Many of us comment at blog for a variety of reasons. One question we all need to ask ourselves is: what comment length best achieves our goals? The answer is: “Goldilocks Comments” are just right! I’ll explain why.
Reasons to comment
So first, let’s examine what commenters goals generally are. The three I am aware of are:
- To participate in a conversation with another blogger or blog community,
- To publicize our own blog.
- To drop a link and get Google link juice.
I know, many people will deny motive #2 and vehemently deny motive #3. Nevertheless, I think in honestly, most must admit our motives are often mixed. Frankly, I think we’ll behave better if we admit rather than deny selfish motives.
And now, on to the Goldilocks Principle of blog comments.
What is the Goldilocks Principle?
We all remember Goldilocks. She tried out Pappa Bear’s bed (too hard); Momma Bear’s bed (too soft) and finally found Baby Bear’s bed (just right.)
“Just right” was medium. The Goldilocks Principle is: leave medium length comments.
Why is “medium” the correct length for a comment.
- “Medium” length comments are conversational.
Since we were children, we have learned that the best conversationalists express some interesting opinion or provide useful information.An interesting snippet of conversation must be longer than “Uh, huh.” or “Yeah. Could you hand me a beer.” At the same time, if you intend to converse, you must give the other person a chance to speak. In particular, you must permit the blogger who wrote the post to be able to comment. To this end, it’s best to avoid a long dissertation.
- Medium length comments publicize you and your blog
- Medium length comments get you link juice!
We are now on the the totally selfish reason to leave medium length comments. Yes, we must admit it, sometimes one of the reasons you want to leave a comment is to get a dofollow link. But you know what, if you leave the classic fly by “Great post” comment, you run the risk of having your post deleted. It’s up to the blogger who controls the blog. So you will have wasted your time loading the page, clicking the comment box and what not.In contrast, if you leave a decent medium length comment, you’ll get that link.
Oh, and guess what? If you get in the habit of leaving decent comments, you will probably train yourself to actually read the blogs you visit. Then, you’ll find yourself wanting to write long comments, which will inspire your own blog posts.
And guess what? There is a darn good chance, the person whose post you discussed will be inspired by something you said and eventually link you back.
And that, ambitious blogger, is the way to get real, editorial links from comments!
Say you leave a very short comment like “Great post!” and drop a link. Do you think the blogger or the bloggers fan are going to think, “Wow! I bet she has lots to discuss at her blog?
No. You will spend a few minutes loading the page, scrolling and clicking and get, at best a link. If you spend an extra minute and leave a thoughtful medium length comment, you can sometimes get clicks to your blog.
Say, you leave a very, very long comment. Maybe you post 7 paragraphs (I have done this.) If it’s a good comment (or a particularly silly one) , some blog visitors might click your links.
So that seems good, right?
Mostly, wrong. If you find yourself typing 7 paragraphs into a comment box, you should stop and edit down to 2 paragraphs. Then write a blog post, link the blogger and leave a trackback!
That’s the way to use comments to publicize your blog while also building decent content appropriate to your niche.
Does this all sound selfish? It sort of is. That’s kinda’ why the strategy works!
That’s why I’m using the tactic I’m describing right now! I was about to leave a long comment at Riley Central’s post “Blog Commenting” where Damien discussed the idea length of comments.
As I was typing, I remembered that if a post makes me want to write 7 paragraphs, that means that blogger wrote a thought provoking post. I figure my readers might want to read the interesting blog post. So, I tell them about that post!
Will Damien of Riley Central or his visitors will read my trackback and read my post? I don’t know. Will Damien link me? I don’t know.
But they won’t read or link my blog if I leave a bajillion long comment in his comments thread! Then watch to see if the other blogger responds, my experience is they do respond roughly 1/3 of the time!
Now, you practice!
Now everyone, I encourage you to practice. Leave ‘medium’ comments here and at other blogs. Tell me what you think makes a good comment. And if you find yourself going on and on, write your own blog post describing your thought to your readers and link me! 
That’s a well written post! I agree with all of it. Even us die-hard “Online Diarist” purists like to partake of the Google Juice sometimes. Even though I have no ads, I do watch my analytics out of curiousity.
For me I comment mostly to network though. Through comments I have made the strongest connections in my blogging circle. I welcome anyone to promote their blog on my site, and they do quite often!
Thanks for referencing me in your article!
A great post and I learnt something. I always try to leave meaningful comments, sometimes it is hard and I want to ramble on and on, so the idea to do a post and a trackback is a great idea.
I am also glad Firefox spell checks as I go because my typing isn’t great and I hate to leave comments full of typos. Leaves a bad impression I think.
You speak the truth, o wise woman. I just posted a 5-part series on preparing for disaster on my Texas RV Travel blog. It started as a comment on Gather about a year ago. LOL!
One thing about commenting as a way of getting traffic is that quite a few people get carried away and generally forget to write good and interesting content in their own blog - all the good stuff is in comments in other people’s blog. For most people just writing a lot of “Pillar posts” would at first be much better than going on a commenting spree.
Awesome, now come read my blog! LOL. Seriously great advice and makes sense. It’s what I’ve been doing. I figure if this stuff is a chore, get another job. Enjoying this blogging is what makes the whole thing gratifying and to earn a little on the side is gravy!
If ever there was a post that needed to be part of an FAQ this is it. (not too short I hope).
This is a very good post. I’ve never thought about the length before, except I’ve always felt a “nice post” comment was a sure sign of someone trying for a link.
I usually search out new blogs because of reason #3. I then find some bogs I like and my reasoning goes up to #2. Before long I find myself posting because of reason #1 (I grow to like the blog).
I’ve always been kinda backwards like this! LOL
Don
I get what is your meaning for “medium length comments”, but you really write a long post and I have read it all. peow…
What I get here about good “medium length comments” are:
1. You will get high chances to get link juices from the author.
2. Write not more than 2 paragraph of comments, or no one will reply you.
3. Medium comments are good comments. Is this really? doubt.
Anyway, thanks for sharing your thought here and I get something on how to post some good comments on other blogs in future.
Louiss
Love the analogy! I’ve never really thought about the comment length before, but what you said makes sense. I know the kind of comment that I like to receive on my blog, so I try to replicate that elsewhere.
I agree with your statements about medium sized comments. I often comment on other blogs, and read the existing comments before posting my own. Too often I find comments that go on and on and in many respects actually repeat what the post was saying in the first place!
I comment on blogs that provide something useful and helpful to me in my blogging endeavors, and I believe it is good manners to compliment good works. I’m also a big believer in networking and building friendly relationships with other bloggers. If I’m stumbled or “dugg” or fav’d on Technorati etc, that’s simply icing on the cake.