Should You Pay Someone To Comment On Your Blog?

No one doubts that comments are the heart and soul of a blog. Interaction is the essense of the Net. If you don't get comments, you might as well be pasting up posters or passing out flyers. Now there are even services that will send professional readers to comment on your blog. But is it worth it?

Weigh The Advantages and Disadvantages

The obvious disadvantage is cost. Is your blog worth spending money to promote? Is it well written, quirky, interesting? Do you update it often? Remember, the best comments in the world can't carry a boring blog that gets updated every blue moon. On the other hand, a fresh lively blog with lots of interaction can get tons of traffic - even (or maybe especially) a candid, quirky blog that seems to only appeal to a small community of users. After all, the Net is world-wide: even the most uncommon interests will be shared by thousands of people.

Some Advantages May Be Hidden

What are the advantages of getting some comments on your blog? Obviously, it's going to motivate you to write since you know for sure someone is reading. And a comment service with educated, engaged commenters will offer you valuable feedback on your writing. These advantages can make all the difference in the sometimes solitary world of blogging.

Less obviously, the number of comments on your blog strongly improves your search engine rankings. It does this through several means. First, the professional comments themselves show activity on the blog. Second, existing comments encourage other readers to comment. Third, just like the many people who read Amazon's buyer reviews before they read a product's description, some people look at comments first. Thus comments tend to make people stay on your page longer. Activity, number of visitors, and length of time spent on a page all translate into higher rankings.

Be Careful

In the world of the Internet, a blog can go from nothing to superstar in weeks. Before you sign up for a comment service, make sure your service provider can handle a sudden burst of traffic. There are no guarantees, and most success is slowly won. On the other hand, you owe it to your readers to make sure they can access your site without unnecessary waits due to heavy traffic.

Also, although there is nothing unethical about using a service to write comments on your blog, you might not wish to communicate to everyone that you applied a little "work smarter, not work harder" on your way to success. Make sure the service promises complete confidentiality.

Get The Most From Your Commenting Service

Your comment service is only a seed to draw other commenters, so make sure that your blog is easy and fun to comment on. Comment on your own site regularly to check that the software is working properly.

If at all possible, don't require moderator approval. The Internet is all about immediacy. Readers like to see their comments right away - and they like to check back to see responses. Try to respond to your readers quickly, and make sure readers can respond to each other as well.

You can still moderate though: readers appeciate a quality, thoughtful comment forum, so be sure to weed out spam and insulting or valueless comments.

Once your blog is well established, you might cancel your service. Or, if you have a good relationship, you might want to retain it and let the professional commenters continue to guide and inspire the conversations among the comments.

Article Source: http://casinoarticles.us

Karen Clancy is a freelance writer from California, who loves LOLcats and comic books. She is currently writing her first fiction novel.

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