The adage of “If you build it, they will come” doesn’t always hold up online. Though great content is a necessity for any blog that wants to succeed, it simply isn’t enough by itself.
However, getting new readers to your site can feel like an exercise in frustration. To get a lot of targeted visitors, you need to have a good search engine presence. To get that, you need to have a lot of inbound links. That, in turn, requires a lot of people come by your site and like it enough to link to it.
This can make starting a blog feel hopeless, as if there is no way to get it off the ground.
But there is one technique that is often-overlooked, blog commenting, as it can be a simple, powerful way to attract targeted readers to your site and slowly build up your link presence. This, in the long run, can help you drive organic traffic to your site and cause your readership to start snowballing.
Best of all, it’s very simple to do and only requires a few minutes out of your day to make it work.
However, getting new readers to your site can feel like an exercise in frustration. To get a lot of targeted visitors, you need to have a good search engine presence. To get that, you need to have a lot of inbound links. That, in turn, requires a lot of people come by your site and like it enough to link to it.
This can make starting a blog feel hopeless, as if there is no way to get it off the ground.
But there is one technique that is often-overlooked, blog commenting, as it can be a simple, powerful way to attract targeted readers to your site and slowly build up your link presence. This, in the long run, can help you drive organic traffic to your site and cause your readership to start snowballing.
Best of all, it’s very simple to do and only requires a few minutes out of your day to make it work.
1: Find Content to Comment On
Use Twitter blog search tools to find people who are talking about topics related to your blog. Though the content doesn’t have to be “new” to be worth commenting on, new posts are usually better to target as comments on such posts are more likely to be read, both by the site’s owner and by its readers.A good topic is one where anyone who is interested in reading that post will likely enjoy your site as well. Either something related to your topic or something you have different information on usually works best.
What isn’t very important is the traffic of the site. Though higher traffic is better, it might actually work against you, causing your comment to get lost. Sometimes a well-timed comment on a smaller site is much better than a lone comment in a swarm on a larger one.
2. Respect the Community Rules
Before diving straight to the comment box, take a moment to read the community’s rules. If there aren’t any posted, look at other comments to see what the community is like. Take special note of when it is appropriate to link to yourself and what the rules are for a quality comment.
Your goal is to both respect the site administrator and to blend in with the community. It is akin to learning the local customs when you go to a foreign country so you can make a good first impression.
Your goal is to both respect the site administrator and to blend in with the community. It is akin to learning the local customs when you go to a foreign country so you can make a good first impression.
3. Post a Good, Productive Comment
Post a comment to the site that people will actually want to read, not something that could be taken as spam. Make it something that’s long enough to get noticed and impart some useful information or discussion, but not too long that it gets glossed over. A few short paragraphs are usually enough.
A good comment will not only get others to engage with you, but also encourage them to visit your link and learn more about you.
A good comment will not only get others to engage with you, but also encourage them to visit your link and learn more about you.
4. Make Sure Your Link is Visible
Most sites will let you comment as a guest and have your name point to your link, that is ideal if you can do it as many sites ban the use of the comment body for self promotion. Though these links are almost always nofollowed, they generate both clicks and, more importantly, let the owner of the site know about you, possibly prompting them to link you and engage with you further.
5. Continue the conversation
Once you post a comment, keep track of it. If people are interested in what you have to say and begin to reply to your comment, engage with them and keep the conversation going. The only thing better than one good comment is several more good comments.
Best of all, the people you meet this way often become your first fans and a foundation that you can build the rest of your site’s traffic on.
In the end, when you first start out a site, especially if you don’t have a popular platform to launch it from, you will need to work hard for your first view visitors, often times working for hours just to get a small handful of people to come by.
However, all of that clawing to move the hit counter pays off in the long run as you develop a loyal reader base that eventually helps spread the word for you and helps you build search engine trust
Best of all, the people you meet this way often become your first fans and a foundation that you can build the rest of your site’s traffic on.
In the end, when you first start out a site, especially if you don’t have a popular platform to launch it from, you will need to work hard for your first view visitors, often times working for hours just to get a small handful of people to come by.
However, all of that clawing to move the hit counter pays off in the long run as you develop a loyal reader base that eventually helps spread the word for you and helps you build search engine trust
