Website Managers

When you comment on other blogs, you have a choice to make as to which name you want to be known as. Normally you want the links to be directed at your own website or blog. Some people enter no link all. Those people have no interest in building links back to their sites.

For all the others, most use their real name or an alias. Using your real name is good if you are building brand awareness for it. Otherwise, here is a tip to generate more brand awareness for your website.

The Blog Comments Question

Bill Cobb wrote:
I was recently on a call with the Wordpress Wizard, Cathy Perkins, talking about how she made the Top 25 most influential women in Social Media list for 2009. One tip she gave is this about commenting on blogs. When you comment, don’t include your name, but rather the name of the hyperlink commenting creates, the name you want Google to index. For me, that means that I comment on blog post like this:

Real Estate Appraiser Tips
[hidden] @ gmail.com
http://www.realestateappraisertips.info/

My Comment.

Cathy says the way Google sees this is the hyperlinked
Real Estate Appraiser Tips http://www.realestateappraisertips.info/

Jim, is this true?

My Thoughts On This

That sounds completely logical and I have seen many people use that method. At first I wondered why they had strange names when commenting, until I realized that they were being indexed in the search engines by those names.

All of mine use my name, making me recognized in most places I go. The all link to my blog so that when someone sees my name, they will think of Website Managers.

That only works in certain circles though, because there are so many others with my name. For example, on Facebook, a search for Jim Hutchinson returns over 500 results. Even with those, when I search for my name, it is usually at the top of the list. Google alerts shows people with my name all over the world in various industries. Some of them have even died.

What I am getting at here is that if you are marketing your name in competition with others for the same name, you have to be much more active with it. On the other hand, if I was to use my business name when commenting, it would be more link juice for the company, but less friendly. I would then have to put my name in the comment itself to let others know who I am.

If the comment will link to your business website, it will also
be associated with your real name, giving you twice the recognition.

Personalize Your Comments

Now, with that said, making your comments more personal is also done by adding your photo. This is done by registering with Gravatar.com.

When you do, you will upload your photo to their site. Then when you post comments on other blogs using the email address you used to register with Gravatar.com. your photo will automatically appear. Not all blogs are set up to use Gravatars, but for those that do, your photo will appear.

Summary

I have given you three methods of getting more personal with your blog comments.

1. Comment using your real name with a link back to your website.
2. Comment using your business name and your real name inside the comment.
3. Adding your photo gravatar to give each comment personality.

What are your experiences with using your name, company name or blog name when commenting on other blogs?

What Do You Think?

After reading this article and getting some ideas on how to comment on blogs, start by adding a comment here with your thoughts on which name and Gravatar to use. I look forward to hearing from you.

Jim Hutchinson

Tags: blog comments, blog traffic, branding, Gravatar

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