Commenting on blogs certainly has both benefits and downfalls:
- It's an easy way to get your name known in the virtual world without having to invest too much time or money.
- Commenting can be ideal for networking or sharing ideas and information with colleagues and potential clients.
- You can easily link back to your website and increase your visibility.
Unfortunately, commenting only can be very limiting and is at the whim of the blog owner.
Your Own Blog
Creating a blog, on the other hand, can be a great way to promote your brand and generate revenue.
- Your blog will naturally draw more traffic to your website because the blog posts will show up in search engine results.
- Your blog is an ideal place to network and share your knowledge.
- Potential clients will love that they can easily comment on your blog posts and get in touch with you.
Creating your own blog will give you a chance to show your customer your excellent customer service skills and possibly even build a relationship with them prior to selling.
Keep in mind, however, that creating and managing your own blog is a time commitment. To successfully run a blog you regularly have to take away time from business, family, or friends, to create posts, respond to comments, or update information.
Depending on your needs and abilities, your best business practice may be to comment and create.
While it has its attractions, commenting is very reactive.
Successful business owners need to be proactive in these times to attract clients. Rather than letting others put their ideas out for all to see, you could share some of your knowledge and show potential clients that you know what you're talking about.
At the same time, you could be commenting on other blogs with a link back to your blog to draw some attention your way.
Using both strategies together could be the perfect solution to boosting your personal brand.
If you can invest the time, creating your own blog (with unique and creative content) while also regularly commenting on industry-related blogs, is the absolute best way to quickly build exposure.
Of course it takes a lot of time and energy, but you would be surprised what 10 minutes every day can do for your online reputation.
Thanks for the post. I think it’s ideal to do both commenting and blogging. Both are time-consuming. I guess what someone needs is a good management strategy on how to do both and still focus on marketing and selling products and services.
Good calls, Tanner and Odette — and Brian of course. I completely agree.
True, it takes time but your blog is one of the rare things that’s yours. It’s also somewhat permanent. Compare that with the time invested in social media or advertising; one doesn’t belong to you, the other is like treading water.
Hi Tanner,
I absolutely agree with you. You can do so much in 10 minutes. The key is a good management strategy of your time and to avoid too much distractions.
Hi, Brian.
I will never forget Bill Dorman’s advice to me. He said that before I should focus on my blog, I should think about building an online community. Following his advice and learning from the people within the community I’ve created for myself has made my blogging journey not only easier. It has also gained me friends who support me and whom I am willing to support back. Although both takes time as Tanner, Ruud and Odette say, but it’s all worth it.
So, I totally agree with you that blogging and commenting are perfect when done together. 🙂
Thanks for the read. Enjoy the coming weekend.