Introduction

Welcome to the ProBlogger Podcast episode 20, day 20 of 31 Days to Build a Better Blog. Today, I’m challenging you to get off your blog, and go and leave some comments on other people’s blogs. This could have all kinds of benefits including driving some traffic to your blog, but also sparking all kinds of ideas and potential collaborations between you and those bloggers whose blogs that you visit. You can find today’s show notes at problogger.com/podcast/20.

Hi, this is Darren from ProBlogger. Welcome to day 20 of 31 Days to Build a Better Blog. Probably the most common piece of advice that I hear people giving on building to bring traffic to your blog is to leave comments on other people’s blogs. I’ve been hearing this advice since 2002 when I started blogging. It’s been around for many years and that’s because there’s some truth in this advice. It is a great technique for helping you build your profile and to build some traffic back to your blog, but it’s worth saying right up front that today’s challenge also has the potential to hurt your blog, so proceed with caution.

There are definitely some benefits of leaving comments on other people’s blogs. It gets you off your blog and viewing other people’s blogs, which is a good thing because you learn more about how other people approach blogging. It could also spark all kinds of ideas for your own blog posts, particularly if you’re reading other blogs in your niche. It’s also great for helping to get to know other bloggers in your niche, which could lead to all kinds of relationships and even collaborations down the years. By them knowing who you are, they’re more likely to link to you and want to work with you in some way.

It also creates a little doorway into your blog for the readers of those blogs. A lot of people say that’s the number one reason, but for me, it’s probably not the number one. It’s certainly an opportunity to drive some traffic that way, but for me, it’s the other things that are more beneficial. Lastly, it also builds your profile, and it showcases your expertise as well if you leave good comments, that is.

I said before, there are some dangers if you don’t comment well on other people’s blogs. The dangers are that you could come across as overly self-promotional, spammy, pushy, or just a try-hard. I want to give you some dos, but at first, I want to give you some don’ts when it comes to leaving comments on other blogs.

Don’t leave too many links. Don’t leave too many comments. There’s nothing worse than having a commenter that comments on every single post, and multiple times on every single post, and dominates the conversation. Don’t dominate the conversation. Don’t always be the first one to leave a comment. There’s nothing wrong with being first, but if you’re first on every single post that a blogger writes that can look a little bit try-hard.

Don’t always talk about yourself. Talk about the blogger, react to what they’re saying. Don’t just write a great post, go a little bit beyond that. Don’t attack the other blogger. Don’t attack their readers. Don’t keyword stuff the name that you comment under. Use your real name if possible. They’re some of the don’ts. I don’t like to talk too much about don’ts. I would prefer to say what you should do. Let me give you the flip side.

Do read the post first. It’s amazing how many people comment without really understanding what they’re commenting in reaction to. 

Do add value to the post. Add something that the other person’s missed out. Add an experience. Add an example. Add something of value. If you’re not adding value, don’t comment.

Do be personal. Use your name, but also write in a more personal conversational tone as if you are having a conversation with a person. 

Do be relevant with your comments. It’s amazing how many people just go off on tangents that really have nothing to do with the post. 

Do be honest with the blogger if you don’t agree with them, but be gracious.

Do add advice where you’re invited to do so, but don’t go too far on that. 

Do ask relevant and insightful questions that keep the conversation alive. Bloggers love it when a conversation develops in the comments on their posts. Don’t just add your opinion, ask a question that gets the conversation going. You’re helping the blogger achieve their goals. 

Do respond to what other commenters have said.

Do fill in the URL form in the comment, and let that be the main way that people find you. I actually talked to some bloggers who say they don’t ever leave the link where they’re invited to do so by the blogger because they think that’s too pushy. It’s okay to leave a link there because there’s actually a field for you to do it, and the blogger wants you to. 

Do occasionally, leave a link in the comment itself if it’s highly relevant to the conversation. It might be also worth saying like, “If this isn’t relevant, please feel free to delete it.” You’re telling the blogger that you don’t really mind if the link goes. The danger really with this approach of leaving comments on other people’s blogs is leaving links all the time, so do make them relevant.

I’ll just give you two last tips on leaving comments on other blogs. There’s probably a lot more that could be said. But the first one is to build this into your daily rhythm. Five or ten minutes a day reading and commenting on others’ blogs—if you do it well—can lead to all kinds of good things.

The second thing is this, always pay attention to the comment you’re leaving. Ask yourself the question, could I turn this comment into a blog post? I’ve lost count of the times over the years when I’ve spent time writing a comment on someone else’s blog that adds value, that is insightful, that’s useful in some ways, and then I get to the end of it and I think to myself, I could easily post this as a whole blog post. I’ve been known to leave 500-600 word comments on other people’s blogs. 

I often take those comments—after posting them—and then I put them up on my own blog. I link back to the initial post on the other blog, which inspired me to leave the comment. Sometimes I’ll adapt the comment a little bit to make it into a flow of a blog post, but at the very least, use those comments as the starting points for future posts. This way you’re linking back to really good conversations, you’ve got a link post—like we’ve talked about previously—but you also have taken the effort you’ve put into leaving that great comment, and you’re able to repurpose that in some way.

It’s time to do some commenting on other people’s blogs. Perhaps the first place you could go to comment is problogger.com/podcast/20, which is the show notes for this particular episode where we’d love to hear what you thought of today’s episode and challenge, and what you’re going to do about it. We’ll talk to you tomorrow on day 21 of 31 Days to Build a Better Blog.