mytropicalescape.com

One of my new goals here at MyTropicalEscape will be to experiment (I am a trained scientist after all) with helpful techniques and tips (whether it’s attracting more traffic or making money) that other bloggers are suggesting and then report back on my success, or lack thereof.

READ THIS: my experimentation is not being undertaken for short-term gain. There are a lot of people out there who are smarter than I am and if someone offers up a useful tip then I want to try it. If you would like to recommend a post that has a helpful or constructive recommendation that you would like me try out, leave the URL in the comment section below.

image source: flickrsmileys

Recently, there have been a couple of articles over at ProBlogger about comment strategy and how you can use it to increase visitors to your site. Typically, I do not leave very long comments but if I come across a post that is well written and offers useful advice then I always try to leave a note thanking the author for his or her time.

The specific ProBlogger posts that initiated my trial are:

• The Power Of Commenting on Blogs
• 11 Tips For Getting Your Comments Noticed On A Popular Blog

Both of which were written on November 4th and 7th respectively.

Some of the blogs that I read regularly, which have a large readership base, are ProBlogger, DoshDosh, Skelliewag, and ZenHabits. Therefore, I decided to leave some comments and see what happened. Please note, I WOULD have commented on the posts at those particular sites anyway, however, I do not usually look at my Google Analytics stats and this little test prompted me to do so.

Comment number one - On November eighth I left a comment on ProBlogger:

The Post - How Much Did You Earn from Blogging In October?

My comment: “Unfortunately, I did not make one penny. I did have someone contact me about placing four text ad links on my site and he was willing to pay $50 per link for a whopping total of $200 for the year. Since I didn’t know the standard rate I said no. What is the standard rate for a text ad link on a site with a PR4? And how are people making such astronomical sums (e.g. $15,000 stated above)?”

As you can see in the graphic above, the ProBlogger comment sent 17 people to my site and they spent an average of two minutes twenty-four seconds.

Comment number two - On November tenth I wrote a remark that was not very detailed and was actually more of an observation than a genuine “comment” on DoshDosh:

The post – The Bloggers Guide To Team Marketing

My comment - “One of your best tips can be found at the beginning of the post, “…procrastination isn’t really an option.” I think procrastination and not having to be accountable to anyone kills a lot of blogs. People get lazy or burnout and give up.”

The result from the DoshDosh comment, one visitor. Hey, it’s better than nothing!

Comment number three - On November sixteenth I commented at Skelliewag:

The post - Like it Or Not, You’re a Marketer

My comment - “Skellie ~ Very nice post with a tremendous amount of information to digest. Bloggers are representative of marketing at its most organic level. We are selling ourselves, our content, one reader at a time.”

Unfortunately, I placed my comment on this post a little bit late as the article first went up on November fourteenth.

The result (cue violins) no traffic. However, it was a great post and one that I was glad to have read.

Comment number four – on November twelfth I left a note on a motivational post at ZenHabits:

The post - 10 Simple, Sure-fire Ways to Make Today Your Best Day Ever

My comment - “Leo ~ Thanks for the inspiration! I wound up using the post on my site. All the best”

Within the comment, as you can see, I refer to a guest post that I had submitted earlier to Leo. Because I make note of it in my message I decided to include a direct link to the post in the URL section (e.g. Name, Email, URL) of the comment form.

The result, seven new visitors came to my site and were directed straight to a recent post titled, “Are You Living Everyday.”

My Views On Commenting For Traffic
I have said it before and I will say it again, commenting is a great way for authors of large blogs to get a sense of your personality and maybe even your brand.

Typically, I DO NOT comment in the hopes of gaining more traffic. I choose to comment only when a post helps me, provides some sort of inspiration, or it is quite clear that the blogger has spent a tremendous amount of time and energy crafting something unique.

Obviously, (by looking at my results above) if I want to use the commenting method to draw in more traffic I need to seriously work on my strategy.

However, my final conclusion is a definite YES, commenting can increase your visitor traffic but that is just the beginning of the process, kind of like opening the door. Once a new visitor comes to your site from a remark that you have left on another blog it is up to you (and your content) to make your new readers want to come back and visit. Too, there are numerous intangible benefits from commenting, that I will discuss in a later post.

Good luck!
Mark
MyTropicalEscape.com
| Living Overseas | Blogging | Motivation & Inspiration | Entrepreneurship |

Editor’s note: For my next test I think I will try to create a time log to help improve my efficiency, as recommended by Scott Young.