Leave Effective Comments Use ‘The Goldilocks Principle’
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! 
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Comments
Leave Effective Comments Use ‘The Goldilocks Principle’ was posted on August 23, 2007 - Filed Under Blogging Writing Tips Link Building |How to get linked: Say something no one else said.
Saturday, I blogged about a fresh topic and said something no one else said. Sunday Dosh Dosh paraphrased and linked me.
Getting this purely editorial link was the result of a “Mo Udall, Angelic Link-Baiting Post”. What the heck is that? How can you use it to get links? Let me tell you!
“Mo Udall Angelic Link-Baiting Post” can be used when three things happen:
- You discover a fresh topic to blog about. In case in question, ReviewMe Advertorials had just been introduced.
- The topic is one bloggers are sure to comment on. Paid-to-post always elicit discussion.
- Few A-listers have said anything yet. I checked at Technorati: only two or three bloggers had posted about this yet. (If there are more than 5 post by A-listers, you missed the window to write the link-bait post.)
When you discover something like this, you have approximately 24 hours to post.
So, quickly: do a Technorati search on the topic. Read the top 3 most authoritative posts. Do not comment at their blogs. Just don’t!
Write your blog post. Comment on the earlier bloggers’ points of view. Link them. They will like you for it; they may read your post. Plus you’ll leave trackbacks on articles which means others who read the A-listers post may find your article.
Now, before posting, stop and ask yourself: “Did the earlier bloggers overlook something? Anything?” Keep thinking until you come up a fresh insight.
Mention your new insight at your blog. Proof-read and click publish.
What happens next? You will probably get a link from an A-list blogger who posts in the next few days. If the topic turns out to be very controversial, you will get more.
Are you certain to get a link? No, but it’s likely because you are the only person who posted the fresh insight about a blog-worthy topic. You are especially likely to get the link if you did not leave your fresh insight in any A-list blogger’s comments.
You want people to know and remember that it was your fresh insight.
Why do I call this the “Mo Udall Angelic Link-Baiting Post”?
It’s “Angelic” because it’s totally fair. You saw a topic; you expressed your opinion.
Mo Udall, a former presidential candidate, is involved because he once observed, “Everything has been said but not everyone has said it.”
It is human nature to want to comment on hot topics. If you can say something on a topic everyone is going to blog about, and you post before every one else posts, the later bloggers will comment on your post and link you!
Tags:blogging link baiting traffic writing tips
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