Thanks for sharing, such a useful article, From my point of view relevancy for blog commenting is most important because off topic comment has less chance for getting approval.

Hey Kathy, Thanks for stopping by. Great additional tips. I had some comments but they were with a Facebook Comment plugin I used to use. I got rid of it. Even though it brought me tons of comments, they are owned by FB and as you can see even when you delete the plugin they are no longer on the site. I want my comments on my blog to always be there no matter what type of comment tool I use.

After all that, I’m surprised no one commented!

This was a great post, Matthew. Short and sweet.

I might add another question, assuming you’ve found an influential blog you want to track:
4) How can I build a relationship with this blogger?

We don’t have the advantage quite often of meeting these bloggers in person, but we can develop relationships through the comments we leave. Are we respectful of their space? Do we address the blogger respectfully? Are we friendly? Do our comments add value to his or her blog? Can we do this periodically so the blogger gets to know us?

As relationships develop so do visits from that blogger to your blog, and along with them come their valuable comments which in turn increases the value of your blog. Moving beyond that also come possibilities for guest blogging and backlinks.

I might add though that when building relationships, I really don’t think about what I can get out of it. I think more of what WE can get out of it and what we together can provide the internet community. Keep that attitude and relationships will come easily.

Again, good stuff, Matthew. I just gave a class on SEO for bloggers and encouraged them to do some blog commenting. This was a perfect follow-up.