This one may actually be more important than my original #1 Tip for commenting on blogs - so I’m calling it Tip #1a.

Check Your ATTITUDE at the Door.

For the past week or two there’s been a lot of mud-slinging and name-calling going on at some popular Search/Marketing related blogs (no - I won’t link to them) - most of it fairly harmless, but at least one I’ve seen recently was blatantly illegal.  If some of these comments had been verbal face-to-face exchanges - arrests would be made for abuse, hate-crimes, maybe even terrorism.

Is all this negativity a new Marketing tactic? Good God I hope not.  I’m hoping that the majority of this meanspiritedness is simply misunderstandings and overzealous knee-jerk reactions.  In some instances I noted that a little ‘punctuation’ would have avoided a problem - ie: if one is going to post something in jest - make darn sure you let that be known (smilies go a long way).

Don’t get me wrong - I’m all for the sharing of ideas, discussing opposing views, etc.  But when it degenerates into the virtual brawling I’ve seen of late - we’ve lost our way.   Being able to post comments on others blogs is a PRIVILEGE - not a RIGHT. And it absolutely positively does NOT entitle one to toss basic manners and civility out the window.

If one cannot comment without being a nit -JUST DON’T COMMENT. One certainly does not have to agree with any given post at any given time, but one CAN disagree and express views and opinions without cursing, name-calling, slander, perversion, alienating the viewing audience, or inciting a virtual riot.

Today there will be none of that - at least for a minute or two.

DailyCoyote twittered this earlier:

One of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen. http://www.vimeo.com/1211060 Go watch it, trust me.

I trusted her, I went and watched, and I’m still all a-tingle from the experience.

If you’re not moved by this is some way - call 911  

‘Commenting’ on blogs and forums can be a free, easy, and effective way to gain relevant, targeted ‘traffic links’ and traffic to a website.

We’ve all seen blog and forum comments that were obviously done to promote a website, a product, another blog, etc.  When done thoughtfully, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.

But in my experience, the majority of these ‘comments’ seem to ignore what I consider to be the

#1 Rule of ‘Commenting’: Check The Original Post Date

It sounds like a no-brainer, I agree.  However, it seems that in the fervor to get the word out; generate traffic; and traffic links, as much and as quickly as possible - this one vital task is being ignored, perhaps strategically.  As a result, I continually see comments being posted to some really ‘ancient’ stuff.  I’ll not name names, but I’m talking years here folks.

Maybe this is viewed as acceptable.  After all - it’s a known fact that in-bound links are of some importance to Search and Social Marketing.  The more the merrier, right?  Perhaps… if the goal is link quantity rather than link quality.  Of course ‘nofollowed’ links will offer no link ‘juice’, but it is still a ‘traffic link’.

I believe that if you are serious about long-term online success - indiscriminate commenting is poor strategy, most importantly because…

• It’s all about the numbers - not about the customers. As a rule, these ‘generic’ comments  offer little of added value for the viewer.  But it’s the viewer that pays the bills though, right?
• And of no less importance to successful online business, there’s Perceived Reputation - No matter how original, well-written and relevant your comment may be,  if the original post is woefully out-of-date - your reputation is at risk.  At best you may be perceived as careless, lazy, or ‘dated’, at worst - a short-term, fly-by-night scam.

There are exceptions to every rule, and this rule is no exception. ;)  But instead of making a potentially risky comment on an aged blog post - isn’t it better to simply write a new article or post yourself, and include a reference to the older information if needed?

You’ve heard it before, and I’ll say it again - do it for the viewers, customers, and searchers - NOT the search engines, bots and spiders.

And please, please, please…check the date before you comment.

Ok, ok, so it was self-inflicted - a headsmack IS still a ‘blow to the head’.

I read Rand Fishkins “Headsmacking Tip #1: Link Requests in Order Confirmation Emails” at SEOmoz.org, and I can’t say that I blame him - all this ‘link‘ stuff can induce headbashing. ;P

It’s a great tip! I too was amazed that this tip hadn’t been mentioned before.  It really is a no-brainer as far as I can see - add a quick, simple, polite and well worded link request in the ‘order confirmation’ emails that you send to your customers after a purchase.  As mentioned in the post - a ‘relationship’ has already been established with the buyer, and an brief, appropriate Link Request would fit nicely here.

Then I started thinking (omg - alert the media) about other places that a link request might be included (NOT like those ridiculous ‘link request emails’ I keep getting),  such as…

Autoresponders - You already have links to your site embedded in your autoresponder emails, but those are static, and not at all the same as the ‘call to action’ of an actual link ‘request’. Since your autoresponder is only triggered if someone actually initiates contact (right?), in theory the same ‘relationship’ reasoning might be applied.   I would use caution though - having a link request in both order confirmation emails and in autoresponder emails could be seen as ‘pushy’.

Downloadable Documents -  You know - e-books, .pdf files, word documents - whatever.  I wonder how many use ‘Link Requests’ in these?  Again, the ‘relationship’ is established by the viewer when they initiate the download request.  As long as you don’t keep sending link requests in follow-up emails, I don’t see why not, do you?

Online Support -  In addition to the Free product support and installation services included with his great website software,  my favorite Software Programmer offers an Expert Advice Service online, though I’ve not needed it to date and don’t know if he uses this technique or not.  If you offer support services that involve online communication - this might be another area to consider.  I’m thinking you might include a link request in the final ‘problem solved’ email- of course this could only work if your customer is satisfied with the solution.

But what about Live Online Customer Service/ Support? - Sure, why not?  It’s been a while since I used an Online CS/Support system, but when I did it was simple enough to add pre-formatted text snippets to my responses with just a click or 2.  I’m betting it’s still easy to do.   But again, this method does assume that the customer on the other end of the chat is satisfied.

I had other ideas, but I’ve forgotten them already….if they come back I’ll add them.

What about you - any “Link Request” idea lightbulbs popping over YOUR head?  Do share with us please.

–dlp

ps:  Rand is fine I’m sure.  He was conscious and coherent enough to write the headsmacking tip after all, and noone really believes he actually smacked himself in the head… do they?

I’ve been up to my eyeballs in articles and blog posts about Purchasing Links and Google PageRank, and I’m getting a headache. It seems there is much debate over whether Purchasing Links is a Good Thing, or a Bad Thing - but - doesn’t the real issue lie in the ‘PURPOSE’ of a Paid Link - NOT whether it’s ‘Purchased’ or not?

To me, Purchasing Links is not necessarily bad, nor good. A Paid Link is just a tool to use on a website, no more, no less. I really don’t see that whether a link is purchased or not actually matters, whereas I do understand that WHAT you do with a purchased link, and HOW you do it is critically important.

And as I see it, there are 2 primary facts to consider when deciding to use Paid Links:

1. FACT: Purchasing Links for the ‘purpose’ of Boosting Google PageRank is Unacceptable to Google. ~ Period. No If’s, No And’s, No Buts. Get over it, Move On.
2. FACT: Purchasing Links for the ‘purpose’ of Boosting Traffic, Generating Interest, etc. is Acceptable to Google - as long as those links use the rel=”nofollow” attribute - as Matt Cutts advises, and I quote:

“What if a site wants to buy links purely for visitor click traffic, to build buzz, or to support another site? In that situation, I would use the rel=”nofollow” attribute. The nofollow tag allows a site to add a link that abstains from being an editorial vote. Using nofollow is a safe way to buy links, because it’s a machine-readable way to specify that a link doesn’t have to be counted as a vote by a search engine.”

I’m oversimplifying - but basically the ‘guidelines’ appear to be something along the lines of - buy all the links you want - just make sure they use ‘nofollow’.

There is one question that I see time and time again - how does Google know WHY any given link is present on my site at any given time…or something like that. My response is - Does it matter? Granted - ‘nofollow’ will negate any quick ‘link juice’ , so I suppose if you’re only looking for quickie, short term gains in PageRank, you’ll really want to do something else… really - I’ve seen it happen - the penalty for defying Google on this one can be devastating. But I digress…

Paid Links + nofollow = PageRank Boost - Penalty

If you’re working long-term - Paid Links plus “nofollow” equals a Boost in Google PageRank minus penalty.

Think about it - When Relevant, Value-adding Links are Purchased and Utilized ‘appropriately‘, why not?

For instance:
Website A buys a link from relevant, high value site - Website B - for the purpose of generating more targeted traffic. And this Paid Link from Website B does use ‘rel=nofollow’ - so there are no worries about incurring Googles wrath.

Naturally, Website A does not incur any immediate benefit to it’s own PageRank from the presence of Website B’s link - that is not the purpose. The purpose is targeted traffic, and adding Website B’s relevant, high-value, Paid Link to Website A DOES that. The result is more appropriate traffic to Website A, and more exposure for Website A, and more authority is attributed to Website A, and so on, and so on, and then guess what happens… a higher PageRank is earned for Website A.

And there you have it. Done right - Paid Links plus “nofollow” equals Boost in Google PageRank minus Penalty