J.F. Miller.com

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COMMENTING

One of the best ways to get others to find your blog is by visiting theirs and leaving comments about their posts and observations. Blogs are often something akin to mini-online communities and comments play a large role in the communicative function of blogs. Bloggers tend to check the blogs of those who have visited and you can develop some regular readers simply by making comments on other blogs.

In many cases, you can leave the URL of your blog in the comments, making it easy for all of that blog’s readers to find you, too.

Trackbacks, which are means by which one blog notifies another of a visit and or comment, can also be used for this purpose. Not all blogging platforms support track backs, but if yours does, you should avail yourself of the opportunity to use them.

The fact that links could be left behind in blog comments led some people to use this is a strategy for increasing their total number of backlinks in order to help with search engine placement. They would leave comments of a suspect nature (or even, in some cases, complete gibberish) along with an address simply to claim the backlink. Blogging services recognized this growing comment spam problem and have taken actions to minimize its effectiveness.

These safeguards include a “no follow” HTML tag that makes the link meaningless in terms of search engines. Some bloggers and services also require users to manually type in a code when commenting, freezing out automated blog spamming attempts and making the process of comment spamming less attractive.

Comment spam still exists, and it is a hated commodity in the blogging community. Thus, if you are commenting on other blogs, please make sure your contribution is legitimate and thoughtful. Feel free to provide your URL, but don’t turn your comment into mere advertising for your blog.

BLOGROLLING

A blogroll is a list of links to other blogs. They can often be found on the sidebars of some blogs and are a way of telling readers what other blogs they may find of interest. Bloggers are notoriously generous about putting other bloggers on their blogrolls and it can be a great way of increasing the links to your blog and direct traffic, too.

Not all blogging platforms support a blogroll, per se. However, any blogger can add links to other blogs and sites of interest on their own blog. Sometimes this is done as a link exchange; sometimes it is simply done because one writer finds another’s site valuable.

Feel free to add other legitimately interesting blogs to your blogroll. If you add a blog, you might want to notify the other blogger. In many cases, they will reciprocate. You don’t want to minimize the value of your blogroll or to direct your readers to poor sites, so don’t pollute your list with a series of sub-par blogs simply in hopes of generating backlinks.

ALLOWING COMMENTS

In most cases, a blogger is well-advised to allow comments from others. This inspires the sense of interactivity and community that makes blogging so attractive.

You may have to deal with blog comment spam as a result of your willingness to accept comments. This can be a hassle, but most providers offer tools to help you combat the comment spam. If you can do a word or code verification, it will filter out most comment spam. You can also choose to moderate your comments, which means you will have to personally approve them in order for them to appear. This may sound like a good idea, but it can be a really time-consuming process if your blog develops a “talkative” readership. It can also slow down the commenting conversation, which runs contrary to your objectives.

Keep your blog an open forum. Allow as much interaction as possible. This makes your blog more interesting and gives you a great chance to interact with your readership. You can learn a lot about what people are interested in and how to improve your blog by reading the comments left by others.

BONUS TIPS

1. Be an active participant in the blogging community! Find some blogs on your topic that you enjoy and read them regularly. Comment when you feel you have something valuable to add to the conversation. This can inspire others to find you–and they are the kind of targeted traffic you really crave.

2. Engage your readers! When you find comments on your blog, respond to them. Keeps the dialog going? Blogs are loved by many because of their interactive nature. If you can make your comment sections lively and interesting it will make for a better blog–and more traffic.

FORUMS OVERVIEW

Online message boards and forums are a great way to socialize and learn. They are also a neat way to promote your blog. There are forums devoted to almost every topic, and with very little research you are sure to find an active community of people interested in the subject matter of your blog. They can be a great place to interact, to refine ideas that may later become staples of your blog, and to enjoy yourself.

Most forums allow participants to have a “signature” attached to their comments. A signature usually consists of a name and a few lines of additional information about the commenter. These signatures can be a great way to let the world know about your blog.

The term “sigging” refers to using your forum signature as a promotional tool.

WRITING YOUR SIGNATURE

You want to use your signature as a means of promoting your blog, but you don’t necessarily want to convert into a block of advertising space. Subtlety is a good idea! Include your name and a link to your blog with a brief description.

Signatures are usually authored via a control panel at the forum. It is worth noting that most signatures will not be written in plain text or in traditional HTML. BB Code and other similar styles will be used. Invariably, the forum will offer a quick guide to the code so that you can construct a signature easily. It is important to make sure you have done this correctly–you want to be sure to have created a “live link” for your site.

USING YOUR SIGNATURE

Your signature will automatically attach it’s yourself to all of your, forum posts, assuming you have your settings correct (check your settings at the control panel to be sure).

Resist the urge to post a series of “me, too” responses to threads in an effort to get your signature out there. Forums succeed because users impart real information and opinion. Make yourself into a valuable contributor and it will, in turn, make people more interested in pursuing the link in your signature.

Active participation in forums can be a surprisingly effective way to generate traffic.

Not only will other forum readers check out your blog, you will also find that search engines will spider forums and collect your link, adding to your total backlink numbers.

BONUS TIPS

1. Use forums to your advantage! Don’t just look at forums as a means by which to promote your blog–use them as a community and learning tool. There is a lot of great information and expertise being shared in forums and you can benefit as much from that as you can from the increased exposure for your blog.

2. Choose strong forums! If you are going to make use of a few forums in your “sigging” and learning strategy, choose well-populated and vibrant communities. Check to see how often new posts are being made and how many people tend to be at the forum. You have a limited amount of time, so you should spend it in areas that will do you the most good.

Here’s to Your Success

Jim

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