Tons of internet marketers think themselves clever by using automated software to comment on blogs. The belief is that not only don’t you need to personally spend time thinking up clever things to say – or replying honestly with thoughts, views, opinions, and or insight into what is posted – but that (unfortunately) a percentage of blog owners out there cannot tell the difference between honest, personally written input from “splog comments”.
And, again unfortunately, they are most likely correct. However, the alert blog owner can tell the difference and will/should take immediate action to block such comments as spam and delete them.
It’s not hard to tell what’s real and what’s not. Software such as that mentioned above is built on the percentage that your “targeted keyword” will make it onto the website of another. In other words, provide you with a backlink.
However, there are important questions to ask yourself, such as:
o Do you want to be known, should your comment slide through, as a source of spam?
o What do you think that does, overall, to your credibility online?
When asked after a discussion on the services provided at MyWizardAds what else a person can do, I often suggest using Google’s own blogsearch (blogsearch.google.com) to find sites complimentary to what you are promoting.
I next stress the importance of reading the post, and commenting back, directing your attention specifically to what the post is all about. This is not the time to put an ad in for yourself. Nor is it the place.
Commenting, honestly and with some thought (assuming the owner of that web site has enabled the Website URL feature as one comments) can (and will) get you a visitor. When you put some effort into your reply – and tons of people love reading the comments as much as the post – there exists the potential for a click thru to your website. People are curious beings and like to know “what else does this person do?” or “what is this person promoting?”.
Even without the click thru, when you post a real comment, those websites with blogs often provide a link back. The blog itself must be do-follow. Blogger (or blogspot) blogs do not provide any “link love”. Google has that feature turned off. This does not mean you shouldn’t take the time to comment, especially if you find something of value and wish to express appreciation, but just no that it builds nothing in terms of linking.
So while the “easy” route may be to turn to what is called black hat marketing approaches, my advice is to steer clear. Devote just five or 10 minutes a day scouting out and commenting on blogs – again complimentary to but not in competition with – that relate to your promotional field. Relevance and honesty go a long way to building a successful business online.
Using an automated commenting software not only makes you look unprofessional, it also doesn’t give you the opportunity to get traffic to your site. I definitely will not want to visit the site from the guy that posted that crap comment because I may get disappointed to find that same type of garbage post on his blog.
If you want to really establish yourself as an expert, do the commenting yourself and add value to the post. People love to learn more both through the blog post and comments. That’s what the comment section is for. You can use others comment section to create credibility and get traffic and back-links in the end. Don’t waste your money on a commenting automation software please.
Thanks for the link “blogsearch.google.com”. It takes time to write relevant, honest content and as an owner of a blog if you take the time to read each comment, sniffing out the questionable ones gets easier. If you leave links on quality sites that lead to your site, the trail gets stronger and so does your site.
I find it difficult to believe that someone can’t take the time to read someones post. After reading the post one should be able to express an opinion or interact with the writer in some way. To get a plug-in to leave a comment seems like what we all face everyday. There is not enough time in the day to get things done, so why don’t we somehow cheat and we can get some things done quicker and without much work. Great article, and love the blog. jj
.-= jj-momscashblog´s last blog ..How to Make Money Blog =-.
Great points you have here. I couldn’t agree more. Commenting is communicating and you have to leave a good trail hence a good impression so that you’ll be recognized as the good guy and not somebody who’s just after the link juice.
.-= Amanda from Unemployment Office´s last blog ..10 Practical Ways to Empower Yourself during Unemployment =-.
I hope every blogger will read this article
Just to know, do you use a plugin to display the icon to share the article? I really enjoy this way to display
.-= A2XConsulting´s last blog ..Can You Afford NOT to Innovate? =-.
I agree. I think that there are so many people who automate their blog responses lately, thereby branding themselves as spammers. If they only took the time to actually read the article before commenting on it, perhaps other people would be more interested in what they have to offer.
It’s already tough enough to get your comments approved, I don’t see how this could help.
I love it when I get blog comments posted by a user named “xrumer” – these spammers don’t even know how to work their own software. Fact of the matter is, quality content is king whether on your own website or someone else’s comment area.
.-= Chicago Bears Hats´s last blog ..Chicago Bears Hats Review: 2010 Orange Cap =-.
Greetings Theresa,
More good horse-sense in this age of automatic and instant everything. The whole point of commenting is to build relationships with other like-minded people; not with bots. Click, whirr.
I’m glad to see you’re still the sheriff!
All the best from The Fraidy Cat Marketer.
.-= Andreas Krokene´s last blog ..Fraidy’s Back. But: Did Fraidy Get Conned? =-.