One of the most overlooked and underrated ways to promote your blog or website is within the comment section of other websites and blogs, writes Jayson DeMers, an online marketing and SEO expert for business owners, in a column for Forbes.com. Posting comments may actually be a strategic move to help you get more recognition among peers and prospects to generate more traffic to your website and blog.
The most effective tend to be comments on blog posts that align with your company’s niche and your area of expertise and that also have enough authority and visibility to attract attention to your work, DeMers notes. He adds it’s important, though, to post as an individual and not as your company or organization to personalize it.
Also, prove that you’ve read the post. “Don’t launch into your own opinions immediately; instead, leave a comment that recognizes the core content of the blog,” he writes. “Otherwise, you may come across as self-promotional, or ignorant to the topic at hand.”
You can show off your expertise in the comment section. Offer up a counterpoint to the main point of the blog post or article, but try to reference a statistic to back up your point or offer advice based on your own experience. “This will draw more attention to your comments, and may help you build a bigger following for the personal brand you’re using,” DeMers says.
Make sure you don’t come across as self-promotional, DeMers warns. Avoid pitching your business or services in the blog comments. “This kind of outright promotional behavior is frowned upon by both other readers and blog writers,” he notes.
On your own blog, DeMers says it’s important to be active in the comment section. If a reader leaves a comment, make sure to respond. “Each comment you leave is another chance for you to gain visibility, and allows you to reach out to a new person, so quantity and consistency can add up to big results,” DeMers writes.
Source: “How to Harness the Power of Blog Comments in Your Content Marketing Campaign,” Forbes.com (May 14, 2018)
