Welcome to part 4 of my series, where I’ll be discussing how to leverage comments to generate relevant traffic to your blog. Many people are afraid comments are NO longer an effective way to build momentum to their blog, but, if utilized the right way, they can be a vital source of traffic. Anyways, let’s jump right into commenting and how to effectively use them in your content marketing. Follow this EXACT process as outlined…
Research
I’ve said this several times and I’ll say it again. NO content, design, marketing, or optimization can be done without research. Research is the foundation of everything and it provides you with confidence as you go forward. You learn a lot about the topic and the knowledge you gain is priceless. However, many people still fail to do the right research, which pushes them off track. Here’s quick example…
For you to use commenting you have to ensure you have a list of relevant blogs within your niche. You don’t want to be commenting on a blog that is about “cooking†when your niche is “search engine optimizationâ€. People in the cooking niche don’t really care too much about SEO and you’ll lose traction quickly. However, if I focus on commenting on relevant “SEO†blogs, I stand a better chance of generating the buzz I would like to. There’s a problem..
Many people go around commenting on every blog WITHOUT researching the statistics of these blogs. You’re better off leaving comments on “3†blogs that generate 50,000 visitors a month compared to “10†that generate 25,000 because you’re getting more results with less effort. I’ve always been a big fan of the 20/80 rule, which states your aim should be to generate 80% results from 20% effort.
Here’s what you should be doing…
Start research blogs within your niche and create a list of the most popular that allow commenting. These blogs should allow you to include name, email, and URL. This is very important!
Next,
Ensure these 3-4 blogs have the following…
- High traffic (check Alexa.com)
- Updated frequently
- Huge commenters
- Social engagement
- Followers on their social profiles (check Twitter, Facebook, and Google+)
Once you have your list ready, you can move to the next step…
Sign Up for the Newsletter
You want to be updated when these top blogs post new content online. I can’t stress how important it is to be the first person to post a comment under their posts. Being the first commenter increases the chance of someone clicking through to your blog and having the author answer your feedback directly.
Here’s what you should be doing…
Visit your top blogs and sign up for their newsletter. Make sure it specifically states that you’ll receive updates on new content being published. Many times, blogs ask you to sign up and you receive nothing but sales pitches so stay away from these types of newsletters.
Stay On Point
In the previous step, you were asked to sign-up to relevant newsletter and there’s a reason why. First, you’ll be notified when new content is added to the blog and it’s an awesome way to generate content ideas of your own. You have to keep a close eye on emails you receive, making sure that when you receive an update, you react. Many people, even myself, get lazy and when we receive emails, we don’t move quickly enough. The key is to try to be the first on the page leaving a comment. This means you have to stay on point and get to the content before anyone else.
Now for my ultimate strategy,
Here’s the Strategy
You can approach commenting for relevant traffic two ways…
First, skim through the blog looking for posts relevant to content you’ve written on your own website because it opens up opportunities. For example, if you find content on an external blog that is relevant to yours and you know it will be a great addition, then leave a comment under that post. Make sure you read through and you stand out in your comment. Before publishing your comment, ensure you leave a link to your relevant content within the “URL†part of the comment box. You have to remember others who leave comments are looking for in-depth relevant content as additional resources so leaving a link to yours will be awesome. However,
Make sure your content is awesome so people will share it and comment on yours as well. It’s a great way to build brand awareness and credibility.
Next,
Find content on the blog that isn’t outdated and find ways to improve it. Create something better by adding images, more words, and even videos. Once you’ve completed your content, go back and add a link within the comment box of the external blogs content pointing to your resource. What I recommend is this…
Write content that can be used as an additional resource. If I’m reading content on “link buildingâ€, then it’s a good idea I create content on link building techniques NOT mentioned within the post. I can then link back and add a quick text telling others about my post. I’ll add something like: Here are “2†other link building techniques that work. They’ll know to automatically click your URL and will be taken to your content.
Both strategies mentioned above are a great way to utilize commenting the right way. Make sure you pay close attention to relevancy and the blogs you comment on. You want to get the MOST out of your commenting effort so focus on high authority, relevant blogs.
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