Blog Commenting Best Practices: A Strategy for Building Engagement http://tier10lab.com/2012/02/14/blog-commenting-best-practices-strategy-building-engagement/ February 14, 2012

By Molly Troha

Why comment on blogs? Commenting on blogs creates another opportunity for you to increase your brand awareness and overall presence on the web. Relevant blog comments with a link to your site can increase direct traffic, and if done correctly, can also increase your search rankings and connect you to influential people.

To create successful, relevant blog comments that will eventually help your business presence, take a look at the following recommendations.

1. Orient yourself with the blog. Read multiple posts, research the author or company, and get a feel for the overall purpose and personality of the blog. This includes reading the blog comments as well. If there is already an established community that interacts through a blog, you'll want to be familiar with their writing styles and the types of conversations they engage in. Having this background knowledge will allow you to leave comments that are relevant, interesting, and engaging.

2. Be aware of your comment length and relevancy. When writing a comment, you want to be sure it is more than 140 characters, but less than multiple paragraphs in length. You want your comment to be long enough to establish credibility. To ensure that people don't skip over your comment because of length, be sure to keep it at a maximum of two paragraphs. Also be aware of exactly what you're writing. This may seem obvious, but if you write a generic comment like, "Great stuff! Very interesting!" it might lead the author and others to believe that it's an automated comment. By including details from the post itself, you're ensuring that others know you have read the post and have something important and worthwhile to say.

3. Be authentic and genuine. You'll be taken more seriously if you use your real name and picture. You should also be honest about what you do for a living and why you're on the site. Comments that include irrelevant links or information are often unlinked or deleted by the blogger. Though your first impulse may be to include a link to your site in your comment, step back and make sure it truly relates to the blog topic or the point you're trying to make. It is obvious to the author and other readers if your comments are purely based on self-promotion, and even if you make a relevant point, it won't be taken seriously.

If you would like to add to this advice or if you have any other recommendations, please leave us a comment!

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