It’s probably one of the things that most bloggers are told to do right off the bat but something that tends to fall by the wayside far too easily. I know it’s certainly true for me! And while it seems odd to “schedule time” to comment on my friend’s blog, it is important to stay connected.
So Day 20’s challenge of 31 Days to Build a Better Blog is to spend 10-15 minutes reading and interacting on other blogs featuring or specializing in your topic. You have to comment thoughtfully in order to avoid seeming like a spammer.
Bottom line – if you LOOK like a spammer, you are probably not going to get your comment published. If your comment just says “Very nice” or “I agree”, you are probably not going to get much attention from the comment you leave.
Go beyond just a statement of agreement – enhance a post, offer a differing point of view, ask a question, provide additional resources but stay on topic. I never approve comments that are completely off topic as they do not provide anything meaningful to my readers.
Here are some additional resources for blog comments (getting and leaving them) from some other websites.
I’m out stalking our blogs from http://incaseofemergency.collected.info/ and leaving comments. But, mostly, I’m catching onto some nifty rss footer action.
I’m bad about commenting, unless I can add to a conversation.. so most of the time, I say nothing. I’m taking the challenge. Thanks for working so hard on this project.
~Heidi
Angela,
How can you tell if a blog comment is spam or not? I am asking about comments from real bloggers who share a respectable comment about our blogs, but the directs readers to visit their own website? I am not talking about signature links, but specific “my blog is like yours, so visit mine here” kind of comments?
I appreciate the work you do so much. Thank you, in particular, for this thread.
I’m sure that I have unintentionally approved comments that were spam, but I try to follow the rule, “Does it benefit the reader” or is it on topic, contributing to the conversation, or expressing a valid point of view.
Totally off-topic or geared for a click to a sales page – delete!