I’ve tried a lot of traffic generation tactics since creating this blog. Some, like StumbleUpon, have been instant hits. Others have generated dismal results. Commenting on other digital marketing blogs was initially a tactic I’d discarded to the ‘dismal’ category. It was time consuming and rarely brought in more than the tiniest trickle of traffic. In order to comment, I needed to read a range of articles and develop intelligent thoughts to add to the conversation (not bad things really when you think about it…). I found I was spending up to an hour of my time in order to contribute just 5 or so comments to the blogosphere. It was so much easier to just press the magical ‘Thumbs Up’ button… Talk about lazy! It was only a couple of months later that I realised my attitude sucked and that commenting was one of the productive activities a blogger can partake in…
This epiphany arose at around the same time I finally cottoned on to the fact that relationships within the blogosphere were actually really important (Duh!). I’d been observing behaviour within my favourite social media networks for a while and noticed that those who were generating awesome results had legions of followers & friends. Hmmm…. time to get me some virtual friends I thought to myself. But how to go about it…
I didn’t want to try to start the relationship building process by social media spamming other bloggers I respected. Bad first impression! I was pretty sure they’d receive tonnes of emails a day. So email was likely to get caught in the clutter (especially when it’s just a social media inbox). At that point a little light bulb flashed up in my ming – blog commenting. I knew I read and respond to every comment I receive, and most other serious bloggers do as well. What better way to introduce myself than to join their conversation and add some productive thoughts…?
So after initially writing blog commenting off as a futile exercise I returned once more. The important difference however was that this time round my primary objective had evolved (matured you might even say…). I was no longer concerned with the quantity of traffic it generated. Sure… it would be nice if a few people clicked through as a result of a comment I’d left, but relationship building was now the key objective. I needed to build my personal network and blog commenting was the best option available (considering my longstanding boycott of Twitter).
Fast forward a couple of months and in the words of Borat… it’s been a great success. I’ve established relationships with a range of recognised bloggers in the industry. Regular commenting has opened a dialogue that often extends beyond their blog into email, my blog and other social media networks (and probably Twitter if you’re that way inclined). We’re not the best of buddies… but they know who I am and they tend to support my work within social media via submissions and votes, which was the objective after all. And they also tend to become subscribers and semi-regular commenters on my own blog, which helps the perception and social proof associated with Online Marketing Banter.
Ironically, it was only once I stopped caring about the traffic that I realised its true value. Analysis of my traffic stats revealed that visitors coming from blogs on which I commented were far more engaged with my work. I’ve spoken previously about the trade off between quantity and quality in a publishing frequency context. But the issue is of real relevance in traffic generation as well. It’s easy to become addicted to the StumbleUpon traffic spike. And that certainly has its benefits… but quantity isn’t everything. Who do you really want reading your blog… drive-by browsers or loyal subscribers? The figures below indicate that people coming from blogs I comment on are far more likely to convert into subscribers:
StumbleUpon visitor engagement
A little underwhelming you might say… StumbleUpon visitors stay for 13 seconds and almost 92% leave without visiting another page. This may well say something about my (in)ability to hook new readers with a punchy headline and opening paragraph. Food for thought… Now let’s look at the stats from three blogs I comment on regularly.
Visitor engagement from blogs I regularly comment on
Now that’s more like it! Visitors are viewing more pages & hanging around far longer. Which isn’t surprising I suppose. They’ve already had a sneak preview of my thoughts and decided to come looking for more. The three blogs listed above bring in about one tenth the traffic of StumbleUpon. But I’d be willing to bet a steak dinner that I’ve generated more subscribers from them than from StumbleUpon.
So what matters to you?
If you’re like me when I first starting blogging you may have already written blog commenting off based on the numbers (or lack thereof). But quantity isn’t everything. It’s important to remember what’s important in the long term… Drive-by visitors aren’t. A solid network of online friends and a loyal base of readers/subscribers are important. Start talking to your fellow bloggers today…
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Good to read this.
I follow 600+ social marketing type of blogs on an ongoing basis and commented where it was relevant for me to do so. We’re a small startup building technology to enable marketer to join the conversation ;-).
I think you make a good point about the ROI question because it’s definitely time consuming compared to other more automated techniques to make oneself known. I’ve had a customer giving up after 1 week ;-). Anyway, he wasn’t sold on the ‘buidling relationship’ idea which definitely required to join the conversation and happens over time. Not a one click affair.
My experience is that I did get quite a bit of reply back from bloggers after I left comments so it seems to be a good way to build relationships and traffic.
Wow Laurent… 600 marketing blogs! That’s impressive. I struggle to monitor about 30 on an ongoing basis. I can only imagine how full your RSS reader gets.
Relationship building really needs to be your primary goal ahead of traffic quantity. Many people won’t have the time and patience for it… and that’s fine. It’s a personal choice. But for those who do the long-term benefits are very real.
I’ve definitely started to notice the wider benefits of blog commenting. It’s not just direct return traffic from those blogs, it’s when they mention you in another post, or start stumbling/sphinning/etc your posts. E.g. a big initial spike for Fog of Eternity’s traffic was when you gave it a bit of a profile on Sphinn.
I don’t think I could monitor 600+ blogs as Laurent does. I have about 40/50 in my Google Reader, but more specifically I have a (consistently evaluated and updated) a “Top 10″ list of blogs that I try to comment on every single time they post. I’ve found that really useful and worthwhile in terms of relationship building and return traffic.
That’s right Robin. There’s a whole heap of benefits associated with the relationships you develop via blog comments, including those you’ve mentioned. I’d add guest blogging opportunities to the mix as well (something I’m a little crazy for right now… as you’ll find out over the next few weeks).
It doesn’t happen immediately , which is why most people give up. Oh well… Their loss.
Robin & James
I should have been clearer. We follow those blogs as a team (small start up = small team). Our application allows us to scan hundreds of posts easily, spending 3 sec on each feed to see if it’s relevant to what we do. If it is, we read the full post and may comment. So it takes around 2 hrs per day. That’s a lot for us stretched on so many tasks but we think it’s worth it.
laurent – that makes me feel a little better, but I can’t even keep up with James. I am lucky to follow 10 good sites, maybe 20, but I have to get work done too.
@ laurent – the application sounds interesting. I’m sure you’ve already considered it, but you should think about lending it to some bloggers to review.
@ Arnie – the work/blogging balance is indeed a fine art. I’ve found that if you cut all other unnecessary things out of your life (girlfriend, family, friends etc) it’s easy enough to maintain…
Good points! I’ve noticed that about SU and Entrecard.
One thing I’ve done to combat the Entrecard drive-by-droppings is to add a special powerdropping page. On the page I’ve placed links to the RSS feed, and other social media links to connect with me elsewhere. I’ve seen a large jump in subscribers since I added the page. The idea is to hook them in the 20 seconds they are visiting your page. In this case, they might be looking for twitter followers, RSS feeds, or other ways to connect.
Eventually they come back as a reader!! :
Now if I could only figure out a plan for SU users…
@james we’re in beta, would you be interested to take a look at it? Email me if you do please
@DJ – Sounds like you’ve got a nice process there for Entrecard. SU is tough. I think you just have to take it for what it is though. Low converting traffic. I think the best plan is to write compelling content. After all, it is content that draws people in.
@ Laurent – Sending an email through now. Looking forward to checking it out.