Good to see you again. We come back to my point that when you leave a comment you are posting your content on another blog. Every blogger appreciates the article length comment
with or without the plug. LOL The article comments are much more likely to attract a new reader to your blog than a short generic comment.

Dee

Seriously though, it is nice to get some validation from others that your thoughts are sound. Some hint that what you’ve said resonates with the people reading your post.

@mike article comments are gooood! Free content. Search engine fodder. Inspires MORE commenting. Love ‘em. So, feel free to go leave a long comment on MY blog lol (with a plug, of course)

See, that’s been my dilemma. I always thought, if I left a comment, it should be adding to the discussion. Now, I understand that some bloggers just would like to know you read their posts even if you don’t have anything to add. I’m thinking up ways to leave comments that at least have some creativity to them besides *nice post*.

Dee

Glad to see you! Was kinda worried because I hadn’t seen you around. Now, we know where to look. :))) And I do hate spammers…especially the ones like you mentioned. I can not imagine why they think I’d publish their brain farts on my blog to give them a link.

Dee

You know, spammers these days are becoming less creative, and blig comment links are slowly but surely being ignored by elgoog and other search engines. So with time, they might stop. HAHAHAHA ok that made me laugh too, spammers will forever exist, it’s become part of my morning ritual to read their amusing repeated comment and delete the few not caught by my spam filter.

I guess I see the point to your post though Dee, if you’re a real user looking for blogs in your niche to drop a link, come on, no problem in that as long as you at least have the curtsy to read the blog post and comment accordingly.

Crap, and here I was hoping this would be a 2 liner comment as apposed to the articles comments above…wooosh.

[here we go friendly spam you can not resist, so sue me]
Ii’m taking a break from loving yahoo over at my iheatyahoo blog, if you want to read up on some really cool SEO tips and the likes, please drop by over at my DNForum Blog http://www.dnforum.com/blogs/mikek/

*big hug*
Mike.

No worries about the byline. We’ve become so close– we think alike and finish each other’s sentences. LOL So, she could have easily made this post as well.

Good point– “Google is forever” Only on the internet can your mistakes be enshrined for posterity. Building your reputation is a very slow tedious process. That reputation is very fragile…a few bonehead mistakes and you can never recover. It’s a part of human nature—we remember people more for their sleazy antics than for the good they did. Even if the good encompasses years….and the sleaze was only a one time deal. (Are you listening, Joel?)

Dee

Oh yeah, I totally agree with you; controversy and debate on a topic are good. Not only dos it make readers think, but the inherent drama in the discussion draws readers in and inspires lurkers to join the conversation. Spicy discussion, and the occasional well thought out rant, are the lifeblood of conversation. Without contrasting opinions there is no need to say any other than “I agree”. That gets pretty boring.

If you’ve read my blog, followed me on twitter, of seen any forum posts I’ve made, you know I’m all about the rant. Sometimes I become to emotionally invested in my own opinion though - that can be dangerous.

“I think, what damages your reputation is when you artificially stir the pot because you’re emotionally involved. It is the knee jerk reactions –not the well thought out bombshells that cause the damage.” <– been there, done that, got the ‘you’re a Flamer’ tee shirt. Those are usually not my best moments.

In context with this blog post though, the think to remember is ‘Google is forever’ and the comment you leave today could rank well the SER down the line. Not only can a scalding rant, or a comment displaying a complete lack of understanding, do you damage in an Acute sense… it can continue hurting you for years to come.

This was a good blog post. All of the comments were interesting as well.

Sean

P.S Sorry I thought Elle wrote this post. I followed her “new blog posted” link and assumed it was her - never even looked at the byline.

Take care.

What started the idea for this post was a discussion on a community board. Like James and Metroknow, I sometimes will not comment because I have nothing to add to the conversation. Often times, what I would have said has already been said in the comments. There was a good percentage of the bloggers in the thread that felt they would rather have some comment any comment…even just a *Nice Post* comment as validation that they are getting through to their readers.

That got me thinking….a *nice post* comment isn’t going to bring you readers, and it does make you look like you’re only posting for a backlink. Yet the poor blogger is sitting there writing his/her heart out, and no one is commenting. I’m still trying to formulate how to handle this in the future for myself.

@Sean Real controversy never hurts anything—rants spice things up—both cause the blogger and the other readers to think. I think, what damages your reputation is when you artificially stir the pot because you’re emotionally involved. It is the knee jerk reactions –not the well thought out bombshells that cause the damage.

Dee

When I comment on other blogs I try to match my comment content to the content in the post I am reading and I also try and leave a link to a relevant page one of my own blogs.