How to be a great commenter

Do you read a lot on the internet? If you do, the chances are that you read in places where there is the ability to comment, be it on a blog (the most obvious place) or even a forum or website.

Why should you bother commenting?

If you have a website or blog yourself, then promoting this would be a good idea… But there are other reasons!

If you are an individual you may just wish to build your own personal reputation (or brand if you like) to make yourself more popular for social or employment, or other reasons.

Why I add comments

As an author of multiple blogs and sites, there is not much in the way of blogging that pleases an author more than a genuine (not spam – they are pesky!) comment. Bloggers describe this in many different ways, I like to say it gives bloggers a warm, fuzzy feeling inside.

Funny comment - Someone on the internet is wrong!So I comment to make blog owners feel good – among other reasons. I also comment to promote my website and blogs.

But we are missing the big reason why I comment!

The main reason I comment is because I love to add my opinion. If I agree with someone, I will tell them. If not I will ask them why they feel/think like they do, and I will tell them how I think/feel on something. Debate is the fuel of the blogosphere!

How can you be a great commenter?

There are a few simple rules I follow to make sure that I am a great commenter

  1. Don’t always agree – so many people think that they are a great commenter if they agree with all the points raised and don’t challenge the author. Often authors like to be challenged, that’s why they write!
  2. Don’t just add a comment, interact with other commenters – I would guess that 99.9% of people just add their comment. Read and reply to others comments too. This helps to build a great commenting community – something highly promoted on this blog. I am quoted for saying once that ‘comments often are more valuable than the article itself!’ this is due to so many brilliant people adding great contributions improving the article, giving it support, etc.
  3. Don’t just go looking for a link or PR boost – take some time to carefully craft your comment.
  4. Don’t comment on everything you read – just make your contribution on articles that matter to you.
  5. Read the article! Far too many times, I have seen so many people on so many blogs who have read the title and then gone straight to comment. It doesn’t work, and often your comment will end up being deleted, or worse, your name put on a spam list.

Commenting tools and traps to look out for

KeywordLuv and CommentLuv are two fantastic commenting tools to look out for if you own a website or blog. They really help you promote your blog when commenting, by allowing you to use your keywords, and feature one of your latest articles.

One final thing to watch out for is nofollow blogs, AKA the greedy (I was going to use scum, but that’s a bit strong) people in the blogosphere. These are people who run blogs which do not give you dofollowed or as they are also known followed links. This means that the link to your blog doesn’t pass on any link juice to the contributor.

It’s simple, no readers or commenters, then there is no point in writing. Treat your readers with respect, and they will return the favour.

Our comments…

Being a community blog we are 100% dofollow, meaning that you can guarantee you are getting great quality dofollow comments, every time πŸ™‚

Happy commenting!

17 thoughts on “How to be a great commenter

  1. Commentating is one of the reasons I started blogging. To be able to reach and interact with a variety of people from all walks of life is an amazing thing.

    I recently upgraded my comment form in the hopes that it might help those that are leaving those shoddy comments so that maybe they can improve them. I’m a big comment nazi when it comes down to it. If you ask me why, I’ll tell you it’s because not only are you commentating, but you are also placing a link on my site to yours, which is a vote for your site. If the site is crap, forget it. No soup for you.

    Good article Christopher.

    • Christopher (admin team)

      I suppose that is another thing to add to the “Commenting tools and traps to look out for”

      Glad you liked the article Wayne, I like your comments, so you obviously read it, but I imagine an experienced blogger like you already knew most of it πŸ˜‰

    • Christopher (admin team)

      True.

      The backlink bit is especially true for Technology Bloggers Jason, dofollow links on every comment, (with KeywordLuv) dofollow CommentLuv and authors get a dofollow link on the sidebar!

    • Christopher (admin team)

      It gets your opinion across, “gives bloggers a warm, fuzzy feeling inside”, makes you feel part of a community, helps you learn and on good blogs, it gives you dofollow, keyword rich links back to your site!

      What is there to loose πŸ˜‰

  2. Great outline of what comments should really be all about. I agree that sometimes it tempting to comment before actually reading the the whole article first πŸ˜‰

    This probably isn’t the right place, but aren’t there some drawbacks to using dofollow?

    • Christopher (admin team)

      Thanks for the feedback Mark πŸ™‚

      This is true Marc. Dofollow comments will probably mean that our article pages will score lower on the PageRank scale.

      BUT. We are a community blog, and everyone should benefit from the blog, therefore all comments are dofollowed. I believe that if you take the time to comment you should be credited for it via dofollow, no matter where you are, as without you (the reader) there would be no point in blogging!

  3. Great advice, Christopher. My favorite is “read the post.” One of the most popular posts on my blog is “What I Learned from Animals.” It’s actually about my being attacked by a Doberman and what I learned from escaping. However, I can’t tell you how many comments I get along the lines of “I love dogs–man’s best friends.” Naturally, those comments go straight to spam!

    • Christopher (admin team)

      That’s the thing though isn’t it Lillie, I think there are spam programs that read the title and then formulate a response based around it. Spam can be funny though, as you have shown me πŸ˜‰

  4. Blogging is a way to express your thought for any topic but if comments are not open then you cant even know that whether you are right or wrong. So comments are always useful for blog. Thanks for these nice suggestion.

    • Christopher (admin team)

      Good points πŸ™‚

      Thanks for stopping by, I hope you find our blog useful πŸ™‚
      Christopher – Admin Team

  5. Usually, when i agree with someone i just move on. Why bother to add a comment, the guy already has it right πŸ™‚
    And agreeing just leads to useless comments like ‘thanks, nice tips’, i would be wasting everybody’s time by commenting.

    • Christopher (admin team)

      Yeah, that is true Maria. Sometimes if you just agree and aren’t a regular commenter, it can look very spammy! This can make it difficult for blog owners to decipher what is spam and what isn’t…

  6. It helps alot because you are creating awareness for yourself and building a relationship with the other co-commenters and bloggers, plus it’s an amazing way to build backlinks and get your blog noticed….

    • Christopher (admin team)

      All good points ‘Latest Job vacancies’ (Please use your name @ your keywords to benefit from KeywordLuv, and so that I have a name to reply too!) which I do mention in the article πŸ™‚

      Thanks for the comment!
      Christopher – Admin Team

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