From 249 messages to 3,000+ website visitors and USD 25,000! Find out how one marketer achieved these stats! [Thursdays: FYO!]
Blogs.
A lot of businesses use this tool to effectively market their brand.
In one Dynamic Marketing Communiqué Thursday: FYO! article, we talked about how bloggers can earn up to USD 41 million a month…
… but did you know that commenting on blog posts in your brand’s niche can also help generate leads and drive traffic to your site?
Here’s how one marketer generated USD 25,000 in revenue after leaving 249 comments on different blog posts related to his industry.
Neil Patel is a New York Times bestselling author. The Wall Street Journal recognizes him as “a top influencer on the web” and Forbes ranks him as “one of the top 10 marketers in the US.”
Patel is also the co-founder of Neil Patel Digital, a marketing and advertising agency that “brings insights to life for the world’s most important brands.”
Curious about how he earned USD 25,000 after commenting 249 times on different blog posts to target his niche?
In October 2014, Patel did an experiment to see if there’s a difference between commenting and not commenting on other people’s blog posts.
By using the online analytics software SEMrush to track the number of clicks and leads his comments were generating, Patel was able to achieve his objective and see what types of comments yielded great results.
What did Patel do exactly?
Out of the 249 comments, he deliberately made the first 25 messages basic. He only left phrases or sentences like “Thank you,” “Awesome blog post,” and the one below:
Upon checking via SEMrush, Patel found out that these messages didn’t add any value to the topics of the blogs and only generated 82 visitors to his own business website.
On the other hand, the remaining 224 comments Patel wrote on other people’s blogs drove 3,891 visitors to his business website.
What was different about these messages?
These comments were 4 to 17 sentences long and added value to the topics of the blogs!
Overall, Patel’s comments resulted in 3,973 visitors and 6 consulting leads. He said that even though he doesn’t do much consulting, he was able to turn those leads into a USD 25,000 “corporate speaking gig!”
As a business owner or marketer, what can you learn from Patel’s blog commenting experiment?
- When leaving a comment, make sure you’re adding something worthwhile to the discussion.
If you’re commenting on another website/blog, don’t just say, “Awesome post!” or “Nice website!”
You should also include detailed insights related to the blog’s main topic so you add value to the discussion.
On the other hand, if someone comments or posts a question on your blog, make sure you take the time to answer thoughtfully.
Doing so will help showcase your expertise in your industry. Aside from that, giving insightful comments helps encourage a reader to click on your name and be directed to your brand’s website.
- Avoid explicitly including links in your comments. It may come off as “planting your flag on someone’s lawn.”
It’s okay to use your brand’s website link in the URL field when entering your name and email address so readers who click on your profile will be instantly taken to your site.
Focus on creating content that adds an important message to a blog’s topic.
When you make this a priority, you will see online users taking the initiative to visit your brand’s website… not because you’ve explicitly given them a link to go to, but because they were impressed by your comment and would like to know more about you and your business.
- Refrain from using your business’ name as your “commenting name.” Instead, use your actual full name.
When it comes to commenting on blogs, your brand starts with your real name.
In fact, failing to use your actual name reduces the chances of a website owner approving your comment.
Think about this: As a business owner or marketer, do you ever walk up to your target market and sell your product to them without introducing yourself first?
You don’t—and shouldn’t!
You must first give your prospects brief information about who you are and what you do before getting straight to the point that you want to sell them something. This is because aside from convincing your target market to buy from your brand, you also want to connect with them as a person.
Remember to apply this concept when you’re commenting on blogs to make you and your brand appear more personable. Doing so also reduces the impression that you’re just leaving a comment to promote your own website.
Besides, for customers and prospects, it’s better to interact with blog commenters when they know it’s a real person they’re talking to and not just some chatbot or website manager.
- Make sure your comment has a good “avatar” too.
If you’re serious about using blog comments to drive traffic to your brand’s website, having a decent picture of yourself helps.
The icon beside your comment should be an image of the real you, not just some generic icon that doesn’t signify you or your business.
Remember that your target market usually hangs out on the same websites that you visit and comment on. When you look real and approachable, they’ll be more inclined to visit your website and see what you have to offer.
Here are some of the benefits of blog commenting to your inbound marketing strategy:
- It improves visibility. People browsing through blogs that are related to your industry might be looking for products or services that you offer, so getting your name in front of them through a comment is an important step.
Make sure you comment thoughtfully because this will help you increase your brand’s online visibility and exposure.
- It establishes credibility. When you comment, it’s important to add value to the conversation. Read the post thoroughly and contribute a great comment that will encourage others to leave their own comments… and visit your brand’s website too! This is a great way to market yourself and your brand.
- It creates genuine business relationships. When you constantly comment on blogs related to your niche, this will lead to strong business relationships and open doors for guest posting opportunities.
- It drives more traffic to your site. If you comment on high profile blogs in your industry and leave intelligent and meaningful comments, you’ll encourage people to click over to your brand’s website and know more about the products or services you offer.
As you can see, blog commenting is a helpful marketing strategy.
As a business owner or marketer, always go for a “white-hat” method of commenting on other brands or businesses’ blogs.
[White-Hat: Any practice that improves your search rankings on a search engine results page (SERP) while maintaining the integrity of your website and staying within the search engine’s terms of service.]
By doing so, you’ll be able to build your brand, increase your credibility, and improve your SEO ranking.
Try thoughtfully commenting on top blog posts read or followed by your niche and see the results it will yield!
About The Dynamic Marketing Communiqué’s
“Wednesdays: Speak on the Shoulders of Giants”
“Thursdays: FYO! Find You Optimization”
Why should you stop thinking SEO and start thinking FYO?
We’re not saying that you should abandon Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
Don’t get us wrong, of course, we know this is something very important, especially in today’s digital marketing age.
The internet landscape is vast, and a world of its own. You really need to distinguish yourself and make your brand/company/website known and easily searchable.
Better yet, get to the top of page one for Top Results on Google or any other search engine.
However, what is the purpose of SEO? It’s that customers Find You!
That’s what matters. So, while SEO is one factor of FYO… it really is only one, and we ought not to abandon all the myriad of ways digitally and offline for improving your FYO.
How can we look at this from a different and better perspective?
Let’s say you have it in the bag! You and your team are experts in SEO. Awesome. But did you ever wonder what else you could do to push it further and give your SEO skills a boost?
FYO! Find You Optimization!
You need your target audience to FIND YOU—your brand, product, service, or offer. This is SEO plus other tools that increase visibility online (and offline).
Every Thursday, we publish content on how you can get your target market to find you, beyond the typical “type and search.” There are other things you can do along with your SEO to give your online advertising process a boost.
Try considering other tactics beyond it—WOMO (Word Of Mouth Optimization), RO (Referral Optimization), and “All-Other-Means-Of-Getting-Your-Target-Market-To-Find-You” Optimization (AOMOGYTMTFY, if you’d like a long acronym).
Part of a great marketing strategy is knowing how to adapt new methods and make use of different types of marketing and promotion that best fit your business goals and which give you the results you want.
Hope you’ve found this week’s insights interesting and helpful.
Stay tuned for next Thursday’s FYO!
Cheers,
Kyle Yu
Head of Marketing
Valens Dynamic Marketing Capabilities
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