A Deeper Look at Blog Comments

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Amanda O’BrienHall Internet Marketing

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Amanda O'BrienVP of Marketingamanda@hallme.com@amanda_pants

Hall Internet Marketingwww.hallme.com

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Blog Comments

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Most Blog Readers ARE Lurkers

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Don’t get frustrated with few comments. Know your goals and track those metrics•Visits•Website conversions•Industry expert•Better search rankings•Blog commenters are not customers

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We want more blog comments!

Getting More Blog Comments

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Get startedCheck your tone

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Are you a know-it-all?Are you stating a fact?Not very inviting for someone to comment

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Be HumanHumble, human posts have more interaction

Expert

Tips

Personal

Ask questions at the end

Leave it unanswered

Invite comments

Leave it Open Ended

Reward Comments

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You could always try controversial…You could always try controversial…

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Create blog posts around comments

• Show how important comments are to you

• Update your post to direct to the new one

• Give credit to the comment author

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Make it easy to commentMore on that later…

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Are social media sites stealing blog comments?Are social media sites stealing blog comments?

http://www.blogher.com/has-facebook-hurt-your-blog-traffic-and-comments

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How to Leave a Blog Comment

Be genuine, links are ok if relevant, add value, be human, expand the conversation.

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Double whammy? Drop some knowledge and then promote

someone ELSE – market your knowledge

AND your network. Good juju all around.

Don’t add too many links – spam filters get confused.

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Another 5 points if you tweet ‘I just left a comment on so and so’s post’

What would you say IRL? ‘I agree’ ‘me too’?

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Make Your Comment Stand Out

Add your business name to the name field? http://fundraisingcoach.com/2011/05/03/1-simple-change-to-make-your-blog-comments-stand-out/

Never been there before do your homework?

Read all comments on that post so farRead previous posts and comments

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How long should they be? Long enough but not too long.

Be there first

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Don’t leave anonymous quotes Nobody likes ‘that guy’

Blog Comments for marketing

Build relationships with prominent bloggers and their readers (Branding and Awareness)

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Direct traffic to your website (think about the link)

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SEO •No follow links •Author could update their post and add you later•Text in comments index-able

Make it easy to comment and for people to leave comments

Types of Blog comments•Disqus•Gravatar•Facebook comments

Examples

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/

Examples

http://chrisbrogan.com

NEW

OLD

Examples

http://mashable.com

OLD

NEW

Examples

http://wcsh6.com

Examples

http://cc-chapman.com

Good news… bad news

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