How to be a really high quality commenter

[Melody]

I know that many of us love seeing comments on our blogs. Depending on the goals of your blog, seeing the comments might be one of the most important things to you.

I think many people don't really think about what makes a good comment - So here are a few tips - Just my own opinion. But in all honesty, if you want to get good comments, it might be helpful to be able to leave good comments. It's that I scratch your back if you scratch mine theory.

Feel free to disagree!

1) Make sure your comment really relates to the topic of the thread.

2) Never write just "great post" or "wow you have a great blog" without more information. That just looks like spam and it's not meaningful.

3) Never post the link to your own blog in a comment. Makes you look like a spammer. You can post the link to your blog as part of the name - where there is a field to fill it out, but not in the actual body of the comment.

4) Have a unique name. Be aware that many blogs will already have five Steves, three Kellys, and seven Mikes. I know that I'm bad at this myself. But if you're on a blog that is relatively busy, it helps to have a unique name otherwise you might be confused with someone else. If you're at a blog that routinely sees every post getting more than 15 or 20 comments, probably you're not the first Steve.

5) Read most of the comment conversation or all of the existing comment conversation. If you are asking a question that has already been answered in the comments conversation, then it makes you look better if you have read the conversation.

6) Never say in your comment, "Hi I am here from bloggeries". Generally, the person who has the blog wants it to APPEAR as if all the comments came organically to the site.

The big ol' comment thread is here:

Big old comment thread!

^ Read the instructions in the very FIRST post, and then skip to the end and join in the fun!

[Nathan]

Good points!

Another thing that I might mention is that if you are just repeating what everyone else has already said in the comments then your comment is less likely to be viewed as valuable.

[seoguy10]

Good tips. Many people post comments only to get links to their blogs. Few spend the time to write thorough and thoughtful commnents. These are the types of comments that get people to visit your link.

[SOUTHERNGAL634]

Good tips. I'm new here so I'm trying to learn all I can!

[Melody]

Originally Posted by seoguy10

Good tips. Many people post comments only to get links to their blogs. Few spend the time to write thorough and thoughtful commnents. These are the types of comments that get people to visit your link.

That's a really good point. Yes, more people will follow your link to your blog if what you've written is a very high quality comment. No links in body of comment.

I learned a new phrase the other day: I was reading a blogger who is an expert in analytics, and I didn't realize that "conversion" and "stickiness" have to do with what percentage of your visitors are commenting. A blog which is able to attract commenters is a "sticky" blog. I didn't know this phrase before yesterday, and I thought it sounds almost cute. I have a sticky blog!

"conversation" has to do with total number of comments (less the blog owner's comments) divided by the number of articles posted. It's not really a meaningful number to me yet, but still a new concept to me.

However getting back to people leaving comments to get comments: There will get to be a point when you have people interested in your content. It works. I know it can.

[dawud]

Originally Posted by Melody

6) Never say in your comment, "Hi I am here from bloggeries". Generally, the person who has the blog wants it to APPEAR as if all the comments came organically to the site.

Thanks for this one. I have been making this mistake with the blogs posted here.

[Brandon Sheley]

great tips!
I always use my full name in comments and a link to my blog which is also my full name so it's a win in my books

[Melody]

Brandon thanks for the props on this thread!

I wish everyone would read them. Right now I'm missing getting new comments. My own blog has suddenly drastically slowed down (I know why, I posted that I was on vacation - I just needed a break in blogging) but I miss seeing comments coming in every day!

[pcsourcepoint]

Thanks for tips. I sometimes add personal and relevant examples to comments, rather than just intuitive thoughts or ideas that many comments seem to have.

In some of my posts I have received comments in other languages, and other than delete them, I'm not sure what to do about them.

[QuirkyJessi]

Great tips, although I kinda disagree with the last one. If it's the first time someone is commenting on my posts, I like when they tell me where they're coming from. I generally pay them closer attention. Although, if you're using the Comment Thread a lot, then I can see how that could look bad if a lot of comments say that, but otherwise, when someone randomly stops by from a site I use, I love it when I know that. I don't think it looks bad in general either. Being involved in other places shows community and involvement and I certainly don't see it as "points off" when I see a comment on another site where the commenter references where they're from.