To the 20 or so spammers who feel compelled to try and spam my blog each day, I’ve written this post just for you. This should serve you well not only when trying to leave Viagra comments on my blog but also when you try to do it on other blogs and on non-ED forums. If you’re not a spammer, you can skip #1-9 for a few tips on how you might be able to get more out of your blog comments.

#1: Would you appreciate if someone left that comment on your blog? If you wouldn’t, don’t leave it on mine or anyone else’s. If you want to make money from your blog comments, why not join an affiliate program relevant to what the websites you’re commenting on are about — I have no problem with you using an affiliate link for your username so long as you contribute something relevant to the discussion at hand and so long as the link isn’t going to a website I don’t think my visitors would appreciate me providing links to (spam, warez/hacking, adult content, pharmaceuticals [that includes Viagra, Cialis, and Tamiflu links]) .

#2: My blog, just like 95%+ of blogs out there, is nofollow. This means no link juice will flow from blog comments. If you think spamming my blog is going to increase you’re pagerank, you’re sadly mistaken. That having been said, pagerank is only one small element in the grand scheme of things — leaving a quality blog post and a related link can add relevance and help you rank higher in the SERPs. By writing an irrelevant post, you’re doing yourself no good in the SERPs and maybe even some harm.

#3: Having read #2, don’t even think about trying this on a dofollow blog. Pretty much all blogging programs nofollow blog comments by default — if someone has installed a plugin to make their blog dofollow, it’s because they want to reward visitors who contribute valuable comments, not spammers who’ve discovered a dofollow blog list.

#4: If you’re thinking strength in numbers along the lines of “I’ll spam 1000 blogs per day and maybe a few will accept”, you’re most likely wrong. Nobody other than another spammer or someone peddling ED products is going to let a comment about Viagra go through. Even if their blog posts aren’t moderated, they’ll be sure to delete this when they notice it and if you’re looking for abandoned blogs to post your spam on, you might find that the blog owner wasn’t the only one who disappeared.

#5: If you don’t care about my blog but just want a link, write something that says otherwise. “Good post” or “I have added you to my RSS feed”  from a first time blog visitor is a dead giveaway. Read the post and write a comment related to the post so I know you’re not a spammer. It doesn’t really matter what you’re intentions behind writing the post were and I’m perfectly happy to give your site a bit of exposure if you’re willing to contribute to the discussion. I have sometimes gotten many visitors to my site from writing a genuinely useful comment on other people’s blogs — it’s another one of those quality versus quantity things. Writing good blog comments, just like making good posts on forums, allows you to build up a positive reputation, something you won’t have with readers of any blogs you successfully spam.

#6: Don’t outsource blog comment writing to someone who can’t speak English.

#7: If you don’t have anything to say, don’t say anything. Don’t spam someone’s blog just because you want a backlink.

#8: Use your name or the name of your website, not keyword anchor text when leaving a comment. Keyword anchor text looks spammy and despite it being better for your site, it certainly isn’t better for your reputation.

#9: Don’t sign your comment with extra links to your website — it’s unnecessary and it’s likely to end up in the spam filter.

#10: Try to find blogs on topics you’re interested in — it’ll be much easier to leave worthy comments on subjects you know something about than on subjects you don’t.

#11: Try to be among the first posters — these will be read by most visitors whereas other comments may not. Subscribe to the blog’s RSS feed, check an RSS aggregator which features blogs you plan on posting on, or use a program which notifies you upon the creation of new posts. The same can be said about the choice of posts to comment on — comment on the most recent posts for maximum exposure.

#12: Look for blogs with a “Top Commentator” or a similar plugin that offers a backlink to those who’ve contributed the most to the blog.

#13: If you can find dofollow blogs in your niche, by all means post quality comments on them however when trying to determine what kind of link juice you’ll get from your posts, consider how many other people are leaving comments on this blog’s posts. Also, be aware that many dofollow blogs have changed to nofollow at a later date, meaning if you were only posting on dofollow blogs for the link juice, all effort has been lost.

#14: Be controversial. If you don’t agree with what’s said, say so. You might meet a few arrogant bloggers who won’t let comments through that disagree with them, however most bloggers are going to let it through and might even challenge you on your stance — it’s definitely not a bad thing and you’ve at the very least gotten the blogger’s attention regardless of whether you were right or wrong with your position.

Commenting on a blogs really is no different than forum posting — write interesting stuff that people derive value from and you’ll derive value from it as well. If you manage to get the attention of the blogger whose site you left a comment on, they might even check out your site and perhaps link back to it at some point in the future. Every blogger would like to think everyone leaving comments on their blog is doing so for altruistic reasons — that’s of course not the case, however so long as those posting comments are adding value for those who genuinely enjoy your blog, what difference does it make?

Related posts:

1. Post Length: Short Blog Posts or Long Blog Posts?
2. Minisite Development
3. Regarding Paid Posts / Cybersquatting Claims