When people hear about posting comments to blogs to get traffic to their sites, they automatically think “hey, that’s spamming!” Well, it can be, but it doesn’t have to. If all you do is say “Great post” and put a link to your website, sure, you’re a spammer. But what if you actually provide useful resources, opinions and solutions to other people’s problems? You’ll earn their respect and you’ll be working on building your reputation and positioning yourself as a true expert in your industry.
Step 1: Find Blogs In Your Industry
Do a Google search for “[keyword] blog”. For example, if you’re a marketing consultant, search for “marketing blog”.
Step 2: Filter Out Blogs that Don’t Have Any Traffic
About 80% of the blogs you’ll find will be of no value to you because they have very little traffic. There are a few great indicators that can tell you how much traffic a blog has:
- Comments. A blog with a lot of comments is likely to have a lot of readers.
- Votes/Re-Tweets. Some blogs have the TweetMeme plugin or some other sort of voting system that allows you to see how many people liked a given post.
Step 3: Add Value to the Conversation
If you’re a real expert, you should be able to add a lot of value to the conversation. Give, give and give some more. Don’t worry about getting anything in exchange yet. People need to see your comments over and over again before they start seeing you as an expert.
Most blogs have a field for your website link. If people like your comments, they can click on your name to visit your site. Make sure that you rank at the top of Google for your own name, as some people will search for it.
If one of your blog posts can help you make your point, it’s OK to include the link in your comment, but don’t over-do this.
Step 4: Leverage Your Relationships with Bloggers
Bloggers love comments and people who post them. If you comment on a blog often, you’re very likely to be noticed by the blogger who writes it. Leverage that relationship. Ask them if you can interview them for your blog, ask them if you can send them a guest post and offer to promote it and work with them in any way you can to promote their businesses and yours.
