How to Build Your Brand Through Blog Comments

  • 1 min read

When you leave blog comments, do you have a goal in mind?

Believe it or not, blog comments are an excellent way to build relationships with key people in your field (find them on AllTop and Technorati), create positive touchpoints for your personal brand, and demonstrate your ability to synthesize information, provide insight and draw on past experiences.

Commenting on blogs demonstrates that you’re an active member of your niche, you’re passionate enough to participate in conversations related to your area of expertise, and you’re intelligent enough to add value to conversations in your space.

When commenting on blogs, here’s a checklist that will ensure you’re leaving as strong an impression as possible.

Blog comment checklist:

  1. Adds insight, a new idea or a relevant link to the original blog post
  2. Accurately and concisely answers someone’s question
  3. Relates to your area of expertise
  4. Includes your name (the one you want people to find you with when they search for you in Google)
  5. Includes a link to your website (boosting the Google rank of your site and leading more people there)
  6. Includes your tagline/position (a short phrase that describes to strangers what you do)
  7. Has no spelling or grammar mistakes (you usually can’t edit it later)
  8. Is not hyper-reactive (doesn’t make you seem emotionally unstable) and does not put anyone down (if arguing, provide counterpoints. Don’t attack individuals)

Commenting on blogs leaves a trail of “digital breadcrumbs” that people (employers, co-workers, bosses, first dates, etc.) will find when they type your name into Google. So always keep this checklist in mind. Your comments are permanent!

Blog comments, forums comments, book reviews and contributing to wiki articles are just a few ways to leave a trail of breadcrumbs online that builds a web presence worthy of remark, differentiating you from others. Strengthen your personal brand across the web, one insight at a time.

Author:

Pete Kistler is a leading Online Reputation Management expert for Generation Y, a top 5 finalist for Entrepreneur Magazine’s College Entrepreneur of 2009, one of the Top 30 Definitive Personal Branding Experts on Twitter, a widely read career development blogger, and a Judge for the 2009 Personal Brand Awards. Pete manages strategic vision for Brand‐Yourself.com, the first online reputation management platform for job applicants, named one of the Top 100 Most Innovative College Startups in the U.S.

Picture of Pete Kistler

Pete Kistler

Pete Kistler is a top 5 finalist for Entrepreneur Magazine's College Entrepreneur of 2009, a leading Online Reputation Management expert for Generation Y, one of the Top 30 Definitive Personal Branding Experts on Twitter, a widely read career development blogger for Brand-Yourself.com, and a Judge for the 2009 Personal Brand Awards. As CEO, Pete manages strategic vision for Brand‐Yourself.com, the world's first online reputation management platform for job applicants, named one of the Top 100 Most Innovative College Startups in the U.S. He has won a number of top honors for his writing, presentations and business plans.

TRENDING AROUND THE WEB

People about to give a speech consistently believe their own nervousness is far more visible to the room than it actually is, a specific mismatch researchers gave its own name decades ago and the pattern keeps showing up

People about to give a speech consistently believe their own nervousness is far more visible to the room than it actually is, a specific mismatch researchers gave its own name decades ago and the pattern keeps showing up

The Blog Herald
Writers who try to sound like everyone online eventually learn the same lesson: the voice that works for everybody works for no one

Writers who try to sound like everyone online eventually learn the same lesson: the voice that works for everybody works for no one

Global English Editing
The best communicators are not the most detailed but the most selective about which details their audience will use

The best communicators are not the most detailed but the most selective about which details their audience will use

Global English Editing
A study that tracked how couples split their time between texting, calls, and being in the same room found that face-to-face time — and, more surprisingly, even brief phone calls — predicted how understood a partner felt, while hours of texting moved satisfaction not at all

A study that tracked how couples split their time between texting, calls, and being in the same room found that face-to-face time — and, more surprisingly, even brief phone calls — predicted how understood a partner felt, while hours of texting moved satisfaction not at all

The Blog Herald
As AI-generated content floods search results and social feeds, a growing number of companies now exist just to certify that a human made the thing you’re looking at

As AI-generated content floods search results and social feeds, a growing number of companies now exist just to certify that a human made the thing you’re looking at

Global English Editing
Researchers asked people to reconnect with an old friend either by phone or by email, and the people who predicted the phone call would feel awkward were wrong — it left them significantly more connected than email did, with no extra awkwardness at all

Researchers asked people to reconnect with an old friend either by phone or by email, and the people who predicted the phone call would feel awkward were wrong — it left them significantly more connected than email did, with no extra awkwardness at all

The Blog Herald
Load more
CATEGORIES
Explore