. I don’t use the strategy of “trying” to be first, but I also don’t want it to look like I AM trying to be first. Ah, the numbers game. I have to say that I prefer commenting after there have been a few comments. There’s more life to absorb.

It’s a bit funny that you write this. I took upon myself the pleasant wrath of following the comments of your post about The Golden Rule of Online Marketing. I was surprised how many comments still appear after a few days the post was written, and how many do not have that much to do with the post.

I am not sure that commenting is a good strategy for traffic boosting, but accidents may happen.

I think it’s more fun to engage with the other commenters down there, though. Like I totally dig Michelle’s idea of the word ninja:) And I salute Daniel the First.

And it gets back to what Nelia is saying, that bloggers “hit and run, never to be seen again”. And it is not very efficient following up comments and waiting to see if other people will say something to you.

And after three days, even if you do have something to say to someone “down there”, the time is due.

NOT FIRST!!

Ha!

Im a loser, but seriously, I think the comment traffic is great. Just my opinion, but I do have a really cool blog!!

*Where’d My Time Go Copyblogger ?*

As bloggers we spend our time creating content about something that is meaningful to us and hopefully others. It’s a great feeling when other people appreciate your hard work and knowing that makes it doubling satisfying acknowledging other peoples work.

I used to read copyblogger often and then for some reason I stopped using my Google reader and so it’s been ages since I’ve been here. So today I started looking through it and this post caught my eye. Before I read this post I downloaded the ‘Outsourcing Conspiracy’…

…outstanding and then I circled back to read this post, a cracker (not to mention the great comments).

Well there goes an hour up in smoke thanks very much Mr. Clark! Well spent though. I’ll be back more often, almost forgot how good it is over here.

Cheers,

Steve Anderson

P.S. That first video was a crack up

I don’t often comment on your blog because when you are through, there is nothing much to add. You have covered it.

One of the most important things I have learned from you is to write Cosmo – type titles. But there is always something new from you.

But I never miss an article and often stumble it instead.

I believe in karma. If you comment on a blog purely from the perspective of hoping to extract something of value that is very transactional and self-focused. If on the other hand you post a comment that adds to the discussion, provides some additional insight or just makes someone smile with no direct plan for any material gain, then I think you rack up a few karma points that will get redeemed somewhere along the line.

This is funny…really, relationships that last are the best thing-who wants tons of traffic if no one engages, if no one gives back, if no one stops to consider that they are losing the community?

Good stuff!

It’s a bit hard to comment and keep a straight face Why do we blog? I think a lot of it has to do with wanting to talk and share with others. That’s what building a community and building relationships is all about. That’s what makes it fun. When I comment on other peoples blogs, it’s because I feel that I have something to share. Traffic is nice, but it’s not the main reason.

Do comments on someone else’s blog lead to traffic on your blog or website? Sure a comment will get you traffic. Whether it’s the best way to get traffic is highly debatable. Ok, let’s just call it crap. I’ve never ever seen more than a handful of people come from any post I’ve made on a blog.

The best reaction to a blog is the ongoing relationship for sure. Bloggers will notice who’s posting. They will notice who’s making sense. And bloggers will get busy. And that’s the point they’ll do the following:

1) They’ll turn to you to either work on a joint venture project with them
2) Or they’ll ask you for a guest post on their blog

Or 3) You in turn, will earn the right to do both of the above.

Without comments the blog is a dead place. The blogging media itself demands that there be a comment to the post. A blog post without a comment (or several comments) is like a restaurant with no people. The food may be great, buy you don’t feel like going inside.

Smart bloggers know that intelligent comments not only add to the conversation, but prevent the embarrassment of a blog with no action. And so they pay notice.

You don’t have to be the first.
You just have to be relevant.
Witty and intelligence helps.

-s
P.S. I use blogs as a great way to clear my mind, and get me all charged up to write an article. In fact, I wrote an article on Copyblogger about this very phenomenon.

Content has always been the King but it is the marketing aspect that is drowning the quality out of things. Ironically, for bloggers, it is a one man show and they have to look up to everything from writing good stuff and then spreading it out there. Since the later requires more time and energies hence comes a slap down on quality.

Same goes for the commenting fad, I believe! Readers are more on the look out for trafficked blogs with just content rather than inspirational stuff that would really drive out comments.

Amy Dyslex

Accepting that a commenter needs to read all the post before leaving a comment when they have something meaningful to say or ask, should we/they also read all the previous comments before commenting? (I made it maybe half way.)

Also, are screen names always a bad thing? I blog and tweet and do many things online as Sophmom. I’ve come to know many folks in “real life” that first knew me as Sophmom. I’m fond of it.

Finally, isn’t it much like all of life? If it’s genuine and sincere and real, it works. If it’s contrived or forced or fake, it doesn’t. I’ve been blogging since 2004. Without question, the best thing that’s come from that has been the community, the relationships that have developed, and that happens in comments. Interactivity is creative.

Another interesting post. Thanks.

Thank you for your excellent insights. As with most of the commenters, I am seeking to build my blogging skills and community.

I will continue to focus on quality over quantity. You ultimately end up with authenticity, which is always a goal in successful professional services.

Hello Brian. Thanks for not using my blog as an example of one of the bad ones. But all seriousness aside, I’m thinking “hey, he could be right – a great first post would work” so now I’m thinking I can write a sucky post, then be the first one to make a comment (well thought out and very insightful) linking back to the blog so that when people click on my name they return to the same page??? That could work. Ok, maybe not.

Truthfully though, getting “clicks” to my site and blog is total and absolute bullshit unless what I have to say on my site and blog is informative, entertaining or has some way of satisfying people’s needs. To do that I need to know who I’m talking to – and define my audience. When I reply to posts on SEO blogs my audience is my peers (for lack of a better word – because some of the blog posts I’m commenting on belong to SEO industry giants). I’m writing to those having written the posts and those like myself who are also replying.

My own blog is supposed to be winning over potential clients, so I’m writing there to persuade them in simpler terms – to convince them for their own good that I can do a better job than the guy who finally winds up getting the job of building them a web site so that it ranks a 4 on something like Guy Kawasaki’s Website Grader. Meanwhile, the reality is that I’ve been trying to write for both audiences on the same blog – and doing a miserable job of it. Maybe the answer is to have two blogs – a “professional to professional” blog and a “client / professional” blog. More work, but less confusing because it will help me to clearly divide and clarify each.

Your post may have hit the nail right on the head. That may be the only way I can truly hope develop more satisfying and meaningful relationships with people belonging to each group.

I don’t spend much time commenting on other blogs, but maybe I should. Thanks for the tips!

Okay, so I’m not first.

Early on I was tempted to hire someone in a forum to post blatant comments about my site in the hopes that it would drive traffic to my blog. Luckily for me, this is one of the “internet marketing tactics” I didn’t fall for.

I’ve setup Google alerts for various keywords and phrases specific to my market. Whenever I see one of them in my email I follow the link and see if there’s something worthwhile for me to post on. If so, I do. Then I’ll watch for the Google alert again to see how quickly Google indexed that.

On some blogs and forums, I’ve seen it picked up by Google in a matter of a few minutes. Then I watch the traffic logs. My traffic goes up as well shortly after it’s picked up by Google.

Right now I’ve got about 40 Google alerts and this gives me enough “reputation” in the website security niche – for now.

Thank you for sharing this and reconfirming my thoughts.

Brian, I remember reading your comments at Prince’s blog, so fucking hilarious. Showed you, really you. That’s how I reintroduced myself to you on Twitter, “hey I remember your comments @chartreuseb” or something like that.

Too often I see comments on blogs like this that are just about getting attention, calculated. It’s like people following others on Twitter because they’re interested in… themselves.

For some reason, while in person I’m a clam, online I spew out the contents of my brain without hesitation. Pukes out all over, from major newspapers to new blogs’ first posts. I love commenting. Some comments have brought me more traffic than others’ posts about me ( not yours ) and my own posts.

But only when they’re genuine. And have a good link.

Peace.
@vinylart

Has anyone just said “Yes”?

As a new blogger, and as someone who doesn’t speak the lingo like the rest of you, just want to say that this resource will be very valuable, and appreciated. Keep up the good work.

Larry (the storyfixer)

Haha, loved the first comments. I’ve seen it happen time and again on many popular blogs – the first few comments are definitely people who are rushing to leave the first comment to generate traffic. Typically I don’t click on comment links, unless I’m that intrigued by the type of comment left…not the order it was given. Although, for me to read all the comments, the post/article itself must be quite interesting – who doesn’t like a good debate?

Ryland, I tried. “Yes” just seemed so naked sitting there by itself. I guess Brian said it first with “No. And yes.”

Coree, you’re right to suggest that “common sense and courtesy” should govern interactivity. I’d rather have no comments than spam comments, and comments really are “content”. In my legal line I note that “comments and quoted content are the property of the authors.” I can’t count how many blog posts I’ve had spring from interesting discussion that happened in comments on other peoples’ blogs.

I made a beginners mistake recently by making a good comment to a blog with a very different audience and purpose than the blog I write. Some folks clicked through hoping I had more to say to them about prayer and found a blog dedicated to promoting the small town where I live.

Commenting is a good strategy for traffic. It is all about building relationships. You have do your best to respect everyone’s time on putting together a blog and keeping up with the various posts. People are such a hurry and leave comments that make no sense. You made an interesting point about being the first few to make a comments. I will keep an eye on placement in the future when I make a comment back.

…or sometimes when you’re in a hurry, and you liked a post and want to remember to come back to the discussion? I’ve left comments just to make sure I got the follow up email notifications because I was interested in the interaction.

The wise ones have always said, “Save the best for last.”

I hope nobody posts after me. ;]

Ha! Maybe less is more for Brian Clark, but wouldn’t most blogers kill to get 140 comments on their posts?

I think the only thing more over done these days than the “Breaking News” is the RT. I hardly even notice them anymore, so I’m beginning to think a lot of other people skip over them as well.

At 141, You can tell I’m not rushing to be #1. I’m not sure when this article was first published, could you indicate at the top the date of the blog? Hopefully I’m not totally out of date. This was a great article, some gurus encourage fast responses, calling it blog love. But they’re of little value if all they say are “Wow Great article”. Sometimes, long responses can be almost as helpful as the blogs, because useful, thoughtful comments are made. Even disagreements can be useful, because they too give pause for reflection. But comments can be very useful in building meaningful relationships, especially with helping newbies get the ball a-rolling. Copyblogger never fail to provide stimulating articles. Especially those on the left column. I have a full evening of reading these blogs ahead of me.

I think there is some kind of software out there that can watch RSS feeds and notify you the instant it is published…

It’s unfortunate that there are people “educating” other who likely are looking for a way to build their business and they haven’t quite gotten that social networking…is connecting.

But…we’ve got super cool peeps like you that keep kickin’ down the goods about on the best way to comment.

Tim

The funny thing about this is…a buddy of mine sent me an article that splogging was black hat SEO techniques. In which I agree, but there is always a fine line between white hat and black hat SEO.

If I had the time I don’t know that I would bother commenting on anyone’s blog – just for traffic. I’m not made that way. I comment on blogs because I have something to say to the blogger. Being new to the blogging community, I hope to one day have commenting happening on my own blog – though I certainly don’t expect it anytime soon. I’m still developing the posts and gist of the blog so others might gain value from it.

Bit of a newbie here, which means I’ve been at the tail of pretty much every thread I’ve commented upon. But they almost always get some responses. I actually read the posts just prior to where mine will appear more closely than the early ones.

My question here is — and excuse me if the newbie isn’t playing by the rules — but if everyone here is trying to drive traffic to their own sites, what’s the point? Is anyone concerned with delivering value here and now, and thus contributing to the community? If that’s true, and I hope it is, then this is a pretty special place — the agenda isn’t hidden, and yet it runs on value and goodwill. Pretty cool.

Most experienced bloggers and webmasters know crap comments when they see them.

If you want to leave a comment on my blog it’s fine. If you’re doing it to drive traffic to your blog or website, that’s fine.

Just leave a good comment.

Commenting on blogs is a great way to keep up on fresh and new ideas. It also serves as a great tool for linking to others in social media.

Interesting. I’ve been running a series on my blog called 10 Commandments for aspiring writers, and number 9 was “Networking is about what you can do FOR someone, not what you can get FROM them.”

I’d have to apply that here. I agree 100% with your use of the word relationship. As an indie author and writers collective member (Year Zero Writers), to me the relationships you can build through commenting on each others’ blogs are THE thing that matter. Not because you can get something from someone, but in themselves. It’s like people on twitter who offer you hundreds of followers. I don’t want hundreds of followers. I want people to follow me if they find what I say intersting, funny, helpful.

It’s the same in the blogosphere. I’ve met some wonderful people. I don’t care what I do or don’t “get” from them, because I’ve already “got” their friendship and respect. And in the world of culture, that’s what matters.

You know, someone ought to come up with a blog plug-in where the best comments rise to the top of the viewing tree.

How that would work is anyone’s guess – maybe a Digg popularity system? (Except that would probably attract different kinds of comment “spammers”).

Maybe it would be completely in the hands of the blog owner, i.e. he or she can make the cream of the comments rise to the top, like a “sticky”.

That would encourage *quality* comments first, rather than “First!” comments

Just remember, folks – when every popular blog is using some kind of system like this in a year’s time – you heard it here first!

Paul’s idea sounded illogical to me initially but maybe there is a way to ‘vote’ on people’s comments. I can imagine that if we were all in a room together giving each other space to say something, the person who said something meaningful on the subject would get a lot of ‘nods’ (better trademark that now!). Interesting……

So, personally I dont think its a case of raising the ‘best’ but more highlighting the comments that either the blog owner, or the community the blog owner has created that are the most influential in the discussion.

Nope, no analysis, too busy with crunching a new product collection and talking to suppliers and customers (its nearly 1am here). My site has no link value with the context of this blog anyway. Im here for the debate.

Personally, I think I would only be interested in checking out someone if I felt they had written something that connected with me in some way… but I guess that then draws us back into the cynical mode of what a commenter’s motivations are in the first place.

I keep on going back to the parallels within a natural environment, how would these different issues relate to a group of passionate people gathered together to talk about an interesting point.

My vote is with the bloke at the top of the page for this discussion in the first place, Brian.

SW, how do you aim to do that?

This is something I always wondered. I love blogs that allow me to subscribe via email. But, when I triage my email I attend first to those messages where my reply is expected. Blog posts take second priority.

Of course, that means I am never first. In fact, today I am 164th, but I no longer feel bad about it. Thanks for answering this question for me. (Hopefully, saying “thank you” is still meaningful in this strange world.)

I have never had someone leave a comment that said “First” on my blog, but oh how I long for that day

I wrote a guide to blog commenting many moons ago that agrees with your points quite closely, Brian (see link in my name attached to this comment). Thanks for posting this.

Trust, not traffic, should be the main reason for doing this.

Last hopefully … hehe its not a s p a m
i just saw people competing for first so thought last one is reserved for me

plesssss let me be last post holder here

I totally agree with you. If you don’t have real unique content, then what is the point in really driving traffic to your site. This goes back to having the right product or the content to retain the visitors who visits your site. So you make a good point – first create unique consistent content, then build the relationship.

You know, having millions of bloggers running around trying to figure out how to get traffic to their blogs is going to lead to all kinds of crazy strategies. I’ve thought about whether or not being the first post would be beneficial. I decided it wasn’t, and that it would be WAY too much stress to try to be that guy. I’m just starting out blogging because I want to simplify my life, not make it more complicated.

PS Do you think the “strong silent type” strategy would work?

Interaction leads to creative thinking. Discourse increases the possibility of new ideas. It’s when we talk to each other that the good stuff happens, in comments.

Brian, spot on you are about first-commenters wanting the opportunity for the most traffic via their sometime inane comments.

Here is a video I made on how I think blog commenting should be done ( http://danielmcgonagle.name/videos/BlogCommenting/ )

There are several criteria you need to consider prior to doing blog commenting:

#1 is obviously investigation and research into what sites you want to comment on, which is based on >

#2 – what your goal is for your blog commenting campaign (link building, interested, targeted traffic)

#3 – is sometimes a largely misunderstood concept and that’s finding DoFollow blogs to comment on. I say this is a misunderstood (and mis-used) concept and tactic because people doing commenting for higher ranking via commenter names like

Singapore SEO,
or tractor repair indiana

are most likely going to leave keywords as names as you so rightly pointed out.

and like you ALSO pointed out, leaving KWs instead of names not only tells blog owner the purpose behind the comment (using YOU) but also tends to get those commenters banned from making future comments.

I’m not saying I’m a know-it-all, but I did add value to your conversation and blog post by posting a content video about blog ocmmenting that will help people, and that’s how part of the intention behind allowing comments in the first place: to enrich the conversation, exchange ideas, add value etc…

I can tell you that blog commenting is NOT one of main sources for traffic or backlinks, however if you are picky about the sites you comment on, that most likely means you’re leaving longwinded (in my case ) comments that hopefully add to the convo and gets appreciated in some form or another whether it be traffic to link behind name, or just to let you the blog owner know that I DIGG yer stuff.

Good post here,

Thanks,

Dan
sinaporeseo dot com (j/k ! )

No idea if my words will add something after 180 comments, is there also value in being the LAST instead of the FIRST or SECOND with a comment?

Nowadays blogs do tend to look more like forums

Hi Brian
I found your blog is full of great information about blogging, I remember when I first started, thinking I was going to make lots of money, Imade a little got one check from Google Adsnse, this year, but I want to make it realy go, Time is what it will take for my pages to get traffic, Well take care Brian and thanks for the great blog you run. Edward Clements.

Great Post brian, makes sense.. well i just thought i would say Thank u for this post!:)

I used to leave comment using the keyword that my blog optimized, I realized that it didn’t help in building my brand. So, I’ve changed this few days and I used to leave comment using my own name in all the blogs. My blog traffic is actually increasing and the number of comments in my post is definitely increasing a lot. Leaving comment in the right way can actually improves our blog, so we need to do it wisely.

Regards,
Lee

An excellent post, again. I have a different perspective on commenting on blogs and forums. Personally I find it almost impossible to write a junk, one line post. I’m way too verbose for that

I also cannot write a meaningless comment. Sometimes I comment on the comments but mostly it’s the content of the post which gets the nod, as it should be.

In this instance the post and the comments are quite fascinating. I have never found commenting to bring direct click-through traffic, perhaps my posts are just too boring or I don’t seek out high traffic blogs to comment on.

No, for me the benefit is in the backlinking and the traffic which the search engines bring. For that reason I may, sometimes, use keywords in my name but not always.

I agree that online security should be of concern and so rarely provide more than general information about myself or location to anyone online.

One thing you will NEVER catch me doing is writing a comment on someone else’s blog. I mean, what a complete waste of time. Otherwise, how would I get stuff like this done?

I enjoy commenting and leaving valuable comments. Voicing out your own ideas or opinions on other people’s work or sharing tips and expertise is in itself rewarding.

Interacting with the blog owner or other contributors also build relationships and networking. I believe contributing something of value each time you comment on blogs can generate some interesting traffic in the long run. Some people would want to learn more about you. And the more blogs you comment on, the more traffic you can potentially get. It’s also a numbers game.

This definitely sheds some new light into my traffic strategy. I usually leave comments if the information was truly helpful. But one thing i definitely need to do is improve my content. Thanks for the tips.

It’s funny I came across this article because I was thinking about commenting on a popular blog related to my niche but still haven’t found much blogs yet. I then remembered ‘copyblogger.com’ mentioned in my Blog master mind, A weekly email lesson on building a blog, lesson # 6. I admit I too tried the tried and almost true method of first place commenting but you put it in retrospect, What’s the purpose when they simply click, view the page for a sec or two and leave? I now no longer even use programs to update me of new posts on popular blogs to leave first comments because I then haphazardly skim through an article and try to leave a comment that seems genuine but lacking substance. Nice article and good wake up call, I’d recommend this to starting bloggers.

Not a comment for the sake of comment, but I was wondering if there is any strategy for not mentioning the dates of posts at Copyblogger! If there is, may we know what that is?

I agree. Laving comments on someone else’s blog just to generate traffic to your own blog is Lame.

But if you disagree you can click my name above and visit my log and leave comments about my articles.

I made it this far.

And I read the majority of comments too.

Perhaps a mathematician could come up with a formula. The age of a blog article – and add to that – how large the number of comments has become – which will give a total of a count of the readers who have made it down this far to this comment. Surely a tiny amount – compared to when the post was fresh and the comments were few?

You all seem to be writers. I’m a drawer. I communicate more with visuals than with words.

Today I decided to look on the web to see if there was any advice on strategies on how to using commenting to get traffic. This was the first site I came to and confirmed what I think about the issue.

I don’t think I blog. I make an illustration a week for a word. I don’t have comment fields. And I don’t write much.

The good practices outlined above are the same for us visual people except we have sites that we also contribute to with images – rather than written comments. Such as Illustration Friday, Doodlers Anonymous – even twitter has a doodle fest.

Why I got this far is because I’m a bit lazy and this is me trying to get some information about how to up my game and get relevant visitors to my site.

You guys probably don’t fit – could this be reverse psychology?

Spammy comments or its-about-me comments, while literally killing the discussion, can take you into some really humorous turns. Kinda digressing from a discussion that is becoming too serious. A quick, humorous, off-topic comment really brings a smile to any new lurker (like me) of any blog.

How does one find blogs to comment on? It isn’t easy to google new blogs. It would be helpful to list a way if there is an easy way!

Firstly, Alan/Stooryduster you really do need to add the comments section, it works gangbusters for YouTube and perhaps there is a graphic plugin you can get for your site so people can leave a doodle or some such as a response similar to the YouTube video responses.

Imran, it’s easy to find blogs to comment on, do a search on your keywords like this + blog and you’ll find hundreds. I just did that for my keywords and found 906,000 results most of which will be ones I can comment on. Leave valid comments on all of them, even the no-follow ones because you still get a PR0 link from them.

There is no substitute for actually visiting the blog and leaving a valid comment, you can use software to speed up the visiting and filtering the sites to visit but you still have to write a comment yourself. Automation of that part will get your comment dumped and rightly so.

Great — I love it when the “get rich quick” method is unwrapped, revealing a very ordinary one that’s not quick, but works.

Great article…I’ve read about so many of these “tactics” for getting more traffic to my blog and they all seem like crap to just really building relationships and adding to the community, just like you said. It was great to read what I was thinking, especially starting out.
Aaron

I hope I was “first” to get more website traffic but I am too late. Too bad for comment-traffic-strategists like me.

Just wanted to add that comments are meant to be this way – i.e. with a link to the site of the “commenter” because the slot is there. I saw some blogs that the “Website” slot is not showing or disabled.

Blog-to-blog promotions is nothing if this is not working so… here’s my spam?…

The do-follow thing is the make or break for this ’strategy’ isn’t it? Unless I misunderstand how it works, one kind doesn’t allow backlinks and the other does. Shoot – I can’t remember which is which….

thanks a million for this post Brian, you’ve hit the nail on the head when you said its all about building relationships, be it on blogposts, twitter whatever. The quick click will come and go, but if you bring something of value in your comments then you will see the rewards, thanks again.

I’m 221’st… does that still count as a ‘first’

no real content to aadd here, just saw a 1st opening and took it!

generally speaking, I do try to add relevant content or opinions, and commenting really is something I should do far more often than I do.

I agree with what you’re saying here, and not all bloggers know this, or even care, so thanks for putting it out there.
It’s rather unlikely that I would benefit from spamming big international blogs in my niche, even IF I get a lot of curiousity traffic. Besides, I write in Norwegian, so the likelyhood of me getting actual traffic is really low.

Ha, how bizarre, I was just in the process of finding blogs to comment on to build my traffic (if I must be so honest). Brian you’re absolutely right. Did you employ this strategy yourself at all to help get copyblogger off the ground in the initial phases???? I’d love to know your thoughts. I’ve just released a new book & am keen to build the traffic to the site… Any comments would be great. Cheers Ben

I agree most comments are from other bloggers but how many comments actually get read? Sometimes it is only the original blogger that reads the comment. If I have read the article I give myself a little bump and get a link to the latest website I am working on.

Great post-

I noticed on FB the folks who post a thread when it is a good one, meaning it is on the topic I pick up one to three new friends. In essence your advice is spot on.

Glendon

I am betting this wont be post number 1 *grins*

I am fairly new to blogging and even newer to the concept of commenting on blogs, so I am glad that one of the first posts I read on the topic promoted good content and intelligent, useful comments.

Content is about integrity – how can you hold your head up and proudly put your name to content that is poor, or worse still spun from PLR articles? (I learned about PLR articles and content spinning the other day and it shocked me. I Guess as a writer, I fail to see the value of taking something that is poorly written, and spinning it to create the same content that is even more poorly written). Of course taking something that is written and adding to it, putting a new unique spin on it or improving it is something else – it is done in academia and the news media all the time.

If you are posting so that you become visible, build relationships and drive some traffic to your own blog or site, then the content of your comments is as important as the content of your site. I know I would not bother to look at a site if the comment was poorly written or had glaring grammatical and spelling errors.

I read somewhere that comments should not be me focused – and reading back I see that this one is, but hopefully it contributes something to the general discussion, that is the aim anyway.

Thank you. I have heard that commenting on blogs is helpful but as you stated I have been getting a lot of unqualified traffic. I will look for more related blogs to comment on.

I am new to this and I just learned the importance of networking and supporting other bloggers. I think depending on your niche yes it is a great strategy.

Clever insights … no wonder it took me a day to read all the comments here

As for me, I appreciate the quality of the post while commenting and sometimes, even that becomes a matter of banality.

I’m number 239! Great post. This was exactly what I was looking for. FYI, this is top ranked in “SEO techniques ‘commenting on blogs’”. I was thinking it would be effective because the site themes are similar. Now I’m not so sure; I always have to make it “thought provoking” apparently. Eek…how much brain cells to do that.

This particular post is also amazing for being able to generate 200+ comments. I will write before I search, but I wish there was an article that focuses on making people comment. That’d be a good skill to have.

I have to admit, after comment 40+ I already jumped down to the bottom, but the sheer number still amazes me.

Does it really have a huge impact if you leave the first comment in a specific blog? Sometimes, I find it unfair that people actually leave comments just for the sake of getting backlinks. The author will definitely appreciate it if you say something nice or relevant to the subject of the post.

It is interesting that you generated a meaningful discussion about something that, before I read your article, seemed so trivial to me.
I see it has generated so many comments about commenting. As I am very new and green to this, I am not sure if commenting should be viewed as a strategy.
i.e. I see nothing wrong in leaving a genuine word or two comments, that I liked someone’s post. In fact, I really thought I was going to do just that.
However, what I got from the article almost suggested to me that the author would prefer me to refrain from “I like your post” sort of comment, if I didn’t have to say anything else? Maybe I am wrong, even naive to think of a comment as anything else but the comment. I don’t see anything wrong in one liners as long as they are genuine.
As the author says, it is a commentator’s blog content that counts whether the commentator is going to generate any traffic to his/her own site in the future.
Surely, commenting on someone else’s post should be only about the content of the article we are commenting about. Nothing else, nothing more.
If you ask me, I’d much rather see those one liners or tick(s) in my boxes “interesting”, “funny” or even “rubbish”, then nothing at all.
In saying all this lets not forget the original intention of my comment was to say only: I really like this post(Very interesting, educational even)

Wow…I’m the 245th commenter, just like a simple drop in the ocean! But my (first here!) comment is only another appreciation for your excellent blog and your top posts. I started since just a few days to read you on a semi-regular basis and Copyblogger is now an undeleteble new entry in my bookmarks.

P.S. Merry Christmas from Italy and pardon my English

Since I started doing this my traffic has increased 30%. So it is well worth the time and energy to post thoughtful comments in forums. This has been my experience. I think you are missing out, if you do not comment you are missing out on very valuable traffic.

What we need to realize is good content trumps all when doing any kind of writing whether its articles, blog posts or comments. Having the frame of mind of helping one another will steer you away from rushing to create backlinks for your blogs. The new bloggers are told to comment and create backlinks to get traffic to their blogs, yet they’re not coached properly on building themselves up for the long term by offering quality advice for others first. This post hit the nail right on the head and it all starts with people trying to get something without giving first.

I think it’s great to hear back from users who are interested in the topic and have something to say. My problem is having enough time to comment on all the great posts i read!

What are your thoughts about Dofollow and Nowfollow comments?

Your tips are a breath of fresh air- content is still king and inanity will sink as much as it stinks!

It is common sense (which is no where near common enough) that quality will beat quantity in the long run, the growth of spam means that it is hated ever more as a bandwidth hugging disease that needs killing with the disinfectant of quality content.

I think commenting can help SEO, but probably direct traffic is not the way to go.

interesting article Brian.

Yup! Commenting can be a media for creating real readr- relationship and retained friendship that is impossible by the other medium. So I admit the great commenting too.

great content, this is so true, first when i started bloging i use to comment everywhere and expected to to increase the traffic to my blog, there is no point because the traffic only increases clicks on those days when u actually comment on other blogs, when you stop you get no clicks..:)