Commenting 101: Commenting and Link Parties

Welcome to Session #5 in my Commenting 101 blogging series. (You can start from the beginning of the series here.)

Today's topic is: Commenting and Link Parties

The subject of link parties can be a bit of a hot topic in the blogosphere. We all have different opinions, so please keep that in mind when you read this today! These are my thoughts, and you're entitled to your own opinions too. Let's focus on commenting and keep the conversation civil, okay?

I wrote a post detailing my thoughts on link parties last year, so I won't be discussing linking back or anything like that. I think we can all agree that link parties are an excellent way to enhance a blog's traffic: both for the hostess and the participants.

However, I believe there's a way to participate in link parties graciously, without frantically linking your posts up to 72 sites a day and going your merry way without any further involvement. We're all in such a rush to promote ourselves that we often forget to stop and smell the proverbial roses.

1. Are you engaging your visitors?
You can link to every party in the Blogosphere; you can Tweet and Facebook until your fingers fall off; but if you have no relationship with your readers or the folks who are stopping by your blog from the parties you've linked to, how full is your blog?

I personally feel like great projects and features are what make me click over to view a blog; but a blogger's personality and how he/she interacts with readers and fans are what make me stick around to keep reading consistently.

When I started this series, I received several emails from readers/visitors who complained that they routinely join link parties, but receive little or no traffic/comments from them. I responded with this question:

2. Are you taking the time to let other participants know you are there?
I realize that not everyone looks at blog parties the same way that I do, but the word "party" has always implied some amount of interaction to me. To just place your link on someone's blog (unless, perhaps, you are linking up as a favor to a blogging friend) and then run seems out of place to me.

Are you getting any traffic from blog parties? Do you notice more traffic when you take the time to comment on other links?

I limit the number of blog parties I join simply because my personal philosophy is to visit some of the other links and leave thoughtful comments. I've found that by linking to fewer sites and taking some time to interact leads to at least a visit or two beyond my scope of readership. Yes, I know I could potentially get more exposure for a post by linking it up to as many blog parties as possible, but I enjoy the feedback and conversation that comments bring.

And we've learned that one of the easiest ways to receive comments is to give them.

Yes, it kind of stinks to link up a really cool post to your favorite blog party and not receive any comments at all...which leads me to point #3....

3. You can't make readers visit your blog.
You wrote your post, you linked it up...now what?

You can't strong-arm Mary Sue Blogger into visiting your site and leaving a comment, but you can encourage her by setting a good example.

Which of these comments would you be most likely to read and return?

A)

B)

C)

D)

I hope you picked option D!

You don't have to leave long comments, but option D not only showed that the reader took the time to read and appreciate the post, but she also let Mary Sue Blogger know that she is visiting from the same party that Mary Sue joined.

I don't see anything wrong with adding the "Visiting from..." at the close of each comment by copying and pasting it like I did in Option D. This is vastly different than the canned comments we talked about last week. It's important to leave a genuine comment first, but if you'll be ending each message with the same note to let them know how you came across their post, it doesn't hurt to save your fingers the effort of retyping the same ending.

This is wonderful for three reasons: 1. it shows the blogger that she is receiving traffic from the party she took the time to link to, and 2. it gives the party hostess a bit of credit too. (Let's not forget that the ladies who host these blog parties go through an awful lot of trouble to do so!) And, finally, 3. it is a friendly and not over-the-top invitation to return the favor of the blog party visit.

Blog parties are made for intentional exposure, so I always feel like comments during blog parties should be treated a little differently than comments on everyday posts. Although I find my time more limited these days, I do my best to make an extra effort to visit the sites of bloggers who mention they are stopping by from a blog party I linked to. Since the spirit of blog parties is about interaction, it only seems fair to me.

4. Don't forget the Hostess!
I hesitate to write this, but I can't begin to tell you what a downer it is to put together a blog party, spend hours over the weekend reading, linking, and commenting...to only receive a very small percentage of comments on my own blog from actual blog party participants. I feel even worse for bloggers of large blogs who host 400+ link parties and have only a handful of comments on their posts.....Link parties should be fun for everyone involved.

My suggestion?
If you join a link party, be sure to leave a quick comment for the hostess. Did she include a project of her own in the post? Give her some feedback and a quick "thank you" before moving on. She's most likely sending you additional traffic that you might not have received solely from linking to the blog party. If she decides to feature your post, that's an even bigger reason to stop by and leave her a nice comment.

Hostesses notice the bloggers who take the time time to comment on other posts (as well as our own), and we very much appreciate you!

5. My intention today is not to overwhelm or discourage you! 

Noticing the decline in interaction among blog party participants is really what inspired me to start this series. I enjoy blog parties; I think they're a useful tool. If you read this today and you feel as if your problem is that you link to up with too many parties to participate by commenting...maybe you need to ask yourself if you are overextending. Your posts may garner dozens of comments, but are you building a network with your readers?

We all have different schedules and restrictions on our time. Bloggers with large blogs and a huge following have to divide their time between all sorts of things. Many bloggers who are starting out (who this series is really geared towards) have less traffic, fewer commitments to sponsors and features, and therefore are more likely to be able to focus on growing their blogs through networking in comments. In upcoming weeks we'll be chatting about how/when to return comments and ideas for scheduling time to do this.

No one would ever, ever expect you to spend hours each day, clicking around on your computer until your eyeballs dry up, just for the sake of leaving a good comment. The point is that by leaving a few genuine comments when you link up to a blog party, you are magnifying your chances of getting a blogger to visit your blog and do the same.

I challenge you to slow down a bit this week. Leave a thoughtful comment for the bloggers whose sites are hosting your links, and take a moment to find a few links that look interesting and leave a genuine comment for them. It might not pay off immediately, but over time perhaps we can collectively encourage the blogosphere to engage in a more gracious exchange of ideas and creativtity!

{Wouldn't you want someone to do the same for you?}