As bloggers, many of us focus on providing good content for our readers. However, how often are we taking that same care when we are crafting a blog post comment? Did you know that there are techniques to make your comments more effective for both you and the blog you are commenting on?
Let me first say that blog comments changed my life. Yep! Without blog comments, I don’t know if I would have my husband or my kids. You might be wanting to know more right? Well, about 7+ years ago I had a personal blog on (please don’t laugh) MySpace, and my husband (back then, a stranger), discovered it. In a non-creepy way, he actually took the time to craft thoughtful comments for each one of my posts and sent me a message with them all. This opened up the lines of communication and really told me that he cared about me as a person. Fast forward to now and we’ve got two kids and 7 years of marriage under our belts. Imagine having the power to effect that much change in someone’s life merely by effectively commenting on a blog post? I’ve got you thinking, don’t I?
Now here are some blogging tips for effective commenting:
- Actually read the whole post before commenting.
- Reiterate a point or two of the author’s, and explain what you think about them.
- Use the author’s name when you comment.
- In the URL feed area, place a link to a particular post (rather than just your site’s homepage) that might relate to the post you read.
- If you want to position yourself as an expert on a topic, cite other sources in your comment to back up what you write.
- For commentluv systems, make sure your last post really relates to the topic and/or audience of the blog you are commenting on.
- For Facebook comment systems, keep your comments shorter so that they share better on Facebook.
- Avoid putting links in your comments unless necessary. If you include a link, try to limit to just 1. Many comment systems will hold your comment in cheque for having links in it.
- Get a Gravatar! This will allow you to control the image that shows when you comment on most blogs.
- Seek out blog posts that would relate to your target audience and comment on those, as your target audience might view your comments and want to learn more about you and your blog.
Of course, there are plenty more, but I wanted to leave you with some really good core ones that you can begin implementing right away. Do you have any of your own suggestions?
Great tips, Heather! I usually try to do most of them but never even thought about citing other sources to prove a point, will have to keep that one in mind! (And thanks for all your help and support of other bloggers, don’t know where my blog would be without Bloggin’ Mamas!)
Hi Melissa,
When you are informed on the topic you are writing about, you can come across from more of an expert role. Glad you can take some tips from this post and that you are benefiting from Bloggin’ Mamas. -Heather
Great ideas. I am a new blogger so I have alot to learn!
Leigh Anne, I am glad to help. I will work on sending out more tips to help you with your blog.
What an interesting story of how you met your husband! I really enjoyed reading this post and learning some more effective ways of commenting/communicating on blogs.
Thanks for reading and glad to be of assistance.