A Tip To Help You Being a Better Blog Commenter
A great link tweeted recently by @clairecarlile & @clemiatguava was this Social Media Marketing List. One of the things was to be a better blog commenter which resonated with me:-
Make a ‘must comment’ list. In Google Reader, take the blogs of the top folks in your rolodex and put them in a separate ‘must comment’ folder. When you have time, go through the folder. See if any posts grab your attention. If they do, comment!
I was in the thousands for unread items in Google Reader, and many juicy blog posts were passing it by, but I’ve implemented the above tip in a slightly different way, and it’s allowed me to comment on blogs, expand my network, yet not take up too much of my time.
Create A Label Called “Must Comment” & Place It At The Top
Very simple, in Google Reader, simply create a label called “Must Comment”, and drag it to the top of your list (behind your most important RSS if need be, such as support requests). Then the first thing I see is those sites.
I’ve also gone one stage further and unsubcribed from a lot (not all) of the other blogs I subscribe to. That way I’m not overwhelmed with thousands of new posts when I check my feeder.
Put 10-20 Blogs In There
This is key, picking 10 to 20 blogs that have a decent amount of traffic, but not overwhelming with posts or comments. You want to stand out, not fade to the background.
They vary by niche, but here’s blogs that I are in my “Must Comment List”:-
Okay, it’s a case of “do as I say, not as I do”, as that’s less than 10. I think 10 could be the optimum number though, as 7 is fairly manageable, with often 3 or 4 new blog posts per day.
Try To Comment On One Post A Day
Again, if the blog posts don’t post anything worth commenting on, I don’t comment, but the point is to be a regular contributor at these blogs, avatars & a stand out name are a good thing as well, so people will recognise you (if you post great comments), and hopefully visit your blog, increasing traffic to your site.
But Rhys! What About All The Great Posts I’m Missing?
This is where social media comes in.
Social media is designed to share links, and I use my Twitter Favourites as my social bookmarking site of choice. I also use it to comment on other blogs, if there’s a regular comment place, I stick it in my Google Reader.
What about you? How do you comment on blogs effectively?
Tags: Blogging, commenting | Comments: 5 Comments
Rhys Wynne, the author of this blog, is a 20 something web designer from Colwyn Bay. 
My technique, is finding other food blogs, through UK Food Bloggers Association, and just looking at the recipes and other blogs that interest me, as when people blog on there, they also tend to upload the blog onto the website.
It sometimes gets me a hit or two.
I put my hands up and admit I’m rubbish at leaving comments. Yes, I was out of the blogging scene for a while but even back then I wasn’t too good at it. I have 20 or so blogs that I read on a semi regular basis and probably comment on one in 10 entries on each blog.
I like the technique of using Google Reader to make a list of sites to comment on though, think I’ll try that one out.
I look forward to seeing your comments on my site then, Rhys
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Cheers
Gab
I actually already use that technique already, however; I’ve been really lazy with the comments lately
Great links you posted by the way, if you have more of those I’m interested! ^^
I’ll test your g-reader strategy. Currently, I use twitter as my feed. When I come across an interesting blog post through twitter, I’ll most always comment. It’s rare but sometimes I participate in a great drawn-out conversation. Much like a great golf shot, a successful engagement of a blogger and his/her audience keeps me attempting even though most of my efforts are ineffectual. As a side note: Bloggers who return comments are much more interesting to me than “article writers” who don’t engage their audience. Thx, -JN