I bet it's been quite a while since you last commented on a blog post!
There's no denying it. Blog commenting has gone out of fashion. The main focus seems to be on social media, due to real-time responses, instant gratification, and a ready-made audience at your fingertips.
These are all valid arguments to forget to comment on blogs. However, you are missing out on a valuable source of engagement you won't get from commenting on social media. This is why I created this infographic to encourage you to start commenting on blogs again:
And here's some code you could paste into your own posts (via the text mode) if you want to share this Infographic with your readers.
1. Improve your blog’s domain authority
Going against convention, I've decided to put the best first! After all, this is most likely to catch your attention, and I bet there aren't many bloggers who wouldn't value a higher DA.
What you need to do is:
- write more comments on other relevant blogs;
- include relevant content that is well written and definitely more substantial than the usual 'Nice post';
- submit a relevant URL (not to your blog's homepage, but to a relevant post you have written) with your details when you publish the comment.
Note how I emphasised relevant. Google will give you more brownie points if you focus on this.
And this needs to be done several times a day over a consistent period of time. Once is not enough. Start commenting like this and you will start to see a difference in your DA within two weeks.
2. Build stronger communities
After closing blog comments in 2014, blogging gurus soon reopened them again because they found their readership had decreased.
Apparently moving engagement over to social media wasn't as beneficial as first thought. Any new readers who wanted to comment found they couldn’t. Also as there was no social evidence these blogs had large audiences, they had totally lost their sense of community.
Blogs should be safe environments where readers can express themselves without incrimination or derision. Regular commenters are like-minded people who enhance content with their own views. They can also police against trolls and troublemakers, making life easier for the blogger.
And getting comments suggests popularity. This is not only attractive to new readers, but also gains the attention of the search engines. These are programmed to notice popular blogs, as this suggests valuable and highly indexable content.
3. Get inspired by a greater variety of blogs
One way of getting inspiration for what to write about is via relevant blogs in your field or niche. This will put you in front of some excellent content which could be curated and linked back to from your post.
Another way of drawing attention is to start commenting on these posts. You could express your appreciation for the information, or let them know you have used their content with a link to your post once it has been published. This will guarantee more readers, especially since the blogger may share it around social media and advocate you to their followers.
The act of researching for quality material will force you to read, absorb and understood good content. This may show you to write well, inspire you to new concepts and introduce you to a new authority within your subject.
And because you have taken the time to properly read the posts, your comments will be of superior quality. This enables another way of creating awareness of who you are and what you do, especially if you provide constructive and valuable information that continues the conversation started in the original post.
4. Spread awareness of you and your expertise
Most bloggers want more visibility for their business or expertise. And you probably think promoting your posts onto social media is the answer to getting more views. Unfortunately this will only work if your headline is irresistible and you have a large following gagging for your next contribution.
Start commenting to create a loyal audience through relationship building. Only this time focus on helping people to get yourself seen as an expert. Share valuable information which could make a real difference to someone’s life. Altruism means people will learn to trust you as a relevant and respectable source.
Spread good news through commenting. However, this is not a vehicle for self-promotion, which is not tolerated in commenting circles. Commenters who only harp on about themselves or their business rather than helping others will be dealt with by the blogger or the moderators.
Avoid littering your comment with links, as this is what spammers do. The powerfulness of your comments should be enough to encourage people to find out more about you. And the only link available is the one you contributed when you submitted your comment.
5. Receive reciprocal support and feedback
Blogging can be very lonely if you fail to get any comments in return. And yet some bloggers appear to get hundreds of comments on anything they publish. But you probably don’t know how much encouragement these readers have had. Every comment is answered, readers are praised, and posts are written to provide the relevant information that is craved.
Give your readers what they want to read. Ask for topic suggestions, and in return feedback on your posts. This way you will know when you’ve got it right, or you need to do something different next time.
Start commenting to provide valuable information to the blogger. A simple act of appreciation could easily make their day! A comment will encourage them to keep on writing, to continue providing much-needed content within the blogosphere.
Reward excellence with relevant support. Bloggers will learn to expect contributions from regular commenters and value them. They can easily visit your blog to become a new reader and commenter, if they wish to reciprocate your kind gesture.
When will you start commenting again?
Here are my reasons to start commenting again. Which ones apply the most to you?
- Get a higher DA for your blog
- Show you value your blog’s community
- Appreciate the sources for your blog's content
- Increase the visibility for you or your business
- Use your readers and commenters to further the success of your blog
Let me know in the comments below if you’ve given any of my suggestions a try. We would love to hear how you get on.
- How to generate inbound leads using social chat - 21 August 2023
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- How to encourage comments through participation - 4 August 2023
I sincerely follow blog reading and commenting. It not only helps me to learn about new topics, people’s points of view on the respective subject, build relationships with fellow bloggers but also create backlinks to my site which in turn generates traffic.
Thank you Mila for your comment. Do you prefer to comment on blogs in your niche, or do you see a value in venturing further afield?
Hi Alice,
Brief & short informative blogs are always good to read, you gave helpful information for a new digital marketer he always confused about what to do or not? Thanks your article gives me hope blog commenting is not dead!
Thanks SOS for your comment. I’m glad you have hope that commenting is not dead. Which element of the post influenced you the most?
Hey Alice,
Your brief article boost me to doing blog commenting regularly, nice writing skills, but I have a question in blog when we comment most of blogger not accept our comment or avoid our comment what is solution that. What is actual mood of doing blog commenting ??
Hi CreatorShadow, I fished your comment out of my spam folder. This may be the reason why you aren’t getting your comments accepted by other blogs.
What I think has happened is that someone has marked one of your comments as spam, which means your details have gone into Akismet’s databases as a spammer. The only way to reverse this is to contact Akismet and ask them to take you off their database.
As regards the mood for blog commenting – this is a very good question. If you’re in a bad mood, you are more likely to write a troll comment. If you are in a better mood, your comment is more likely to be not only reasonable, but contain meaningful information which benefits both you and the blog’s author.
So in other words, make sure you are happy and contented (and not hungry) whenever you comment on someone’s blog!
Its a very nice post, good work.
Thank you Facebook Password Recovery, which of the 5 reasons prompted you to leave a comment?
I have a habit of commenting on blogs after reading the content. I never knew that blog commenting have this much benefits.
I’m glad I could enlighten you Asif.
Hi Alice,
Great joy to be here again after a while. Good to read yet another informative post on the subject blog commenting and it’s benefits. Thanks for sharing this well explained post. i am so happy to say that this post has been mentioned in my updated post on blog comments, I mean I embedded the infographics with a note.
I even used your thumbnail image too, hope you don’t mind. 😂
With lots of regards
Phil
Of course I don’t mind, Philip! I am honoured that you want to mention my post!
And you keep up with your commenting – you are an inspiration to us all!
I’m Sharon, and I’ve just joined this blog. I just wanted to say hello to everyone to start. Once I feel like I belong, I will talk more on the blog. Also, guys, the article here really makes a lot of sense
Hi Sharon, you are most welcome on this blog. Which bit of the article made more sense to you?