No matter what your motivation is behind commenting on a post, you should consider going one extra step and promoting the post on your favorite social networks as well. Here are some typical reasons why people comment on blog posts, and the benefit of socially promoting those posts that go hand in hand.
Commenting to Respond to a Great Post
This *should* be one of the main reasons everyone is commenting on a blog post – because the content is so good that it merits a response or leads to other thought-provoking questions. When you are commenting on a blog post that you find beneficial, why not share the post socially by digging or stumbling it in order to increase its exposure so that it can help other readers as well?
Commenting to Form a Blogging Community
Many bloggers comment on other blogs within their niche in order to expand their blogging community, as it is well known that most bloggers (with exception to some of the big names out there) are going to want to reciprocate support for fellow bloggers who have helped them. If your motivation for commenting is to receive comments from other bloggers, then why also get them to notice you on social networks by retweeting their post, making sure to use their @username. Then you may get social support from these bloggers as well, thus strengthening your blogging community.
Commenting to Build Backlinks
Of course, another well known reason for leaving blog comments is to build backlinks to your website. As most link builders know, links on pages that are more prominent on Google are better for your site. What better way to boost the post you just left a link on in Google’s eyes than to bookmark it, especially on dofollow social bookmarking networks! This will help the post gain higher SERPs and a higher PR, making it a more valuable page for your link to be placed upon.
Commenting to Get Traffic
It is well known that you can get a nice amount of traffic from other blogs by leaving valuable comments, especially if you are one of the first comments on the post. The only way you are going to get traffic from this blog post is if others see it as well. Therefore, it makes perfect sense to share it on as many social networks as possible to help others find it, leading them to your link too.
Easy Ways to Share Posts
Whenever you find a great blog post, what is the easiest way to share it? Many blogs have social bookmark links at the beginning or end of each post, most of the time in the form of icons or voting badges / widgets. There are also increasingly popular buttons for easily Retweeting posts via Tweetmeme or sharing on Facebook.
If you don’t want to rely on the post’s social bookmarking options, an alternative would be to collect browser bookmarklets, plugins, or Firefox extensions for the social networks you prefer to use. You can see what certain networks have to offer for easy submissions by checking out their help, support, or tools section (like Delicious). That way no matter what page you are on, you can simply submit it to your favorite social network with ease.
Sharing Exceptions
There are a few common-sense exceptions to socially promoting a post that you just commented on. For example, if you were driven to criticize the post because it was horrendously written, plagiarized, or full of bad information, you should probably spare others by not sharing it and putting into circulation.
Your Thoughts
Do you socially share good blog posts that you comment on? Why or why not? Have you seen any benefits or are you simply happy with spreading good blogging karma?
Tagged as: amount of traffic, backlinks, benefit, blog commenting, blogs, extra step, google, motivation, social bookmarking, social networks, thought provoking questions, typical reasons
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{ 30 comments… read them below or add one }
(1 comments) January 27, 2010 at 7:56 pm
Thanks for the post Kristi, I’ve found some nice info specially the dofollow directory which is a really nice initiative.
Xavi Esteve´s last blog ..jQuery-JavaScript: Basic Cheat Sheet for Beginners
I almost always bookmark a post I comment on with a few of my favorite bm sites. Even the ones where I don’t agree with the blog author lol.
One thing I’ve starting seeing less of though is a “Send to a Friend” button or similar where visitors could email the post to others. I guess now that twitter and other social sites have become so popular plus the security/spam issues it’s probably going the way of the dinosaur. But I always thought that was a pretty cool way to get people to promote articles they commented on.
Max´s last blog ..Hardwood Floor Installation Cost
(5 comments) January 17, 2010 at 9:14 am
Yes. This way it will be great easily a post be promoted and benefit shared with all the commenters with the link back. You opened my eyes and will certainly follow the technique.
Suresh Khanal @ promote blogs´s last blog ..Do NOT Waste Your Time to Promote Your Blogs
(7 comments) January 16, 2010 at 11:54 pm
Hi there Kristi,
As usual I’m “late to the party”. I benefit from every Fetching Friday post of yours I read even when I’m week behind in reading them. The selection of resource posts you offer always contains informative and enjoyable reads with solid strategies I can employ to become a better blogger and I do share them. This article is one that sets out the golden rule of social netwowrking — pass on the word and the link love.
timethief´s last blog ..Top 5 Myths About Google Adsense
(2 comments) January 13, 2010 at 10:06 am
Great points Kristi, there are soo many reasons to spread the love!
My favorite though is encouraging the author but in terms of practicality I find myself using social promotion tools like stumbleupon and del.icio.us to retrieve past articles I found useful several times per day.
(244 comments) January 13, 2010 at 9:56 am
You should first comment on every post you plan to promote; when/if it goes viral, you’re golden.
Dennis Edell´s last blog ..7 DAYS ONLY – ProBloggers-31 Days To Build A Better Blog- + 3 Awesome Bonuses!
(86 comments) January 13, 2010 at 6:48 am
I like to share the articles which I enjoy by reading. It not only the promotion of that article but also help our followers or friends by providing some nice article information.
chandan´s last blog .."PHP Dir Submit" Directory submission service
(51 comments) January 13, 2010 at 5:51 am
Great advice (as always).
On rare occasions I will share a post I disagree with just to get more eyes to the post and hopefully more feedback (through comments etc).
This way I can determine if I am completely off the mark with my view or others actually share my opinion.
Karl
Karl Foxley´s last blog ..How To Get Your Business Online With A Shoestring Budget
(9 comments) January 13, 2010 at 6:55 am
Now that’s a good tactique too that I hadn’t yet thought of! Thanks Karl!
Bjorn | iCan’t Internet´s last blog ..Helping others is what blogging is all about
(9 comments) January 13, 2010 at 2:30 am
Those are indeed all very valid, and pretty important reason to socially promote the articles or blogs you comment on. There is little or no use in commenting on blogs that have only 1 follower, and reach about 3 visitors a week.
So I’m gonna tweet this now
Bjorn | iCan’t Internet´s last blog ..Helping others is what blogging is all about
(24 comments) January 12, 2010 at 4:44 pm
I’m the top commenter on a few blogs and I socially share blog posts that I comment on. Sadly I haven’t seen many benefits. Not everyone is as eager to share the karma. I do appreciate those that tweet, RT and comment on my posts though.
And I really don’t want my comment misunderstood so let me stress I don’t share karma looking to get something back in return.
It is nice to get social karma back once in a while when you go out of the way to promote a friend. Understand? Does that make sense?
Good post Kristi!
Rose´s last blog ..Weird Underwear for Men
(15 comments) January 12, 2010 at 3:32 pm
To me, it’s just playing nice. If I like something, I tell others. Share the joy!
Alison Moore Smith´s last blog ..Traffic Tutorial: Add Your Blog to Kindle
(4 comments) January 12, 2010 at 3:16 pm
And again, I learned new things from you with this post. after all, sharing is loving
dimaks´s last blog ..Getting Around the Metro
(2 comments) January 12, 2010 at 2:54 pm
Thanks once again for such great advice. Even though what you said is common sense, we often forget to do these things due to hectic lives. Thanks for the reminders.
Jennifer/Connect with your Teens´s last blog ..Laptop and Cell Phone Skins and Cases – The New Fashion Accessory
(235 comments) January 12, 2010 at 2:00 pm
Those should be the reasons why we comment on blogs a blogger once said that to comment on as much blogs as possible this can help in branding yourself
lawmacs´s last blog ..The latest Contest On FamousBloggers For 2010
(9 comments) January 12, 2010 at 1:25 pm
I absolutely agree – I actually thought this was just a common sense way of helping someone who is also helping you. The more people I can get to their site, the better chance I’ll have that a few of those people will click on to my site when they read my comments.
But honestly, if I find something that I enjoy, I love having an opportunity to share, in fact, it irritates me when there’s no share button – I can’t believe any blogger would omit that important site element. But anyway, I’m so glad you brought this up, this was an extremely insightful post.
Kiesha @ Highly Favored´s last blog ..Love requires action
There are a lot of new bloggers who do not know about the benefits of having social sharing buttons, and also blog platforms that do not allow for very much customization so the blog owner cannot add any additional features. That is why I almost always rely on my bookmarklets. Considering all of the different ways and places that people can include share buttons (plugins, badges, etc.), I just prefer the simplicity and efficiency of doing it the same way every time I submit something.
(27 comments) January 12, 2010 at 1:10 pm
I promote many of the blogs I comment on for benefit to the author, myself and my followers. I try not to promote every good article I read because that would overload my Twitter feed and tick off my followers.
Ms. Freeman´s last blog ..Carry a Notebook Everywhere You Go
It’s a good thing that you are at least coming across too many great articles, as opposed to not enough.
(26 comments) January 12, 2010 at 12:41 pm
Kristi Great Post and I agree with you, by commenting and sharing good quality information, you not only assist your social networks but whom you are commenting for as well.
As far as seeing good Karma, I have. When I started finding, some good, quality bloggers I began commenting and sharing. When I began that I developed a good network of blogging pals!
Jenny´s last blog ..NoFollow and DoFollow Blogs – What Are They?
(62 comments) January 12, 2010 at 12:05 pm
Definitely when i like an article, i will share it for sure… So only i retweeted this post in twitter and shared it in my facebook profile. Commenting on posts definitely make encouragement to that author. This builds a good relationship and shows our identity.
Deepika´s last blog ..Contest @FamousBloggers: Win Prizes worth Over $500
(14 comments) January 12, 2010 at 9:58 am
Aside from the above techniques, I saw a unique perspective the other day from 16-year-old Ben Lang who included his latest blog post link and title in his email signature. Who said the youth don’t have great ideas?
Ari Herzog´s last blog ..Why Do You Subscribe to Blog Comments?
I’ve been trying that out myself using WiseStamp for Firefox. It pulls the RSS feed from your latest blog. Definitely can’t hurt having a little extra exposure for your site, especially for those people that you email who may have read your blog.
(14 comments) January 12, 2010 at 11:32 am
Heh, I just received two emails about your comment. I see what’s going on, per my last blog post. It seems whoever’s running this site is using both plugins.
Ari Herzog´s last blog ..3 Ways to Subscribe to My Blog at a Time When Most Bloggers Offer 2
Commenting is the best way to back links and get across new people.
Dinesh´s last blog ..Facebook Fights Social Spam with “Mark You Don’t Know” Response to Friend Requests
(46 comments) January 12, 2010 at 9:28 am
Kristi,
This is so well written and I couldn’t agree more. For me there is one other time that you might want to skip the comment – sometimes there is nothing more to say. Especially when the author has done a great job and key bloggers have adding any missing pieces to the comments already. That’s why it’s important to get in on the action early on.
Thanks for these tips. Commenting is one of my favorite social networking tools.
Ileane´s last blog ..Say Goodbye to Family, Friends and A Good Night’s Sleep!
(57 comments) January 12, 2010 at 9:22 am
Great thought, and that’s why i retweet this post.
yeah — it give double benefit for commentators and blog each time we promote the article.
Dana @ Blogging Update´s last blog ..Having Killer Content for Blog Easily
(51 comments) January 12, 2010 at 9:03 am
I have to agree. My blog is less than two months old, and I noticed a big difference between commenting on other sites and not commenting at all. Noticed that on days of no commenting my traffic drops on average 40 percent. If I comment on 10 different blogs a day, my daily traffic goes up almost 90 percent
My plan for this year is to try and comment on 10 different blogs a day.
element321 @ Evolutionary Designs´s last blog ..How to create Twitter Lists Through Hootsuite
(17 comments) January 12, 2010 at 8:31 am
Absolutely agree. I tend to look into this more this year. I have found some really nice commenting from others via FriendFeed, but like you’ve said there are many plugins that allow us to share our own comments too. It’s beneficial for both the author and the commenter him/herself.
@wchingya
Social/Blogging Tracker
(199 comments) January 12, 2010 at 8:16 am
If I comment on a blog I always promote it via the Social bookmarking sites like digg and Twitter. That way it gets more exposure for the site owner and hopefully me, via the comment link.
Plus many of the blog owners then come over to my site, start commenting and relationships are built. We then promote each others products, help each other out with ideas….etc!
Andrew
Andrew @ Blogging Guide´s last blog ..Free Premium Theme
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