Are You Commenting for Traffic or Relationships?

This is a guest post by Kimberlee Ferrell.

New bloggers receive this sage advice: Comment on other blogs within your niche to get noticed and gain traffic.

So dutiful new bloggers go out into the web and leave a smattering of comments on any blog that might bring readers back to their website. The bigger the blog, the more stray comments it attracts.

What is the harm in this practice? Doesn’t blog commenting bring out the best in the blog community by encouraging bloggers to engage one another in conversation?

I believe that blog commenting is an effective tool only when used correctly. If you are only looking at the bottom line – traffic – then you have missed the mark entirely.

Here are some blog commenting best practices:

• Leave comments on blogs that you care about. If the post inspires you to speak up, then do it. Do not shy away from a blog just because it is not in your personal niche. If you care about what they have to say, chances are that their readers may care about what you have to say.
• Write thoughtful comments. Do not spam blogs with “Hey blogger! Nice post.” Assuming your comment makes it through the spam filters, your efforts will be wasted as others see that you have not created any value. If you don’t think though your comments, people will assume you don’t think through your posts as well.
• Do not worry about traffic. While it is fantastic when a comment brings a surge in blog traffic, do not obsess over it. Not all blogs have the same types of readers. Some will take the time to browse over others’ comments, while others absorb the information quickly and leave. If you avoid posting on a blog just because it hasn’t given you traffic, you are missing the point of blog commenting.

So what is the point of commenting? To engage other members of the blogging community. You are building relationships: with the owner of the blog, with the other commenters, and with the other readers of the blog. You are working on the social side of social media. You are establishing yourself as part of the online community.

While you are establishing your online presence, you will not often see the results of your blog comments. Looking at your stats, you may not get direct visitors from the blogs you commented on. Some bloggers will then see blog commenting as a waste of their time.

However, while you may not gain direct traffic, people will begin to notice you. Once they start to see your name popping up throught the blogging community, they will recognize you and your opinions. You are gradually becoming an authority, someone who has something meaningful to say.

Finally, after seeing your presence all over the internet, they may decide to visit your blog and see what you are all about. Then, instead of being a traffic statistic, they will become a valued reader, and leave comments of their own.

One comment will not make a difference in your blog statistics. However, a large amount of valuable contributions to other blogs will be the building blocks of your own blog community.

What do you consider to be the best practices of blog commenting? Do you believe that traffic is the bottom line, or do you strive for more social interaction on your blog?

-Kimberlee Ferrell is a freelance writer and blogger for Freedom Writing.