I love my blog. When I started her in 2009 (See My First Post EVER Here) I didn’t know what I didn’t know other than blogging was important. Well, since then I’ve learned a tremendous amount about blogging and know there is always more to learn.
Just as with Search Engine Optimization or the layout of a Blog, there are some best practices for sharing your content and getting your blog to be an active community of readers.
This post today is going to share with you, at a real basic level, some of my best practices when it comes to commenting on posts and blogging. Again, these are just my opinion but they are what I’ve learned over the last few years as common things that matter. This is a short read and just a quick bit of information that I’ve been thinking about recently in my mind and wanted to share (and free up that mind space).
1. Content Syndication is important. This means having your content shared and sharing your content with others. If no one is reading what you’re writing and your blog is a ghost town – this gets you nowhere, and in my opinion – stop wasting your time. So, the goal is to figure out how to get your content shared.
2. Sharing on Facebook and Social Sites is great to get a backlink and help with your SEO efforts but it is only one piece of the puzzle. Do it and do it well as Part 1.
3. Not only do you need to share your content but when you find like minded people and share their content you’re starting to build a “tribe” of friends and followers which helps make your blog not a ghost town (see above). Everyone should be a member of at least one tribe.
4. Part 2 of sharing is Blog Commenting. This is when someone leaves an actual comment message on your blog. Blog commenting helps increase not only the social proof on your blog but it works with the back-linking to help with the relevancy of your blog and your ranking. It all works together. (Not to mention not being a ghost town helps).
5. The best ways to leave comments is to actually read the post and leave a thoughtful comment. This would be at least 4-5 sentences referencing one or two points in the post and leaving your thoughts on those points. That is really it. That is the basis of a good comment.
6. It is ok to comment on people that write about a similar topic. There’s enough room for all of us and we all have our niche. Helping others in your industry helps them and helps you.
Content Syndication takes time. It takes 5-10 minutes to read and leave a thoughtful comment on a post. 30 minutes in the morning, 30 minutes in the evening and you’ll take your blog places!
OK, I am out for now. Have a great day!
All the best,
Hi Vanessa, great tips on blog commenting! Thanks for sharing 8)
Valuable tips and as a blogger myself I can add that it really makes a huge difference when people take the time to read the article before commenting! I’ve had comments that left me scratching my head because they were so off topic, and others where I was addressed by the wrong name. I would never dream of changing someone’s comments, but I admit there have been a few I’ve deleted. Thanks for the advice.
HI Marty,
Thanks for stopping by. I get misspellings of my name all the time. 🙂 so I know how that goes. And while I don’t alter comments there are some I just don’t approve either. That is the joy of being the owner of your blog. Have a great day.
Hey VaNessa,
I started blogging in 2009 too as with a lot of the people involved in the founding TSA back when 🙂 Even though our focus sometimes shifts, you really can’t underestimate the power of powerful syndicating, commenting and connecting with lilke-minded people.
Thank you for sharing this invaluable information, I am sure new bloggers just starting online right now, will find this extremely useful.
To Your Continued Success,
Beth 🙂
Vanessa, buy spending time helping others the feeling becomes mutual. When those relationship bud a kind of comrade gets going and thus increases the fun. Having the opportunity to share your content with a larger audience is a nice bonus as well. I posted this on my fan page because you have explained this so well. Thank you, Wes
Thanks Wes, I appreciate the comments and you stopping by! I hope you have a great week. VaNessa
Great tips. I stand behind Blog commenting. I see it happening more often.
Hi VaNessa, I agree with everything you say. I think it is very important for new bloggers to realize that we bloggers scratch each others back. Hooking up with a good blog tribe such as Tribepro is a great way to find like minded people to blog comment with 🙂
Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for stopping by Larry. Tribes are great for sure! V-
Hi VaNessa, I liked the layout of this post. Great content and easy to read. I resonated with numbers 4 and 5. READ THE POST and give a great comment. Actually, when reading a post, I consider it a learning curve. I take time out of my day to fully syndicate a few blogs. You are correct when you say share it with FB, twitter, etc. This really helps that blogger. In return, they will do the same for you.
All this gives great Social Proof. Thanks for sharing this knowledge because I see some people not going about it correctly. And guess what? I don’t approve them on my blog.
Blessings,
Donna