Lesson 7: Whenever I get some free time, I like checking out other websites around the net, especially
blogs, either by ministries or by other teachers. (For those of you who didn’t know, I’m a school teacher by day.) The reason I like visiting other websites is because I like to leave my opinions in their comment boxes (if they have a place to leave comments).
There are two reasons why I do this:
1. I like to let people know that I actually stopped by and read their posts or article. Everybody who writes something online likes to know that there is someone who is reading and appreciating their efforts. I love it when I get a comment from someone who reads my posts. It gives value to what I’ve written, and in turn it gives value to me. For that reason, I like to comment on other sites as often as I can.
There is another reason I do this however, and it may seem self-serving, but I consider it a byproduct of my appreciative comments.
2. It promotes my site.
How does it promote your site, Sam?
I’m glad you asked.
Every time you comment on a post, it asks for your name, your email, and your website. Now, if the owner of the website accepts your comment, then you have what’s called a back link. A back link is a link to your site from another site. In the past, we would ask for what’s called reciprocal links. That is, you would add a link from one site in exchange for them putting a link to your site on their site. I’m confusing you, right? Sorry.
Now, however, you can add more back links to your site by just commenting on someone else’s post or article, and Google gives a site a higher rank depending on how many external back links there are to a particular site. It appears to Google and the other search engines that your site must be an important one since so many other sites have your link on their pages.
Now here’s the big thing. Please don’t be like so many other people out there who just comment on a site to get the back link. I delete a bunch of comments each day, because it is obvious that they didn’t read the post. They just added a comment to have their link on my pages. I won’t fall for that – anymore.
Again, as Christians, we have a higher responsibility. We can’t in good conscience go and post an insincere comment on someone else’s pages just to rank higher in Google’s eyes. Read the article or post. Find what’s valuable in it. Comment on that, and trust me, the owner of the site will appreciate you taking the time to read and comment, and they’ll accept your comment, and you both will win.
What do you think? How about leaving me a comment? I promise to post it – if it’s sincere.
Don’t forget to sign up for the UTR Newsletter. I have a great post coming up about how to get a lot of visitors to your site. It’s something that was just recently proven to me to work great. You can also follow me on Twitter.
Thanks,
Talk to you soon,
Blessed!
Sam