Blog commenting is great for traffic generation, increasing your blog’s popularity, establishing your expertise, networking and making long lasting relationships, SEO and link building, among the others.
There is nothing wrong in providing a link back to the commenter who has taken the time to read your blog post and leave a comment there; without commenters there will be dead silence on your blog, that’s for sure.
Well, this is a bit off topic, but I want to tell you that every blogger must reward their commenters in one way or another.
This will get you more comments and more loyal readers to your blog, which equals more traffic, in simple words.
For instance, I reward my commenters with dofollow links, Keywordluv, Commentluv, featuring top commenters, showing recent comments and I also do a lucky draw (biweekly) of the active commenters and feature two winners.
I am sure Ana is excellent in rewarding commenters; you can see that right here at her blog.
Now coming back to the topic of this post, blog commenting will not guarantee you traffic UNLESS you do it right.
To “do it right”, you will have to follow at least the basic blog commenting ethics, which require you to:
- read the post before commenting;
- be respectful;
- leave valuable comments - not just “great post”;
- write real name in “Name” field and not keywords;
- not litter comments with links - since you already have a place to leave a link to your website and most blogs have CommentLuv now, so that you can also leave a link to one of your recent posts;
- and so on.
Following these rules is not too difficult since most of them are just common sense.
But I am talking about those who follow all these common sense ethics in blog commenting, but still scratch their heads without knowing the reason why their blog commenting efforts are not paying off.
Well they won’t pay off until you do it right, I say that again.
So I am writing this post after being fed up with commenters on my own blog and watching those commenters who do it the wrong way on blogs I read regularly.
Biggest Blog Commenting Mistakes
The biggest mistake I see blog commenters make is IGNORANCE.
Come on, this is 2011 and you have to wake up. The commenting system and comment forms on blogs are not the same they used to be even a couple of years ago.
There are quite a few of great features, which were introduced for the benefit of commenters - that is YOU, and you are simply ignoring them.
So how could you expect to get any website traffic?
Even worse, you are not ignoring those features, but using them in the wrong way simply because you don’t want to learn or pay attention to all that newer stuff.
But the rest of the blogosphere does!
I will address a couple of things many commenters are ignorant about.
Ignorant about using Commentluv
Almost 90% of the blogs in the blogosphere have the CommentLuv plugin installed.
This is an awesome plugin that helps the blogger to reward their commenters by allowing them to leave a (do-follow) link back to one of their recent posts.
1. Register on ComLuv.com
Do you know that registering your blog at Comluv website allows you to pick out a link from one of your 10 most recent posts instead of just your last one?
Sometimes your latest post might not be too relevant to the post you are leaving a comment on. Choosing from one of the 10 latest posts could help you change that.
2. www vs non-www & CommentLuv
Did you know that the “www” and “no-www” versions of your blogs are treated different by Comluv?
If you register only one version, you will not get the option to choose from 10 latest posts if you use the other version.
Note from Ana: you should always choose to use only one version of your site - www or non-www; up to you. But choose it and stick with it. It’ll make a huge difference to your SEO efforts.
To learn more about the topic, look up WWW vs non-WWW: Why You Should Put All Your Links in One Basket
3. Banned URL
Sometimes, as you comment on a blog and try to leave a CommentLuv link, a strange error occurs and no links are returned.
You think that there is something wrong with plugin installation at that blog, or a downtime with Comluv.
Nope!
You have to unban your URL by going to http://comluv.com/member/unban-url/. You can also read up on how your URL gets banned there.
Ignorant about using Keywordluv
Ana has already talked about KeywordLuv here at TGC, where she explained its benefits.
Now, I see a lot of people assuming that every blog is KWL enabled.
No! Such blogs are obvious with a notification message.
With a KWL enabled blog, you type yourname@yourkeyword so that your keyword carries a link back to your blog. But if you do it on a blog that doesn’t have KWL, all you get SEO-wise is a strange string of characters that don’t translate into any meaningful anchor text.
However, you can still get some SEO benefits with “Jane @ Cheap Domains” (note that this is just an example keyword) because the keyword is still around there. But you can get the most out of it by using a simple tip - use a separator ” | “, called “vertical bar” or “pipe“.
You may ask me if @ is a separator or not. Well, it is not a good one in terms of SEO, since @ translates to “@” in HTML when you view any site page source (thanks, Ana, for pointing this out).
But you have got an excellent separator that looks just the same in the html and the non-html version - it is the pipe (the one above the “Enter” key to be used with Shift)!
If I use Jane | Cheap Domains in the name field then Google sees that as two different words “Jane” and “Cheap Domains” and I get backlined for both these words.
So you have your name there and also your keyword - deal.
But you really have to check since some bloggers never allow keywords in the name field even if you use it with your name.
Outsourcing Blog Commenting
This is one of the biggest blunders people are doing, wasting precious time and money. They outsource blog commenting by hiring people to leave comments on other blogs with the urls and anchor texts they specify.
First of all, your comments speak for you and people judge you by your comments (just like a blog post or a guest post you write).
So you cannot (well I will never) compromise on that!
Secondly, it is your reputation, your SEO efforts and in short your blogging future that depends on those people who agree to leave 100 comments on other blogs for $5.
Comment without reading
This one comes under the basic common sense stuff.
But it definitely needs a separate mention. Some people think that they are smart, scan the whole post and leave a controversial comment or a comment with a question.
Well, they know the trick that leaving a controversial comment or provoking a discussion will grab attention.
But they don’t realize how dumb they look when the author or someone else points out that their question is answered right at the blog post!
Marketing Takeaway
Blog commenting, if done correctly, will get you lot of traffic.
It should definitely be a part of your overall blog promotion strategy.
But make sure you handle the loose ends. Use common sense and don’t hesitate to learn about a new plugin or a feature.
Now tell me your experiences with “incorrect” blog commenting strategies.
More Great Posts on the Topic:
- Friday’s Tips for Keeps: How to Guide to Better Link Building on CommentLuv Blogs
- How to Drive Traffic To a New Blog Through a Commenting Tribe
- How To Turn Popular List Posts Into Traffic Goldmines
- Spam Be Gone: How I Went From Hundreds Of Spam Comments Per Day To Zero
- SEO Content Writing: How to Write a Title Pleaser That Ranks Well Too
I am a wife to a great husband of 13 years (here ya go, now I have to make changes to this sentence once a year), a mother to a beautiful and, no doubt, genius little girl, and a successful internet entrepreneur. I also devoted my life to Jesus Christ many years ago, and He remains my true priority, focus, and hope.
{ 51 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey Jane,
Congratulations on your guest post here!
Solid points you’re sharing here. Blog commenting is very powerful if you’re executing it the right way, as you have pointed out. It’s all about following the commenting etiquette if you want to get your name out there and generate traffic too!
Thanks for sharing your insights, Jane.
All the best,
Mavis
Mavis Nong invites you to read: Just Launched- Underground Blogging Secrets Unlocked!
If you comment often on blogs, it is a good way to increase the amount of inbound links pointing to your site’s pages. Blog commenting and link building can help increase your backlinks and improve your website. The bottom line is to use blog commenting “naturally”. It may take time, but it will allow you to interact with the author of the blog/article and would also allow interaction on other people as well. In the end if your comment is great, you may attract visitors to your own site especially if you add quality to the comment.
Initially, Comment luv is one of the great plug-ins and it has an lot benefits in it
And, comment should be original whether it could be good post or useless post -it’s my point of view 
thank you Jane for written blog commenting flops on here 
Though they were simple tips, they are very helpful for those who are just into the business of blogging. At this juncture, I would like to mention that I have started using the | separator without even knowing how Google reads it. I now feel elated on getting the knowledge of |.
- Ranjith
Ranjith (SR) | A light hearted talk invites you to read: The journey to heart breaks via happiness
Ranjinth,
That is great. You have saved a lot of your link building efforts! Bravo!
Jane.
Jane | Find All Answers invites you to read: Time Management- Why And How Should you Delegate Effectively
Didn’t know about the “|” separator, this is my first time using it! My nickname is Copywriting Dean, so I typically use that without a problem.
And I don’t know about 90% of blogs using Comment Luv. I see a good amount in the blogging/IM niche, but most blogs I see don’t use it. Cheers!
Stephen Dean | Copywriting invites you to read: GeoSurf Lets You Browse For International Clients
Hey Stephen,
Yes indeed that is true. If you want to specifically find blogs in your niche that use commentluv, you could use the search option at Comluv website.
Cheers,
Jane.
Jane | Find All Answers invites you to read: Time Management- Why And How Should you Delegate Effectively
Jane, I loved your tip about registering CommentLuv. Just when I thought I had most things down pat, up crops something new for me to learn.
It seems so ridiculous to bother commenting without reading. I have actually responded to some comments when it’s obvious they haven’t read the post and asked what they liked best about such and such. I’ve never hear back from anyone.
Thanks for the thorough post - up to Ana’s standards.
Connie
Connie McKnight invites you to read: Lead Through Suffering
Connie,
It usually happens to me too. When I corner such commenters there will be all silence
Yuppy yup, Ana is tough
Cheers,
Jane.
Jane | Find All Answers invites you to read: How to build a better blog Do it now- really
The problem with commenting on sites at times is that other will follow your comment and leave spam comments. The good thing about commentluv is you can get a general idea of which site people are using to spam you. That post gets all the spam comments. I like the idea of being able to use | symbol instead of the @, but even after reading to see if your allowed to use on that specific site. My worry is that it could be rejected.
Chi Pritchard |Charleston Wedding Photographers invites you to read: Jennifer Bridal Portrait Beaufort- SC
Hi Chi,
Ya just be careful with it. Some blogs hate keywords at any cast. But with most of the blogs you should be fine
Cheers,
Jane.
Jane | Find All Answers invites you to read: Time Management- Why And How Should you Delegate Effectively
Hi Jane,
Congratulations on guest posting on this fine blog! Thanks to Ana, I have implemented these tips you mention. She and others have also shown me the manners of blog commenting, and how to handle you own comments. Have fun answering the many comments you’ll be getting for this concise guide on this topic.
Lou Barba
Lou Barba@informationhighwaycardandgiftshop.com invites you to read: The Secret of Stinging Nettles
Thanks Lou for stopping by
I am sure Ana has taught loads of stuff to you already 
Jane.
Jane | Find All Answers invites you to read: 6 Ways To Capture Ideas Effectively
I totally love commentluv, it’s a great plug in. Thanks for pointing out Keywordluv, i’m of to investigate it
Neal Morgan invites you to read: Commentluv
Many people that comment on blogs are also blog owners themselves, so they can probably understand the frustration of useless comments. I have to regularly go and manage some of the comments that are left on my blog.
If someone only includes keywords (no name) in a comment, I usually delete it (I don’t have KeywordLuv installed, although I am thinking of using it).
Outsourcing comments is a new, a bad, way of commenting. Usually the comments can be found on about 20 blogs, which is a dead give-away as being outsourced. I usually blacklist the site if I find such a commenter.
I think the biggest thing to remember, which you touched on, is that your reputation as a blogger is at stake each time you comment. If you known to write useless comments, than your reputation will take a hit, and you will eventually lose readers and traffic.
Paul Salmon invites you to read: 8 Powerful Dreamweaver Extensions For Your Website
Hi Paul,
When I comment on other blogs, I take utmost care almost equivalent to the care I take while writing a blog post. I think that comments are equally the ones as blog posts that show to the online world who you are and what is your specialty. I therefore wouldn’t compromise on the quality of comments.
Cheers,
Jane.
Jane | Find All Answers invites you to read: 6 Ways To Capture Ideas Effectively
“Usually the comments can be found on about 20 blogs”
The same comment on 20 blogs? That’s more like auto-spam then outsourced.
Dennis Edell | Direct Sales Marketing invites you to read: @DennisEdell is Back Baby! Follow Me for First Chance -
Hi Jane,
There are many newbies who really don’t know the benefit of commentluv and don’t use it in a better way. I hope if someone who is unaware about the benefits about commentluv then he/she would start using it properly.
Riya @ Couponseasy invites you to read: HostGator Coupon Codes- Latest Promo Discount Vouchers Daily Updated
I have been using DoFollow+CommentLuv+KeywordLuv since several months so I must agree with you on all the line.
Additionally, I have 1 more “do” and one more “don’t” to suggest.
First of all, do implement a way to notify your commenters when you reply to them. This encourages engagement since people will know their comments are appreciated.
Second, don’t moderate your comments! That’s in my opinion a huge mistake since you should at least trust your commenters if you want to receive their opinions.
GabrieIe Maidecchi invites you to read: The Importance of Being an Intern
Hi Gabriele,
Comment reply notification plugin, as I and Ana use it - I know it is great because it helps me to be connected to my readers even after they leave my blog. Isn’t that sweet?
Regarding comment moderation, I think that is done to filter out spammers. The process can be less painful when we set up moderation of first time commenters only
Cheers,
Jane.
Jane | Find All Answers invites you to read: Having A Positive Mental Attitude Where Does It Take
As a comment commando myself, I say great list! (see what I did there, funny huh)
It is indeed a great list, to which I’d like to add one….read the comments too so as not to double up…at least skim them if there are too many to read, and no, 5 is not too many to read.
In full disclosure, I did not read nor skim above, so my apologies if I doubled up. lol
Also, thanks for the pipe reminder. Whenever I add the keywords on a non KWL blog, it was merely for others to see what I’m, about; I never even thought of SEO.
However, if I can achieve both with the simple addition of a pipe, why not!
Dennis Edell | Direct Sales Marketing invites you to read: @DennisEdell is Back Baby! Follow Me for First Chance -
Hey Dennis,
Skimming through the comments is a great idea. Thanks for the addition. And yes, the pipe helps you to use two anchor texts, so why not?
Cheers,
Jane.
Jane | Find All Answers invites you to read: The Friday Roundup Resource List 2
Solid points Jane and it is true that many people use commenting only for the sake of SEO benefits. Some don’t even think of the fact that they may be tagged as spammers and caught by akismet. In vary rare conditions, and unless I have the time, I normally just hit the “empty spam folder” as it gets easily filled with “trackbacks”, something I do not like very much. I agree with you that commenting should be used as a form to interact with the blogger and form relationships. “buying” 100 comments for $5 is never a wise idea as most likely it will hurt you more than doing good.
DiTesco invites you to read: The Importance Of Trial And Error On Just About Anything- Taking Action
Hey DiTesco,
True that people comment for SEO benefits. As far as my commenting is concerned, I comment to build relationship and only if I feel like commenting, not always.
SEO benefits are added, but not to be the sole target; of course there is nothing wrong in taking special care on SEO.
Thanks for stopping by and don’t you have GASP installed? You won’t have a spam folder to take care of
Cheers,
Jane.
Jane | Find All Answers invites you to read: How Positive Thinking Can Improve Your Life
Yeah, I do use GASP but that only takes care of the bots, not the “human Spammers”
DiTesco invites you to read: First Four Steps To Write An Outstanding Blog Post
LOL, that’s right. But I get only about 1% spam on GASP compared to the time when I used AKISMET.
Jane.
Jane | Find All Answers invites you to read: How to build a better blog Do it now- really
Jane,
I also wondered why people are registered with com luv yet they do not have com luv installed on their own blog. Really mind-boggling to me.
All of my regular commenters leave awesome commenting feedback for me. I do get the occasional straggler that leaves a,” wow great post man” comment.
If you have a blog, and you comment, then you must have a Gravatar with your actual picture on it.
Justin | Mazzastick invites you to read: Why I Got My LLC At Legal Zoom And You Should To
Hey Justin,
Yup a gravatar is a must. If blog commenting is real and for building relationships, a faceless picture cannot “create” any relationship.
PS: I see that you are hectically commenting recently, Kudos!
Cheers,
Jane.
Jane | Find All Answers invites you to read: How To Help Others With Your Constructive Criticism
Outsourcing comments is pretty laughable! It’s like “here- go tell some people I like their post.” Sheesh!
I didn’t know about KeywordLUV. Very interesting!
I do use CommentLuv and I’ve found many great blogs that way by seeing it on other sites.
I wrote a post about bad commenting geared specifically towards blogging moms. I called it Comment Vomit- ha!
Melissa {momcomm} invites you to read: Six Non-Spammy Ways for Bloggers to Engage with Other Facebook Fan Pages
Thanks for going past the common sense tips, Jane. I must have missed Ana’s post talking about the pipe on non-KWL sites. I’m just in the habit of using the @ now. I’ll have to watch that from now on.
I also wasn’t aware that people were outsourcing their own comments. I knew people would buy comments for their site, and that they bought links. I just never thought about them combining the two. I agree with you though, comments are a representation of you and should reflect your knowledge and personality.
Thanks for the great guest post and for sharing these tips with us.
Brad Harmon invites you to read: How Much Social Media Does Your Small Business Really Need
Hey Brad,
It has become a convention to use @ symbols since the spread of KWL. Switching to pipe comes as a must not to lose links
Please go ahead and read Ana’s post on pipes.
Cheers,
Jane.
Jane | Find All Answers invites you to read: Thoughts of a newborn blogger
Wow! Thanks for these great tips! I still consider myself a newbie blogger and this information is very helpful. I will be checking out CommentLuv and KeywordLuv for sure.
Kristin invites you to read: Update on Mommy Kudos Daily Deals
Hey Kristin,
Those are 2 life saver plugins with loads of benefits
Better check them out 
Cheers,
Jane.
Jane | Find All Answers invites you to read: How to build a better blog Do it now- really
Hello Ana. I have a lot of respect for you but I think your 90% statistic is off. I bet I can find a LOT of blog that don’t have it. Bloggers that care and try do blogging correctly, yes, maybe. But not 90% of all blogs have commentluv. I think the stats are at 40 000+ downloads but definitely not 90%.
On the other hand, I have a reservation on commenting as traffic generation tactic. I busted my butt one day commenting on, like, 25-30 blogs and saw no traffic increase for that day. And those are blogs that know me.
Any thoughts?
Hi,
Sometimes (or most of the times) the return traffic doesn’t happen immediately. But if you are consistent in commenting, you will get consistent return traffic. Just like with anything in blogging, you should be patient with this too.
I am still getting traffic from my comments on Problogger and other blogs; from those comments which I left months ago
Cheers,
Jane.
Jane | Find All Answers invites you to read: How Positive Thinking Can Improve Your Life
Thank Jane!
One of the biggest problems I come across with comments on my site is automation. These people not only don’t read the post, they don’t even visit the site. As a result I’m forced to moderate all comments coming in, making more work for me, and making the good commenter have to wait. Not so good for flowing conversations!
But you’re right. If more people took commenting seriously, they’d get a lot more traffic.
After all, automation and hiring people to comment for you is like asking a friend to go to a party with your voice on tape, and have him play it periodically. You might get heard, but you won’t make any friends or admirers
I’ll be checking out KeywordLuv now that you’ve mentioned it.
Ken Nadreau invites you to read: Diversifying Into Many Marketing Businesses
Hey Ken,
That is a great example of representing a dead voice on a party; yup you surely won’t make any friends. As to moderation, are you using the GASP plugin. If most of them are not coming to your blog but are doing automatic commenting, you could set up a defense perimeter with GASP.
Sure, please check out keywordluv, it shows more love to your commenters
Cheers,
Jane.
Jane | Find All Answers invites you to read: Are You A Procrastinator You Can Survive- Don’t Worry
Jane,
I installed and activated GASP. Thanks for the tip
Ken from Advanced Market Training invites you to read: Diversifying Into Many Marketing Businesses
Great tips for commenting on blogs.You have written an excellent post about commenting and I agree with you that now strategy is changed for commenting on websites.
There are a lot of software that automatically ad a comment on wordpress sites.These comments includes common lines like” thank you for sharing , Great Post etc.Comments are moderated on 95% of websites so administrator delete such comments without reading them.SO if you want to comment than read the post completely and than make a relevant comment.
harry invites you to read: How To Boost Traffic To Your Blog
Hey Harry,
Every blogger should surely take great care in moderating comments. Just as people judge your blog with the quality of the posts, it is also the quality of comments in your blog that add to quality of the site. So when I visit a blog and each post has hundreds of “great post” comments, I will not be pleased by the number; I come to know that the blog owner is not caring about the quality of his/her blog anymore.
Cheers,
Jane.
Jane | Find All Answers invites you to read: Google page ranking algorithm It is not a secret
Hi Jane,
I don’t like it when people leave commentluv comments on my blog but when I go to their blog it’s Disqus and the commentluv is disabled and replaced. If I’m missing something here, please let me know.
I don’t know how many people I’ve told to utilize the comentluv plugin by registering at the comluv website! I love it and I share it with everyone who hasn’t registered there yet!
I haven’t used Keyword love, because I don’t quite understand it. Well, maybe I understand it but I’m over complicating it in my head!! Plus I don’t do keyword research well
Great post! Thank you for sharing this information,
Tammy
Tammy Matthews invites you to read: If You’re Talking Behind My Back You’re Leaving Other People Alone
Hey Tammy,
I understand. It could be really disappointing to visit a blog and there is no commentluv. The plugin has become integrated part of every blog and it is really hard for me to digest when I see a blog without the luv.
Keywordluv is not a big deal. It is just like any other plugin. Install and activate it and you are done!
Cheers,
Jane.
Jane | Find All Answers invites you to read: SEO For Targeted Traffic In And Out Of Your Blog
Great points Jane! I just wrote a similar article on how to do comments the right way for the SEO community - hoping that helps people see that the outsourcing and commenting just for links in the method most SEOs use is wrong and they are missing out on valuable opportunities to build relationships that will lead to real links and targeted traffic.
Kristi Hines invites you to read: How to Use Blog Commenting to Get Valuable Backlinks and Traffic
Hey Kristi,
Thanks for stopping by. I just read your post and it is awesome. By the way I am organizing my Google reader after your recent post on that. That’s brilliant.
When you say go beyond commenting, that works great for me. I usually tweet and FB share a post if I comment on it. And tagging guest authors while sharing is a great way to make more relationships.
Cheers,
Jane.
Jane | Find All Answers invites you to read: SEO For Targeted Traffic In And Out Of Your Blog
I would like to say that blog commenting is especially effective link development technique to promote blogs and other informational sites. It works perfectly to increase the ammount of targeted traffic to a website, the number of comments and incoming link popularity. But the most important thing is that this technique allows to obtain regular links and traffic.
Terje Sannarnes invites you to read: How an Entrepreneur Can Build a Website with Minimal Skills
Hi Terje,
Yes, blog commenting is for traffic and link building too. But traffic really works out only with quality comments. I have gained a handful of loyal visitors and subscribers from my comments at Probloggers. Just like blog posts, people look for quality in your comments too.
Cheers,
Jane.
Jane | Find All Answers invites you to read: Effective Blog Commenting to build high quality backlinks
Hi Jane…
Outsourcing blog commenting? Really? I can’t imagine but I guess it takes all types.
Some of these tips seem like no brainers, but then again if you have to mention them you must have seen them many, many times. I won’t even approve comments that say “Good job” or “Nice post.” No sense in rewarding bad commenting etiquette.
According to the great Kim Castleberry, most people who use CommentLuv forget to register at their website. That’s only giving you half the juice of this powerful plugin. And like you said, you must be consistent in using www or not.
Thanks Jane, enjoyed your guest post!
Dr. Bob Clarke invites you to read: Stop Hiding Behind Your Computer
Hey Bob,
Well, to be honest, I am really sick of seeing people doing things the worng way and that is the motivation of this post. I felt that some of these points are straightforward, but they are still not done properly by the crowd.
Thanks for stopping by.
Cheers,
Jane.
Jane | Blogging Tips invites you to read: How to build a better blog Do it now- really
Thanks dude
for sharing some ethics about blog commenting. Please keep this post for the visitors. Thanks a lot 
I like. It’s important that people looking for blogs to comment on are first looking for blogs to READ. If you like a blog writer related to your niche then you should work to build a relationship with that author through a variety of means including commenting.
Chris the Traffic Blogger invites you to read: Increase Your Google Traffic 10 Fold
Chris,
That’s exactly right. We should aim at reading first and if we feel like commenting, then leaving a comment makes sense. Comments should not be made for the sake of it
Cheers,
Jane.
Jane | Find All Answers invites you to read: How to build a better blog Do it now- really