Dos and Don’ts of Commenting

When I saw Apoorva's comment on my blog, I was struck by all the mistakes the commenter made.

In fact, I recognized right away that it was spam, but I was in a hurry and instead of deleting the comment, I added my own spam in reply!

This failure has niggled me all week. Now that I have time, let me address Apoorva's comment as I should have when I first saw it.

1. The commenter's sole purpose in posting was to create a link to her website. But she didn't do it. She hasn't made a Google profile. If she had, the link to her own blog would have been automatically entered for her. Barring that, she could have used the Name|URL option in the comment box.

2. Her comments failed to add anything substantive to the topic of the blog. This could be due to English being her second language, but I don't think so. I visited her blog; it is professionally written. The problem is she does not understand that she needs to be commenting on blogs that relate to her topic--which is super-charging your energy with restorative vacations, home decorating, etc.

If you are looking to create backlinks to your site, use Google blog search to find other blogs in your niche.

Use Google group search and type in your primary keywords to find postings you can add your unique comment to. If the group or forum is free, join it. Create a profile that links back to your site.

Most important: make comments on other people's posts that expand a reader's understanding of the subject under discussion.

There is nothing wrong with leaving a comment on a marketing blog like mine even if your niche is different. But add to the discussion. If you want to thank me for “good information” say so, but also say what in that particular post resonated with you. Or say what other information would you have liked to have seen included in that blog article.