Why Your Two Cents Is Worth More Than It’s Weight In Gold
Written by diane on June 24, 2008 – 1:58 pm -Everyone, everyday, has the ability to dramatically boost their positioning in the search engines. It doesn’t matter if you are a blogger, a website owner, or an affiliate homeless at the moment promoting other people’s products (though we recommend at least a redirected domain name to that product).
And, not so strangely enough, this marketing technique is completely free.
Today let’s really focus our attention on this one tiny marketing method with rock solid, gigantic benefits.
We speak of… commenting.
Now before you throw up your hands and move on to the next blog - hear us out - look at the proof - and then make up your own mind. But do read…
One method we use for finding, thanking, and interacting with others is to keep our eye on who’s already been to this blog. Courtesy dedicates, for us, that we return the visit whenever possible. And, in returning the visit, we take this as an open invitation to weigh in with our two cents worth on the other person’s blog (or website if some interaction is allowed).
WHY WE DO THIS
Not only can you meet some great people, pick up information (or add to your current knowledge), but, by interacting, the search engines LOVE YOU. Not them (the blog you’re visiting necessarily - though of course with lots of activity this trickles down), but YOU.
When you comment on a blog, you leave your name, email (that never gets used or abused) and the LINK to your website.
Even when you don’t get the full “link value” you STILL get the link in the search engines. The Google PR pass rank thing is neither here nor there. You get a LINK, your site is once again mentioned, cost = free, on someone else’s website or blog.
Honestly, this is a no brainer. And here’s proof. The following first three blogs (not named since our point is to make only a point not embarrass anyone) show missed opportunities for these blog owners. They had the perfect opportunity to name brand themselves and link up their site - and create those wonderful links in the search engines - yet they chose to miss the boat.
How can we tell that these bloggers most likely routinely miss the opportunity to market their own blogs (or websites)? By a simple search in Google.
Okay NOW here’s the proof:
Blog X
Started in March 2008
808 links in Google
Missed opportunity here (and elsewhere?) to market
Blog Y
Started in February 2008
96 links in Google
Missed opportunity here (and elsewhere?) to market
Blog Z
Started in March 2008
14 links in Google
Missed opportunity here (and elsewhere?) to market
Online Internet Marketing Strategies
Started February 3, 2008
11,800+ (pacific) & 11,900 (eastern) links in Google
We’re all over the place LOL and loving it!
Forcedgreen
Started March 25, 2008
8,390 links in Google
Also all over the place and even being interviewed!
Sure there are more underlying factors to link building than just commenting, but commenting drives humans to your blog. And getting human traffic, while building linking in the search engines, should be the number one focus for anyone with any type of site on the net (unless you only put it up for your Aunt Sally to visit).
Participation is a key ingredient to being successful online. And commenting also has, as stated above, the added beauty of being FREE.
What boggles the mind is that - more often than not - people are typically FULL OF opinions LOL! Yet, they miss the opportunity to freely speak their minds when the opportunity is right in front of them.
With a handful of strategies - discussed throughout this blog - and your personal interaction in social settings - you can be marketing at a much higher level than the average Joe. And isn’t it the average Joe that (sorry) complains that it’s not possible to “make money” online?
Handed the keys to the city and yet most people refuse to step outside their comfort zones to help themselves. And again, sorry, but it is true (a decades worth of marketing online and I can safely make that remark - I’ve seen the evidence over and over).
Whatever holds you back from commenting - just slap yourself silly - get over it and give it a go! No one’s going to laugh, no one’s going to pick on you. In fact, 100% of the blog owners out there would gladly shake your “virtual hand” for taking the time TO comment on their blog! We live for it! (Do comment on the post itself of course, no ads are ever allowed and rightly so.)
So… Do you want to be successful? Are you going to start using - or continue to ignore - a completely free method of promoting your website?
Remember, you’ve got to want it - actively seek it out - to build recognition to your (web or blog) site. The world will not come to you.
Posted in Increase Website Traffic, Link Building, Other Strategies, Recommendations, Search Engine Strategy, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Strategies |
June 24th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
Hi Diane,
Well, you do practice what you preach! Thanks for the comment over on my site. I absolutely agree that comments leave trails in the SEs. I read one blog, Cognitive Daily (which has about 150,000 subscribers), for years before I finally started commenting. I now look at the “external links” listing for my site in Google Webmaster tools and see HUNDREDS of links from just a few comments on that blog. Especially those blogs that list their most recent comments on their sidebar. Then, every page that is loaded has your name and URL on it.
I’ll be back to visit!
Dan
June 24th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
@Dan huge smiles over here! Thanks a bazillion
Yep, it’s amazing what a few (heck why stop at a few) well placed comments can do to one’s promoting. And, what a great way to meet new people!
June 24th, 2008 at 10:07 pm
I guess what you’re trying to say is if you want to use social networking, you have to be…well…social?
I have been on your various lists for years. You guys have always gone the extra mile. I really love this blog. Always informative!
And thanks for spreading the love. I appreciate your visits.
Carole
a.k.a. ‘Mother’
June 25th, 2008 at 7:52 am
@Carole LOL yep that’s it in a nutshell
There’s a long story we recently went through, but the long and short of it was this person was shock and dismayed and disgruntled to learn that hmmmm… he had to be social! LOL! Duh!
Thanks for the compliment! You made our day!
June 25th, 2008 at 10:25 am
I wonder what it is that holds people back from commenting. Well, I guess it is the time, first of all to read the entire post well enough to add a worthwhile comment and secondly, to take the time to actually write a comment. It is worth it to drive traffic to your blog and also to meet great people, just like you said.
June 25th, 2008 at 10:36 am
@Lindsay yes it does seem odd that such a great free marketing resource is used by so few. The oddest part is that with tracking you can tell visitors do stay long enough to read (or at least hit the high points) without saying a word.
What I do is sort of “free associate” as I read
Then, versus “thinking hard about something to say” I just let my experiences or opinions take over and leave my two cents.
And, thank YOU for leaving yours! Hope to see you more often
June 25th, 2008 at 11:11 am
I love it Diane. A continuing reminder of the value of being social!
I appreciate you guys.
June 26th, 2008 at 6:01 am
Thanks!
It’s amazing, the community that is happening among commenter… It’s sometimes even bigger than the blog itself!
Does this also apply to a commenting system like Disqus?
June 26th, 2008 at 6:07 am
@Alana you are so right! I love coming across a blog where there are tons of comments!
You just never know what you’ll find after reading the initial post… it’s like Christmas
Also, Disqus is a new one on me so I’m off to look it up in Google to see what I can find (after visiting your blog/website, of course!).
June 30th, 2008 at 4:19 pm
This cannot be stressed enough! Leaving comments is like leaving a trail of breadcrumbs across the internet for the Google bot to follow. You get nothing but good from it.
Alana — I used Disqus on my blog for awhile. I couldn’t tell that it was giving me much benefit in the way of more comments or “link love” and the big drawback to it in my mind is that there’s no way to import those comments back into your database. I’m really uncomfortable (and with good reason!) letting someone else control what I believe to be my data.
As a matter of fact, if they don’t get off their duffs pretty soon and get the beta version of their import engine to me for testing, I’m going to be writing a highly critical post about their service and promises they’ve made to those of us who have waited patiently for this tool.
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June 30th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
Great post!
I probably don’t comment nearly enough. Unfortunately I have to be actively interested in the post to really want to comment. I am really bad at faking interest jut for the sake of a link.
June 30th, 2008 at 5:53 pm
@Brad sent you my own email the other day, and need to say thank you here
@Margaret keep me posted on your disqus please. I did look at it but like you wonder the merits of third party programs for commenting.
@OddRachel agreed! I don’t comment every single stop I make - sometimes time constraints, sometimes nothing to say, sometimes it’s because a blog is set up where they don’t allow (gasp!) comments, or the admin has you “log in” to make one. Unfortunate for them (LOL from my point of view), but there are so many of them out there just waiting to be read and responded to…!
June 30th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
While I am a fan of cornbread, I find your yellow text to be highly WRONG. ahahahaa
June 30th, 2008 at 8:14 pm
@Vange LOL agreed! However, typically the yellow sits up in the black and shows up quite nicely. The theme itself was created with white words and of course that won’t do this far down the page. Any other color also is tricky against either the black or the white. Any suggestions for a better color? And the Hexi code to get it right?
July 1st, 2008 at 5:03 am
You’ve hit the nail on the head. It is also refreshing to see a blogger following their own advice.
I am terrible about commenting, so you’ve give me a reason to do so.
July 1st, 2008 at 8:25 am
@Lisa watch your linking in the search engines and as you see huge leaps it provides all the incentive you need to keep at it
Plus I just love shooting off my mouth LOL!
July 2nd, 2008 at 6:46 am
Thanks for stating what now seems like should be the obvious. There are plenty of us newbies, and in my case not-so-newbies, who appreciate an easy-to-understand and highly beneficial tip like this. I’m not the best commenter, but now I have reason to work on it!
July 2nd, 2008 at 5:11 pm
@LuckyGirl you are selling yourself short, that’s a marvelous comment