Commenting on other related blogs is one of the best methods of driving traffic to your blog. Not to mention, it also brings some link juice if the host blog has Do Follow enabled, or has the Top Commentators plugin installed. But getting traffic from commenting is something uncertain. For example, blogs like John Chow and Problogger get over 100 comments on every post. So, it is very unlikely that a visitor will go through all the comments. And even if one does, it is even more unlikely that he will click through to your blog, unless you have something extremely nice to say.
But there is some other secret in commenting, that can bring you loyal readers and not just lurkers. The secret is to comment on fairly new blogs in your niche instead of on the big boys. When you do this, you’ll be one among a few who comment on that blog. So, this grabs the special attention of the blog owner and with interesting content on your blog, you can easily turn them into loyal readers at about 80% conversion ( :P hehe, my rough estimate).
The catch here is what I mean by fairly new blogs. When implementing this strategy, you do have to ask yourselves a few questions:
- Is the blog that you are targeting, in the same niche ? Will the blog owner will be interested in your content ?
- Content is king. Is your blog content good enough to convert our curious visitors into loyal readers ?
- On the other end, are there too many commentators ? Too many subscribers ? Any chance your comment may go unnoticed ?
- Is the blog owner paying attention to comments ? Is he responding to them ?
- Do a little research about the blog owner ? Is he just blogging as a hobby ? Or, will he have time to check out your blog ?
Now, Where Do I Find Such Blogs ?
Now, the real question is where to find such blogs ? My first advice here, is to check out the list of competitors for Blogging Idol 2. There are many good, not-so-popular blogs in the list. You can catch up some friends there.
The other option is to go for the hunt on the bigger blogs’ comments section. For example, if you go through the comments section of John Chow’s blog, you’ll find a lot of new blogs in the same "make money online" niche. You can find some good friends there.
And I am saying all these with proof. Recently here, George Manty from Can I Make Big Money Online, used to comment on many posts. By comments, I mean comments that add value to the original post. Not just "Oh ! thats a great post" comments. Now I am an RSS Reader of his blog. And similar is the case with Flyer. I’m an RSS Reader of his blog and we even chatted. So, can I call you my friend, Flyer ?
This strategy gets you not just loyal readers. But may also lead to friendship, link exchanges, partnerships, Who knows.
Now, you can have your say in the comments. Have you tried something like this ? Or have you began to follow any blog because the blog owner used to add interaction to your blog ?
Sure you can Hari :). I never really tried this as such, i comment on others blogs just because i feel i can i guess, i don’t do it with any intention on link building or getting readers, just something to do in my spare time. Mainly to build and share knowledge.
Thanks Hari.
~ Flyer
:)
But a lot of people presume that commenting on new blogs is a waste of time.. But actually it pays..
Though, many do it without any intentions :)
Commenting new blogs would also be good for future SEO because chances are, the author will want comments to build the blog, so your comments will stick, and then as the blog grows bigger, you still have your link in there.
Is that right?
~ Flyer
Exactly :)
Hari,
So if I understand this correctly. I should no longer post on your site because it doesn’t really fall within my niche. I work in an industry that is really hard to find blogs, etc. that aren’t being created by competitors.
Either way I am going to not take your advice and still visit your site. Is that okay?
Oh Colin,
I don’t mean it that way.. I don’t say “you should only comment on blogs that fall in your niche”.. Of course, commenting to participate is separate..
This post is for those who are commenting to drive loyal readers.. Even in that case, someone who blogs in a totally different niche can become a loyal reader for you..
Another point on the “your niche” thing, is that your backlinks will have a larger weight in the SERP’s if the content that the link came from is similar to yours then if you own a pet site, but the backlink is coming from a tech site..
Just one thing i have heard, so not sure how true it is?
~ Flyer
Ah, thats a nice point you made there Flyer..
I understand both, just it is so hard for us to get solid link backs because of the industry my company is in (trade show manufacturing). And a lot of trade show tips, new product blogs, etc. out there, are managed by our competitors and there is no way, even if I make a extremely valid point that it will be allowed to stay on the page. So we basically have to use other avenues and get extremely creative.
@Flyer – I have been doing this SEO work for a while now (2 months, LOL), and have heard about this. I don’t want to undermine Google, but how does it know if we have anything to do with it? I wouldn’t put it past Google for not knowing.
@Colin, google has bots and “spiders” that scan your website to index it in their search engine. And then when it has been added, it looks at where it should put it, like either high or low in searches, so it looks at backlinks which are a factor in the PR. And for each of those backlinks, it will scan the page the link is on, and say, ok, they both have info on say trade shows, i’ll give it 2 points, this link has info on dogs, but the site it links to is about trade shows, so i’ll give it one point.
Sorry if it’s confusing, i tried to make it as simple as possible.
Oh… Thats disappointing.. Just that a lot of industries have not stepped into blogging yet..
If you are asking how Google’ll know if the link comes from a similar site, it just looks at the keywords on the site. The same technology that it uses for Adsense.
@Flyer… I figured but we have our hands in all sorts of different businesses and ventures. For instance, we recently joined the BBB (page rank of 8) and we have a link on their site (of course, no follow). We are going to be adding their link on our site ASAP. So do you think that will carry as much weight as we hope for?
Also, we are going to be adding a partial client list, with many not even in our industry.
Is this only restricted to blogs?
Flyer put that in a detailed way there..
NoFollow means that there will be not benefit for you from that link..
And, for your last question, not just for blogs.. Google uses the same algorithm for all websites..
@Colin, links can come from any source, and while do follow are better for the SERP’s, no follow can still be of some help, while minimal, it might just be enough to get you infront. Having a link on a PR8 page is good, no matter what the niche is. However, it is not as good as having a do follow link on a PR 8 page in the same niche. See what we are trying to say?
Of course, what you are trying to say with the “effect” of the link when on a similar site is right.
But, NoFollow gives no value for the target site in terms of search engine rankings. Here’s what wikipedia says :
And as for what Hari said, that nofollow are no benefit, that is not 100% true from what i hear.
From what i have heard, if there are Two sites, both have the same amount of do follow backlinks, and both have the same PR, BUT, one of the sites has a nofollow link, google will still count this.. But only as very small, but because they are exactly the same, the very small nofollow amount jumps it to the lead. Does that make sence?
Sorry, its 2:30am here, so little tired.
~ Flyer
Yeah.
What about this…
If say, I have a link back from a blog that isn’t really related, but the blog entry is. How will Google count this?
@Flyer, Well, that sounds logical.. But i’ve heard it this way.. That NoFollow links carry no benefits.. I’ll consult the Google Help or will check with someone..
@Colin,
Again, this scenario will have a little higher effect than if the blog entry is unrelated.. And a little lower effect than if the entire blog is related..
Another question, when link back, regardless of nofollow or dofollow, does it pull from the URL page rank or the page itself?
it looks at the page contents and PR to tell how much weight it should give.
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don’t know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Deborah
http://termlifeinsurance2.com
Glad you like the blog Deborah…
Sorry to say this, and I’ll go against other posters here, but I don’t think this article was that interesting. From what I read in this blog in other occasion, you can do much better than that…oh well, I wouldn’t be that surprise if this comment won’t be published :)
I liked the idea of commenting on new blogs since the blog owner is definitely looking for some interaction and may go out of his way to make sure that the few reader he got remain loyal.
That was a great blog. Most blogs are not even worth reading.
Are you planning to blog more on this topic. I would like to learn more.
I really liked your blog!will chck back soon again thx
I found your blog on google and read a few of your other posts. I just added you to my Google News Reader. Keep up the good work. Look forward to reading more from you in the future.
Very nice information. Thanks for this.
This is a really great site with alot of good well written post.Found this today via google will i was killing some time.I will be coming back and hopefully be able to contribute to the site.Thanks