SEO Werkt!

This guest post is by Slavko Desik of LifestyleUpdated.

Trying to understand the ways to get more traffic to your site, or even get some backlinks, you’ve probably stumbled across comment marketing.

And correct me if I’m wrong, but the first thing you probably hoped to get out of it was some links (even though most of them “nofollow”, hoping that it will still somehow boost your ranking), and also maybe get some traffic while making the blogger notice you.

Sorry to be the one to break it to you, but this is the wrong way to go.

So what are the basic benefits of comment marketing, and what should you aim to get out of it on the long term?

The benefits of comment marketing

Once you have a deep understanding of the benefits you can get from leaving comments on other blogs, you can learn the right approach to doing so. Let’s look at each of the benefits now.

Make yourself an authority in the field

The first thing that comes to mind when you’re thinking about how you can present yourself as someone who knows your niche, is to leave comments on other blogs that serve that same niche. The only way to make this happen is to leave good, structured comments that add value to the discussion.

Forget about writing “Great post”, or “I completely agree”. You are putting your name out there, so you’ll want to make every comment count. That way, you will grab the attention of those who are really interested in whatever goes in your niche. And those people are usually the key players now, or will be so in the future.

Grab the attention of the blogger

That’s probably one of your main goals here, right? I mean, you probably wouldn’t be leaving your opinion on another blog post if it wasn’t at all important to you. And leaving a comment that adds value to the discussion is the right way to do it.

You can either agree with what the blogger’s is saying, and offer some of your own similar views on the matter, or you can take a different side (something that is highly recommended if you want to grab the attention) with arguments that support your claims.

The word “arguments” is very important here. You can also grab the blogger’s attention by being offensive, or offering some highly subjective opinion—sure. But you probably won’t achieve any of the other benefits listed here if you take that approach. If you disagree with the points made in the post you’re commenting on, make sure to say that in a dignified, respectful way by offering strong objective facts that support your view on the matter.

In any case, if your comment’s strong, you will probably eventually spark a conversation between yourself and the blogger, so be sure to check back on the post after you submit a comment. Most of the comment systems nowadays have optional subscription for replies, but even if the blog doesn’t, you’ll want to return to the post to check out the replies and other new comments.

Making connections

It’s really a no-brainer when you understand the points above, but making those connections with the blogger, as well as the other readers, is so important that it must be mentioned separately.

Connect not only with the influential people in blogs’ comment sections, but also give your attention to those who are new, and not that experienced in the niche. Because note this: Your blogging peers now may one day grow to become A-list players in your niche.

Also, the “natural link building” which is so many times mentioned as the ideal way to gain backlinks, is not so “natural.” If you check the link profiles of some of the most authoritative sites in your niche, you will surely find that a large amount of links come from sites that are very well connected with the sites that they link to. By making connections with other bloggers, you’re passively attracting future links from them.

Just ask yourself who you would rather link to: a person you know pretty well, a person whose blog you love responding to and leaving comments at, or a person you don’t know anything about? The answer is pretty obvious!

Gain some search rank juice

This takes is such a small consideration in light of all the reasons why you should leave comments on sites, that I’m not sure if it’s worth mentioning. But here it is anyway.

If you’re thinking about boosting your site’s backlink count—and thereby search rank—by leaving comments on blogs, you’re probably hoping to find those blogs that allow “dofollow” links back to your site. So you go over there, write a sentence—or maybe two if you are in the mood, pack your name rich with keywords that you are hoping to rank for, and hope for the best.

Sound familiar? It’s all right—many, if not all, bloggers go through this stage at one point or another. However, the link value that’s passed even through those “dofollow” links is almost not worth mentioning at all compared to other methods of link building (and of course there’s none available through “nofollow” links).

On the other hand, if you leave blog comments under a name that’s rich with keywords, chances are that search algorithm updates like Penguin will make sure to greet you appropriately—that is, by penalizing your blog to some extent.

I should probably mention that there are still some sites in some niches that rank or ranked pretty well using this gray-hat SEO strategy in the short term, but it’s just not a viable long-term solution for your brand or your blog. Also by doing that, you’re just begging to be outed by someone out there.

Familiarize people with your brand and yourself

This point is similar to the first, except that this one deals with making a positive impression whenever someone sees you and recognizes your brand anywhere online. That’s why I strongly recommend having only one name, and one avatar associated with all comments you leave. Choose whether this will be your own name, some nickname you go by, your secret ‘net alias—whatever, as long as it’s something you feel comfortable with.

It’s widely accepted that the best option is to use your real name and your headshot, but you should probably decide for yourself. The thing is that this is how people will recognize you, so once you decide, it’s better to stick with the name and image you’ve chosen than to change these details.

For that reason, be sure to choose the picture carefully. You will be surprised how important this is—even at such a low resolution. Choose a professional-looking picture, and try to make a positive impression by smiling. Using Gravatar is a great way to make sure your picture is the same all over the web. This can go long way to build that trust and connection with people.

Get traffic from the other blogs, and expose yourself to a broader audience

Each time you leave a comment, make sure you include a working link back to your site. Remember, the better you fulfil the ideas we spoke about above, the greater the chance someone will click your name, and visit your blog.

I’ve heard that the commenters that get most clicks are those who leave the first few comments. You can also achieve higher CTR by leaving responses in which you (respectfully) disagree with the author—this will surely attract some attention, but you’ll have to make sure that the facts are on your side.

Guest posting opportunities

In some ways, this benefit is closely connected with the second one: grabbing the blogger’s attention. But the thing here is to consistently add value to the discussion over a longer period of time. That way, you’re sure that the connection you are building with the blogger is going in the right direction, and the chances of having a guest post offer accepted are bigger, and more real.

Using the same name and picture each time you comment should help here, because it increases your chances to be noticed by the author. That said, do should consider the number of comments on the page and the response rate of the author. If you’re commenting on a site that has a few hundred comments on every post, it’ll take eternity to get yourself noticed. By the same logic, a site on which there are a smaller number of comments, but where the author is not even willing to spend time responding to them is also a site in which you would have a hard time making yourself stand out from the crowd.

Comment marketing in practice

Building a brand and developing your persona as an expert in your field takes a lot of time, but knowing how to make the most out of the commenting opportunities on other blogs is going to help you a lot.

What are your practices when it comes to leaving comments, or better yet, have you had some experience from the other side of the fence, in the comment section of your own blog? Maybe you have some tips you want to share too. Be our guest, the comment section is right below!

Slavko Desik is writer and editor at LifestyleUpdated where he tries to blend together his passion for living full time with his knowledge and passion for blogging. Find Slavko on Google+ or the official Facebook Page.

Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger

Comment Marketing 101

By now you’re smart enough to follow the lead of people who are ahead of you in their career. Watching these people and figuring out how to mimic their success is one of the most effective ways to reach your goals. But when it comes to asking for advice, you might be among the many insight-seekers who are going about it the WRONG way. If you’re asking, “What advice do you have for me?” you’re shooting yourself in the foot. More »

Two years ago (to the day, surprisingly), I highlighted four squared (16) ways to tell if you’ve become a Foursquare addict. In the ensuing two years, I’ve continued to enjoy my regular checkins from place to place, but I’ve got another obsession that also tracks my comings and goings – not in where I go, but what I do, with the Fitbit. Fitbit, as I described in March, has the potential to take your every day activity and match you up against friends, rewarding you with virtual badges and making you exercise more than you might otherwise.

I’m having a blast telling everyone I know who doesn’t already have a Fitbit tracker to go get one, and those who do, I’m recommending we connect so we can trade stats and urge each other on. I even picked up a Fitbit Aria scale to wirelessly track my daily weigh-ins and see if that number is trending the wrong way. With that in mind, I thought it was time to trot out fifteen ways you can check if you’re a Fitbit fanatic.

1. You take the long way everywhere – and find yourself scheduling meetings or lunches at a place far more convenient for those you’re meeting than yourself. You walk, of course.

2. You look incredulously at people who take the elevator, even if you’re going to the top floor.

3. You’ve figured out what optimizes you for the most steps across a distance – walking, biking, skipping or jogging.

4. You’d pretend to be asleep when your partner wants attention at night because you don’t want to mess up your “Time to sleep” statistics, and you think you can set a new record.

5. You read that Foursquare was about to discontinue their 20k step Fitbit badge on June 1st, so you spent much of May 31st walking around in circles, just so you could get it.

6. If people ask to friend you on Fitbit, you ask them their daily average of steps, and only accept their friendship if you think you will beat them. (I’m looking at you, Matt Cutts)

7. You don’t talk about how far things are in the number of miles or kilometers, but instead in steps.

8. You consider getting one of those fancy walking treadmill desks.

9. You find yourself wanting to look at how many flights of stairs you’ve climbed in the middle of the flight, and you have to restrain yourself until you get to the top, just so you make sure it counts.

10. You find yourself just a few steps away from your usual goal, consider if you can hit that number before the clock hits midnight, and then go do some laps in the kitchen.

11. While on a walk with a friend who also has the Fitbit, you look at each other’s starting step count, and ending step count, compare it to yours and wonder aloud as to whether Fitbit is accurate, if your units are calibrated correctly, or if it’s something to do with the other person’s height and stride. (My mom and I actually did this on Monday)

12. You memorize your daily weigh-ins and body fat percentages from each morning’s weigh-in, and can correctly anticipate both the next day to the tenth of a pound or percentage point.

13. You actively contemplate whether it makes sense to adjust your Fitbit goals to match your real world activity, or adjust your real world activity to match your Fitbit goals.

14. When you type F into your browser’s URL bar, it autocompletes Fitbit instead of Facebook.

15. Every time you take a step while not wearing the Fitbit, you’re annoyed.

Are you as silly about Fitbit as I am? I am loading up on people to connect with on that service. Find me at louisgray@gmail.com and we’ll compare steps.

More: louisgray.com | RSS | E-mail | Cell: 408 646.2759

I received a friendly email over the weekend from a reader.

The email had the subject line that read, “for Barry” and the message read:

You miserable prick. You continue your Google ass-licking as Google boots everyone of us from SERPs. I shall spit on your face next time we meet. Panda and Penguin are designed to hurt non-advertisers and help brands.

I get these types of emails every now and then. In fact, one person threatened to meet me at a conference once and make me pay for whatever I did to them.

Clearly, if you were hit by the Penguin or Panda update you are upset. But to blame me and to threaten me because of it is just really not acceptable.

This email form was sent via the IP address 80.217.50.201, which is somewhere in Sweden. I’ve been to Sweden about 8 years ago, so I don’t think I know anyone there personally.

Anyway, I apologize if people take the stuff I read the wrong way.

I honestly find it funny because Google thinks I hate them and give them a bad rap in my stories. Then I have SEOs complain that I suck up to Google. Does someone who suck up to Google write this? I think not.

But what you wrote is down right wrong, nasty and clearly insensitive. I just wish you would tell the community who you really are instead of just hiding. Oh, and I welcome you to spit in my face, since you do not have the courage to stand up for what you believe publicly.

Every now and then I show some emotion when I write, some of the readers here ask me to. Thing is, I am so not fired up when writing this now, but I think it gets the point across.

Forum discussion, well – no where – so comment here.

Image credit to ShutterStock for spitting angry people

At a recent Socialize event in Toronto, a few panelists pointed out that people may be looking at Google+ the wrong way.  While most are trying to categorize it as a social network, the speaker felt that Google+ couldn’t miss because it was just a way of strengthening social SEO, and as the years pass, it will become more and more vital for companies to use it to improve their SEO anyway, and eventually this will draw people to Google+ through Google search.

I feel that this idea is spreading through businesses pretty fast, and seeing as how starting a basic Google+ business profile has almost zero risk and a very low cost, we’re seeing companies get into the space quick.  The latest?  Airlines.

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Nobody likes bad news, and delivering it is an uncomfortable job that comes with the very real possibility of ruining someone else’s day. Unfortunately, it’s often necessary. We have a tendency to be a little selfish and prolong the inevitable when offering up unfavorable tidings, but that’s the wrong way to do it. Here’s a better way. More »

Pyramid Research forecasts that location-based advertising will account for 60 percent of mobile spend by 2015, or $10.3 billion. And insiders agree that location is a powerful tool for targeting consumers.

But how many companies are using location-based and hyperlocal targeting correctly? Shouldn’t we be able to just geo-fence a physical location and see results? Not so much, says PlaceIQ CEO Duncan McCall.

Here are some practical tips, and ways that companies are misusing location-based advertising.

Here’s the full interview.

Conversation Timeline

0:00 – Place IQ
0:40 – What companies are doing wrong in hyperlocal
1:43 – How to do it right
2:40 – What do consumers think?
3:45 – The adoption rate for publishers, consumers
4:45 – What’s coming in the next year
5:30 – Weighing location-based ads with privacy concerns
6:10 – Top challenges you’ll face
7:10 – If you’re not thinking about hyperlocal, you should be

Run time is 7:47

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This guest post is by Matthew Weber of T3kd.com.

When I first started blogging in early 2010, I was relatively new to social media. I had been a member of Facebook since 2004, but I was not using it to promote myself or my content: I was using to stalk old girlfriends. When I finally joined Twitter in 2009, I was unsure what the purpose of it was. Sure, I used Twitter. I followed some feeds, some interesting famous people, and I had a few followers—most of them very special bots.

But once I started blogging in January 2010, I came to the realization that I was using Twitter in completely the wrong way if I wanted people to actually engage with me, and through me, my content.

Image copyright ra2 studio – Fotolia.com

I realized that I couldn’t just tweet out something and expect people to see it. In order for people to see my content, they would have to have a connection with me, and they would need to remember me.

I tried different ways of doing this. I tweeted more, and I started to retweet others’ content. But this was still not enough. In the end I realized that the only way for other people to have a personal stake in “Matt”, would be to have them feel like we had a relationship beyond just me spewing a lot of content at them on Twitter. I realized that if I wanted the true Twitter experience, I would have to jump in and participate and engage with other people.

I found that once I stopped treating it as a place just for sharing, and started participating and conversing with other people, not only was Twitter much more entertaining, but also the people with whom I interacted started paying more attention to my content.

Google+ is the same

Amazingly, I’m currently making the same mistake with Google+. I seem to use it only as my own personal soapbox. I spew content, and no one pays attention. I know this problem all too well, seeing as I’ve made these mistakes before.

From everything I have heard, read, and been told, Google+ is an amazing place in which to get people to talk and interact with content. I have not seen this. Originally I just thought that this was because Google+ was no good. Then I thought that it might be because Google+ is so new, and there might not be a big enough audience for my content.

Then I realized that, as usual, this wasn’t the fault of Google+. It was, of course, operator error. I wasn’t using it properly.

It’s all about interactivity

In order for people to interact and consume your content, you have to give them a reason to do so.

Now I know what you’re thinking: “Matt, isn’t interesting and original content enough?” No, no it’s not. I know that original and interesting content is very important. But that is not what social media is all about. Your content is not even really in play when it comes to social media.

On social media sites people are not interacting with your content, at least not yet. They are interacting with you. When I share a link on Google+, people will interact with it if they have a reason to.

The biggest reason I can give them to click on that link is to make them think that they are a part of my story. If they think that there is a social relationship between us, then they are much more likely to think that my content is important. Originality and interest only come into play once they click that link.

So how do you become interactive on Google+—or any other social media site? You have to talk to people. I know that sounds almost stupidly simple, but it’s true. When they share something, strike up a conversation with them about it. Ask them questions, and share something related. There are innumerable ways to do it, but in the end it comes down to being social.

Once you have the interactivity down with one person, you will find that they are much more likely to reciprocate that interactivity back towards you and your content.

It’s your opportunity: don’t waste it

It is this statement that I have to remember. This is exactly where I was at the beginning with Twitter, and I again need to make sure that I squeeze Google+ for all it’s worth. Google+ represents a unique opportunity not only for me to spread my content out through interactivity, but also for me to gain useful connections to others. Even more than Twitter, Google+ gives me the opportunity to garner great conversations surrounding my content. I need to start using it properly, before I miss the opportunity.

When thinking about social media, we have to remember that it is not about us. We can’t be selfish, we have to be social. Being social, whether it is on Google+, Twitter, or Facebook, means to have a two-way interaction between people. A relationship that is only one way will not last long, if it takes off at all.

Just like your personal, real-life relationships, in order to flourish, an online relationship must be cultivated and fed with communication and good times. That interactivity will make it so the people you share your content with will remember you and be interested in the things you share. So go forth and be social, my friends!

Matt is the Founder of Blogs Media Network, a collection of blog sites covering assorted content. His main site, T3kd.com, is a site dedicated to covering technology news, and providing tech analysis. You can circle him on Google+ here.

Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger

Get More Out of Google+

Throwing up is kind of like pooping the wrong way, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that it tastes kind of bad and that taste lingers much longer than you’d like. Next time you vomit, however, Instructables user tori1012 has a solution that will return your mouth—and the rest of your body—to a fresher state. All you need to do is follow these steps: More »