How to Build Connections and Authority with Blog Commenting

Time and time again, we come across the debate of whether commenting on blogs is an effective marketing strategy.

Sometimes, the blog comment section can be extremely interesting and informational too. It can act as an extension of the article itself, which makes commenting on blogs one of the best ways to build your authority.

Why Should I Comment?

Let's take a look at some of the great benefits blog commenting has for businesses.

First of all, blog comments can help you build connections! If you're frequently commenting on a specific blogger's posts, then perhaps you can connect with them. You may even be able to have them contribute content to your blog and vice versa. This is a great way to build links and connect with other industry professionals.

Second, it helps you build an organic link profile over time. Why? If you’re being good and not blog commenting just for the sake of building links, then you would have built a beautiful backlink profile that doesn't look spammy in Google Bots’ eyes. Your link profile would have a list of follow and no follow links and that looks natural in a link building profile.28

Also, blog commenting allows you to showcase your expertise. While you may feel this is a lengthy and arduous process, over time, you can build your authority and brand via blog comments in search engines and with end users. If you comment on popular blogs, oftentimes, there may be other readers that will notice you and connect with you.

Lastly, comments are content too. Remember how content is synonymous to your overall SEO strategy? Leave a comment with relevant, searchable content and see how that can take effect. Not sure what I mean? Read on and take a look at my story.

Why Thank You, Blog Comment!

This story is good – trust me!

I was online, searching for the name of a song I heard in an obscure movie soundtrack. I Googled the name of the movie and a short description of the scene with the soundtrack in it (yay longtail!).

The first result that showed up was a review for the movie and I clicked on it. I thought that the movie reviewer must have summarized that scene somewhere in their article and that would lead me to the song.  However, this was not the case and I was extremely disappointed. The author did not even mention the scene and therefore, I also assumed that their taste in movies was severely poor.

However, I decided to scroll down the article because I did see some of the keywords that I typed in search engine results highlighted under this article, so I knew that there must have been a mention of the particular scene somewhere within the page.

Sure enough, I scrolled down and went through some of the blog comments and saw that an intelligent, movie and music lover had commented on the review and said the following:

“How could you not mention the scene with so and so? Not to mention, the score for that scene is awesome – love 'Life Sized Ghosts!'”

Why, thank you blog comment!

So, what was the point of my story? Well, imagine if that article had something to do with your business and you wrote down an answer that someone was looking for. You’ve now established a connection with that end user and they will remember your brand. They may choose to search for your business or come to your directly for other questions in the future.

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Well, How Do I Start?

You don't want to look spammy in Google's eyes, so it's important that you take precautions when you first being commenting on other blogs.

Step 1: Baby Steps

1. Set yourself a realistic timeline on how often you can post on blog articles and how often you can comment.

2. Start off with commenting twice or thrice a week. Then, try and see if you can expand this over time. Remember – the more you comment, the faster your brand will be recognized with end users. However, make sure that your blog comments are relevant, useful, and valuable to other readers.

Step 2: Scope Out Blogs

1. Chances are, you may already know of a few blogs within your vertical that you frequent on. However, if this is not the case, I suggest just simply googling “[Your Category] blog” and see what shows up in search engine results.To avoid commenting on competitors' blog, you can always Google ““[Your Category] blog + location” (choose a location where your business does not expand to) and comment on blogs from there.

2. You can also use Alltop to search for top-rated blogs within your industry/category vertical. These are industry leading blogs, so commenting on these blogs can definitely bring about some value to your brand and help build your authority with end users.

3. Pick 4 or 5 from this list of blogs you’ve accumulated and make a point to comment on them regularly. Again, this is not a link building exercise, but one to help build our brand, authority, and connections within the industry.

Step 3: How to Comment

1. You’re a human being – comment like one. Essentially, when you create a profile, make sure you create it as yourself, and not as a company. This is less spammy and also, comments listed under company names may get flagged by the editor if they feel you’re trying to promote your business.
2. Try and leave the following in the comment if it’s natural:

• Link to your website or a blog article that may be resourceful and valuable to the readers
• Your Company Name

Step 4: Reach Out

1. Reach out! If the author is replying to your comments, see if you can establish a connection with the author and ask if they would contribute some content to your blog. It’s a win-win situation. You get content for your blog, they get a link back from your site to theirs.
2. You can see if you have an opportunity to write on their blog for a link back as well. Having a strong connection in the industry, especially if they are not a direct competitor, can prove to be very valuable in helping build your authority in search engines and with end users as well.

Step 5: Branch Out

1. Once you’ve gotten into a pattern of commenting, start branching out to other blogs within other areas. Again, there is always opportunity to build connections and authority, so try to branch out as much as possible.

To conclude, there really shouldn’t be any argument to whether or not this strategy is an effective marketing strategy. It may be time-consuming, bu there is a definite value to it.