Blog Commenting: 7 Things That Makes You the Worst Commenter in the Blogosphere

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Blog commenting is a popular and simple way to engage with other blog cementers and authors. It also has many benefits; we know that commenting on some blogs can help us build backlinks, increase visibility on our own posts (usually with CommentLuv enabled blogs), but more importantly it can help us gain authority on specific topics in our niche. If you can offer something new and practical in each comment that you leave on other blogs, you can bet your last dollar that you’re going to get readers wanting to come back to your blog, to see what you have to offer them.

blog commenting

But… but, Blog Commenting is Laborious

Quit your whining… OK I’ll admit that at times commenting on other blogs can seem like a laborious process, but only if you make it so. I personally enjoy reading my favorite blogs and of course adding my comments. In today’s post we’re going to look at 7 things that you should avoid at all costs, especially if you’re a newbie in the world of blogging; 7 things that can make you the worst commenter in the blogosphere.

7 Blog Commenting Mistakes to Avoid

1. No Gravatar

Who the hell are you? The reason I ask is because I personally want to see who’s commenting on my posts. There are the odd occasion when I’ll let slip a comment that has no Gravatar, but that usually only happens when the comment is genuinely a god comment. If you want to make a real impact in the blogosphere then follow the correct protocols of blog commenting, and get yourself a Gravatar.

Read: How to Optimize your Gravatar Image for Best Results in Blogging

2. Your URL Looks Fishy

Let’s now give some well deserved abuse to the URL you’ve left in your comment. There are three things that gripe me with some commenters;

  • URL’s with long, no let’s rephrase that, too long extensions on the end of them.
  • URL’s that redirect to some fishy looking site, and
  • URL’s that are in fact dead…

Ensure the URL you use when blog commenting is a single domain with no extension, valid, related and somewhat useful. If you’ve commented on this blog before and wondered why your URL is missing, it’s because of one of the three reasons above.

3. Your Comment Isn’t Helpful

‘Great post thanks’… There is nothing wrong with these kinds of comments however I don’t think you’ll impress too many blog authors with them. It isn’t helpful to other commenters either, so ensure you leave something useful, add your own thoughts on the subject, maybe your own resource too. Help to provide a solution to the problem, the more you do this in your your blog commenting strategy, the more respect you’ll earn, authority wise.

4. Your Comment Isn’t Engaging

‘Great post thanks…’ What else is wrong with this kind of comment? It’s not engaging enough. It doesn’t entice others to do anything other than ignore it. Ask questions, open up a conversation on the topic and you’ll soon find yourself engaging with other commenters and the blog author.

5. Oops! You’ve Dropped Yet another Fishy Link… this time in your Comment Body!

Ah now you’ve done it. You’ve dropped a link in the comment box. Actually this isn’t bad at all, just as long as it’s not fishy or self promotional crap or worst still, an affiliate link. I haven’t come across anyone that actually does this yet, but if you’re thinking of doing it don’t bother… If you want to leave a link in the box make sure it’s resourceful and has a great comment behind it. I’ve approved many comments in the past where I’ve found the link in comment box to be beneficial.

6. Copy and Pasting is not good enough

Holy Shebang Batman! Doesn’t this just get on your nerves? This is a question to all blog authors out there, how many times have you come across a copy and paste comment? And for some reason they end up in the Ham folder… I’m forever deleting comments like this, I’d like to go into detail as to why this isn’t a good method of bog commenting, but I’ll just say this… Trust me… don’t do it.

7. You Simply Didn’t Read the Post

The last thing that crowns you the worst commenter in the blogosphere is that you don’t read posts before leaving a comment. It is a mistake that even I have done in the past, thankfully I’ve learned from it.

If you want to leave something useful when blog commenting, read the post first. Understand the topic and then think about what you’re going to write in the comment box. Don’t be tempted to jump the bridge and scan through bits of it, even then you’ll miss crucial points.

OK folks those are my 7 things that I think could make you the worst commenter in the blogosphere. What about you? Are you guilty for any of these things when blog commenting? Let me know your thoughts in the comment section below as always.

…Over and out – Fabrizio.

  • http://www.techmitra.com Md Sohail

    Well, its clear that commenting on other blogs is a part of SEO which is must to every bloggers. Nice tips Fabrizio, after reading your post i have known some of my mistakes which i had… but not now.

    • http://www.magnet4marketing.net Fabrizio Van Marciano

      Hi Md thanks for your comment. I’m pleased you enjoyed the tips here today. I think we’ve all made one or two mistakes when we first get into blog commenting but the good thing about making those mistakes is that we learn from them. Have a great day :)

  • Samantha Wright

    Good tips here Fabzy, the biggest issue is spambots, the second is humans leaving trashy comments. I’m glad you mentioned copy and pasting, I’ve seen this myself happen many times before.

    • http://www.magnet4marketing.net Fabrizio Van Marciano

      Absolutely Sammy, thanks I agree spam-bots are an issue which is why Growmap anti bot plugin is just what the doctor ordered :)

  • http://www.bloggerine.com/ Ramsha Afaq

    So should we not publish these comments?

    • http://www.magnet4marketing.net Fabrizio Van Marciano

      I’m not too sure what you’re asking. You shouldn’t publish the kind of comments that make you a bad commenter as I’ve outlined in the post above. Thanks for visiting Ramsha :)

  • Peter

    Hey Fabrizio nice set of tips, I’ve also got to agree about the link dropping in the comment body, unfortunately I’m plagued with these kind of comments, do you think the antibot plugin will help reduce this for me?

    • http://www.magnet4marketing.net Fabrizio Van Marciano

      Yes, I use the Anti-box plugin on all my blog’s and it really has prevented 3/4 of the trashy comments I use to receive in my spam folder, that combined with Akismet works a treat.

  • Kate Brown Wilson

    Hello there its been a while since my last visit to your site, I totally agree with this article to be honest almost many people use this commenting system to share their back link, quite an effective SEO strategy.

    • http://www.magnet4marketing.net Fabrizio Van Marciano

      Hello Kate, nice to see you back here again :) I don’t consider blog commenting as the most effective method of SEO link building any longer, it’s still a good way, and probably the easiest way, but I don’t think its the best way. :)

  • http://www.buysellwp.com/ BuySellWordpress

    Yes, I feel guilty about one or two points, and I understand them, But sometimes when you comment several posts a day, you can have no words to express your thoughts or, for example, you just can’t say anything but want to let the author know that you read it and in this case such comments as “very interesting post” or “thanks a lot for the advice” can be the ideal variant (certainly if such comments aren’t used after each post)

  • http://www.moneymakingmodes.com Money Making Modes

    I feel really great when I receive comments very engaging comments in my blog. By following the points you mentioned in the post, we maximum the number of visitors, regular readers and even subscribers since blog commenting is great tool to introduce your site/blog to fellow peoples. Just we have know the commenting techniques ;)

    Thanks for highlighting the points.

    • http://www.magnet4marketing.net Fabrizio Van Marciano

      I completely agree with you, regular readers are always going to leave responsive and engaging comments. I too love seeing those kind of comments in my pending inbox. Those who have been blogging and commenting regularly often than not, understand the correct principals of blog commenting. The newbies on the other hand need a little helping hand and here’s to hoping this post will help to guide them.

  • http://www.guideplease.com/ Mairaj Pirzada

    Hey Fab!

    Really the worst ones! :( Already avoided them all ! Am happy to finally read the post, as it was here in my to do list! ;-) And now will be moving to your other blog posts,,

    Not Great post, thanks (avoided, so was kidding!)
    BTW, here I’d like to tell you that my primary blog got a PR 3! I just want to share my happiness with others! thank you very much.

    • http://www.magnet4marketing.net Fabrizio Van Marciano

      Hey Mairaj, thanks for stopping by again mate. I’ve noticed you’ve left some great comments on the blog so I’m pleased you enjoy the content here. Congrats on your PR3 update recently we’re still a PR3 but working for that PR4 maybe on the next update.

  • http://www.rancorinfotech.com Aditya

    Having a gravatar image is must,as most of the bloggers don’t see their comments and simply avoid them.When i was new to this,i don’t have an gravatar account but now i have it and the responses i get has risen up.
    Although its not the only thing to e kept in mind,The way most commentors comment is also a matter of concern,they just copy paste the comment without reading the content. :( just to make their links work.
    Great and easily followable comments Fabrizio. :)

    • http://www.magnet4marketing.net Fabrizio Van Marciano

      You are correct Aditya, I always recommend users to have a Gravatar image, otherwise it’s like trying to have a conversation with someone without a face. As with copy and paste, I usually trust the regular commenters as they’ve been commenting for a while and have left some great responses. However the new one’s I usually check through Google search to make sure it’s not a copy and paste comment. :)

  • http://9xhostcoupons.com Carlos

    This is definitely right, that If you leave a helpful comment, people do want to visit your site to check what are you writing.

    As you’ve mentioned various things like gravator, fishy links, these things also need to be considered too.

  • http://www.100webhosting.com Jasmine

    These are surely some of the very bad commenting mistakes we all must avoid, otherwise we will never get our comments approved. Thanks for sharing these tips, we all want to become better in commenting and have our comments approved and appreciated. :)