This is day 20 of 31 Days to Build a Better Blog,a group project 60+ of us bloggers are doing together in an effort to help each other become better bloggers.
Leaving comments on other blogs is a practice that many of the 31DBBB participants have already been doing for nearly 20 days. Leaving a comment on another blog in your niche is a great way to get yourself noticed and is probably the best thing since yellow hot-shots.
What is a yellow hot-shot?
A hot-shot is basically an electrical device used in the agricultural industry to make an animal move from one point to another. It delivers a small electrical jolt via two prongs. When used correctly, this little zap can get a cow or other animal, such as a blog, moving in the right direction. But when used too much or used incorrectly, it ends up being counter-productive and just makes things worse.
Commenting on other blogs in your niche is just like using a yellow hot-shot. When used correctly, it can really add value, not only to you, but to your blog also. Using your “comment hot-shot” effectively takes a little more effort than just zappin’ everything in sight.
Without copying and pasting all the great information, here are the things that stand out if you want to hot-shot comment effectively.
- Add value to the post you are commenting on. Just because you can comment doesn’t mean you should comment. If you don’t have anything other than “Great Post!” or something similar, keep your hot-shot in your truck.
- Add questions about the topic. These can be directed right at the author, or to be even more engaging, ask a question that other visitors might try to answer. Blogging is about engaging the reader. The more you can help in the discussion, the more credible you become. Use your hot-shot to keep the conversation going.
- Add a disagreement about the post. Obviously this needs to be done out of love, but there is no better way to get people’s attention than to disagree. Be cautious in using this hot-shot method. Your comments are a mini-resume about you.
- Add a link to something you have written that specifically adds value to the post. If a Christian blogger is writing about King David, don’t throw in a link about your cousin David’s dog and the time you used the hot-shot on him.
There are so many ways to comment ineffectively that I won’t list them all here. There are a few no-brainers to avoid such as putting 6-7 links in your comment, one or two word comments, bad grammar and bad spelling, and dominating the conversation.
All in all, commenting effectively can sure get your own blog and your credibility moving in the right direction. When you add value and substance to a conversation, people will start to take notice. By commenting intellectually and effectively, you will have people drop by your own blog to see what else you have to say. Who knows, you might even be asked to write a guest post on a big blog one day.
Discussion questions:
- When you leave a comment on a blog, do you subscribe to the follow up comments so you can stay in the conversation or do you just perform a “drive by comment” and leave?
- Do you try to comment on every blog that you read?
- After reading today’s topic, do you think you will comment on other blogs more or less?
- Would you be more apt to comment on a post that you agree with or when you disagree?
The Extra Mile
A few other things you can do to take your blog, other bloggers, and this project even further today…
- Reply & give other bloggers feedback on the little things they do.
- When other bloggers include a link to a new article they’ve posted today, click, read, and comment on it.
- Check previous posts in the series for new comments.
- Tweet, share, & bookmark this post.
- Please review Janis Van Keuren’s blog, Open My Ears, Lord, and give her some feedback.
Kevin Weatherby is takin’ a look at God’s Word from a meat and tater’s perspective instead of fish eggs and fine china. He blogs at Campfire Cowboy Ministries and you can follow him on twitter at @CowboyMinistry.
69 Comments
Oh yeah, it's HOT SHOT FRIDAY!!!
My opinion post is up this morning, you can use it to disagree or agree or add value or just shake your head and turn me into the cops after reading it.
http://campfirecowboyministries.com/2010/05/i-qui…
I have got to start following you. You keep it real!
Not trying to dominate here, but I have a question for ya'll. What do ya'll think about moderating comments?
When people comment on my blog, they are posted automatically. They are not held for moderation. An email is sent straight to me every time someone comments and then I can decide if I need to rush in and do something about it.
It's kind of frustrating when you have something to say and then you get the message "Your comment is waiting for moderation". You go back an hour later and it still isn't there.
Kevin, I agree. I hate it when blogs don't post your comment until the moderator approves it. I think bloggers who set up their blog like that are probably motivated by irrational fear rather than a good understanding of blogs and comments.
I myself moderate, because I have had some strange comments left. (Not by any 31DBBB-ers and they were all pre 31DBBB) I like having the option to keep things on
I feel the same frustration if my comment doesn't appear right away, although most of the blogs I have commented on have active moderators who quickly check out the comments and get it up. However, I have commented on blogs where this wasn't the case and I have since stopped reading them.
Another frustration is having to go through a 5-6 step validation process in order to post a comment. Most times, unless I have something really important to add to the conversation, I just skip it.
I strongly dislike comment moderation, especially when it takes a week for approval and a 700+ FICO score for publication. As Paul said, there is an irrational fear working somewhere. Someone might actually disagree with you. Or immediate publishing could somehow erupt a flame war. Like that's gonna happen on our relatively small blogs. We wish people cared enough about our topics to start a fight. That'd be awesome.
If potential spam is the issue, there are filters for that.
I have a strong dislike of moderation and pauses and such, (I'm not sure how to turn that option off on my blog yet, anyone know?) but at the same time there is the real possibility that someone can show up and be deliberately hurtful or disrespectful without really commenting on the material. We can delete and remove those comments once we find them, but that could take time. Don't misunderstand me, I think that is the remote exception and shouldn't rule how we run comments on our blogs, but once burned twice shy right?
I have been experimenting with both options because of the amount of spam comments that I have received in the past couple of weeks. I found a middle ground with my wordpress settings. I defaulted to an earlier setting I had that puts all first time comments in moderation and if approved then there comments will post automatically after that. That way if I have any spam it will get sent to moderation and never make the blog page.
It seems that many are opposed to moderation. It seems that most don't like it when dealing with it on another blog, but I am interested as to how each person handles the comments on their own blog.
Larry, I think as Erica alluded to, the best thing is to have a good spam filter module in your blog. I'm not sure what platform you have your blog on, but with WordPress installed in a hosting account there are lots of spam plugins available.
We use Spam Karma here. We get about 250 spam comments and 50-100 legit comments each day, and it's very rare that a spam comment gets through. It does seem like 1-2 legit comments are flagged as spam each day though.
I love you guys, and am glad you discussed this because I've been wondering some about that. I do comment moderation on my blog normally and sometimes feel bad if there is a comment and it took me awhile to allow it.
Thinking i'm going to make some changes due to you're feedback. Thanks!
Commenting is so fun!
I usually subscribe to the replies by e-mail if that option is available. If I do that very much it begins to fill by inbox, but oh well, it's still a good way to keep up with the conversation.
Questions are almost always good in the comments. I enjoy answering the questions or asking a new question to try to clarify what they were asking. I need to get better at asking questions when I comment on others' blogs. Kevin asked some great questions on my opinion post yesterday and we had a good discussion going: http://junctionforjesus.blogspot.com/2010/05/four…
The agree/disagree doesn't matter as much to me in commenting as much as if I think I can add to the conversation and if it really interests me.
We are traveling from Colorado to Kansas today to visit our daughters. I need one of those yellow hot shots for my teenage son. Can't get him out of bed so we can get going. –Richard
I enjoyed your post yesterday and agree that the comments gave more insight to the topic. It made for great conversation.
I'm pretty sure I did it the right way ; – )
http://greeninventionscentral.blogspot.com/2010/0…
That was great L.L. Barkat. Loved the pictures!
Woo Hoo! Got my cattle-prod (yellow hot-shot) in hand and am ready to punish some overly religious bloggers like the sacred cows they pretend to be!
Okay, not really. Just sounded kind of fun!
Great post, Kevin.
1. I usually subscribe to the comments, unless I've left something short and sweet about the blog I've read.
2. No, I only comments where I think I have something to possibly add to the conversation.
3. More. I know how I like having the interaction on mine. I'm trying to share the love too.
4. Usually when I agree, but I'm trying to learn how to add comments in a way that isn't disagreeable when I don't see eye to eye with the post. I try to use questions when this happens instead of just making statements.
In my post today, I compare my son to Ferris Bueller.http://captainestes.blogspot.com/2010/05/they-all…
I read in another book by Darren that only 1% of your blog's readers actively make comments. I want to check my stats and see if this is true for my blog, you may want to do the same with yours.
I think that one way to increase that percentage is to be engaged with other blogs, especially the blogs of your readers. In most of the comments I have reference to building relationship with readers, and one way to do that is to give, not simply take comments.
Okay, my opinion post is up. I have left a lot of unanswered questions, so stop by and leave a comment on Worship Woes.
http://ronniespoon.blogspot.com/2010/05/worship-w…
Enjoyed the topic, think it's something that needs to be discussed and yah. Thanks for posting about it.
Another option for responding to comments: write a post based on them. Which I did today 🙂 http://justapen.wordpress.com/2010/05/28/religion…
Pingback: 31DBBB Day 20: Leave comments on other blogs « Christian Web Trends Blog « Cynthia C. Cutright
I have a question. We're talking about commenting on people's blogs, but I think this can apply to commenting anywhere. Commenting or liking what someone says about what you said on Facebook, retweating or responding to someone on Twitter, or places like here in the chat room knowing when to respond and when not to.
On our own blogs when people leave comments, I don't always know how to respond to their comments. It's something like "I agree" or "you covered it all." I just don't have anything great to respond back with, and I feel that I need to because we've talked about how we should do that.
What do you do in that situation when you should respond but don't have more than a two word answer? Do you still comment, or do you not comment (aka unacknowledged comments)?
One way, I think, is to make it personal: You can say "I agree," but add why it matters to you (whatever "it" is). Then you are adding to the post.