“The heart of blogging is linking…linking and commenting. Connecting and communicating – the purpose of the Internet.” ~ George Siemens
Choosing Blogs to Comment On
Assuming that you already know and appreciate the benefits of posting comments on other people’s blogs, here are a few tips to help you choose the best blogs to leave those wonderful comments of yours on.
Similarity in Interest
There is rarely a point to leave a comment on blogs that have nothing at all to do with the main theme of your blog. A direct connection is unnecessary but preferable. If you are, for instance, maintaining a Health and Wellness blog, you don’t always have to restrict your comments to blogs that tackle the very same topics. You can also visit a Fitness blog, for instance, and post comments regarding the benefits that vitamin supplements offer with regard to one’s physical appearance.
A quick way to determine the nature of any blog is by checking out its blog description. If there is none, just browse through its content and see if you’re targeting the same keywords.
Popularity
Likewise, it’s senseless to leave comments on little-known blogs. With such a small readership base, you won’t be able to justify the amount of time and effort it could take you to post the best comments. If you’re going to use comments to promote your blog, it’s better to post them at blogs that are equally popular or more so than yours.
You can use the blog’s page rankings to determine the popularity rating of other blogs and compare it with yours.
Likelihood of Reciprocity
Naturally, it’s best to concentrate your efforts on blogs whose owners are likely to reciprocate your action. Whether or not you’re the first to make contact, as long as the other party benefited from the comment you posted then it’s only good business for them to reciprocate.
To determine the chances of having comments left on your blog and link exchanges, try reading the previous entries in other blogs. Follow the links of those who posted comments on their blogs and see if the favor was returned.
Similarity in Target Market
Blogs need not have the same interest in order to benefit from comment exchange. With careful planning, traffic can be generated for two different blogs with just a couple of comments posted on each other’s entries.
A dance blog and a food blog may not have anything in common at first glance, but if you look more closely, you’ll realize that both of them may target the same age group. Two different blogs may also have targeted the same geographical area.
If you can find a major connection between both your target markets, beneficial comment exchange is very much possible but only with careful planning. First, you’ll need to think of a topic that could link your interests together. Just concentrate on your target market, and you’re sure to find one.
If we go back to the food and dance blog example and assume that both are targeting teenagers, articles that could require the blog owners to exchange comments could be about the best food for dancers during competition.
Of course, it’s not bad at all to leave a comment on someone else’s blog just because you want to. If you have the time and the inclination then go ahead! There may be no way for you to benefit from such an action now but this small act of generosity and goodwill could turn out good for you in the long run.
* Now, if you want to virtually guarantee that you will receive reciprocity from those blogs that you visit and choose to make a comment, then one of the best decisions you can make is to join a Blog Syndication Community or Blog Alliance.
You can certainly find a community of like minded Bloggers that will be more than happy to comment and help syndicate your content. Now, you may comment on blogs that are not that similar to your own blog, but remember…you are providing an act that will be appreciated and you are developing a relationship and that is ALWAYS a good thing.
If you would like more information about the Blog Community ( My Tribe ) that I am thrilled to be connected with, please click here to visit my blog post.
Hope you got some great value out of this post today! Please leave me a comment down below and let me know what you liked the most.
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To your success,
Marc Korn
Marc@monitium.com
Network Marketing Coach
Serial Entreprenuer
Skype: healthysuccess
(973) 879-1627
About Marc Korn
Marc Korn is an advocate of continuous learning. Success online and in the offline world is all about training and learning from the experts.... throughout history the common denominator among successful people has been continuing education.Marc is passionate about Network Marketing and helping others.He has learned that Network Marketing is not about recruit, recruit, recruit or sell, sell, sell...but about people.The most gratifying way to achieve success is to help others become successful first.Marc enjoys introducing people to systems and opportunities that will help them to earn additional income working from home.There is no reason why you need to learn it all by yourself. Join Marc and his Tribe mates to see how they can help you.
Hi Mark,
This is a very interesting post. We are just launching our blog and as we spend more time on other people’s blog, it’s very important to take into account your recommendations on what blogs to comment.
We’ll keep your tips in mind, and we agree that being part of a group that will appreciate and reciprocate is very important, if not essential for bloggers.
Thanks for your post!
Marc
These are some great tips on how to choose the right blog to comment on. I know like me you are part of TSA which gives us a wonderful opportunity to find blogs in our niche to comment on. You and I will find no shortage in our niche that is for sure.
What I try to do is no matter what a person’s niche is if they are in my group then I will at least comment on the designated day.
Or take someone like Emma Thomas no in my niche but a wonderful person so I will comment on her blog when I get the chance just because I want to.
Great advice,
Steve
Marc,
It is amazing how many people choose to comment on topics so different from their own in order to just get a little link juice. The problem is that when you start commenting on sites that have nothing to do with yours, then the google machine gets confused and does not hurt your seo.
Andy
You are so right about choosing the right blogs to leave our comments on. It takes time to write a thoughtful comment and time is valuable. Thanks for the tips on how to choose the right blogs. I just wish there was a magic button I could press that would lead me to those blogs 🙂 TSA is great, unfortunately not that many in my niche. But we still support one another faithfully.
Hey Marc,
When it comes to leaving comments on blogs, I like to stay in an area where I can actually hold some weight.
Rarely do I spend much time on a blog where I know almost nothing about the subject at hand. One of the most important things about operation blogs that have comments is… keeping the conversation relevant and on target.
This… can sometimes be a chore. 😀
Thanks or the posting and I’ll be back!
-Dereck
Hey Dereck,
Thanks so much for dropping by and leaving your comment…it is greatly appreciated.
I also do not spend too much time on a blog that has no similarity to my niche, but I try to support my fellow tribe member when I can in other ways when that is the case.
I will still visit off topic blogs and posts, because the information might still be very valuable and I will learn something I didn’t know before.
After all, it is all about continuous learning..
To your success,
Marc
Hi Marc
Thank you for the tips on choosing the right blogs to comment on. For me as a TSA member I will make sure that my colored team for the week is commented on first before I branch out and search to comment on others. I usually pick the ones on the top ladder first without actually looking at their contents first. I shall keep in mind now the tips given above and next week work on your tips…Great information thanks.
Hi Irene,
Thanks so much for dropping by and leaving your comment…it is greatly appreciated.
Absolutely, it is important as a member of TSA to support your group for the week.
But,it is important to keep in mind that you still want the topic of the blog or post you are commenting on and syndicating to be relevant to your own niche to have the greatest benefit. You also want to make sure you are sharing valuable content that your social media followers will benefit from.
But, it is great to be able to share great content and help out TSA members at the same time and a wonderful way to build relationships.
To your continued success,
Marc
Hi Marc,
Why, why, why didn’t I recognize you as a leader early on? You’ve really stolen my heart, my blog heart that is! This is an excellent article and refreshing. The content is unique and I really appreciate what I have gained from it, and I’m sure my fellow tribe members feel the same way. When I reflect at the time I first established my blog, I truly wish I had this information from the beginning. I made many mistakes during that early period and quite frankly, what guided me to understanding the significance and science of effective syndication was my tribe.
One thing I did do correctly is having a link back plugin on my blog which encouraged syndication. There are many plugins that do that but my favorite is commentluv. One thing I did not do correctly was having a plugin which thanked my commentators from the beginning. Every time I commented on your blog, I received a thank you, and I had to ask you how you did that! You promptly helped me and directed me to plug in called thank me later.
I love this quote. “The heart of blogging is linking…linking and commenting. Connecting and communicating – the purpose of the Internet.” ~ George Siemens
You outlined 5 guidelines and most of the points you made are directed to syndication. Of course we, as a bloggers can choose which blogs we want to post, however, these guidelines are something to seriously consider since it takes a lot of time, effort, and thought to post an excellent commentary. Personally, I do my best to return valuable content in my commentaries because I appreciate when really great responses are left on my blog!
The following guidelines are so much easier to follow if you are a member of a tribe. I, as you, cannot stress that enough. I choose to stay with my tribe and blogs which are “topic targeted” because it’s more effective, efficient, and saves time. We all know that time is money. These are the guidelines to consider: 1) Choosing Blogs to Comment On 2)Similarity in Interest 3)Likelihood of Reciprocity 4)Popularity 5) Likelihood of Reciprocity and 6)Similarity in Target Market.
Thank you for being such a great model. You have helped and supported me greatly and I appreciated it. I also appreciate the quality posts you leave on my blog.
Raena Lynn
Hi Raena,
Thanks so much for dropping by and leaving your comment…it is greatly appreciated.
I am delighted that you have gotten some value from my blog posts and I am so flattered by your comments.
Blogging, like anything else is a learning experience and we all get better with practice.
It is very important to use various plugins to encourage visitors to comment and continue to come back and it was my pleasure to help out a bit…
But, our time is valuable and as much as we, as tribe members want to support each other, it isn’t always easy or prudent to spend a lot of time on blogs that have no relation to our Niche or keywords. But, there are other ways we can show our support.
I love visiting your blog, as I get a lot of value from your posts and love to share great content.
To your continued success,
Marc
People with goals succeed because they know where they’re going.
Earl Nightingale
Thank you Mark for making the case that commenting is good for business. You raise an interesting point though when you highlight the fact that blogs which we should choose to leave our comments on should have related content. In another post, you mentioned the need to belong to a tribe which is understandable. My only issue (issue is a big word) is that these tribes are usually made of blogs who are in the internet marketing or network marketing industry. As a writer for a blog that is definitely not part of either of these industries, I sometimes wonder if my commenting efforts for the sake of link building are perhaps not as important as others who are in these industries.
Keep the smiles,
Stevie
Hi Stevie,
Thanks so much for dropping by and leaving your comment…it is greatly appreciated.
My experience with TSA has been that there are many, such as myself that may write the occasional post about our business opportunity, but the blogs mainly deal with Personal Development.
Your blog fits right in there and is topical, because your niche is relationship building and everything related, whether positive or negative and that is a big part of self improvement.
Your content is valuable and is needed. You would be surprised as to how topics may actually be related, even though at first glance it might not seem that way.
Keep posting and commenting and getting those backlinks.
To your continued success,
Marc
Marc,
These are some great tips for blog commenting. I found them very helpful, that being said though, smaller blogs won’t be able to get big without the help of others. So I am thinking there’s nothing wrong with commenting on smaller blogs, within moderation of course. Commenting on larger blogs will of course give you more exposure. Thank you for sharing 🙂
Marc, what’s funny is before reviewing this blog post and having been involved with a tribe for several months now and making lots of comments on other people’s blogs, I totally forgot to think about relevance of what I was commenting on to the topics of the blogs I was trying to link back to. I kick myself now for not realizing that previously but glad I came across your article to remind of that important detail regarding this strategy. Thanks for sharing!
Hey Marc,
Great post on choosing which blogs you should be posting on. I agree that it is best to post on blogs that are equal to or greater then the rankings for your own blog, but at the same time if you belong to a tribe or a blog alliance then one should be posting on a variety of blogs despite the ranking of a particular site.
The more important factor in my own personal theory of blogging etiquette if you will is your point on reciprocity. If you continually make comments on someones blog and they never take the time to comment on yours then it’s time to look for other blog owners who will show you the same respect that you have shown them.
Thanks for sharing this Marc,
Kevin
Great post, Marc! I think that one of the other key issues that we should also look at for commenting on blogs is simply whether or not we like the material posted. I think that some things (such as topics covered) definitely makes some blogs more conducive than others, but I think that sometimes doing it because you like the content leads to great friendships. (I know for a fact that I’ve commented on blogs that have lower Alexa rankings than mine, but I was honestly shocked at some of them that did have lower rankings because the blogs seemed like they had everything together.) However, something else that we forget is that sometimes their blogs will pick up steam, and these up-and-comers will remember the people who were there way back when.
Hey Marc,
I agree with your strategies of finding blogs on which to comment and can add the following strategy I use.
Besides checking the PR of a blog, I also check out the Alexa ranking, which more reflects traffic, while PR reflects linkage. I use both. I also make it a habit to pick blogs that range in their PR (some 0 blogs, some 2, some 3, etc.)… I like to mix it up.
One other thing I do is to check individual blogs for comments, to be sure people are interacting and the blog owner replies. If I see a blog where no one is commenting or the owner is MIA, I may not choose to leave a comment unless I have something compelling to say.
Great post, Marc. This is my first time here.. will be sure to check back!
Hi Marc,
You raised some great points on how to choose blogs to comment on so that you can both give and receive the best value. I particularly liked your point about choosing a blog with the same target audience not necessarily just one in the same niche. That’s something I think a lot of people wouldn’t necessarily think about.
Great value, thanks 🙂
Hi Marc:
These are some great tips for commenting on blogs. I follow some of these already and you have given me some new ideas.
Thanks!
Kevin
Marc,
You give very nice reminders here and I like all of the ideas. One thing that struck my is not leaving comments on little known or those with less traffic. Your popularity section. While I understand and agree with this in general, i struggle internally a bit….we were all “new” or “little blogs” at one time and maybe still are – with the goal of being a “big dog”. So, for me, I would like to add that – if you come across a newer blogger, don’t discount leaving a post if something there resonates with you.
As a coach to new people in online marketing , I have helped many enter the blogging world and it can be frightening when starting from scratch with NO eyeballs on your site. We all start somewhere. I would just encourage everyone to not forget the newbie or the little guy and to offer a comment in support of encouragement for them and not dismiss them straightaway just because their PR or Alexa ranking may not be high enough for you. Many of us have received great value by having comments left at one time or another by on of the “big dogs”.
100% agree – blogging is a fabulous business tool and the law of reciprocity rocks!
All the best,
VaNessa
I want to update my answer to include the fact that I like to comment on people who are part of the same community as me. Being part of a tribe makes it easier to comment on each other’s blogs.
Hey Marc,
Great advice here as usual. It’s funny – while I do quite a lot of commenting on sites for all the reasons you outline above, I still have a soft spot for the newbies. If I find an article that’s good, especially if there are no comments, I will take the time to write a quality comment for them. I know how much work goes into writing a good article, and it’s so lonely when you first get started blogging!
very important to comment on some sites that are similar to yours…but you know..it’s also a good thing if you visitors commenting with sites that are dissimilar cos..your readers might want to read it too…
A couple of great tips there Marc you actually beat me to the punch. Although sure commenting on similar niche blogs it on the other hand isn’t a must you could always post comments on other blog of interest to you but not of interest to other visitors of that blog because you just never know who your next visitor will be from that blog.
Hi Marc,
I agree that blog commenting should be done within our niche or categories with which we have direct connection; however, I have such varied interests that I can’t help but get involved with a whole cross-section of blogs!
However, you have posted valuable points that I am seriously considering. As you state, it’s important to justify the time and effort spent on promoting our blog, improving it’s rankings and popularity; after all, that’s just good business. Leveraging our actions, such as concentrating our efforts where we are most likely to receive reciprocal actions, comments and links is most beneficial for growing our business.
Thanks for sharing your words of wisdom; I always appreciate reading and learning from your knowledgeable articles; and, I love the quote you shared: “The heart of blogging is linking…linking and commenting. Connecting and communicating – the purpose of the Internet.” ~ George Siemens
Loren
Marc,
as usual you have hit the right button on choosing this subject. Choosing which blogs to leave comments on is simple.
You have said like blogs focused on what your message is on your blog. Just read and feel if it is in the same area of your information. Your message that you use your blog to get to the masses.
Every blog I read takes time to get the meaning and evaluate where it fits my information on my blog. I fell that the content in genuine then I will respond with usable content and reflex on the writers strengths in that message. This is to edify them. Then I thank them for all the energy and thought put in the message.
Your post Marc, are always amazing and very detailed. You have a gift of bring a message to the surface at the right time within the article. I love following your blog. I gain an amazing insight on the subjects.
I thank you for all your patients and support. Your a true mentor and fantastic leader in our industry. I look forward in more knowledge I will gain by my next visit.
You bring up a point that I never thought of, to comment on blogs in your own niche, This is something I will start to implement. I do like the ability to comments on a tribe of different blog site though since it gives me inspiration for developing my own blog.
Great timing! Actually, I am working on blog commenting right now and your post is really important with my task. This is definitely a great help for me. Blog commenting isn’t just an easy task to do. You can’t simply comment on certain blog post, leave your link and that it! NO! You have to consider lots of things like choosing a blog post that is relevant to your site and you should also have to leave a comment relevant to the post…
Marc,
Very important things to consider here. Subconsciously, I think everyone takes these factors into consideration whether they realize it or not. if strategic about their comments, one can get a nice flow of traffic.
Thanks for the tips!
Hi Marc,
This article is very interesting and very informative.
I certainly agree that choosing the right blog topic to comment is essential because it can be very time consuming if we simply click on a topic and spend some time reading it but end up don’t quite understand the content. This happened to me many times but I still spend some time trying to understand more so that I can leave a comment. To some my comment can be a nuisance but to some people, they appreciate and to me, since I already stop by, by as well I support even if it is a little out of topic:-))
Marc, I will visit your blog often because you have very wide knowledge and lots of tactics I can learn from my visit. Just like today, you are not only allowing me to collect tips here but also inspired me to keep
thinking of generating ideas for my own blog topic 🙂
Many thanks again :-))
Cheers
Pearly
Many thanks, Marc 🙂
Cheers
Pearly
Hi there.
Thanks for sharing this. It’s very good post. For me, I always pick blogs that I have interest in, and I understand what they’re talking about.
Hi Marc
As part of the same tribe it is always great to read
your Blog, And all the love you do give back to
your friends like my self make you a great leader.
We are even like minded so that is also great
to learn more things from your blog that i did not think of.
Keep up the good work and love that you send out
to your Leader.
Best Regards
Theuns
Marc,
Great Post! Similarity in interest and popularity are two very important factors. I don’t worry too much about determining the likelihood of reciprocation because it takes too much effort and in the end you just never know. If it’s a similar audience, then hopefully someone will read your Great comment and then want to check out your blog.
You left out The importance of the CommentLuV and CommentLuv Premium plugins. It’s best to post on blogs that use these two related plugins by Andy Bailey so that you can have a DIRECT link back to one of your blog posts. You get some link juice and more likelihood that someone will clink on that link back to you.
Finally, your suggestion that someone join a tribe, is especially sound advice!
Thanks,
Jupiter Jim