Book Marketing Strategy: Blog Commenting and Sharing Posts

Book Marketing Strategy - Blog Commenting and Sharing Posts 

By Karen Cioffi

As manager of a marketing group I'm always on the outlook for ways to generate and increase visibility, readership, and subscribers . . . and increase traffic. I find it interesting that people in general don't seem to get some of the very simple marketing strategies they can use to increase their own visibility and that of others at the same time.

One of the simplest marketing strategies to use is commenting on blogs, quality blogs in particular, and sharing those blog posts through all available clickable social networks.

Many writers/authors don't realize that when you comment the relevant comment, you may very well draw traffic.

Aside from the search engine visibility aspect of commenting on blog posts and sharing them, this strategy establishes connections.

By clicking on a blog's SHARE links, you form a connection with that blogger. Since, the majority of bloggers pay attention to who's commenting on their sites that blogger will actually see YOU, thereby forming a connection.

Tip about the service you're using to leave that comment: Always make sure you add your name and website address when applicable. If you're using Blogger, be sure to complete your Blogger profile information, which should include your links.

While this may take a couple of minutes to initially set up, it's more than worth it, because each time you comment your name and link are visible and usually clickable.

Also, by sharing informative, interesting, or entertaining posts, you provide a service to those who follow, friend, or connect with you. This simple act creates a relationship between you and your followers or connections, establishing you as a source of information, and if it's informative content you're sharing, you'll enhance your expert status. And, building your expert status or authority is a key element to building traffic and subscribers.

According to an article in SearchEngineWatch.com, "Social Signals and SEO: Focus on Authority," it's all about "building your own audience and establishing your own authority."

Some of the most popular sources to share information are: Twitter, Facebook, GoolePlus, Linkedin, StumbleUpon, Digg, and Technorati. If you know of others, please share!

As an interesting side note: A StatCounter Global Stats report shows StumbleUpon as the top social media site in the U.S. from August to September 2011.

Okay, back on track.

As the website or blogsite owner it's your responsibility to have SHARE buttons in place. If they're not in place, a visitor to your site can't share the post. Adding SHARE buttons is a simple task with content management tools, like Wordpress and Blogger. 

In Blogger, just scroll down the Gadgets list in Design and find a SHARE gadget.  In your WordPress’ Dashboard go to Plugins, Add New, then do a search for SHARE plugins and find one that you like.

A newer element and ‘marketing plus’ of Sharing is that with Google Penquin, ‘shareability’ is now a key element of ranking.

So, to increase your own visibility and help your fellow writers/authors/bloggers, SHARE those posts you read. Even if you don't have the minute it takes to type a relevant comment - CLICK ON THOSE SHARE BUTTONS!

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Karen CioffiMulti-award Winning Author, Freelance/Ghostwriter, Editor, Marketer
Writer’s Digest Website of the Week, June 25, 2012