I have talked about the power of commenting before. I began to stop commenting on so many blogs once I thought I had enough subscribers. However, my subscriber count began to not go up and instead I was losing subscribers. Maybe you feel like you are not gaining subscribers right now or you are not getting enough traffic to your blog. Well, what I did just Thursday and Friday will fix both of those things.
This is probably the easiest tip that you’ll ever hear and you probably have heard it before. Comment on any blogs that are similar to your niche. They do not have to be the exact same as your niche but somewhat similar. I did this for two days and I gained 200 subscribers. This honestly can be you also.
Here Was My Comment Strategy:
- Find as many blogs as possible that have the same niche as mine or a similar niche.
- Make sure that each blog has over 100 subscribers so that you know that you can get traffic.
- Whenever there is a new post on any of those blogs make sure to comment. You’ll want to make sure to use a feed reader like Google so that you know when each blog has an update.
- Try to comment as quick as possible so that you’ll be seen by all other commenters.
- Make sure to at least write three sentences or more so that you add to the post. You don’t want to look like a comment spammer.
That is all I did and I was able to gain 200 subscribers in those two days. Of course you need to make sure that you have good content so that people will want to subscribe your blog. But writing great content isn’t that difficult so I’m sure you are already doing that. If you do these things I’m positive that you will up your subscriber count.
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I have to say that I find commenting just for the sake of upping your RSS subscribers is completely anti-social and negative.
Bloggers (as you’ll know yourself, being the “Blogging Expert”) put time and energy into their work. They don’t want people just turning up to boost their own numbers – rather, they want genuine discussion and interaction with those who leave comments.
Seeing the same names pop up in the comments section with very little input soon shows these types of comments (and the people who leave them) for what they are – false economy.
Ironic that you suggest how to not be taken as a comment spammer, because this kind of false interest is exactly what your methods are encouraging.
What you’re talking about is building a community. Not all bloggers care about that. This post is about building up your subscribers which MOST bloggers care to do. It’s not like I’m saying, “Write good post and move on.” Chris Brogan helps bloggers build communities. I help them build numbers.
Without a community you won’t have loyal numbers and at the end of the day, if it’s numbers that you only care about, then loyalty will outshine fly-by-night numbers and subscribers that disappear.
Which you seemed to find out yourself, hence this post.
But you’re right – some bloggers go for numbers while others actually care about the community they’re creating or taking part in. I know which I prefer.
Commenting is very important, especially to the up and coming bloggers. Not commenting is akin to a person shutting himself up in his hope hoping that someone will pay him a visit. If he truly wants to socialise he has to get out and start mixing with other people. That is how I see commenting to be, socialising with others in the hope that they will come and pay you a visit in return. Naturally once they do that, you hope your content is good enough to extract a subscription out of them.
Whew! I was beginning to worry that I was the only one who was having an hour or so of blog commenting each day! You’re right though, it sure does work. My inbound links went from 75 to just over 1000 in less than a week of blog commenting (constructively).
With all those inbound links your pagerank should go up faster. Which is definitely better for search engine traffic. I also thought I was the only one doing this for a while.
I’ve been using Google reader on and off, but
I’m open to suggestions. What do you use?
Def. Google reader.
I completely agree with you. I find almost every blog that I subscribe from a comment they made on someone elses posts. That is how I found this one…..
any other ideas on how to find blogs in your niche? I have tried searches and forums but haven’t come close to finding 300 or even 100.
I could probably help you out if you’d let me know a little more about your blog. It definitely takes a while to find that many blog that are in your niche or a similar niche.
Wow so how many subscribers do you have now? That’s a huge bump, I have a similar strategy, but I think you must be commenting on a lot more blogs because I only got about 30 new subscribers. How many blogs do you comment on a day?
Nice, I have not started paying attention to RSS feeds yet.
I just got my first Page Rank! I’m quite pleased. This comes mostly from blog commenting, but also from of course the SEO and making my site Google friendly.
I didn’t feel I was quite there yet. I’m really really happy about this. Blog commenting certainly played a role though.
That’s a great feed subscriber strategy. Blog commenting is used very effectively by a lot of people. I can’t remember anyone mentioning that they comment early as possible so other commenters see it too.
Franklin,
Sometimes the things that are as plain as the nose on your face are just overlooked. Thanks for reminding us to leave comments.
I know I sure do quite often but need to do it more. I’m thinking of running a contest or giving something away to commentators on LinkMoney.org. Do you think that would work?
Happy New Year
Rich Hill
Excellent tips. Comments are an extremely powerful tool, and if used properly, can reap tremendous rewards. Adding to a post is extremely important – as you don’t want to leave any room for moderators to view you as a spammer. A comment should be well constructed, add information if necessary, and thank the author.
It’s true, they’re great…but I’m quickly finding that at some point you have to own up to the fact that if you’re not making $$, you need to change your strategy and try something new.
I think I need to further emphasize the importance of “adding value” to the blog post when you comment. There are so many people who do quick drive-by one liners like “Great post” or “I wrote something similar here.” Unfortunately, this doesn’t promote conversation or add value. These people are out for free links.
Now, my strategy is a bit different. I don’t comment regularly on any one blog. I comment on articles that I feel I have something to add something to. After all, a bad comment can help hurt your reputation as much as it can help it.
So, I don’t think you should promote “comment fast” so other comments see it. You’re going to create that culture of “I”M FIRST” type comments and I think thats terrible for the community. Instead, you should always comment on articles you feel comfortable commenting on.
I wish I could do the same. But commenting on other blogs regularly is hard especially if you’re busy with other offline things.
That’s about 100 subscribers a day… cool. I used to do a lot more commenting back in the day, but I started to do less and less over time. Comment fatigue perhaps. Still, comments are great, not just for adding subscribers and increasing traffic, but also for accumulating backlinks.
Just found your blog. I feel like I’ve been missing out! Will subscribe and look forward to more great information! Thanks!
The problem I’m having right now is finding my way easily to relevant blogs in my niche, but what’s happening already is that I’m finding that going through comment streams is turning up more results than bashing my head against a brick wall trying to double-guess Technorati search strings. Which I guess also comes back to building relationships – in one form or another…
Thanks for the pointers, Franklin.
Franklin, you say you need to know that there’s 100+ RSS readers. How can you find out? I noticed some RSS readers counters but if there’s no available?
This is a great way to get more subscribers, most blogs have an rss counter, so you can see from there.
This is just a proof that a good blog marketing + content worth reading and following = to high subscribers and traffic to your blog. Just a simple equation but still, many are failing to do so.
I have a blog and don’t mind readers leaving comments. Even the ones that are only negative. I want to know to that people are reading my blog and watching the videos I post.
Still, I’d rather have people leaving informed comments rather than spam. Say something worth the time you spent to type it.
Sometimes this leads to commenters arguing with themselves as opposed to commenting on any of the content I posted. Sometimes it funny and sometimes it’s just sad.
Thanks for the great post! It’s nice to know that adding constructive comments to others’ blogs is a successful strategy. I am curious to know if you have spent the same amount of time commenting in niche forums?
Some of you may know this, but, there is a website called BackType (Google BackType) that keeps track of comments left on many blogs.
If you leave a comment on Franklin Bishop’s blog, BackType will keep track of it.
I imagine they keep track of do-follow blogs.
Check it out.
I agree blog comments are very effective for getting your name and blog out there, congrats on the success Franklin!
This works. I have been doing this for the last two weeks and I am getting much more traffic from the Google search engine.
It works.
Now, I’m not even leaving comments at the rate that Franklin does and still have seen an increase in search traffic to my blog due to the backlinks left from commenting.
When I use to Google my blog name (VlogHog) I would get about 2000 or so results and it’s been this way for the last year or so.
After ONE WEEK of commenting on several blogs of interest and not even doing it as much as Franklin did, I now have over 6000 results in a Google search of my blog name (VlogHog) and have increased traffic from the Google search engine.
This works!
Now, I have some advice on how to do this right.
1. Comment on blogs and articles that really interest you. There are hundreds of thousands of blogs out there. It’s not that hard.
2. Leave serious comments. Although, I have noticed that people do leave a lot of one line comments, I try to avoid it.
3. If you can, try to give back something. For instance, I’m going to Stumble Up Franklin’s article (if I haven’t already). Put an article into one of your RSS readers, link to the article from your blog, website, MySpace, Etc. Twitter about the article you’ve commented on. Give something back to owner of the blog that you’re commenting on. They will appreciate it.
Well, I’ve got to go comment on some more blogs .
Good luck.
I like your site and the info you provide. I have 2 questions: You mentioned using Google reader, how do you do that? What are the do’s and dont’s when it comes to writing for your affiliate products you are trying to sell?
Getting subscribers can be a difficult task at times. All I do is write good content. Congrats, nice article on this subject.
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