The quote from one of my favorite blogs - Blogger Stop Net - stole my attention.
Commenting is one of the main activities whereby bloggers and readers can engage in meaningful interaction. Sometimes however, a blog post is so good, so factual or so foreign that you have nothing better to say than "great post," "interesting info" or "thanks for sharing."
Now, no matter how good your intentions are, these statements are overused. You could be mistaken as a spammer! For the non-native English speakers and writers, commenting in English can be a daunting task. Will the community make fun of your sentence structure or choice of words? Can you get your message across?
When Actions Speak Louder than Words
When all you want to do is to show appreciation for a piece of work that you stumbled upon online, you can leave your mark on a blog site without dropping any spammy words at all. Below are some valuable and underrated blog commenting strategies that bashful or speechless readers can do:
- Like or recommend the entry on Facebook.
- Retweet the post.
- Digg the site.
- Subscribe to the RSS feed.
- Rate the the post.
- Follow the blogger via Google Connect, Networked Blogs or other social network.
In short, take advantage of the social sharing features flaunted on the blog site. An up in statistics (except bounce rate) will tell the blog site owner that the post is well liked and worth sharing.
The Science of Intelligent Commenting
Owners of new blogs cannot always rely on wordless commenting though. Experts recommend that you take full advantage of your way with words to market your site to the world. This means that intelligent commenting can drive interested readers to your blog.
Visiting blogs and leaving comments are a trial-and-error process. There's no guarantee that you can attract a following after each try. What a valuable comment does is increase your chances of success - be it in the form of followers, site visitors, unique page views and maybe sales.
I've had the pleasure to get acquainted with Linda Grace Cox on one of my recent blog hops. It was her article titled "How to Market with Blog Commenting" that inspired me to create this sub-post. I've included a couple of her tips with my own to come up with the following list of commenting don'ts:
- Don't spread yourself thinly. Be picky on which sites to visit and comment on. Ideally, these should relate to your chosen niche or interest, especially when you are using Comment Luv.
- Don't comment unless you have read the entire post. Skimming to the last line will likely lead to a misinformed opinion.
- Don't rehash the other commenters' opinions. Read what other people have written. Hit the rate or like button if you must.
- Don't be in a hurry to press "send" or "submit." Proofread your writing first. Unintentional mistakes will look just as bad as the blatant boo-boos.
- Don't fake your interest or expertise in the topic. Quote your sources when sharing information. Blog authors appreciate genuine reader interest and have little room for pretensions (really).
- Don't use template responses. Serious commenting is hard work, and bloggers are becoming wiser on how to combat spam. Advertising messages will most often lead to you being branded as a spammer and to your post being deleted.
- Don't be rude. Although loud behavior creates commotion and initial interest, these will quickly die down. People don't want to check out (and follow) a grouch.
An Invitation
The list above touches on some of the basic rules. There are most likely a dozen more blog commenting strategies that you can add to the list. Feel free to share your thoughts -- and when you feel that you have nothing nice to say, then let your fingers do the talking.
