There are dozens of different ways to get free traffic to your site. One of them is to leave comments on other people’s blogs and link back to your own site.
This by itself is a decent strategy. The quicker you comment on a new blog post, the more likely it is you’ll get some traffic to your blog.
Why?
Because many successful bloggers email their list after they publish a new post. If you are the first one to comment on a new blog post… then you’ll get to “ride the wave” of subscribers who visit that post.
But while this strategy works, I’ve found an even better way to generate traffic from blog comments.
Blog Comments as a Source of Traffic
Lest you think that commenting on blogs is a waste of time, let me share with you a little story.
A couple years ago, as I was researching new ways to drive traffic to my blog, I stumbled upon a simple idea. The idea was to find “do-follow” blogs that passed PageRank through their comment links.
In theory, by leaving comments on blogs like this (and perhaps even using your primary keyword phrase as your “name”), you could actually increase your search engine rankings.
In my case, the theory proved true. Here’s what I did.
First, I found a do-follow blog that had a post related to one of my posts. I then left a comment linking to a post on my site. I used the title of the post in the “name” field. In my comment, I referenced my post and said, “Click my name to read the post.”
This not only helped me get (and stay) ranked for that search phrase for years, it also sent a lot of traffic to my blog.
Not just hundreds of visitors.
Thousands.
In fact, this one blog comment has sent more traffic to my blog in the last year than any single guest post or web site other than Google, StumbleUpon, and Twitter.
In other words, this blog ranks #4 in terms of how much traffic it sends to my site.
And it was all because of one measly comment on one measly post.
Blogs that Rank Well Send Lots of Traffic
If you were to use this same strategy to drive traffic to your site, you’d want to do the following:
1. Search Google for a keyword phrase you’ve already written about in a blog post or article.
2. Go through the first page of search results to see if any of the sites are blogs.
3. If one of the sites is a blog, and comments are open, then leave a comment contributing to the conversation.
4. Do not link to your site’s home page in the URL field. Rather, link directly to the post or article that’s related to the one you’re commenting on.
5. Rather than typing your name into the name field, use your primary keyword phrase, or even the title of your post or article.
6. Finally, mention your related blog post or article in your comment and instruct readers to click your name if they’d like to read more.
While it’s no guarantee that your comment will produce thousands of visitors (or that it will even be published), there is a good chance you will get a steady stream of visitors to your site for weeks, months, and possibly years.
-Ryan M. Healy
{ 34 comments }
How to Generate Traffic from Blog Comments http://ht.ly/18lru7
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How to Generate Traffic from Blog Comments – http://bit.ly/cJQS8x (via @Audrey_Sargent @TerryDean)
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@Audrey_Sargent I really like this strategy – I’ll try it, thanks | http://bit.ly/bJKThe
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Hey Ryan,
Thanks for the eye-opening twists on the old strategy… it gives me a few ideas to test.
Hey Ryan,
Thanks for posting such a good post. I've read this technique before, but never really heard of it working for anybody. Thanks again for posting your experience.
Great post, Ryan! I actually spent some time yesterday doing the blog commenting thing, but not how you described. I'm going to try it your way today. Thanks!
Sally
Cool info, thanks Ryan.
Genius, Ryan. I just printed this out.
I'm such a cheapskate I've been avoiding PPC and this sounds like a great tactic.
You da man!
Doberman Dan
Hey Ryan,
Leaving blog comments on blogs that are related to one´s own niche and adding valuable content to the discussion in the blog post is a great way to drive free traffic to one´s blog/blog post, I absolutely agree.
Now when it comes to using the address field in the comment section to leave a keyword pointing back to one´s blog I am not sure whether this will work very well in the end.
I´ve certainly noticed that a lot of people are doing it but especially with the more advanced bloggers you will reveal yourself as someone who is “just” on the hunt for a backlink or for traffic and that you haven´t come to the blog with the purpose to add value to the discussion.
You might end-up being called a spammer.
A part from those concerns I have in using this technique it certainly is great way to get links (with a chosen anchor text in the name field which makes the link even jucier) and traffic -no doubt about that.
Thanks for sharing
Mirko
Thanks for the feedback, Dan! I'm glad to have written something print-worthy. :-)
Mirko,
Great observations. Every blogger is different. I know of some do-follow blogs that actually encourage you to use your keywords in the name field whenever you comment. Other bloggers may take offense.
One way to make this strategy more effective is to preface your keywords with just your first name. So, for instance:
Ryan – Business Growth
Or…
Ryan | Copywriting
This way your comment looks more personable and not just for purposes of getting traffic. Hope this helps!
Great Info! Thanks for sharing Ryan!
its really true but I searched a lot for such do follow blogs and very few approves our comment. most of the sites doesn't. And That makes me fed up. I go on post and dosnt see any approval. Can you tell the style or the format of commenting?
Good point Ryan
When I first read your post my first reaction was “spammer” :)
I believe there is a WordPress plugin called KeywordLuv that does exactly what you suggest.
@airlines – Well, based on the comment you've left here, I can tell you need to work on your grammar. The more intelligent your comment is — and the more grammatically correct it is — the more likely it will be published.
Anytime I get a comment with misspellings, bad grammar, etc., I will usually assume that it was automated by software.
Hope this helps.
@Peter – Yes, Keyword Luv does automatically link your most recent post. Although I've noticed it can sometimes create long page-load times.
As far as using this strategy, you have to be careful. I was at Andy Beard's blog yesterday, and he has a strict comment policy. But at some point, it sounds like he either allowed or encouraged people to use keywords in the “name” field. So you always have to be aware of the blog's comment policy, etc.
Hey Ryan,
Thanks for clarifying and adding more information as to how to careful in handling the implementation of anchor text in the name field of blogs. Good stuff, Thanks.
Mirko
Hi Ryan,
What perfect timing!
Out of a simple bimbo comment I made in a forum last week we have a blog commenting challenge on our hands and your post is perfect timing as to the importance of blog commenting and the power it can have for improving our blogs rankings and traffic generation.
I really like commenting on blogs that have the following plugins installed “CommentLuv” “KeywordLuv” and “DoFollow”. I have those plugins installed on my blog and encourage other bloggers to do the same. Since I installed those plugins a few months ago I have noticed an increase in traffic as well as commenting and I have met some really cool people this way.
Like you said in one of your comments I do believe it is important to read people's comment policies. For example if people comment on my blog and they don't leave their name as well as keyword in the name field then I automatically mark it as spam.
I don't think people really understand the power of blog commenting. Yes it is important to be genuine and contribute to the post you are commenting on as well as I believe blog hopping/commenting is an awesome way to meet new people and learn new things.
If you want to join in on the challenge it would be awesome to have you aboard, especially with this post!! :-)
See you back here soon!
Cheers
Jacinta :D
Hey, Ryan. In 2009, the single biggest source of traffic for my old blog was a comment I made on John Carlton's blog. Traffic wasn't a goal of mine – it just happened. (Admittedly, my sites traffic flow was depressing that whole year…) Your point is well made. From personal experience, I can attest to the fact that poignant comments can generate traffic. You've just helped take it to the next level. Thanks!
All solid info, Ryan. Great strategies to share.
Although the keywords and SEO value are nice, I'd also offer the reminder that you don't underestimate the value of the link even without modified anchor text. Without any type of visible manipulation, it has a higher likelihood of passing any review/moderation, and traffic still comes. If you leave a good comment somewhere, who knows who'll follow it. No followed links can still bring some pretty nice people to you. I know this wasn't your point, but it seemed relevant to the overall process. Thanks for the post. :)
I'm intrigued. I have arrived here after doing some research into backlinking and blog commenting using DISQUS.
The DISQUS comment system allows a profile and a link to a page but if you change that page it changes on all the comments you have previously left. So it would seem to be best for traffic rather than backlinking.
Just thinking aloud, it may be possible to use a rotator and set up multiple DISQUS accounts across different niches.
I would be interested to hear your thoughts.
Interesting. Good point about Disqus only allowing one link to be associated with your profile. I'm actually thinking about returning to the standard WP comment system to encourage more comments and give commenters more flexibility.
Is there a way to do a google search for “do-follow” blogs? That would be uber-handy!
Ian
From a blog owners point of view it must be a trade off between increasing the volume of comments but as a result encouraging spammers. However going back to the Wordpress system would help to promote the commenting strategy you explain here. Regards.
There's a tool called Comment Kahuna that can help with this. I used it once a couple years ago. You can also use the SEO Quake plugin to see PageRank, do-follow links, etc. when you do a Google search.
As well as reading the comments policy if there is one (mine is like Andy's – no keywords) it's a good idea to look at older comments on the blog. If the owner has allowed keyword rich comments in the past it's likely they'll do it again. if there are no keyword comments then it's likely they'll delete 'em.
Having said all that – make sure it's a dofollow blog. No point in keywording a nofollow blog, or one that uses DISQUS like yours Ryan. For nofollow blogs you're mor elooking to get clicks than link juice. And you're less likely to get a click wiht a spammy looking keyword rich name than a real one (in my view anyway).
Ian
Certainly food for thought, Ryan. Thanks for putting this out there. Keywords have often been a struggle for me…In searching my analytics, I find that I'm out there for keywords that I wouldn't have imagined, but traffic is traffic. Ha!
Speaking of strange search phrases, I accidentally rank well for the phrase “poopie diaper.” I just checked and… yep! There's my post from early 2008, still in the #4 spot. :-)
That is basically hilarious.
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