Most, although by no means all, bloggers love reading blog comments, and for you as a commenter they provide a great way to get that all important backlink when published.  However, as you probably already know if you run a blog yourself, there are some great comments and there are some frankly terrible ones.  The terrible ones are nine times out of ten going to be marked as spam or trashed, so let’s look at how to write a great blog comment and increase your chance of it being accepted.

1. Determine Why You are Commenting

First of all you need to determine why you are choosing to comment on a specific blog.  Are you doing it to join in the community, establish yourself as an expert, because you appreciate or really disagree with the post itself or because you purely want a link to your own site?  Once you know why you are commenting, you can better phrase the comment that you go on to write.

2. Comment in Context and Make a Point

If there are a lot of comments already on the blog it is important to make sure your comment is in context with the others.  For example instead of just coming out with a four word sentence that makes no sense on its own, take the time to quote the area of the post or comment you are referring to.

You should also make sure to make a point in your comment.  Although some bloggers are happy to publish comments such as “great post thanks” and “wonderful this helps a lot” many others will mark your post as spam.  To make a more longer lasting impression and ensure your comment is published (with your ever important link), post something meaningful and contribute further knowledge.

3. Be Respectful

This shouldn’t need to be spelled out, but don’t be disrespectful in your blog comments.  It is okay to disagree with a post but comments filled with profanity or hateful words are likely to be trashed too.  Plus if they are published, do you really want other people to see what you can be like?  Comments that are disrespectful are a waste of time on so many levels.

4. Keep it Short

People have short attention spans, so don’t write an essay in the comment section – if you have a lot to say about something why not start your own blog on the subject?  A few short paragraphs will usually suffice with one paragraph per point.

5. Link Carefully

If you are purely commenting with the aim of gaining a backlink to your site, make sure you link carefully.  Most blogs have a section for you to input your website address which is always worth filling in but be careful if you link in the body of the comment as your comment is likely to be seen as spam by the blog owner and as such won’t be published.  You should only include a link in the body of the comment IF it offers further information on the original post.

6. Proofread

And the final tip is to proofread your blog comment before posting.  If you know you have trouble with spelling correctly, write your comment in MS Word and then copy and paste it over after checking that the grammar and spelling is correct.  Comments full of misspellings undermine your authority and again can be marked as spam or trashed by a blog owner.

Take the time to write a great blog comment and you are very likely to get it published – don’t and you are wasting your time in most cases.