Search Engine Optimization

In order to help your blog comments go live, it’s important that you leave a real response. “Good job!” or “great article” tell the blogger that you are just in it for the link, and don’t really have anything to add to the conversation. It’s also worth incorporating links to your social profiles (in addition to your company website) to help garner more fans and followers.

Watch this week’s SEO video lesson here!

For more link building tips and lessons from Nick Stamoulis, check out the Brick Marketing link building video lesson archive.

Blog commenting is in incredibly useful form of link building for multiple reasons. Not only is a great way to get a valuable inbound link, it can also help build your online brand, improve your reputation as an industry expert, is the first step in developing a blogger outreach program and much more. However, just like you need to keep your link building strategy organized, it’s important to organize your blog commenting activities organized so you can get the maximum value for your time.

Here are 4 reasons why it’s important to organize your blog commenting:

1. You don’t want multiple people commenting on the same post.
Having multiple people from your company post comments on the same blog posts looks bad for a couple of reasons. First off, it looks like you might be trying to spam the blog and squeeze out a few extra back links. Secondly, if the two comments disagree with each other you are sending conflicting signals. What stance is your brand actually taking on the issue? It can actually undermine your authority in the long run.

2. No wasted time looking for places to comment.
One of the most time consuming aspects of blog commenting is research. Finding 20-50 new, related blog posts every month to leave a 2-3 sentence comment on can take hours of searching. By staying organized and keeping a master list of possible blogs, you eliminate a lot of the research time. You can just work your way through the list of blogs and comments on the ones that have new posts. A little extra upfront work to make that list will save you hours in the end.

3. You want to know where you’ve left comments so you can see if they went live.
Don’t waste your time commenting on blogs that never let your comments go through. It might be because the blog owner doesn’t monitor the comments, or maybe one of your comments was filtered as spam so the rest are automatically spammed as well. Whatever the reason, it isn’t worth leaving a comment on a blog that will never let it go live. By keeping a running list of everywhere you’ve left a blog comment, you’ll be able to quickly check up on those comments and see which ones went are good.

4. A schedule will help you stay on top of the latest posts.
Most blogs posts keep the first comments directly under the post, which is why you want to leave your comment as soon as possible after that post goes live. It adds an extra level of brand exposure and can help drive more traffic and engagement—how many times do you read the first comment versus the 25th? By keeping a schedule of which blogs that post daily, two times a week, bi-weekly, etc, you’ll know when it’s time to check out that blog.

It’s incredibly important to organize your monthly blog commenting activities for multiple reasons. First and foremost, you don’t want to have multiple people from your company commenting on the same posts each month, especially if they have differing opinions! Secondly, you want to create a schedule of quality, related blogs that you know are frequently updated so you don’t have to waste time searching for a new blog to comment on.

Watch this week’s SEO video lesson here!

For more link building video tips and lessons from Nick Stamoulis, check out the Brick Marketing link building video lesson archive .

Blog commenting is one of the best components of a link building campaign for numerous reasons. Aside from the obvious value of the link, there is a lot of long term value associated with developing a strong blog commenting campaign that can impact the overall success of your SEO and website.

Here are 4 reasons why you should amp up your blog commenting

1. Helps develop a relationship with the blogger
A blogger outreach program isn’t something that new sites should be worrying about, but for established sites that have a little SEO under their belt, it’s the next step in link building. By routinely leaving well-written and valuable comments on a blog, you are actively contributing to the overall success of that blog. If you develop a relationship with that blogger you might be able to ask for a product review or guest author opportunity on that blog in time.

2. Allows you to interact with other commenters
Blogs are inherently social. Aside from the link value of blog commenting, a blog is also a great place to connect with other commenters. Some of them may be other industry professionals, but it is also possible that some are potential clients. Instead of commenting on the blog itself, why not create a response directed at another comment. Sometimes the dialogue that comes out between two commenters (provided it stays civil) can be more interesting for readers than the blog post itself!

3. No shortage of blogs to comment on
Depending on your industry, there may be hundreds, if not thousands, of blogs for you to comment on. For instance, if you run a website that sells high-end kitchen equipment, you can comment on professional chef blogs, restaurant blogs, foodservice blogs, recipe and cooking blogs, blogs for the home chef and so forth! Think about who your target audience is and what kind of blogs they might be reading. The more angles you take the more blogs you’ll find to comment on.

Because there are so many blogs for you to work with, you don’t have to worry about relying too heavily on the same blog for your blog commenting. If a blogger sees the same person commenting over and over again, they might start to think you are trying to spam their site. Commenting on different blogs also helps diversify your link portfolio and makes your site look more valuable in the eyes of the search engines.

4. Develop reputation as industry expert
By commenting on a variety on industry-related blogs, you are increasing your online presence and building brand awareness. People start to remember your name or your company name from the comment fields of blogs they read. They learn that you are an industry professional and someone who can be relied upon for good information.

In addition to this blog, I write for/manage a company blog (the Brick Marketing Internet Marketing Blog ), as well as a blog on my internet marketing consulting site. I kid you not when I say that I can easily get 4,000 spam comments every day. Now most of those 4,000 spam comments go directly to my spam folder and I never have to see or deal with them. A lot of these comments are coming from black hat or overseas link building companies toting the benefits of natural Viagra and the like. Once I mark a commenter as spam, all their future comments get filed as such.

But I still manually sort through several hundred comments a day between the three blogs, trying to weed out the “sneaky” spammers that got past my filters. As a blog owner, you have to take some amount of responsibility for the comments getting posted. Comments are content, and a lot of poor quality or spammy contents could be negatively impacting your SEO and site’s trust factor.

Blog commenting rule number 1: Don’t promote your business in the post!

I’ve been in the SEO industry for a long time, so I know when someone is posting a comment just to get the link, not to actually add anything to the conversation of the blog post. Other site owners can tell too and they don’t want them either! A blog comment is not the time or place to promote your products and services.

First off, it looks incredibly spammy. Let’s say the blog isn’t closely monitored, so comments go through immediately. What kind of branding are you actually doing for your company? It’s obvious to every other reader on the blog that you are just there to name drop your products. How does that make you look to someone who took the time to write a well-thought comment that actually added value to the post? Would you want to work with a business that was blatantly spamming to get a few links?

You have to remember that blog commenting is worth so much more than a link! One of the results of leaving behind quality, thoughtful blog comments is that you build your reputation as an industry expert. Blog commenting also helps you develop strong relationships with influential industry bloggers. If you ever thought about trying to write a guest post for a blog you spam commented, you can pretty much forget about it.

A blog comment is not the place to pitch your company! You should be focusing on building your brand and online reputation, not just on getting one more link. That is where a lot of businesses go wrong with blog commenting. By spamming blogs you are actually hurting your own SEO.