Blog commenting is one way to build links and to get traffic. But that is not the primary reason why blog comments are great. In fact, if getting links and traffic is the ONLY reason you comment, you should STOP right now. I think that blog commenting should be more discussions and engagement, than link building.

Don't get me wrong, I have left plenty of comments on CommentLuv, KeywordLuv and DoFollow blogs and one of the reasons I do comment is to build links and get traffic, but that is not the PRIMARY reason.

I love blog comments, I love the discussion, I love how I can CONNECT to other bloggers that way. That's what the blogosphere is about, isn't it?

In many cases, great blog post has turned into AMAZING, because of the blog comments that the readers have left. Would that happend if all those people were there to get a link and say "nice post!"?

Here are some of the comments I left during this month, on discussions about blog commenting... Yes, blog comments about blog comments :)

Using Your Real Name

@Nicholas_Cardot wrote that Comments with Real Names Build Credibility at SiteSketch101, and Nick is absolutely right. Here's what I said on my comment on that post:

Hear, hear! I agree 100%, and I’m always using my own name and only the name, unless the blog comment policy spesifically asks for @keywords type of addition (e.g. KeywordLuv plugin in use). Otherwise, even adding the “@ whatever” after your name shows you’re not on the top of your game. I see many of them on this thread too, which goes on to prove the point.

If you’re leaving comments for links, you wasting your time, and squeezing in that keyword doesn’t do you any good, so might as well leave it off. If you do use “@ something”, make it your URL, e.g. “@ example.com”, like Tom did above. And if comment policy in some blog says you shouldn’t do that, don’t. You’ll end up in the spam queue, reported to AKismet, and soon you’re a spammer in all the blogs.

Yes, I prefer talking to Moe, Larry and Curly instead of "Three Stooges". I don't care if "free pr0n" likes my post or what "example dot com" has to say. I'm much more interested in interacting with Bob, Suzy and Deanne than with "Some Website Name I Do Not Care About".

When you are leaving comments, do you want to leave comments "as you"? Or do you want to say what "Your Blog" thinks about the subject?

Make sense? Use real name.

DoFollow Comments

I left this comment when @Sarge asked Do you think people are taking advantage of do-follow blogs, only for personal gain? at Beginner Blogger:

I love the idea of DoFollow (reward your readers, etc.), but unfortunately

• DoFollow comments attract spammers
• DoFollow comments attract those that “want a link

…and because of this, the trustworthiness of your site, running DoFollow comments, WILL GO DOWN over time, unless you manually remove/moderate all the comments and links that lead to spam blogs/sites. Is that really worth your time?

People who leave comments on DoFollow blog are very, very likely there to just get the link, and even if they come up with a comment that’s not just “nice post”, they’re probably still there for the link, not the post, not the discussion. Heck, most of them probably don’t even care about your post, you or your blog. The same goes for “CommentLuv” and “KeywordLuv” too, not as much as DoFollow, but still...

Just as I said on Twitter the other day, I choose to use Disqus, because it encourages discussion & increases community engagement. And like to have people like that on my blog comments more than people who just want links. And I can reward the awesome people of the community by linking to them from my posts instead, with good, honest DoFollow link.